Psychiatric morbidities and substance use disorders (SUDs) among youth (11-24 years): A Hospital based cross sectional survey during COVID pandemic from North West, India.

Background: Epidemiological studies indicate an association between substance use disorder (SUDs) and psychiatric morbidity. Knowledge is still scarce about mental health and psychiatric morbidities among youth with substance use disorders (SUDs) during Covid pandemic. Materials and method: This cross-sectional study was conducted among youth (11-24 years) who were attending the OPD in a tertiary care teaching hospital as a patient or an accompanying attendant to the patient. Psychiatric morbidity was measured by using of Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS-21). Results: The results revealed that 20% of the youth were drug users. Among drug users, depression, anxiety and stress were present in 18.51% in comparison to 3.24% among non-users. Age, gender, residence, literacy levels and monthly family income were significantly associated with drug abuse (p<0.05). Conclusion: Results of this study have revealed significant association between psychiatric morbidities and substance use. Among the psychiatric morbidities, anxiety and stress were found to be the most common among drug users. It would be safe to conclude that role of Covid pandemic for increased anxiety and stress among the SUDs.