Citation

Jarlenski M, Barry CL, Gollust S, Graves AJ, Kennedy-Hendricks A, Kozhimannil K. Am. J. Public Health 2017; 107(8): 1308-1310.

Affiliation

Marian Jarlenski is with the Department of Health Policy and Management, University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, Pittsburgh, PA. Colleen L. Barry and Alene Kennedy-Hendricks are with the Department of Health Policy and Management, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD. Sarah Gollust, Amy J. Graves, and Katy Kozhimannil are with the Division of Health Policy and Management, University of Minnesota School of Public Health, Minneapolis.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, American Public Health Association)

DOI

10.2105/AJPH.2017.303825

PMID

28640680

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: To determine the prevalence and patterns of polysubstance use among US reproductive-aged women who use opioids for nonmedical purposes.

METHODS: We used the National Survey of Drug Use and Health (2005-2014) data on female respondents aged 18 to 44 years reporting nonmedical opioid use in the past 30 days (unweighted n = 4498). We categorized patterns of polysubstance use in the past 30 days, including cigarettes, binge drinking, and other legal and illicit substances and reported prevalence adjusted for age, race/ethnicity, and educational attainment.

RESULTS: Of all women with nonmedical opioid use, 11% reported only opioid use. Polysubstance use was highest in non-Hispanic White women and women with lower educational attainment. The most frequently used other substances among women using opioids nonmedically were cigarettes (56.2% smoked > 5 cigarettes per day), binge drinking (49.7%), and marijuana (32.4%). Polysubstance use was similarly prevalent among pregnant women with nonmedical opioid use.

CONCLUSIONS: Polysubstance use is highly prevalent among US reproductive-aged women reporting nonmedical opioid use. Public Health Implications. Interventions are needed that address concurrent use of multiple substances. (Am J Public Health. Published online ahead of print June 22, 2017: e1-e3. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2017.303825).

Language: en