title: Comparisons of polydrug use at national and inner city levels in England: associations with demographic and socioeconomic factors.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study compares polydrug use in national and inner city samples to (1) examine patterns of use underlying different prevalence rates and (2) identify how inner city polydrug use needs targeting in ways not suggested by national research.
  
  
  METHODS
  Latent class analyses on indicators of illicit drug use in the last year, hazardous alcohol use, and cigarette smoking were compared between the inner city 2008-2010 South East London Community Health study (n = 1698) and the nationally representative 2007 Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey in England (n = 7403). Multinomial logistic regressions then examined latent class solutions with demographic and socioeconomic factors.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Both samples revealed three notably similar classes of polydrug users: a "high-drug" group using multiple substances; a "moderate-drug" group using cannabis, alcohol, and cigarettes; and a "low-drug" group reporting minimal alcohol and cigarette use. However, South East London Community Health reported lower risks of polydrug use for ethnic minorities but not for more educated participants.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Despite higher polydrug use prevalence in the inner city, latent classes of polydrug users were similar between samples. Some demographic and socioeconomic factors differed between the samples, suggesting the need for inner city services to use both local and national data for policy planning.
authors: Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, Weston Education Centre, King's College London, London, UK. Electronic address: jennifer.j.clark@kcl.ac.uk.
authors: Jennifer L
authors: JL
authors: Carter
authors: John
authors: J
authors: Strang
authors: Souci
authors: S
authors: Frissa
authors: Richard D
authors: RD
authors: Hayes
authors: Stephani L
authors: SL
authors: Hatch
authors: Matthew
authors: M
authors: Hotopf
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D003710:Demography; D004739:England / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D014505:Urban Population; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Alcohol abuse; Cigarette smoking; Comparative study; England; Illicit drug use; London; Public health; Socioeconomic factors; Urban population