LEGAL DRUG-USE IN A GENERAL-POPULATION - ASSOCIATION WITH GENDER, MORBIDITY, HEALTH-CARE UTILIZATION, AND LIFE-STYLE CHARACTERISTICS

Legal drug use was assessed by a questionnaire to 15,986 men and women participating in the Finnmark Health Survey 1987-1988. Logistic regre ssion analysis was used to quantify the relationships between legal dr ug use and gender, morbidity, utilization of health services, and life style and sociodemographic characteristics. Drug use was higher in wom en than men, but the gender difference decreased with age. Women used more drug groups than men, and the gender difference increased with nu mber of drugs used. Participating in outdoor activities was associated with lower use of drugs in both men and women. The data support the n otion that alcohol use plays a more important role in the prediction o f drug use in men compared with women. A significant gender difference in the consumption of legal drugs do persist after adjusting for co-m orbidity and utilization of health services. Overall, this analysis sh ows that drug use depends on need (morbidity), followed by use of heal th services and lifestyle. Sociodemographic variables were shown to ha ve minor influence. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Inc.