Age of Onset and Its Related Factors in Cocaine or Methamphetamine Use in Adults from the United States: Results from NHANES 2005-2018.

Alexandre Guerin,Jee Kim

doi:10.3390/ijerph182212259

Abstract

Cocaine and methamphetamine are widely used illicit psychostimulants worldwide, with steadily increasing global markets that may impact on the frequency of use. Importantly, their use typically begins in youth. This is a particular concern because there is a link between the early age of first substance use and severity of substance use disorder later in life. The aim of the present study was therefore to investigate trends in prevalence, frequency, and age of onset of cocaine or methamphetamine use between 2005 and 2018 in the United States, using the nationally representative NHANES datasets. Factors associated with the ages of cocaine or methamphetamine use onset were also identified. From 2005 to 2018, prevalence and frequencies of cocaine or methamphetamine use increased, while age of onset remained relatively stable (~20 years of age). Annual household income, use of other substances, and intravenous drug use were identified as factors associated with early onset cocaine or methamphetamine use. These factors have important implications toward developing new prevention programs to reduce psychostimulant use.

Highlights

Psychostimulant use is a major global concern
The identification of factors associated with age of onset is a highly novel exploratory aim, and we focus on sociodemographic factors, other drug use, and intravenous drug use associations because these factors have previously been suggested to be associated with early use and severity of use for methamphetamine and other substances [21,22,23,24]
While past month use of both substances in the U.S adult population has reached a new maximum in prevalence (Figure 1) and frequency (Table 1) in recent years, these changes were not statistically significant when tested for linear trends

Summary

Introduction

Psychostimulant use is a major global concern. It is estimated that 20 million people have used cocaine and 27 million people have used amphetamine-type stimulants (including methamphetamine) worldwide in the past year [1]. 0.7% of young people aged 12–17 have reported using cocaine in the past year, while 0.3% reported using methamphetamine in the U.S [2] This is a particular concern, as numerous studies have highlighted a link between the age of onset of substance use and severity of substance use disorder later in life [5,6,7,8,9,10,11]. A large twin study (n = 1733) showed that experimentation with drugs during adolescence can impact the development of substance use disorders later in life [12] Another twin study reported that early onset substance use was associated with developing dependence, Int. J.

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