DOI: 10.36347/sjams.2018.v06i08.027

Pages: 3081-3084

Over the centuries, opium has been the most frequent substance abused in the many parts of the world. In India opium dependence is widely prevalent in certain states of India, especially Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh etc. In rural areas of western Rajasthan crude opium is consumed with a social acceptance by adult male population. Later on they become addicted to it. There are many studies about the effects of opium on the various body systems but its chronic abuse effect on autonomic functions is still unclear, therefore this study is undertaken to explore the effect of chronic abuse of opium on Haematological parameters in opium dependent subjects of western Rajasthan and its comparison with normal non - addicted controlled subjects. In this study total 100 male subjects were included, which were further divided in two groups. 50 subjects were from opium addicted population and 50 were healthy subjects. Female subjects were omitted from analysis due to their low numbers. Subjects who fulfilled DSM- IV criteria were chosen as opium dependent subjects. All the haematological parameters were assessed to show the effect of opium addiction on blood cell count, haematocrit, blood indices and ESR. In our present study, we found that in opium addicted subjects, Red blood cell counts, haematocrit and haemoglobin level decrease was highly significant (P < 0.001). The MCV, MCH has highly significant change while in MCHC there was no statistical difference in between two groups. White blood cell count however increased significantly in opium addicts with significant increase in differential neutrophils and monocyte count and significant decrease in Differential lymphocytes count (P<0.05) . Differential count for eosinophil and basophil showed no significant change (P>0.05. The erythrocytes sedimentation rate decrease was not statistically significant (P>0.05). ). The observations in our led to the conclusion that improper feeding, lack of self-care, inadequate