ArticleDrug and alcohol dependence2012
Prevalence and patterns of commonly abused psychoactive prescription drugs in a sample of university students from Lebanon: an opportunity for cross-cultural comparisons.
Article in Drug and alcohol dependence, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 36 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
36 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 86 citations in OpenAlex.
- Systematic review of the use of prescription and non-prescription psychotropic drugs and their relation with mental health in university population.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Pooled it
- Cannabis use among Arab students: a systematic review.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- The Illicit Use of Prescription Stimulants on College Campuses: A Theory-Guided Systematic Review.Health education & behavior : the official publication of the Society for Public Health Education · 2015Pooled it
- Burnout in medical students and its psychological correlates with mentorship, motivation and professional values.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Article
- Prevalence and correlates of restless leg syndrome in psychiatric outpatients in Lebanon.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Psychopathy dimensions and substance use: evidence from a non-institutionalized adult population.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
- Prevalence of psychoactive substance use among medical students in the EMRO region.Journal of public health in Africa · 2025Review
- From knowledge to attitude: design and initial validation of scales for assessing psychoactive substance consumption among university students.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Patterns of cannabis use, perception of harm, and perceived impact of legislative change in an online sample of young adults from Lebanon: insight on recreational users versus dual motive users.Harm reduction journal · 2024Article
- Opioid use disorder in two samples of the Lebanese population: scale validation and correlation with sleep and mood disorders.BMC psychiatry · 2023Article
- Prescription opioid misuse in relation to addiction susceptibility among women at a Saudi university.Saudi pharmaceutical journal : SPJ : the official publication of the Saudi Pharmaceutical Society · 2023Article
- Development of scales to measure Lebanese university students' perceived knowledge about and attitudes about cannabis use: initial psychometric properties.Journal of cannabis research · 2022Article
- Validation of the Arabic and French Versions of a Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices (KAP) Questionnaire on Tranquilizer Misuse.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
- What Contributes to Stigma Towards Autistic University Students and Students with Other Diagnoses?Journal of autism and developmental disorders · 2021Article
- Nutritional parameters and lifestyle practices of people who use drugs undergoing treatment for recovery in Lebanon: a descriptive study.Journal of nutritional science · 2021Article
- People who use drugs in rehabilitation, from chaos to discipline: Advantages and pitfalls: A qualitative study.PloS one · 2021Article
- Factors associated with alcohol use disorder: the role of depression, anxiety, stress, alexithymia and work fatigue- a population study in Lebanon.BMC public health · 2020Article
- Prevalence of medical students' burnout and its associated demographics and lifestyle factors in Hong Kong.PloS one · 2020Article
- Investigating the Prevalence of Sleep Disorder and the Impact of Sweet Almond on the Quality of Sleep in Students of Tehran, Iran.Iranian journal of public health · 2019Article
- Surveying Alcohol Outlet Density in Four Neighborhoods of Beirut Lebanon: Implications for Future Research and National Policy.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2018Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundConcerns about psychoactive prescription drug abuse among youth are growing worldwide, but the majority of published studies remain from the US and Canada impeding cross-cultural comparisons. This study examines the prevalence, sources, motivations and substance-use correlates of commonly abused medications among youth from Lebanon.
methodsAn IRB-approved cross-sectional study was conducted (May 2010) at the American University of Beirut. Proportionate cluster sampling was used to generate a representative sample of AUB students (n=570). A self-filled anonymous questionnaire was administered.
resultsLifetime medical and nonmedical prevalence of medications were (respectively): pain (36.9%, 15.1%), anxiety (8.3%, 4.6%), sleeping (6.5%, 5.8%) and stimulants (2.6%, 3.5%). Gender differences were not observed. Lebanese were least likely to report non-medical use. Nonmedical users mostly used the drugs for their intended purpose (e.g., sleeping to help in sleep, stimulants to increase alertness). Parents and pharmacists (without a doctor's prescription) were the top two sources of all medications, except for stimulants (friends predominated). Diversion was observed in about 20% of the medical users. Lifetime marijuana users and past year alcohol abusers were three times as likely to use any prescription drug nonmedically.
conclusionsIn Lebanon, as in Western cultures, a considerable proportion of youth may be self-medicating. The absence of medical supervision coupled with motivations such as "to get high" renders this issue a high priority on the national youth agenda. Besides larger more comprehensive surveys, the findings signal the immediate need to reinforce relevant policies, and raise awareness among youth, parents, health professionals and other stakeholders.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.