Drug use disorders in the polydrug context: new epidemiological evidence from a foodborne outbreak approach.

ABSTRACT: As epidemiologists studying foodborne illness outbreaks, we do not ask luncheon attendees to say which food caused their illnesses. Instead, we use measurement and analysis methods to estimate food-specific risk variations. Here, we adapt the foodborne outbreak approach to develop new estimates of drug use disorder risk for single-drug and polydrug users, without attributing the syndrome to a specific drug when multiple drugs have been used. We estimate drug use disorder risk for cannabis-only users as a reference value. We then derive comparative relative risk estimates for users of other drug subtypes, including polydrug combinations. Data are from the 2002 to 2003 U.S. National Comorbidity Survey Replication, a nationally representative sample of household residents (18+ years), with st

SUBMITTER: Lopez-Quintero C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4785025 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature