Objective:

To calculate the prevalence of Psychoactive Substances Abuse and its relationship with personal, demographic, recreational, and family factors in soldiers assigned to a battalion of a Colombian city.

Method:

Cross-sectional study in a sample of 384 soldiers who were applied the ASSIST test. A descriptive analysis was performed, and the prevalence of PAS was calculated in life and at three months, with their respective 95% confidence intervals (CI). The association of the outcome with plausible factors was determined, using the prevalence ratio and their respective 95% CI. Simple and multiple binomial regression models and negative binomial regression were constructed (calculation of the Index-Rate Rations (IRR)) and the Fisher's exact test was calculated. To determine the variables to adjust the model, the Hosmer-Lemeshow criterion was applied.

Results:

The prevalence of PAS use in life was 73.7% with a predominance of drug use or alcoholic beverages 58.6%, tobacco 47.9%, cannabis 41.1%, and cocaine 16.4%. The prevalence of PAS use in the last three months was 48.4%, with the prevalence of smoking being 33.1%.

Conclusions:

The consumption of psychoactive substances is a problem that must be approached from the human factor and social management in any organization, in general, and, particularly, in the Colombian army. The insertion protocols of regular soldiers should be reviewed to minimize the incorporation of citizens who consume psychoactive substances.

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