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Pain and Chemical Dependency News
The past 30 years of research on the epidemiology of drug use, drug use disorders,
and related conditions, such as HIV, have provided major insight into these
conditions. Drug use peaked in the late 1970s, decreased in the 1980s, increased
around 1992 and peaked around 1997, and has leveled, or declined in some cases,
during the past few years. Within this period, illicit drug use patterns in
adolescents and young adults, as well as specific epidemics of crack cocaine,
amphetamines, club drugs, heroin, and prescription opioids and associated epidemics
of HIV and other infectious diseases have been monitored. Besides major accomplishments
in surveillance, the epidemiology of drug use and drug use disorders has traditionally
focused on identifying risk factors such as family history, biological factors,
social environment, as well as policies and laws as domains of influence, not
as components of interrelated processes. There exists the potential for research
in the areas of how genetics and environmental factors interact. Article highlights
research methods that may contribute to an improved understanding of drug use
and drug use disorders. Compton WM, Thomas YF, Conway KP, Colliver JD. Adapted
from Am J Psychiatry. 2005 Aug;162(8):1494-502 .
Read more: PMID 16055770
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=16055770&query_hl=70
Credit: PubMed, developed by the National Center for Biotechnology Information
(NCBI) at the
National Library of Medicine (NLM).
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