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An Exploratory Study of Units of Reporting Opium Usein Iran: Implications for Epidemiologic Studies Pubmed



Mohebbi E1 ; Kamangar F2, 3 ; Rahimimovaghar A4 ; Haghdoost AA5 ; Etemadi A2, 6 ; Amirzadeh S7 ; Najafi F8, 9 ; Shafeie F10 ; Fakhari A11 ; Ghaleban K11 ; Shahidsales S12 ; Hosseini ZS13 ; Honarvar MR14 ; Majnooni F15 Show All Authors
Authors
  1. Mohebbi E1
  2. Kamangar F2, 3
  3. Rahimimovaghar A4
  4. Haghdoost AA5
  5. Etemadi A2, 6
  6. Amirzadeh S7
  7. Najafi F8, 9
  8. Shafeie F10
  9. Fakhari A11
  10. Ghaleban K11
  11. Shahidsales S12
  12. Hosseini ZS13
  13. Honarvar MR14
  14. Majnooni F15
  15. Hadji M1
  16. Zendehdel K1, 16

Source: Archives of Iranian medicine Published:2019


Abstract

BACKGROUND: Measuring the amount of opium use is a challenge in epidemiologic studies. Self-report of amount of opium use at each consumption, widely used in the literature, usually fails to provide a good estimate. The purpose of this study is to systematically study the perceived weight units of reported opium use in Iran, and compare them to the standardized units of weight measurement. METHODS: An exploratory descriptive study was conducted in six major cities of Iran. Study participants were interviewed and asked to use a Play-Doh-like material to demonstrate the amount of opium they use. To obtain an estimate of the weight of the material used, we multiplied the volume by the density of the opium product. We experimentally determined the density of the commonly used opium products. We used medians and inter-quartile ranges (IQRs) to report the typical amount of each unit. RESULTS: A total of 108 individuals participated in this study. The most frequently reported unit was gram; the median perceived weight for one gram (g) of opium was 0.24 (IQR: 0.16) g. The second most commonly used unit was nokhod with a median of 0.16 (IQR: 0.16) g, followed by mesghaal and hab/habeh, which were 1.28 (IQR: 0.81) and 0.16 (IQR: 0.16) g, respectively. The median perceived weight of mesghaal and gram in the studied cities was less than the expected standardized values. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, the reported amount of opium use is highly inaccurate and unreliable, and is mainly subject to underestimation. © 2019 The Author(s). This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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