title: Asians in the United States: substance dependence and use of substance-dependence treatment.
abstract: Clinicians have often observed that Asians are unlikely to utilize substance-dependence treatment services but few have reported empirical data examining this phenomenon. This study used data from the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, 2000-2002, and tested whether Asians in the United States have relatively low rates of drug and alcohol dependence and whether substance-dependent Asians use treatment services less than Caucasians. Subsequent analyses were undertaken to identify factors that explained these racial differences. Of the 5,118 Asians, 159 met criteria for past-year drug or alcohol dependence. Asians with past-year substance dependence were significantly less likely than substance-dependent Caucasians to report past-year treatment (odds ratio 0.42, 95% confidence interval 0.19-0.96). Differences in past-year substance-dependence prevalence appear to be partially explained by between-group differences in ever using substances; differences in past-year treatment use appear to be in part related to differences in levels of acculturation and education.
authors.affiliation: University of Colorado School of Medicine, Denver, CO 80262, USA. joseph.sakai@uchsc.edu
authors.forename: Joseph T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Sakai
authors.forename: P Michael
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Ho
authors.forename: Jay H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Shore
authors.forename: Nathan K
authors.initials: NK
authors.lastname: Risk
authors.forename: Rumi Kato
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Price
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D044466:Asian People; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000628:therapy; D013997:Time Factors; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology