Drogas psicotrópicas em estudantes do Ensino Médio de Campina Grande-PB: prevalência e associações.

Abstract

Introduction: The importance of characterizing the drug use, including the question of a possible drug as a gateway to using others, becomes clear when its harms are analyzed. At the same time, teens are at risk of drug experimentation, which makes it important to study this specific age group. Objectives: assess the prevalence of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs among high school students of Campina Grande, trying to identify any of them as a possible gateway to other drugs. Methods: Cross-sectional study conducted from August to December of 2011 with 502 students from public and private schools of Campina Grande-PB. In each area of the city (North, South, East and West), two public and two private schools were randomly selected, as well as groups of students in each school. The distribution of students by school in public or private net was proportionally preserved. The students answered a self-administered anonymous questionnaire. Statistical analysis was performed using the R statistical computing environment version 2.15.0.17, with chi-square test, p-value and confidence interval, since the sample was random. Results: the prevalence of smokers was 7.6%, while the prevalence of alcohol was 37.6%, of which 3.7% reported daily use, 17.6% frequent use and 78.7% rare use. The most common ages at onset of alcohol use was 14 (19.5%) and 15 years (34.6%). 10.6% stated they had used other drugs (other than alcohol and tobacco); mainly inhalants, and the most common ages at onset of use were 15 (36.1%) and 16 years (25.0% ) The most common chronological order of drug use were: "drink and other drugs" (31.7%), "drink, tobacco and other drugs" (31.7%) and "tobacco, drink and other drugs" (22,0%). The experimentation rate of other drugs

(other than alcohol) among smokers was 39.5%, while it was 8.2% among non- smokers. Conclusion: the alcohol may be the main trigger for drug use between

young people, since 63.4% of those who used more than one drug started by alcohol. Additionally, the tobacco can be an important predictor of future use of illicit substances, since the experimentation rate of other drugs was significantly higher among smokers than among nonsmokers.