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

TABLE 4. Lifetime prevalence <strong>of</strong> inhalant use among 11-to
19-year-olds (values in percentages).
KEY: NA = not available.
NOTE: This table contains data from two separate studies in 1988.
SOURCE: Ferrando (1990, 1991a, 1992); Jutkowitz et al.
(1987).
<strong>Inhalant</strong>s are the only psychoactive substances for which lifetime
prevalence has an inverse relation to age. Peak use occurred among
13- and 14-year-olds in this survey, and it was lower for older
teenagers (table 6).
<strong>Inhalant</strong> use was found to be more prevalent in the highlands (sierra),
where 4.4 percent <strong>of</strong> the population has used inhalants at least once in
their lives. Nonetheless, half <strong>of</strong> lifetime inhalant users reside in
Lima. This is a new trend because, in the Andean region, the only
drug more prevalent at the national level is coca leaf (chewing it has
been a cultural tradition for many centuries).
<strong>Inhalant</strong>s as a class <strong>of</strong> drugs have the lowest initiation age <strong>of</strong> all
psychoactive substances—median age is 11.8 years—with a clear
tendency for the youngest groups to begin use earlier (see table 7).
Most <strong>of</strong> the subjects who reported inhalant use in the 30 days prior to
the survey had used inhalants less than 3 days out <strong>of</strong> 30. Three
percent <strong>of</strong> inhalant users asserted that they had consumed on a daily
basis, compared to 3.6 percent for marijuana, 9 percent for cocaine,
and 13.3 percent for coca paste. Persons 15-16 years old have the
highest level <strong>of</strong> daily use (10.7 percent <strong>of</strong> current users).
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