PW01-240 - Rate Of Alcohol And Substance Use Disorders Among The Journalists In Erbil City

Abstract

Objectives: A number of studies have shown variations in the rate of alcohol and substance use disorders among different occupations, but no study till now stressed on such a variation in Iraq. The present study aimed to study variations in the rate of alcohol and substance use disorders between journalists and some other occupations in Erbil city. Methods: 200 journalists and 486 of other professionals were interviewed between the period of September to November 2008 by a structured interview (M.I.N.I.) for the detection of alcohol and substance use disorders. Results: Among the journalists, 34.5% were alcohol dependents, 7.5% were alcohol abusers, 1% was substance dependent, and another 1% was substance abuser. Among the non-journalists, 7.6% were alcohol dependents, 2.26% were alcohol abusers, 1.44% was substance dependents, and 1.02% was substance abusers. Most of the substances, other than alcohol, used by both groups were the prescription pills. 50% of journalists and 75% of non-journalists, who were either substance dependents or abusers, were alcohol dependents or abusers at the same time. Male gender and those who achieve higher educational levels were more affected in both groups. Conclusion: The present study concluded that occupation is an important determinant for alcohol and substance use disorders in Iraq. Working as a journalist, is a risk factor particularly for alcohol dependence. Gender is an important determinant within each occupation as well.

Alcohol among young people in Iraq: a systematic scoping review

“…Descriptions of the studies are reported in Table 2. Of the included studies, only four were alcohol specific [17][18][19][20]; two were about substance use [21,22] and two about health risk behaviours [23,24]; one each was primarily focused on mental health disorders [25], smoking [26], novel psychoactive drugs [27], risky driving [28], and sleep disorders [29]. No literature was found that related to preventative strategies in relation to alcohol.…”

“…Only one study recruited a sample from more than one province [25]. Four studies recruited from Baghdad [19][20][21]27] and Erbil [17,22,23,28]. Two recruited students from Karbala [18,26].…”

“…Nine studies were self-administered surveys [17-19, 23, 24, 26-29]eight of these were paper-and-pen and one online [27]. Three studies used face-to-face interviews [21,22,25] and one used autopsy blood samples [20]. Eight studies were conducted in school or college [17-19, 23, 24, 26, 28, 29], two at home [22,25], one each at a youth centre [21], online [27] and at a forensics laboratory [20].…”

“…Only four of the eleven studies reporting alcohol prevalence or patterns data reported using validated alcohol screening or diagnostic tools. Two used the Composite International Diagnostic Interview [21,25,30], one used the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) [18,31], and one the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI) [22,32]. One study utilised blood alcohol concentration at autopsy [20].…”

“…Ten of the studies reported randomised recruitment with varying levels of detail. Ten studies included a student sample: four were general university samples [17][18][19]26], three were medical students [27][28][29], two secondary school [23,24] and one did not specify [22]. Although Ali, Sabir [17] defined their sample as medical college students, it included students studying medicine, dentistry, pharmacy and nursing.…”