Polysubstance Use Among Alcoholics

Staines, Graham L.; Magura, Stephen; Foote, Jeffrey; DeLuca, Alexander; Kosanke, Nicole

doi:10.1300/j069v20n04_06

Cited by 103 publications

(76 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…In addition to the high rates of nicotine, alcohol, and drug use, there were elevated rates of dependence across all substances in the cocaine dependent cases compared to community-based subjects. This finding demonstrates a general vulnerability to substance dependence which is consistent with other studies of cocaine dependence (Petry, 2003;Staines et al, 2001). Thus, the treatment for cocaine dependent individuals must focus on polysubstance use and dependence, which is likely to be more difficult to treat.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Drug use and dependence in cocaine dependent subjects, community-based individuals, and their siblings

Bierut

Strickland

Thompson

et al. 2008

Drug and Alcohol Dependence

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Background-The purpose of this study was to examine substance use and dependence among cocaine dependent subjects and their siblings compared to individuals recruited from the same neighborhood and their siblings in order to better understand family and neighborhood contributions to the development of dependence.Methods-Cocaine dependent subjects were recruited through treatment centers. Communitybased subjects were matched to cocaine dependent index cases on age, ethnicity, gender, and zip code. One full sibling for each case and community-based subject participated.Results-Cocaine dependent subjects were significantly more likely than community-based subjects to use all substances studied and were 2 to 10 times more likely to be dependent on alcohol and other illicit drugs. Dependence only on cocaine was uncommon (<10%). The siblings of cocaine dependent subjects had higher rates of substance use and were 1.3 to 3 times more likely to have a diagnosis of substance dependence compared siblings of community-based subjects. However, when analyses focused only on those who ever used a specific substance, the siblings of cocaine dependent cases were at a similar or modestly elevated risk (1.5 times) of developing dependence.Conclusions-Cocaine dependence is characterized by polysubstance use and dependence. In addition, the prevalence of substance dependence in the community subjects was higher than reported for the general population, indicating that cocaine dependent cases live in high-risk communities with elevated prevalence of substance dependence. A potential intervention to decrease the family clustering of dependence is to reduce the initiation of drug use in at risk relatives.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Drug use and dependence in cocaine dependent subjects, community-based individuals, and their siblings

Bierut

Strickland

Thompson

et al. 2008

Drug and Alcohol Dependence

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“…As found with other populations (Bradley et al, 2004), our findings suggest that alcohol treatment history can be a tool to help identify harmful drinking by IDUs. Similarly, the association between depression and alcohol is not unique to this population-these conditions frequently co-occur and are often comorbid with polysubstance use (Grant and Harford, 1995;Staines et al, 2001;Ross et al, 1988). Other characteristics related to a more risky or marginalized lifestyle were also independently associated with screening positive for problem drinking, including homelessness, speedball use and injecting with used needles (Garfein et al, 1998;Malow et al, 1992).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

High prevalence of alcohol use among hepatitis C virus antibody positive injection drug users in three US cities

Campbell

Hagan

Latka

et al. 2006

Drug and Alcohol Dependence

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Injection drug users (IDUs) acquire the majority of new hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections and frequently use alcohol. Alcohol abuse accelerates liver disease among HCV-infected persons, can reduce the effectiveness of treatment for HCV infection and may be a contraindication for HCV treatment. HCV seropositive, HIV-negative IDUs aged 18-35 years in Baltimore, New York City and Seattle who were enrolled in a behavioral risk-reduction intervention trial underwent computerized self-interviews to assess baseline alcohol use and dependence and medical history. We measured problem alcohol use using the 10-item Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) scale. Of 598 participants, 84% responded "false" to: "it is safe for a person with HCV to drink alcohol". Problem drinking, defined as score ≥ 8 on AUDIT, was identified in 37%. Correlates of scoring ≥ 8 on AUDIT included homelessness, male gender, primarily injecting speedballs, having injected with used needles, prior alcohol treatment and depression. Although most HCV seropositive IDUs in our sample appear informed about their increased risk of liver disease from alcohol, twofifths screened positive for problem alcohol use. These findings underscore the importance of referring HCV-positive persons to effective alcohol treatment programs to reduce future liver damage and improve eligibility for and effectiveness of treatment of HCV.

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“…The TF has been used extensively in the study of drinking patterns (20)(21)(22)(23)(24) and has recently been used to study patterns of other drug use, for which reliability and validity has been examined and documented (25)(26)(27). However, to our knowledge, this is the first time the TF has been used to study patterns of illicit drug use longitudinally in a sample of college students.…”

Section: 6a Measures Of Drug Exposure Opportunity and Use Patternmentioning

confidence: 99%

Drug Exposure Opportunities and Use Patterns among College Students: Results of a Longitudinal Prospective Cohort Study

et al. 2008

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Underage drinking and drug use among college students are major public health concerns, yet few studies have examined these behaviors and their associated risk factors and consequences prospectively. This paper describes the sampling and recruitment methods of a longitudinal study of 1,253 college students at a large, mid-Atlantic university. Incoming first-year students were screened during the unique window between high school and college in order to oversample drug users for longitudinal follow-up. Intensive recruitment strategies yielded a 95% cumulative response rate in annual interviews and semi-annual surveys. We report preliminary results on exposure opportunity, lifetime prevalence, initiation, continuation, and cessation of substance use for alcohol, tobacco, and ten illicit and prescription drugs during the first two years of college. Findings suggest that while some substance use represents a continuation of patterns initiated in high school, exposure opportunity and initiation of substance use frequently occur in college. Implications for prevention and early intervention are discussed. Keywords NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author Manuscript IntroductionUnderage drinking and illicit substance use among college students are major public health concerns. Annually, at least 1,400 deaths are attributable to alcohol use on college campuses (1). High-risk drinking among young adults is associated with sexual assault, destruction of property, academic problems, accidental injury, and several adverse health consequences (2-5). Binge drinking and illicit drug use often co-occur (2,6-10), but in contrast to longitudinal studies of alcohol consumption (11), surprisingly few longitudinal prospective studies have examined patterns, correlates, and consequences of illicit drug use among college students. Little information is available on the patterns of initiation and cessation during college-that is, it is not known how often drug use is initiated after coming to college versus continuing a pattern that began in high school, and how often a pattern of regular drug use resolves among college students. Moreover, a majority of the conceptual models used to explain the onset and course of early drug use were developed from studying samples of adolescents, many of whom were deviant and disadvantaged (12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17). Although the application of these models to samples of educated, academically-achieving youths might be appropriate, other risk factors and consequences might be needed to fully describe the natural history and course of drug use and other health risk behaviors during this unique developmental window. For example, an important potential outcome of drug use among college students might be diminished expectations regarding career goals or difficulty establishing autonomy.This paper describes results from the College Life Study (CLS), funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse in October 2003 to address critical gaps in our knowledge base concerning the longi...

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Polysubstance Use Among Alcoholics

Cited by 103 publications

References 31 publications

Drug use and dependence in cocaine dependent subjects, community-based individuals, and their siblings

Drug use and dependence in cocaine dependent subjects, community-based individuals, and their siblings

High prevalence of alcohol use among hepatitis C virus antibody positive injection drug users in three US cities

Drug Exposure Opportunities and Use Patterns among College Students: Results of a Longitudinal Prospective Cohort Study

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