Tehran University Medical Journal

---

Illicit drug abuse is a major area of interest for clinicians, as well as for public health and social authorities, but one of the major concerns is the illicit drug abuse during the periconceptional period and throughout pregnancy, because of its potential effects on the embryo and fetus. In this study we investigated the prevalence of illicit drug abuse in the first trimester of pregnancy in women who referred to Iran, Tehran and Shahid Beheshti universities of medical sciences, for prenatal care.
Materials and Methods: In this descriptive cross sectional study, a non-randomized sample of 2000 pregnant women that were in their second and third trimester of their pregnancy, were interviewed about drug abuse in their first trimester. Collected data were analyzed by SPSS software.
Results: The prevalence of illicit drug abuse in the first trimester was 2.5% which the majority of these drugs were in group B. The prevalence of drug abuse was 0.9% and alcohol usage and alcohol abuse was 0.2%, cigarette smoking was the most common drug abusing phenomena. Variables such as husband education, infertility and satisfaction with pregnancy have significant relation with drug abuse.
Conclusion: The results of this study support the need for continued education and this education must end in by itself to make dramatic changes in behavior. So results of this study showed that, improving education and knowledge of mothers and consultation with them in regard to risks and complications of drug abuse during pregnancy, would make dramatic changes in their behavior.

 

---

Background: A plan for management of infected arterial pseudoaneurysm has evolved from our experience with forty two cases of such aneurysms treated between 1378 and 1382.
Methods: Clinical data of 42 patients with femoral pseudoaneurysm resulting from addictive drug injection who presented in emergency department of Sina Hospital between 1378 and 1383 were retrospectively reviewed.
Results: All patients were men with the mean age of 36.9 years. Twenty eight patients were referred from other medical centers. The mean time of delay in presentation was 17.3 days. The mean duration of drug injection was 14 months. Primary repair and emergent vascular bypass were performed in 3(7.1%) and 2(4.8%) patients, respectively. 5(11.9%) patients undergone delayed revascularization. Thirty two (76.2%) patients returned to their normal lifestyle without any vascular bypass. One patient required amputation and one patient died due to sepsis and acute renal insufficiency.
Conclusion: Management of infected femoral pseudoaneurysms is simple ligation of the external iliac or femoral artery. When Doppler is not available “Operation Room and postoperative Direct Observation” is recommended in such patients to avoid unnecessary revascularization surgery.

---

Background: To eradicate a problem such as drug abuse, we need thorough knowledge of the problem and its epidemiological aspects. In response to increasing ecstasy abuse among youth, as noted by the increase in related health issues at emergency clinics, we performed this epidemiologic study on ecstasy use in Tehran.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, including 1,903 youth aged 15-25 years, at different coffee shops in Tehran, Iran, subjects filled out questionnaires to evaluate the prevalence of ecstasy use with regard to gender, age, family income, level of education, psychological state (Beck test), acute complications of ecstasy use, as well as manner and place of ecstasy use and reason for repeated ecstasy use. Information was gathered from September 2004 to January 2005, using simple nonprobable sampling.

Results: The prevalence of ecstasy abuse among our study population was 18.5%, which meaningfully correlated with gender (male), education level (undergraduate degree), family income (high), drug abuse and Beck test score (high). The mean age of ecstasy abusers was 21.3 years (SD: 2.65), which wasn't statistically different than the study population as a whole and the portion that did not use ecstasy. Tablet was the most common form of ecstasy usage (97.1%). In this study population, 91.4% had heard of the ecstasy name, and 83.7% were familiar with its use. The most common site of usage was in parties (85.7%) and in group forms (84%). Of all the users, 30% stated the reason for repeat ecstasy use was their friends' insistence, 38.8% expressed emotional need, 37.7% had no reason, whereas 6.6% felt a physical need and 1.7% repeatedly used ecstasy to prevent withdrawal symptoms

Conclusion: Some studies have reported that drug abusing friends are the basic cause of drug abuse. In this study, the ecstasy users admitted that the influence of friends and emotional need were the causes of their repeat use. Remarkably, these subjects report withdrawal symptoms with ecstasy use. Most importantly, families have to consider the relationships and emotional needs of their children. The statistical difference between Beck test scores between ecstasy users and the non-users placed them in two clinically different psychological groups. The ecstasy users were in groups that definitely needed psychological consultation and non-users were in the slightly depressed group. These psychological aspect of drug abuse expressed here is an alarm.