TY - JOUR T1 - Predictors of concurrent tobacco and prescription drug abuse among high school students in the United States 2009-2011: A secondary analysis of 31,835 adolescents JF - European Respiratory Journal JO - Eur Respir J VL - 44 IS - Suppl 58 SP - P1123 AU - Itegbemie Obaitan AU - Mayowa Olusunmade AU - Israel Agaku AU - Filippos Filippidis AU - Constantine Vardavas Y1 - 2014/09/01 UR - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/44/Suppl_58/P1123.abstract N2 - Introduction:Tobacco use is a significant public health issue, with its roots in early adolescence. Prescription drug abuse, the intentional misuse of a medication without a prescription is another emerging public health issue. However to date, no studies have assessed their concurrent use in the United States with the use of nationally representative populations.Methods:Data was obtained from the 2009-2011, youth risk behavior surveillance data (YRBS) which is a nationally representative biennial cross-sectional survey among 9th to 12th graders in the United States (n=31,835). Tobacco and prescription drug abuse was self-reported. Descriptive and logistic regression analyses were performed. The analysis was IRB exempt: IRB14-0346. Results: Among YRBS participants, 18% had smoked tobacco in the past one month while more than 24% had used prescription drugs at some time in the past, with 9% reporting current use of tobacco as well as abusing prescription drugs at least once in their lives. A chi-square test for trend showed increasing co-use with increasing age of adolescents (P<0.001). Following logistic regression, significant predictors of co-use were male sex (OR=1.31, P<0.001) and racial/ethnicity differences were also noted. Conclusions: This analysis demonstrates that current co-use of tobacco and prescription drug abuse in the United States is significantly associated with gender, race and ethnicity. Further research is needed to evaluate the determinants of these two adverse health behaviors. ER -