Substance use patterns, quantities, and associated risk factors in women with polysubstance misuse

Abstract

Polysubstance use (PSU), the use of two or more substances proximally, is highly prevalent and has amplified the risk for morbidity and mortality. However, PSU patterns and associated risk factors are not well characterized. This may be especially relevant to women who are known to be vulnerable to stress/trauma, craving, pain, and anxious and depressive symptoms as associated risk factors for PSU. A cross-sectional observational study was conducted to characterize substance use patterns in women who regularly used cocaine, opioids, marijuana, alcohol, benzodiazepines and/or nicotine and were being assessed for a placebo-controlled study of guanfacine treatment (n = 94; ages 19-65). Data on stress/traumatic life events, drug cravings for each substance, pain ratings, and anxiety and depressive symptoms were also obtained using standardized well-validated surveys. High use per day of two or more drugs was observed (72.7% ± 33.3%) and opioid amounts were high relative to other drug amounts (p's < 0.001). Notably, higher stress/trauma events and higher cravings are each associated with cumulative PSU days, amounts and probability of an individual PSU day (p's < 0.02). This remained when PSU versus single substance use was compared. Pain, anxiety and depressive symptoms were not associated with PSU metrics. These findings characterize specific patterns of PSU in women and show that average drug craving and stress/trauma events are associated with PSU. Interventions that focus on stress/trauma and craving management could be of benefit in reducing PSU risk in women.

Keywords: drug craving; polysubstance use; stress/trauma; women.