Substance Abuse Major Cause of Death and Illness for Teens Worldwide

Death, injury and illness caused by substance abuse are now among the top ten contributors to global disease burden, according to new research published in The Lancet, a medical journal based in the United Kingdom, and reported in Medical News Today. As a result, what was once seen by many in developing countries as the disease of industrialized nations is now a worldwide trend.

Alcohol alone contributed to 27 percent of all deaths involving 15 to 29-year-olds in economically developed countries in 2002, and illicit drugs contributed to 4 percent of deaths.

Researchers note that the rates of tobacco use, harmful alcohol use, and illicit drug use can be substantially reduced through the concerted application of a combination of regulatory, early-intervention, and harm-reduction approaches.

However, the authors note that the current state of knowledge about the extent of adolescent substance use, and what works in reducing problems, is restricted to knowledge from a few high-income countries. Furthermore, investigations to test the efficacy of interventions are scarce, and many interventions have yet to be evaluated in real-world settings.

For more information, visit www.thelancet.com.