ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Prescription opioid misuse (POM) is an important public health concern. Not many studies have evaluated factors influencing racial and ethnic differences in POM exclusively in young adolescents. We evaluated factors influencing the racial and ethnic differences in POM in a nationally representative sample of 8th- and 10th-grade (12-15 years old) US adolescents. METHODS: Data were from 107,786 adolescents who participated in the 2009-2019 Monitoring the Future survey. Logistic regression and mediation analysis were used to identify risk factors for POM and evaluate mediators of the association of race and ethnicity on the frequency of POM in the past year. RESULTS: From 2009 to 2019, the prevalence of POM in the past year decreased from 3.2% to 1.8% (p = 0.032), with significant differences in POM trends by race and ethnicity. Overall, the prevalence was higher among non-Hispanic White adolescents (3.2%) than Hispanic (2.5%) and non-Hispanic Black adolescents (1.6%), p < 0.001. After adjustment for demographic, substance use, lifestyle, and family-related factors, the odds of POM were lower among Black (odds ratio (OR) = 0.81, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.66-0.98) and Hispanic adolescents (OR = 0.64, CI: 0.55-0.74) compared to White adolescents. Illicit drug use and misuse of other prescription drugs together explained 77.2% and 47.3% of the racial and ethnic disparities in POM among Black and Hispanic adolescents, respectively. CONCLUSION: In this study, significant racial and ethnic differences in the trends of POM were observed. Illicit drug use and misuse of other prescription drugs substantially explained the racial and ethnic disparities in POM among young adolescents.
Subject(s)
Illicit Drugs , Opioid-Related Disorders , Prescription Drugs , Humans , Adolescent , United States/epidemiology , Child , Opioid-Related Disorders/epidemiology , Ethnicity , Hispanic or Latino , Black PeopleABSTRACT
During June 2017-November 2019, a total 36 patients with carbapenem-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa harboring Verona-integron-encoded metallo-ß-lactamase were identified in a city in western Texas, USA. A faucet contaminated with the organism, identified through environmental sampling, in a specialty care room was the likely source for infection in a subset of patients.
