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. 2015 Jul 1:152:224-9.
doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2015.03.034. Epub 2015 Apr 9.

Peak ages of risk for starting nonmedical use of prescription stimulants

E A Austic  1
Affiliations

Peak ages of risk for starting nonmedical use of prescription stimulants

E A Austic. Drug Alcohol Depend. .

Erratum in

  • Drug Alcohol Depend. 2016 Feb 1;159:289. Meier, E A Austic Formerly E A [corrected to Austic, E A]

Abstract

Background: To produce population-level, year- and age-specific risk estimates of first time nonmedical use of prescription stimulants among young people in the United States.

Methods: Data are from the National Surveys on Drug Use and Health 2004-2012; a nationally representative probability sample survey administered each year. Subpopulations included youths aged 12 to 21 years (n=240,160) who had not used prescription stimulants nonmedically prior to their year of survey assessment. A meta-analytic approach was used to produce population-level age-, year-, and cohort-specific risk estimates of first time nonmedical use of prescription stimulants.

Results: Peak risk of starting nonmedical use of prescription stimulants was concentrated between ages 16 and 19 years, when an estimated 0.7% to 0.8% of young people reported nonmedical use of these medicines for the first time in the past twelve months. Smaller risk estimates ranging from 0.1% to 0.6% were observed at ages 12 to 15 years and 20 to 21 years. Compared with males, females were more likely to have started nonmedical use of prescription stimulants (odds ratio=1.35; 95% CI, 1.13-1.62), particularly between the ages of 14 and 19. Females showed a peak annual incidence rate of 1% at age 18, while males the same age showed an incidence rate of 0.5%.

Conclusions: Peak annual incidence rates for nonmedical use of prescription stimulants were observed between the ages of 16 and 19 years. There is reason to initiate interventions during the earlier adolescent years to prevent youths from starting nonmedical use of prescription stimulants.

Keywords: Adolescent; Nonmedical use; Stimulant.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest: No conflict declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Meta-analysis summary estimates: Age-specific risk of starting nonmedical use of prescription stimulants Figure 1. Age-specific incidence rate estimatesa (with standard error bars) for newly incident nonmedical use of prescription stimulants. Data are from the US National Surveys on Drug Use and Health 2004–2012 (n=240,160). a Age-specific summary estimates based on meta-analysis of estimates based on weighted proportions; each year provides an independent sample.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Meta-analysis summary estimates: Age-specific risk of starting nonmedical use of prescription stimulants, by sex. Age-specific incidence rate estimatesa (with standard error bars) for newly incident nonmedical use of prescription stimulants, by sex. Data are from the US National Surveys on Drug Use and Health 2004–2012 (n=240,160). a Age-specific summary estimates based on meta-analysis of estimates based on weighted proportions; each year provides an independent sample.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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