Association of Nonmedical Prescription Opioid Use With Subsequent Heroin Use Initiation in Adolescents.

ABSTRACT:

Importance

There is concern that nonmedical prescription opioid use is associated with an increased risk of later heroin use initiation in adolescents, but to our knowledge, longitudinal data addressing this topic are lacking.

Objective

To determine whether nonmedical prescription opioid use is associated with subsequent initiation of heroin use in adolescents.

Design, setting, and participants

This prospective longitudinal cohort study conducted in 10 high schools in Los Angeles, California, administered 8 semiannual surveys from 9th through 12th grade that assessed nonmedical prescription opioid use, heroin use, and other factors from October 2013 to July 2017. Students were baseline never users of heroin recruited through convenience sampling. Cox regression models

SUBMITTER: Kelley-Quon LI 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6618794 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature