Substance abuse among new patients attending main government hospitals in Malaysia from 2018-2021: A comparison between before and during COVID-19 pandemic

Substance abuse among new patients attending main government hospitals in Malaysia from 2018-2021: A comparison between before and during COVID-19 pandemic

Substance abuse admission to health facilities following the pandemic is often met with challenges. COVID-19 is causing an insurmountable psychosocial impact on the whole of mankind. Marginalized communities, particularly those with substance use disorders (SUDs), are also likely to suffer from grea...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one Vol. 19; no. 10; p. e0309422
Main Authors: Muhamad, Nor Asiah, Chemi, Norliza, Ma'amor, Nur Hasnah, Rosli, Izzah Athirah, Leman, Fatin Norhasny, Mohamad Isa, Mohd Fadzli, Johari, Mohammad Zabri, Abdullah, Norni, Ibrahim, Nor Ashikin, Chan, Huan-Keat, Abu Hassan, Muhammad Radzi
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: United States Public Library of Science 24-10-2024
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Alcohol
Amphetamines
Analysis
Anxiety
Biology and Life Sciences
Cannabis
Care and treatment
COVID-19
COVID-19 - epidemiology
COVID-19 - psychology
Cross-Sectional Studies
Data collection
Drug abuse
Drug testing
Drug use
Epidemics
Female
Forecasts and trends
Health care facilities
Hospital facilities
Hospitals
Hospitals, Public
Humans
Malaysia
Malaysia - epidemiology
Male
Males
Marijuana
Medical records
Medical research
Medicine and Health Sciences
Medicine, Experimental
Mental disorders
Mentally ill
Middle Aged
Narcotics
Opioids
Pandemics
Patients
Peer relationships
Private sector
Psychiatrists
Psychological aspects
Psychological research
Public health
SARS-CoV-2 - isolation & purification
Social aspects
Social Sciences
Sociodemographics
Statistics
Stimulants
Stress
Substance abuse
Substance abuse treatment
Substance use
Substance-Related Disorders - epidemiology
Substance-Related Disorders - psychology
Tobacco
Trends
Urban areas
Young Adult
Malaysia
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Description
Summary:Substance abuse admission to health facilities following the pandemic is often met with challenges. COVID-19 is causing an insurmountable psychosocial impact on the whole of mankind. Marginalized communities, particularly those with substance use disorders (SUDs), are also likely to suffer from greater psychosocial burden. This study sought to evaluate substance abuse trends before and during the pandemic. A cross-sectional study was conducted among patients attending selected government hospitals in Malaysia. Data from the year 2018 to 2021 was utilized. A total of 9,606 patients consisting of 7881 males and 1725 females were identified. Most of the patients involved with substance abuse from 2018 to 2021 were males, aged between 26 and 44 years old, Malays, high school students, singles, workers of private sectors and those residing in urban areas. The most abused substances over the four years were tobacco (61.8%), followed by amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS) (43.1%), alcohol (39.7%), cannabis (17.2%), opioids (13.0%), and kratom (8.8%). Those who worked in the private sector and were self-employed or unemployed were more associated with substance abuse during the pandemic compared to those who worked in the government sector. Those with a history of psychiatric illness were more associated with abuse of substances during the pandemic than those without the history (adjusted OR: 1.18, 95% CI 1.09-1.29, p <0.001). Targeted exploration of factors affecting substance abuse in Malaysia is essential. The results of this study assist in identifying variations in substance abuse treatment characteristics for those admitted to treatment in Malaysia.
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Membership of My Substance Abuse Study Group is provided in the Acknowledgments.
NC is Lead author of the group: norlizachemi71@gmail.com
Competing Interests: The authors report no conflicts of interest.
Current address: Office of the Director General, Ministry of Health, Putrajaya, Malaysia
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0309422