Initiation of Heroin and Prescription Opioid Pain Relievers by Birth Cohort.

Novak, Scott P; Bluthenthal, Ricky; Wenger, Lynn; Chu, Daniel; Kral, Alex H · Am J Public Health · 2016

cross_sectional · Level IV

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Abstract

We examined initiation patterns among different birth cohorts of people who used prescription opioids and heroin because of historical differences in drug use availability. We examined data from a community-based study of persons who inject drugs (n = 483) in California and a general population survey from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (n = 1264) and found that individuals born after 1980 were more likely than were individuals born before 1980 to initiate opioids through nonmedical use of prescription opioids than heroin.

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