Comsupntion of medicines and drugs amog college students10 years of follow up

Abstract

Substance abuse and self-medication in adolescents and young adults are major public health concerns. With the objective of studying the prevalence of consumption of medicines and its association with alcohol, tobacco and cannabis use among Spanish university students, we carried out a cohort study between November 2005 and March 2015. Alcohol consumption was measured using the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT), after assessing its validity. Multilevel logistic regressions for repeated measures were generated to obtain adjusted odds ratios. Our study has revealed that prevalence of binge drinking, risky alcohol consumption, and tobacco and cannabis was reduced significantly during the follow-up period, while use of medicines without medical prescription increased. We found a strong association between consumption of medicines without prescription and alcohol and cannabis use. Education for health and preventive activities should be reinforced in youth to decrease these high levels of poly-consumption. Strategies for handling stress during university should be provided, with greater emphasis on females.