Cytogenetic Risks and Possible Adverse Health Effects by Narcotic Substances Dependent

Objectives: illicit drug abuse has crossed social, economic, andgeographical borders, and remains one of the major health problemsthat modern society is facing worldwide. the role of multiple drugabuse as a basic for chromosome damage has been overlooked andit is important to determine its possible adverse health effects. thisstudy aimed to compare the frequency of chromosomal damagesbetween drug addicts and free drug controls.methods: cytogenetic study was obtained from 146 illicit drugusersand 200 free drug controls. subjects were grouped into threecategories depending on main drug of dependence.results: cytogenetic studies on cultured lymphocytes showed anincrease the frequency of chromosomal damages among addictsincluding opiate (5.89%), heroin (7.65%), and crystal (4.9%) whencompared with drug free controls (1.45%). the frequency ofchromosomal abnormalities was breaks, gaps, marker, and acentric,respectively.conclusions: our findings are also important as they are amongthe first to suggest here, illicit drug addiction continue to besignificant public health problems in iran.