Substance use and associated factors among Iranian university students: a meta-analysis

ABSTRACT

Background

This study aimed to identify risk and protective factors associated with substance use among Iranian university students.

Methods

We searched for studies in English published from January 1, 1995 to February 20, 2021, on PubMed, Scopus, Cochrane, and Web of Science to identify primary studies on the factors associated with substance use among university students.

Results

Out of 8,481 articles, 39 studies met eligibility criteria. Our findings showed a pooled prevalence rate of alcohol use 23% (95% CI, 8% 39%), smoking 21% (95% CI, 6% 37%) and other drug use 14% (95% CI, 10% 18%) in the last year among student. Hookah use, living alone, being a current cigarette smoker, and other drug use were significantly associated with alcohol use. The findings of the present study showed that being male, older age, alcohol use, had depression, had parents or friends who smoke, and religious beliefs were significantly associated with smoking among students. This meta-analysis also showed that living alone, alcohol use, history of drug use, and hookah use were significantly associated with drug use among students.

Conclusion

Substance use prevention programs provided by universities could be improved by signifying high-risk populations addressed by the related literature.

KEYWORDS:

• Alcohol use
• mental health
• drug use
• substance use

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Author contributions

AB. and BA. Conceived the study EA, ES and RM collected all data. PZ, and FPJ analyzed and interpreted the data. RM, AE and B.A. drafted the manuscript. All authors commented on the drafts of the manuscript and approved the final copy of the paper for submission.

Ethics approval and consent to participate

This study was an analysis of preexisting literature and did not use human subjects.

Availability of data and materials

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed on the publisher’s website.

Additional information

Funding

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.