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A systematic review and meta-analysis of substance use among medical students in India
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Background and Aims: Substance use among medical students may have consequences like poor academic performance and impaired patient care. There is a growing literature on substance use among medical students in India. This systematic review and meta-analysis were done to synthesize the literature on substance use among medical students in India. Methods: Medline and Google Scholar were used as search engines to ascertain the literature that reported substance use among Indian medical students from January 2000 to January 2022. The pooled prevalence of tobacco, alcohol, other substance, and overall substance use was computed. Results: A total of 65 studies were included. The pooled prevalence of tobacco use was 21.9% (95% confidence intervals [CI] 18.5% to 25.3%, n = 20,165, k = 51), while the pooled prevalence of alcohol use was 27.1% (95% CI of 23.0% to 31.1%, n = 11,823, k = 31). The overall pooled prevalence of substance use was 40.3% (95% CI of 25.5% to 55.2%, n = 4960, k = 10), while pooled prevalence of cannabis was 8.2% (95% CI of 4.9% to 11.5%, n = 2418, k = 7). The use of tobacco was about 10 times higher in males than females, while the odds of alcohol use were about five times higher in males. Conclusion: Substance use is common among medical students, with rates of substance use being generally higher in males as compared to females. Targeted interventions may help to reduce substance use and prevent the development of substance use disorders in this population.
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“These figures are considerably higher than figures for the general population in India and estimates from Indian reviews on medical students.52–54”
From Mental Health, Suicidality, Health, and Social Indicators Among College Students Across Nine States in India (2025) · cites this paper as [54]
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“42 Although the usage of the internet for academic versus non-ac-ademic purposes was not separately assessed in our study, given that the data collection was completed before the onset of the pandemic and considering”
Metadata
- Authors
- Sahu, A., Bhati, N., & Sarkar, S.
- Affiliations
- All India Institute of Medical Sciences (IN)
- Corresponding author
- Sarkar, Siddharth
- Venue
- Indian Journal of Psychiatry
- Published
- 2022-05
- Volume
- 64
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 225-239
- ISSN
- 0019-5545 (ISSN-L)
- 1998-3794
- PMC
- PMC9290412
- OpenAlex
- W4285242866
- Cited by
- 23
- References
- 62
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 1
- FWCI
- 0.64
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- diamond
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by-nc-sa
- Locations
- Indian Journal of Psychiatry (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Substance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Healthcare professionals’ stress and burnout
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Smoking Behavior and Cessation
- Keywords
- substance use, medical students, tobacco use, alcohol consumption, cannabis use, prevalence, sex differences, India, substance use disorders
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