[Self-reported medical drug use among 15-16 year-old adolescents in Norway].
BACKGROUND
Little information is available about Norwegian adolescents' use of medical drugs.


METHODS
Self-reported drug use was recorded by means of a self-administered questionnaire handed out in classrooms to all 10th grade students in four counties. In all, 5846 boys and 5862 girls participated during the years 2000-2002.


RESULTS
Forty-one percent of boys and 64% of girls had used drugs during the last four weeks. Non-prescription analgesics had been used by 25% of the boys and by more than half of the girls. Daily use of prescription analgesics was reported by approximately 1% in both sexes, while more girls than boys had used these drugs during the last four weeks. In all, 15% of the boys and 16% of the girls reported use of allergy medicines during the last four weeks and 6% of the boys and 7% of the girls had used asthma medicines. During the same period, 1.4% of the boys and 1.8% of the girls had used hypnotics. Anxiolytics had been used by 1.9%, while 0.8% reported use of antidepressants.


CONCLUSIONS
Drug use is common among adolescents in Norway. Except for analgesics, there were only minor sex differences in drug use. The proportion of drug users did not vary significantly between counties.
Furu
Kari
K
Avdeling for legemiddelepidemiologi, Nasjonalt folkehelseinstitutt, Postboks 4404 Nydalen, 0403 Oslo. kari.furu@fhi.no
Skurtveit
Svetlana
S
Rosvold
Elin Olaug
EO
D000293:Adolescent; D000700:Analgesics / Q000008:administration & dosage; D018927:Anti-Asthmatic Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage; D000928:Antidepressive Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage; D004363:Drug Utilization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006633:Histamine Antagonists / Q000008:administration & dosage; D006801:Humans; D006993:Hypnotics and Sedatives / Q000008:administration & dosage; D008297:Male; D009664:Norway / Q000453:epidemiology; D012737:Sex Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
D000700:Analgesics; D018927:Anti-Asthmatic Agents; D000928:Antidepressive Agents; D006633:Histamine Antagonists; D006993:Hypnotics and Sedatives