Abstract:
Medical students experience significant psychological stress and are therefore
at higher risk of using sedatives. There are currently no studies describing the prevalence of
sedative drug use among medical students in Ethiopia. This study aimed to assess the
prevalence and associated factors of self-reported sedative drug use among medical students
attending the College of Medicine and Health Science (CMHS) students at the University of
Gondar (UoG).
Material and Methods: A prospective cross-sectional study was conducted from May to
July 2018 in CMHS at UoG. Data were collected using a pre-tested self-administered
standard questionnaire. Data were collected, entered into a computer using Epi Info 7
software, and analyzed using SPSS version 20. Frequency, mean, and standard deviation
were used to describe descriptive statistics, and binary and multiple logistic regression
analyses were used to assess the association between different variables and sedative drug
use; P <0.05 was used to declare association.
Results: Of the 422 students who returned questionnaires, 26 (6.2%) participants were
reported sedative drug use at some time since enrollment. Of these, 61.54% participants
used antihistamine drugs. Smoking status (AOR (95% CI), 0.046 (0.009–0.241) P = 0.0001),
stimulant use (AOR (95% CI), 0.220 (0.062–0.780) P = 0.019), sleeping hour (AOR (95%
CI), 9.931 (4.155–14.785) P = 0.001) and sleep disorder (AOR (95% CI), 0.149 (0.033–
0.680) P = 0.014) were significantly associated with sedative drug use.
Conclusion: Self-reported sedative drug use among medical students at the University of
Gondar is relatively low, and antihistamines are the most commonly used drugs. Smoking,
stimulant use, sleeping hour, and the presence of sleep disorders were associated with
sedative drug use.
Keywords: sedative drug, medical student, University of Gondar, Ethiopia
