Personal characteristics associated with injecting drug use among Latinas in the United States of America

• Main Authors: Jorge Delva, Carolyn D. M. Furr, James C. Anthony
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English; Spanish; Portuguese
• Published: Pan American Health Organization 1998
• Subjects: Medicine; R; Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Public aspects of medicine; RA1-1270; Arctic
• Online Access: https://doaj.org/article/9346dbbec7af4a71be850b98f18bb29b

This study examines nonmedical injecting drug use (IDU) among Latinas aged 12 years and older in a nationally representative sample of U.S. households. Data from the 1990-1995 National Household Surveys on Drug Abuse disclosed 154 Latinas with self-reported histories of IDU out of 18 335 Latinas who responded. Hypotheses about correlates of IDU were tested by using the conditional form of multiple logistic regression to compare the characteristics of these IDUs with those of 602 noninjecting Latinas matched on neighborhood of residence. In the USA, an estimated 1% of Latinas age 12 years and older have injected drugs for non-medical purposes on at least one occasion. IDU was 4.6 to 6.5 times greater for adult Latinas (18-44 years old) when compared to Latinas aged either 12 through 17 years (P < 0.05) or older than 44 years. IDU was an estimated 7.1 times greater for Latinas who reported marijuana use and 5.4 times greater for Latinas who reported inhalant use when compared to Latinas not using these drugs (P < 0.01). In light of recent studies indicating that IDU is a serious public health problem for Latinas in the United States, the observed associations represent first steps in an effort to understand the Latina subgroups most affected by IDU and the underlying risk factors or causes of this behavior. En el presente estudio se examina el uso de drogas inyectables (UDI) entre latinas de 12 años de edad y mayores en una muestra nacional representativa de hogares estadounidenses. Datos obtenidos de las Encuestas Nacionales Domiciliarias realizadas de 1990 a 1995 revelaron que 154 de un total de 18 335 latinas encuestadas habían referido tener antecedentes de UDI. Se pusieron a prueba diversas hipótesis sobre las variables relacionadas con el UDI mediante una regresión logística múltiple de tipo condicionado destinada a comparar las características de estas usuarias con las de 602 latinas que no usaban drogas inyectables y que se parearon con las usuarias por lugar de residencia. Se estima que en los ...