Younger versus older African Americans: patterns and prevalence of recent illicit drug use.
OBJECTIVES
The current study examined recent substance use among younger and older African Americans and factors associated with recent use.


METHODS
The current study used a subset of African American men and women (N = 260) from the NEURO-HIV Epidemiological Study (Mage = 42, SD = 9.27; 59% female). Self-report of past 6 month substance use was evaluated for 21 different substances by routes of administration (ROA).


RESULTS
Older adults were 1.9 times (AOR = 1.92, 95% CI = 1.13-3.26) more likely to have used crack in the past 6 months and half as likely to have used marijuana (AOR = .44, 95% CI = .25-.77). There were no significant differences for heroin use.


DISCUSSION
Substance use at midlife may have significant implications for adverse social and health outcomes among African Americans. Findings support the need to better understand the developmental pathways of drug use and dependence among African Americans.
['Whitehead|Nicole Ennis|NE|', 'Trenz|Rebecca C|RC|', 'Keen|Larry|L|', 'Rose|Jonathan|J|', 'Latimer|William W|WW|']
D000328:Adult D001741:African Americans D000367:Age Factors D019970:Cocaine-Related Disorders D016578:Crack Cocaine D003625:Data Collection D005260:Female D006801:Humans D008297:Male D008385:Marijuana Smoking D008875:Middle Aged D015995:Prevalence D019966:Substance-Related Disorders
illicit drug use Black/African American HIV aging