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

eported a 2-percent rate among 16- to 34-year-olds. These data (table 6)
are highly variable and were collected in many different ways for many
purposes; therefore, results range from less than 1 percent to 12 percent.
The data from Balding (1989, 1993) probably are reliable although not
representative <strong>of</strong> the country as a whole.
LOCAL VSA STATISTICS
Some recent surveys <strong>of</strong> local populations are summarized in table 7.
They mostly show “ever used” VSA rates <strong>of</strong> 3-10 percent with the
number <strong>of</strong> males and females roughly equal; current use is low, probably
about 1 percent. Stuart (1986) surveyed 1,729 children in 13 schools in
the Macclesfield Health Authority area and reported 1 percent
experimentation by age 11, 4 percent by age 12, 8 percent by age 13, 12
percent by age 14, 9 percent by age 15, and 5 percent by age 16, which
resembles the age pr<strong>of</strong>ile <strong>of</strong> the mortality data. Pritchard and Cox (1990)
repeated a questionnaire survey in schools in an area <strong>of</strong> Boumemouth and
Southampton with a high proportion <strong>of</strong> socioeconomic deprivation and
found 8-percent use in 1989 (3 percent VSA alone, 5 percent with other
drugs), 5 percent in 1986, and 4 percent in 1985. Sixty-four percent <strong>of</strong>
users in 1989 were male. Ellis and colleagues (1988) in Pontefract in
1988 found 4.5 percent drug and solvent users (1.5 percent solvent only)
in a survey <strong>of</strong> 1,882 14- to 15-year-old school children. However, 24
percent <strong>of</strong> the children were absent due to industrial relations disputes
waged by teachers. Three studies (Foley and Todhunter 1992; Shetland
Health Board 1992; Stalybridge Drugs Education Project 1989) reported
experimentation with alkyl nitrites <strong>of</strong> 15-16 percent, 9 percent, and 5
percent, respectively. These levels, if accurate, are reasons for concern.
These disparate “snapshots” taken in one area at one time are very
difficult to interpret, particularly when the problem is known to be
sporadic in nature (O’Bryan 1989).
SELECTED POPULATIONS
Parker and colleagues (1988) carried out a multiagency survey in Bristol
from 1984 to 1985 in which they found 759 problem drug users aged
10-44; 17 percent had problems associated with VSA. Jacobs and
Ghodse (1988) found 43 percent <strong>of</strong> 47 consecutive admissions to a West
London Secure Unit used “solvents.” Sixty percent <strong>of</strong> the abusers inhaled
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