Prevalence of Substance Abuse among Pregnant Women in Shiraz, Iran

Introduction:Substance abuse is an important public health problem with social and economic health consequences. There is an increased prevalence of maternal substance abuse during pregnancy in all socioeconomic classes and races. Maternal substance abuse may increase complications in pregnant women leading to morbidity in neonates. this study was aimed to investigate prevalence of substance abuse among pregnant women of Shiraz, Iran.Methods:In this cross sectional study which was conducted in 2016 in Shiraz, 3940 pregnant women who were referred to Pregnant Women s Care Center in public university affiliated hospitals were selected using stratified random sampling. The data was collected using a researcher-made checklist. Data analysis was done with SPSS version 20 using One Way ANOVA and Chi Square tests and the significance level was set at 0.05.Results:Mean age of pregnant women was 29±5.7. Prevalence of at least one episode of alcohol, cigarette, hookah, and narcotics consumption were 1.5%(n=61),0.9% (n=36), 12.5% (n=493), and 0.9%(n=35) respectively. The most important incentives and motivators for start ing the substance usage were curiosity, seeking pleasure, and copying friends. Prevalence of sustained usage of alcohol, cigarette, hookah, and narcotics consumption were 1.2% (n=47), 0.9%(n=35), 7.4% (n=291), and 0.8% (n=31) respectively. The most important incentives and motivators for continuing the substance use were seeking pleasure, habitual usage, and feeling of necessity. Conclusion:This study indicated that the majority of women who had history of one episode of substance abuse were continued usage of the substance even in the pregnancy period. Given the unpleasant maternal and fetal consequences of substance abuse in pregnancy period, physicians and health workers should improve knowledge of pregnant women regarding the problems of substance abuse.

Keywords:

Substance Abuse , Pregnant Women , Prevalence , Iran