SOCIODEMOGRAPHIC AND CLINICAL PROFILE OF SUBSTANCE USE DISORDER PATIENTS ADMITTED AT THE ONLY DRUG DEADDICTION FACILITY IN KASHMIR DURING COVID TIMES: A RETROSPECTIVE STUDY

Background: Substance use has become a major health problem globally. The current COVID times have witnessed a surge of substance use globally, especially among youngsters. Majority of drug deaddiction centers were not functioning or restricted admissions during COVID times, but our institute was one of the very few hospitals in northern India which was fully functional and admitted patients during these tough times. Method: 172 patients were admitted at our drug deaddiction center over a period of six months and enrolled in the study and their sociodemographic and clinical aspects were assessed. Results: our study showed that majority of the patients admitted in the hospital were males, belonging to rural areas, self employed, unmarried, with a greater percentage of about 97.09% using heroin and only 5.8% were using pharmaceutical opioids, 79.6% were intravenous drug users and hepatitis C was found in 52.90%, 38.13%% had relapsed mostly due to non adherence to naltrexone. Conclusion: it was found in our study that intravenous opioid use has increased tremendously in young male patients and a major chunk of the patients relapsed due to non adherence to medication.