Recreational use of inhalant drugs by adolescents: a challenge for family physicians.
OBJECTIVE
This paper assesses the incidence and prevalence of inhalant use in an adolescent population. The purpose was to document patterns of incidence and prevalence.


METHODS
A survey study was conducted, in which self-reported measures of inhalant use were assessed during 3 consecutive years. All surveys were completed as part of a school-based study. The responses of 10,198 middle school and high school students were analyzed. The primary measures included self-reported use of substances that were inhaled to create a state of euphoria.


RESULTS
Of the responding students, overall rates of 12.8% for lifetime use and 4.6% for past-month use were observed. Cross-sectional analysis revealed increasing inhalant use among students in grades 6-8 that leveled off in grade 9 and decreased in grades 10-12. Incidence of inhalant use was found to be increasing in younger adolescents.


CONCLUSIONS
Inhalant use may be an early marker of substance abuse and should be the focus of increased prevention and early diagnosis and treatment. Family physicians may be among the first to suspect inhalant use in casual users and should be alert to inhalant use among adolescent patients.
Hansen
W B
WB
Department of Public Health Sciences, Bowman Gray School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, USA.
Rose
L A
LA
D000280:Administration, Inhalation; D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D000367:Age Factors; D005194:Family Practice; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D009657:North Carolina; D015995:Prevalence; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*