Knowledge and prevalence of substance abuse among undergraduate students of a Nigerian university

Background: Substance abuse among university students is an evolving concern among young person’s today with grave consequences on health and well-being. This study aimed to assess the knowledge and prevalence of substance abuse among university students in order to identify appropriate preventive measures. Methods:  An analytical cross-sectional study was conducted among 771 undergraduate students of the University of Benin, Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria, using pretested self-administered questionnaire. Respondents were selected by a multistage sampling technique, data collected were analyzed using IBM SPSS version 25.0. Statistical significance was set at p < 0.050 at 95% confidence interval. Results: The mean age of respondents studied was 23.2 ± 2.3 years. Six hundred and sixty-four (97.2%) of the respondents had good knowledge of substance abuse. The life time prevalence of substance use was 44.4% (n=342) while recent  prevalence of substance use was 68.1% (n= 233). Faculty of students (OR=2.320; CI=1.379 - 2.434; p<0.001), religion (OR: 0.452; CI: 0.048-0.282; p<0.001), family type (OR: 0.240; CI: 1.215-3.118; p=0.006), monthly allowance (OR: 0.375; CI: 1.541-6.707; p=0.002) and knowledge of substance use (OR: 0.235; CI: 0.075-0.740; p=0.013) were identified as significant predictors of substance use. Conclusion: Despite good knowledge of substance abuse and health implications a little less than half of the respondents used substances. There is need to reduce the prevalence of substance use through targeted health educational interventions among this target population.