Adolescent Substance Abuse Risk: A Comparison of Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network Emergency Department Patients and 2 Nationally Representative Samples

Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

4 Scopus citations

Abstract

Objectives The aim of this study was to understand the prevalence of alcohol and other substance use among teenagers in generalized samples. Methods This study compared the alcohol and other substance use of adolescents enrolled in a screening study across 16 Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network emergency departments (EDs) (ASSESS) with those sampled in 2 nationally representative surveys, the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) and the National Survey of Drug Use and Health (NSDUH). The analysis includes 3362 ASSESS participants and 11,142 YRBSS and 12,086 NSDUH respondents. Results The ASSESS patients had a similar profile to the NSDUH sample, with small differences in marijuana and cocaine use and age at first tobacco smoking and smoking within the last 30 days and higher use of snuff or chewing tobacco. The YRBSS participants had higher rates of using marijuana, snuff/chewing tobacco, methamphetamine, and hallucinogens and higher smoking rates compared with ASSESS and NSDUH. Conclusions Adolescents visiting Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network EDs have substantial rates of substance use, similar to other nationally representative studies on this topic, although not as high as a school-based survey. Future ED studies should continue to investigate adolescent substance use, including exploring optimal methods of survey administration.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)E560-E564
JournalPediatric emergency care
Volume37
Issue number9
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 1 2021

Funding

All phases of this study were supported in part by the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism 1R01AA021900 to A.S. and J.G.L. This project is supported in part by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Maternal and Child Health Bureau, Emergency Medical Services for Children Network Development Demonstration Program, under cooperative agreements U03MC00008 and U03MC00001, U03MC00003, U03MC00006, U03MC00007, U03MC22684, and U03MC22685. This information or content and conclusions are those of the author and should not be construed as the official position or policy of, nor should any endorsements be inferred by, HRSA, US Department of Health and Human Services, or the US Government.

Keywords

  • SBIRT
  • alcohol use
  • substance use

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Pediatrics, Perinatology, and Child Health
  • Emergency Medicine

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