Adolescents' access to their own prescription medications in the home.
PURPOSE
The objective of this descriptive study was to determine adolescents' access to their own medications at home, specifically prescription pain, stimulant, antianxiety, and sedative medications.


METHODS
Semistructured interviews were conducted with a cohort of 501 adolescents from two southeastern Michigan school districts. Participants were asked what medications had been prescribed to them during the previous 6 months; if they had received prescription medications, they were asked in-depth questions about them, including how medications were stored and supervised at home.


RESULTS
The sample was comprised of adolescents in the 8th and 9th grades, and 50.9% were male. Participants were primarily white (72.9%, n = 365) or African-American (21.6%, n = 108). Slightly less than half of the adolescents (45.9%, n = 230) reported having been prescribed medications in the previous 6 months. Of this group, 14.3% (n = 33) had been prescribed pain medications, 9.6% (n = 22) stimulants, 1.7% (n = 4) antianxiety medications, and .9% (n = 2) sedatives. In total, 57 adolescents were prescribed medications in the pain, stimulant, antianxiety, or sedative categories (including controlled medications), and the majority (73.7%, n = 42) reported that they had unsupervised access to medications with abuse potential.


CONCLUSIONS
The majority of adolescents who were prescribed medications in the pain, stimulant, antianxiety, or sedative categories during the previous 6 months had unsupervised access to them at home. It is critical that clinicians educate parents and patients about the importance of proper storage and disposal of medications, particularly those with abuse potential.
['Ross-Durow|Paula Lynn|PL|', 'McCabe|Sean Esteban|SE|', 'Boyd|Carol J|CJ|']
D000293:Adolescent D000700:Analgesics D014151:Anti-Anxiety Agents D000697:Central Nervous System Stimulants D004356:Drug Storage D005260:Female D006801:Humans D006993:Hypnotics and Sedatives D007407:Interviews as Topic D008137:Longitudinal Studies D008297:Male D008824:Michigan D063487:Prescription Drug Misuse D011446:Prospective Studies D012307:Risk Factors
Adolescents Prescription medications Interview Controlled medications Diversion Epidemiology Medication storage Parental monitoring Parental supervision Prescription drugs