Khan, M & Aslam, N. (2020). Prevalence of Caffeine Intake among Cigarette Smokers: Directing Caffeine Use Disorder among Pakistani Population, Pak J Med Res, 59 (1), 15-21.

Background: Caffeine is the most commonly used psychoactive drug, being widely enjoyed and open handedly taken all around the world. The use of tea, coffee, soft drinks, chocolates etc is quite common without any sort of consideration to its overuse and lethal impact on health. Persistently inclusive findings suggested a direct relationship between caffeine use and cigarette smoking. Accordingly, intake of caffeine and nicotine is always recognized as a formidable combination, intimidating the survival of smokers.

Objective: The present study was designed to explore prevalence of the prospect caffeine use disorder among cigarette smokers along with demographic considerations.

Methodology: It was a qualitative study having sample of 30 cigarette smoker students, with the age ranged from 16 to 25 years being interviewed from Islamabad and Rawalpindi. Caffeine Use disorder checklist was developed on the basis of DSM-V criteria as an interview guide. The first four items of the check list reflects the symptoms from DSM-V, essential for diagnosing the problem.

Results: Results showed that 47% were suffering from caffeine use disorder. Out of 30 individuals 14 were found to be addicted to caffeine. Furthermore, the findings of the study showed that the addiction is higher among the individual who were older in this sample.

Conclusion: The study has the implication for the mental health professionals for devising the intervention plan and for reducing the health threatening impact of such addictions.