Pattern of Substance Abuse among Youths Seen at Psychiatric Hospital Rumuigbo Hospital in Rivers State, Nigeria in 2020-2024

Abstract

Background: Youth substance misuse is becoming a more significant socioeconomic and public health issue in Rivers State, Nigeria.

Objective: The prevalence and trends of substance abuse are reviewed in this article, along with important abuser's demographics and some detrimental consequences of substance misuse.

Methods: This a descriptive cross-sectional study which utilized secondary data collected from Psychiatric hospital between 2020 and 2024 (461 case files). Data was analyzed using Advanced Microsoft Excel and summarized using descriptive statistics such as frequency, simple percentage, mean and standard deviation.

Results: The report highlights the most often abused substances: alcohol (11, 2%), cannabis (120, 26%), and dual/poly-substance users (402, 68%) based on data from Psychiatric Hospital Port Harcourt. There are also growing worries about tramadol and other psychoactive medications. Young men (93.06%), are a particularly vulnerable group, especially those over the age of 26years. The main negative consequences include, substance use disorders (201, 44%), Psychosis (145, 31%), schizophrenia (4, 1%), mental behavioral disorders (106, 23%) seizures etc.

Conclusion: To lessen the negative consequences of substance misuse on young people, the results highlight the urgent need for comprehensive intervention methods, such as improved public health education, fortified regulatory frameworks, and easily available counseling services to be able to lessen the negative impacts of substance abuse on Rivers State's youth population.