title: Morbidity in a population of low-income, female users of MDMA and other drugs.
abstract: Few previous studies have reported on the overall health of drug-using women. To investigate this, 696 low-income women aged 18-31 were recruited in a cross-sectional study from gynecological care clinics in Texas between 2001 and 2003. Compared to exclusive marijuana users and non-drug users, women who used MDMA and those who used other illicit drugs but not MDMA reported more gynecological conditions, medical conditions, depressive symptoms, and physical somatic complaints. We concluded that young, low-income women who used more than one illicit drug experience significantly more physical and psychological morbidity. Generalization of this study results may be limited to young women with low income but not to other populations.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas 77555-0587, USA. zhwu@utmb.edu
authors.forename: Z H
authors.initials: ZH
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: T U
authors.initials: TU
authors.lastname: Nguyen-Oghalai
authors.forename: N K
authors.initials: NK
authors.lastname: Shokar
authors.forename: A B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Berenson
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cottler
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D015897:Comorbidity; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D013287:Illicit Drugs / Q000009:adverse effects*; D008385:Marijuana Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects*; D018817:N-Methyl-3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine / Q000009:adverse effects*; D011203:Poverty / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000150:complications*; D016387:Women's Health
chemical_list: D013287:Illicit Drugs; D018817:N-Methyl-3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine