U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

NCJRS Virtual Library

The Virtual Library houses over 235,000 criminal justice resources, including all known OJP works.
Click here to search the NCJRS Virtual Library

"Drug Dependence" and Death: Survival Analysis of the Baltimore ECA Sample From 1981 to 1995

NCJ Number
181588
Journal
Substance Use & Misuse Volume: 35 Issue: 3 Dated: February 2000 Pages: 313-327
Author(s)
Yehuda D. Neumark Ph.D.; Michelle L. Van Etten Ph.D.; James C. Anthony
Editor(s)
Stanley Einstein Ph.D.
Date Published
2000
Length
15 pages
Annotation
Recognizing that illicit drug use and dependence are often associated with premature death but available evidence comes mainly from clinical samples, the present study examined drug-related mortality from 1981 to 1995 in a community sample from Baltimore, Maryland.
Abstract
Following probability sampling, 3,481 adult community household residents were recruited for the 1981 National Institute of Mental Health Baltimore Epidemiologic Catchment Area (ECA) survey. Follow-up occurred between 1993 and 1996. Survival analyses were used to estimate median age at death and relative risk of dying in relation to drug use and dependence, as assessed in 1981 using the Diagnostic Interview Schedule (DIS). Cases with DIS drug dependence were more likely to have died and to have a younger median age at death, with and without statistical adjustment for confounding variables. Higher levels of drug involvement were also associated with increased age-adjusted mortality. The authors determined that DIS-elicited drug dependence and sub-threshold drug use helped to account for premature death in the Baltimore ECA sample. 22 references and 5 tables