Misuse of appetite- stimulant drugs in Babylon

Abstract EN

Drug misuse is defined as using of drugs for a non-therapeutic or non-medical purpose.

In Iraq drug misuse is a major problem because almost any drug can be easily obtained from pharmacies.

Appetite- stimulant drugs are example of drugs that are widely used without a prescription.

The study included 230 patients who use these drugs in Babylon.

A questionnaire included the following questions ; age, sex, marital state, the reason for use the drug , whether the drug is prescribed by physician or not , type of drug used , the frequency of daily dose and lastly the extent of side effects of the drugs used.

The results showed that the age range of 35 % of subjects were (17-21) years old and 70 % of participants were females.

The study also showed that 62 % of them are unmarried and the reason for use, in 48 % of subjects, was to increase the body weight.

Furthermore, this study revealed that about 68 % of those subjects utilized these drugs without prescription and the steroids are the most drug type used (33 %).

Additionally, 44 % of subjects used these drugs twice daily and 80 % of subjects who used steroids developed marked side effects.

It can be concluded that there is a misuse of appetite-stimulant drugs in subjects participated in this study and most of these drugs are not used on therapeutic or scientific bases.