Hyperactivity-inattention symptoms in childhood and substance use in adolescence: the youth gazel cohort.
BACKGROUND
This study addresses in both genders the relationship between childhood Hyperactivity-inattention symptoms and subsequent adolescent substance use, while controlling for psychiatric comorbidity, temperament and environmental risk factors.


METHODS
916 subjects (421 males, 495 females) aged 7-18 were recruited from the general population and surveyed in 1991 and 1999. Child psychopathology and substance use patterns were evaluated through parent and adolescent self-reports. Multivariate modeling was performed to assess the effects of childhood Hyperactivity-inattention symptoms and other risk factors on adolescent substance use.


RESULTS
In males, Hyperactivity-inattention symptoms alone accounted for the risk of subsequent regular cannabis smoking (OR=3.14, p=0.03) and subsequent lifetime use of other drugs including stimulants, opiates, inhalants and sedatives (OR=2.72, p=0.02). In females, Hyperactivity-inattention symptoms did not independently increase the liability to later substance use. In males, the temperament trait activity was a significant predictor of subsequent regular cannabis smoking (OR=2.32, p=0.04).


CONCLUSIONS
This survey points to a possible specific link between Hyperactivity-inattention symptoms and subsequent cannabis use and experimentation of harder drugs in males.
Child Psychiatry Department, Université Victor Segalen Bordeaux 2, Bordeaux, France. cedric.galera@u-bordeaux2.fr
Cédric
C
Galéra
Manuel Pierre
MP
Bouvard
Antoine
A
Messiah
Eric
E
Fombonne
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002648:Child; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015588:Observer Variation; D010290:Parents; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D013694:Temperament