Historical trends of admitted patients by selected substances and their significant patient’s level factors

Abstract

The purposes of the study include (i) demonstrating the US national level historical trends of the number of admitted patients due to substance abuse and those reported the selected substances at the time of admission, and more importantly, (ii) identifying the significant covariates in the association of using each of the substances along with the dynamics of likelihood over the different levels of the covariates. The trend of total admitted patients shows an increasing pattern from 1992 to 2008 and later exhibits a decreasing pattern before experiencing a significant upturn again in the last two consecutive years. During the study period, the highest growth rate of around 1088% is evident for methamphetamine followed by heroin (192%) and marijuana or hashish (45%), while both cocaine or crack (−33%) and alcohol (−29%) show negative growth rates. The estimated logistic regression models show that every covariate, including age, education, employment, gender, living status, race, and ethnicity, has a significant effect on the status of using each of the five selected substances. In parallel, the dynamics of likelihood over the levels of each covariate on every substance unearth even more information. In conclusion, the findings on trend analysis suggest the immediate attention to the growth in admissions for substance abuse treatment, and in response to taking appropriate policy measures, the likelihood dynamics revealed for every substance would undoubtedly play a vital role in identifying the target group as per priority.