MONDAY, May 7, 2007 (HealthDay News) -- Ten percent of American adults abuse drugs at some point in their lives, including 2.6 percent who become dependent on drugs, according to a new federal report.
Many people with drug abuse and dependency problems also have personality disorders and psychiatric problems, the report found.
"Drug abuse disorders are common in the United States, that's not unexpected," said lead researcher Dr. Wilson M. Compton, of the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse. "Drug abuse is most common among younger age groups," he added.
In addition, few people with drug problems get treatment, Compton said, adding that many people with drug problems also have psychiatric problems.
"We looked at which specific psychiatric disorders are related to drug abuse and dependence," he said. "Although many disorders are associated with drug problems, bipolar disorder and antisocial personality are the most common."
To determine the extent of drug abuse or dependence, Compton and his colleagues collected data on 43,093 adults and their use of drugs, including alcohol, sedatives, tranquilizers, opiates, stimulants, hallucinogens, marijuana, cocaine, inhalants/solvents and others.
They also looked at the prevalence of psychiatric disorders, including depression, anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder.
The researchers found that over the previous 12 months, 1.4 percent of the people in the study reported they had abused drugs, and 0.6 percent said they were dependent on drugs. Also, 7.7 percent said they developed drug abuse and 2.6 percent drug dependence over their lifetime.
Drug abuse and dependence tended to be higher among men, Native Americans, people aged 18 to 44, lower socioeconomic groups, those living in the West and those who were single, the researchers found.
Those who abused drugs typically started at about 20 years of age, while those with drug dependence developed the condition at about 21.7 years of age. Among drug abusers, about 8.1 percent received treatment, as did 37.9 percent of those who were drug-dependent, the study found.
Compton thinks more needs to be done to tell people that there are effective treatments for drug problems. "We need to do something to educate the public about the availability and utility of treatment interventions," he said. "There are a lot of new interventions that can make a big difference. These are brain diseases, and we can do something about them."
He also thinks that people with drug problems should be assessed for psychiatric disorders. "Likewise, people with psychiatric disorders should be assessed for drug problems. It's common that they also have a drug use disorder," he said.
The study was published in the May issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry.
One expert thinks the findings are an important snapshot of drug abuse in the United States.
"The most troubling aspect of this report is that Americans with drug use disorders are young," said Steven Shoptaw, a clinical psychologist at the University of California, Los Angeles' Neuropsychiatric Institute. "These data show that the rate of development of drug use disorders peaks in late adolescence/early adulthood. But lifetime prevalence remains consistently high to age 44, which suggests that younger Americans have developed drug use disorders at a higher rate than older Americans previously," he added.
The findings are valuable, because they identify certain psychiatric conditions that seem to lead to drug abuse, Shoptaw said. "What is encouraging in this report is that after controlling for the effects of socio-demographics and other psychiatric conditions, the risks for having a drug use disorder is consistently associated with only a few psychiatric diagnoses, i.e., bipolar disorder and antisocial personality disorder," he said.
"These younger cohorts require a watchful eye, as well, to monitor the potential needs for intervention from an already stressed health-care system, should these individuals age up, but don't age out of their drug use problems," he said.
Shoptaw also noted that "Americans seek help for drug use disorders from their health-care providers at about the same rate that they seek care at self-help groups, such as 12-step groups." This finding underscores the importance of the primary-care provider in the fight against drug abuse, he said, "which, up to now, has not been recognized."
More information
For more on addiction, visit the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse.
