Methods of Studying Prevalence and Incidence of Drug Abuse

Abstract

Many methods commonly used in studying morbidity, such as hospital admissions and health surveys, are unsuitable in estimating the incidence of addiction. Some methods of studying addiction rates are: 1. Mortality studies. 2. Case-finding studies; e.g. enquiries to law-enforcement, medical and social agencies. 3. Contact analysis; patients may be asked to name other cases of addiction, observation of dealer-buyer contacts, etc. 4. Registers of addicts. 5. Questionnaires and/or structured interviews with students, soldiers, etc. 6. Analyses of prescriptions. 7. Import and manufacture of drugs; drug offences; convictions in drug cases; seizures and prices of black market drugs and a miscellaneous category of other approaches. The most ambitious estimations are based on an integration of information from several sources. A study is presented based on an examination of arms for injection marks in a continuous flow of a high risk population (arrestees in Stockholm since 1965).