Initiation of Heroin and Prescription Opioid Pain Relievers by Birth Cohort
Novak, S., Wenger, L., Chu, D., Kral, A., & Blumenthal, R. (2015). Initiation of Heroin and Prescription Opioid Pain Relievers by Birth Cohort. American Journal of Public Health, e1-e3. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2015.302972
We examined initiation patterns among different birth cohorts of people who used prescription opioids and heroin because of historical differences in drug use availability. We examined data from a community-based study of persons who inject drugs (n = 483) in California and a general population survey from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (n = 1264) and found that individuals born after 1980 were more likely than were individuals born before 1980 to initiate opioids through nonmedical use of prescription opioids than heroin. (Am J Public Health. Published online ahead of print December 21, 2015: e1-e3. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2015.302972)
