An epidemiological study of tramadol HCl dependence in an outpatient addiction clinic at Heliopolis Psychiatric Hospital

Objectives The aim of this study was to detect the prevalence of tramadol HCl dependency among substance abusers, assess the severity of addiction, recognize comorbid psychiatric disorders, and identify risk factors to start tramadol abuse. Background An increasingly alarming phenomenon of tramadol drug abuse has been demonstrated in the Egyptian community. Participants and methods The studied group had 330 Egyptian substance abusers. They were subjected to the following: a semistructured interview sheet, a structured clinical interview for DSM-IV (SCID-I) to diagnose psychiatric disorders, the addiction severity index scale, and urine screening for substance abuse. Results The prevalence of tramadol HCl dependency according to all substance abusers was 49%. The prevalence of comorbid psychiatric disorders was 43%. On studying risk factors for tramadol abuse we found sexual purpose and pleasurable effect were the strongest predictors. Conclusion The increase in the prevalence of tramadol HCl dependency over other substances in the Egyptian community calls for more attention from family and educational and health institutes.