Epidemiology of Inhalant Abuse - Archives - National Institute on ...

TABLE 3. Frequency <strong>of</strong> use <strong>of</strong> inhalants for the general population and
for subjects aged 12-19, according to two national surveys.
Number <strong>of</strong> times
General population Subjects aged 12-19
1986 1988 1986 1988
Once or twice 59.1 40.3 60.8 30.6
3-5 times 25.6 37.0 25.7 48.3
6-9 times 10.4 3.4 10.2 2.0
10-99 times 2.6 15.4 0.6 18.2
> 100 times 2.3 3.9 2.7 0.9
SOURCE: Ferrando (1990); Jutkowitz et al. (1987).
Results from a number <strong>of</strong> school-based surveys suggest, as do the two
most recent <strong>National</strong> Household Surveys, that young individuals are more
likely to use inhalants than their older counterparts. Data from the 1992
and other school-based surveys sponsored by Peru’s Ministry <strong>of</strong>
Education provide the most recent results on the use <strong>of</strong> inhalants among
youths aged 11 to 19 (see table 4).
Further results from the 1992 school-based survey suggest that inhalant
use came third following alcohol and tobacco use and was higher than the
use <strong>of</strong> other illicit drugs (table 5). Table 5 gives information about life
prevalence and current use for different psychoactive substances. Again,
numbers are relatively low, even for legal substances, and very low
figures for illegal drugs. Nonetheless, it is clear that inhalants come third
after alcohol and tobacco.
Some <strong>of</strong> the more salient findings about inhalant use among students who
responded to the 1992 school-based survey were as follows:
Males have higher lifetime use rates (4.4 percent) than females (2.7
percent). Of students who reported lifetime use <strong>of</strong> inhalants, 60
percent were males.
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