Prevalence Of Cannabis Use Among Patients Attending Themethadone Clinic At Mathari National Teaching & Referral Hospital: A Retrospective Study
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Date
2019Author
Ngarachu, Elizabeth
Type
ThesisLanguage
enMetadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Background: There is a dearth of evidence on cannabis use among patients receiving
methadone in Kenya as the medically assisted therapy (MAT) program is still fairly
new in the country. However, polysubstance use especially cannabis is the most
commonly used illegal drug by patients on methadone therapy resulting in
compromised treatment outcomes.
Study Objectives: This study sought to determine the prevalence of cannabis use
among patients on methadone treatment at Mathari National Teaching & Referral
Hospital. The objectives were to determine the prevalence of cannabis use and the
socio-demographic characteristics of patients receiving methadone who use cannabis
at MNRTH methadone clinic from December 2014 to November 2018.
Methods: This was a retrospective study of 984 patients on methadone therapy at
Mathari National Teaching & Referral Hospital from December 2014 to November
2018, using their medical records. We collected data on socio-demographics and drug
use through urine drug screens. Data was analyzed using SPSS for windows version
23.0. We used frequency and proportions, chi-square and Fischer Exact test for
analysis.
Results: The prevalence of cannabis use in participants was 62.8%. Majority of
cannabis users were male (88.1%), aged 28-37 years (42.2%), unemployed (74.3%),
had low level of education (87.7%) and single (72.4%). Comparing cannabis users
and non-cannabis users, statistical differences were observed in the proportions for
age, university education and participants who were married.
Conclusion: The high prevalence of cannabis use among patients in Nairobi receiving
methadone underscores the need for addressing this public health burden. Mental
health care professionals in MAT clinics should exercise due diligence in the
monitoring and screening of cannabis use through administering the cannabis use
disorder identification test (CUDIT) questionnaire to assess for dependence among
patients on methadone therapy. Better clinical interventions such as targeted
psychotherapy and social support should be conducted to promote MAT retention and
long-term recovery outcomes. Policy makers such as Ministry of Health and other
agencies should develop appropriate protocols and comprehensive programs for
targeted management of this population.
Recommendation: To build upon our study findings, we recommend exploratory
studies on the drivers for cannabis use in patients receiving methadone and
interventions for this gateway drug. Future researchers need to conduct longitudinal
studies to assess which pattern of cannabis use results in cannabis use disorder. In our
study, more individuals were lost to follow up due to cannabis use compared to noncannabis
use thus, more prospective cohort studies on the impact of cannabis use on
treatment outcome would be necessary.
Publisher
University of Nairobi
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United StatesUsage Rights
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/Collections
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