2. Prevalence of use of
stimulants among medical
students in Tanta University
3. Introduction
Stimulants are medically used as a treatment for attention defect
hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The prevalence of stimulants used
in treatment of ADHD has increased among adults and children
from 2001 to 2015, according to data collected from 154 million
persons from 14 countries, its absolute increase per year ranged
from 0·0006% to 0·12%
4. About 20% of college students in US misuse stimulants for
academic purpose11 . Medical students are more vulnerable to
use stimulants than others because they have to stay awake for
long time, prone to more stress, multiple examinations. So they
need to increase their ability to concentrate and focus to improve
their academic accomplishment12 . According to study was done
at university of Babol in Iran about 11% of medical students use
stimulant without medical purpose12 . As medical students in
Tanta university are exposed to much stress. so The
Hypothesis is a high percentage of stimulant use among
students.
5. Methodology
Study setting : faculty of medicine, Tanta University
Study design : cross-sectional survey study
Study duration : January, February, March 2019
Study subject :
Study population : medical students
Target group : medical students at Tanta University
Sample group : multistage clustered sampling with a size of
357 undergraduate students from grade one to grade 6
6. Data collection tools
Data collected by use of
A. Questionnaire sheet
B. Check list
Sample size is calculated by Raosoft
Statistical analysis
Data collected is organized, tabulated,
Statistically analyzed by using SPSS
software package.
Ethical Consideration
The study is approved from Tanta
University
Oral consent is taken
11. Conclusion
About 5.9% of medical students in Tanta University consume stimulants
non-medically (for academic purpose) about 94.9% of them are using
prescription stimulants as methylphenidate and amphetamine and 5.1%
are using illicit stimulants as cocaine
Females are using stimulants more than males
The most common reasons for stimulants use are (to be able to study
longer, to stay awake longer, to concentrate better while studying)
Percentage of stimulant use in Tanta university isn’t high compared to the
percentage at other universities
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