BRIEF REPORT
Psychoactive Substance Use Among Individuals With Chronic Spinal Cord Injury: Patterns and Characteristics

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apmr.2021.08.005Get rights and content

Highlights

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    Nearly one-quarter of spinal cord injury participants reported using at least 1 psychoactive substance without a prescription.

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    Cannabis is the most frequently used psychoactive substance in those with spinal cord injury.

Abstract

Objective

To identify the patterns of nonprescription psychoactive substance (PAS) use among persons with spinal cord injury (SCI) and the relationships with demographic and injury characteristics.

Design

Cross-sectional, self-report assessment (SRA).

Setting

A medical university in the southeastern United States.

Participants

The participants (N=4670) were identified through a specialty hospital and 2 state-based surveillance registries.

Interventions

Not applicable.

Main Outcome Measures

Participants completed SRAs and reported the past 3 months’ use of the following substances for which they did not have a prescription: cannabis, cocaine, amphetamine-type stimulants, inhalants, sedatives/hypnotics and sleeping pills, hallucinogens, and opioids. PAS use was grouped into 4 categories: none, cannabis use only, use of cannabis and other PAS, and use of other PAS only.

Results

Of the 4577 participants who responded to the PAS use questions, 24.1% reported using at least 1 PAS without a prescription. Cannabis was the most frequently reported substance (16.4%), followed by sedatives or sleeping pills (8.0%). By PAS use group, 12.1% reported use of cannabis use only, followed by use of other PAS only (7.7%) and use of cannabis and other PAS (4.3%). There were significant differences among the groups of use by nearly all personal characteristics.

Conclusions

The use of nonprescription PASs is prevalent among adults with chronic SCI, and there are clear differences in patterns and characteristics of use.

Section snippets

Participants

A total of 4670 adults who met inclusion criteria (age >18y, >1y post SCI, and residual effects of SCI [ie, noncomplete recovery]) completed a self-report assessment (SRA). We excluded those with missing PAS data, leaving a final sample of 4577. A full description of the recruitment process and participant pool can be found in a previous publication.6

Procedures

Cross-sectional data were collected from 2012-2016 and analyzed at a medical university in the southeastern United States. After receiving

Results

A total of 24% (n=1104) reported using at least 1 PAS in the past 3 months. The most commonly endorsed was cannabis (16.4%, n=751), followed by sedatives or sleeping pills (8.0%, n=365) (table 1). Among those who reported PAS use, the mean number of substances used was 1.3±0.74; 77% (n=850) reported using only 1 PAS, 16.8% (n=185) reported using 2, 4.4% (n=49) reported using 3, and 1.8% (n=20) reported using 4 or more PASs.

PAS use was categorized as none (75.9%, n=3473), cannabis use only

Discussion

We addressed a gap in the literature by examining rates of PAS use among those with chronic SCI and distinguished patterns and characteristics that are associated with different types of use.

With nearly 25% of participants reporting nonprescription use of a PAS within the past 3 months, our participants indicated a higher rate of use than previously reported after SCI1,3,8 and higher than in the general population. However, because of differences in study design, including participant sample,

Conclusions

Nonprescription PAS use is prevalent in adults with chronic SCI, and there are clear differences in patterns and characteristics of use.

Supplier

  • a.

    SPSS Statistics Version 27.0; IBM Corp.

References (10)

There are more references available in the full text version of this article.

Cited by (0)

Supported by the South Carolina Spinal Cord Injury Research Fund (SCSCIRF) (grant nos. SCIRF 2017 SI-02, SCIRF 09-001) and from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR) (grant nos. 90RT5003, 90DPHF0009). NIDILRR is a Center within the Administration for Community Living (ACL), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The contents of this publication do not necessarily represent the policy of the SCSCIRF, NIDILRR, ACL, HHS, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government or the state of South Carolina.

Disclosures: none

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© 2021 The American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.