A Household Study on the Prevalence of Substance Misuse in Tehran: The need for other methods to estimate the prevalence

Objective: Substance misuse is a major public health threat in Iran. The total number of addicts in Iran is estimated to be between 700,000 and 4,000,000. A few limited household studies on the prevalence of substance misuse have been performed in Iran. Method: The residents of the sixth district of the municipality of Tehran who were over the age of 15 were selected as the study population. The sample size was 2,705. The instrument of the study was face-to-face interviews. Results: 184(6.8%) of the subjects had used at least one substance in their lives and 142(5.2%) used a substance during the month before the interviews. 132(4.88%), 10(0.37%), 3(0.11%), 5(0.19%) and 4(15%) of the subjects reported the use of alcohol, opium, opium residue, heroin, and cannabis respectively during the month before the interviews. Conclusion: The estimate and profile of substance use are different from other methodologies. This household study indicated lower than expected prevalence of opioids and higher than expected alcohol use. Indirect estimation methods are probably more appropriate for the prevalence studies of substance misuse in Iran.