TY - JOUR
T1 - Patterns of polydrug use in Great Britain: Findings from a national household population survey
AU - Smith, Gillian
AU - Farrell, Michael
AU - Bunting, Brendan
AU - Houston, JE
AU - Shevlin, Mark
PY - 2011
Y1 - 2011
N2 - BackgroundPolydrug use potentially increases the likelihood of harm. As little is known about polydrug use patterns in the general population, it is difficult to determine patterns associated with highest likelihood.MethodsLatent class analysis was performed on nine illicit substance groups indicating past year use of cannabis, cocaine, amphetamines, ecstasy, LSD, mushrooms, amyl nitrate, tranquillisers and heroin or crack. Analyses were based on data from a large multi-stage probability sample of the population of Great Britain (n = 8538) collected in 2000. Multinomial logistic regression was performed highlighting associations between classes, and demographic and mental health variables.ResultsA three class solution best described patterns of polydrug use; wide range, moderate range, and no polydrug use. For males and young people, there was a significantly increased chance of being in the wide and moderate range polydrug use groups compared to the no polydrug use class. Hazardous drinking was more likely in the wide and moderate polydrug classes with odds ratios of 9.99 and 2.38 (respectively) compared to the no polydrug use class. Current smokers were more likely to be wide and moderate range polydrug users compared to the no polydrug use class with odds ratios of 4.53 and 5.85 respectively. A range of mental health variables were also related to class membership.ConclusionsPolydrug use in Great Britain can be expressed as three distinct classes. Hazardous alcohol use and tobacco use were strongly associated with illicit polydrug use, polydrug use appeared to be significantly associated with mental health, particularly lifetime suicide attempts.
AB - BackgroundPolydrug use potentially increases the likelihood of harm. As little is known about polydrug use patterns in the general population, it is difficult to determine patterns associated with highest likelihood.MethodsLatent class analysis was performed on nine illicit substance groups indicating past year use of cannabis, cocaine, amphetamines, ecstasy, LSD, mushrooms, amyl nitrate, tranquillisers and heroin or crack. Analyses were based on data from a large multi-stage probability sample of the population of Great Britain (n = 8538) collected in 2000. Multinomial logistic regression was performed highlighting associations between classes, and demographic and mental health variables.ResultsA three class solution best described patterns of polydrug use; wide range, moderate range, and no polydrug use. For males and young people, there was a significantly increased chance of being in the wide and moderate range polydrug use groups compared to the no polydrug use class. Hazardous drinking was more likely in the wide and moderate polydrug classes with odds ratios of 9.99 and 2.38 (respectively) compared to the no polydrug use class. Current smokers were more likely to be wide and moderate range polydrug users compared to the no polydrug use class with odds ratios of 4.53 and 5.85 respectively. A range of mental health variables were also related to class membership.ConclusionsPolydrug use in Great Britain can be expressed as three distinct classes. Hazardous alcohol use and tobacco use were strongly associated with illicit polydrug use, polydrug use appeared to be significantly associated with mental health, particularly lifetime suicide attempts.
KW - latent class analysis
KW - polydrug use
KW - mental health
KW - drug use
KW - substance use
KW - epidemiology
KW - latent variable analysis
U2 - 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2010.08.010
DO - 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2010.08.010
M3 - Article
SN - 0376-8716
VL - 113
SP - 222
EP - 228
JO - Drug and Alcohol Dependence
JF - Drug and Alcohol Dependence
IS - 2-3
ER -