Regular Research Article
The Epidemiology of Substance Use and Disorders Among Middle Aged and Elderly Community Adults: National Survey on Drug Use and Health

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Objective

To estimate the prevalence, distribution, and correlates of drug use among middle aged and elderly persons in the United States and to compare with alcohol use in this age group.

Setting

The 2005 and 2006 National Surveys on Drug Use and Health.

Participants

A total of 10,953 subjects, age 50 years and older (6,717 subjects age 50–64 years and 4,236 subjects age 65+ years).

Measurements

Social and demographic variables detailed assessment of alcohol and drug use and disorders (marijuana, cocaine, inhalants, hallucinogens, methamphetamine, and heroin), major depression, and self-rated health.

Results

Nearly 60% of subjects used alcohol during the past year, 2.6% marijuana, and 0.41% cocaine. Both alcohol and drug use were far more frequent in subjects age 50–64 years and among men. Drug use, in contrast to alcohol use, was not associated with education but was more common among those not married and those with major depression. The prevalence of drug abuse or dependence in the 50+ age group was very low (only 0.33% for any abuse or dependence, 0.12% for marijuana abuse or dependence, and 0.18% for cocaine abuse or dependence). Nevertheless, the use of marijuana approached 4% in the 50–64 age group in comparison with 0.7% in the 65+ age group.

Conclusions

Drug use is not prevalent, although use is much more common in the middle aged, suggesting that prevalence may rise substantially in the 65+ age group as the younger cohort ages.

Section snippets

Sample

This study is based on data from the public use files of the 2005–2006 NSDUH11, 12 The annual survey provides population estimates of substance use and health status of the civilian, noninstitutionalized population aged 12 years or older in the United States. Target participants were selected for participation utilizing multistage area probability sampling methods. The sample included household residents; residents of shelters, rooming houses, college dormitories, migratory workers' camps, and

RESULTS

Nearly 60% of respondents used alcohol during the past year, 2.6% used marijuana, and 0.41% used cocaine (Table 2). Fifteen percent of past year drug users in this sample had used two or more drugs in the past year. Among those who used alcohol or a drug in the past year, a relatively high proportion of users had used the substance 30 or more days (e.g., 49% of marijuana users and 57% of cocaine users).

Alcohol use was more prevalent in the 50–64 age group, men, whites, the more educated, those

CONCLUSIONS

Nearly 60% of subjects used alcohol during the past year, 2.6% marijuana, and 0.41% cocaine (other use reported was very rare in this age group). Both alcohol and drug use were more frequently used in subjects age 50–64 years than in those of age 65+ years. In fact, the prevalence among the 50–64 age group far greater than the 65+ age group, suggesting perhaps that we may be now observing the trend for increased use among the baby-boom population as they age predicted by Gfroerer et al.8 We

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This work was supported by a research grant from the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health (DA019623, to L-TW) and by a contract for the Data and Statistics Center for the Clinical Trials Network of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (HSN271200522071C, to DB). The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Data Archive and the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research provided the public use data files for NSDUH, which was sponsored by Office of Applied Studies of Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

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