Ver artículo

To estimate the occurrence and school-level clustering of drug involvement among school-attending adolescent youths in each of seven countries in Latin America, drawing upon evidence from the PACARDO research project, a multinational collaborative epidemiological research study.

During 1999-2000, anonymous self-administered questionnaires on drug involvement and related behaviors were administered to a cross-sectional, nationally representative sample that included a total of 12 797 students in the following seven countries: Costa Rica (n= 1 702), the Dominican Republic (n= 2 023), El Salvador (n= 1 628), Guatemala (n= 2 530), Honduras (n= 1 752), Nicaragua (n= 1 419), and Panama (n= 1 743). (The PACARDO name concatenates PA for Panamá,CA for Centroamérica,and RDO for República Dominicana). Estimates for exposure opportunity and actual use of alcohol, tobacco, inhalants, marijuana, cocaine (crack/coca paste), amphetamines and methamphetamines, tranquilizers, ecstasy, and heroin were assessed via responses about questions on age of first chance to try each drug, and first use. Logistic regression models accounting for the complex survey design were used to estimate the associations of interest.

Cumulative occurrence estimates for alcohol, tobacco, inhalants, marijuana, and illegal drug use for the overall sample were, respectively: 52%, 29%, 5%, 4%, and 5%. In comparison to females, males were more likely to use alcohol, tobacco, inhalants, marijuana, and illegal drugs; the odds ratio estimates were 1.3, 2.1, 1.6, 4.1, and 3.2, respectively. School-level clustering was …