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Meth use more prevalent among women and older Ontarians than previously thought
By Debora Van Brenk, St. Joseph's Health Care London
Drug screening data challenges demographic assumptions about a growing health crisis.
By Debora Van Brenk, St. Joseph's Health Care London
If you were to picture someone who uses methamphetamine in Ontario day, you may conjure the image of a young adult male.
But a new report suggests differently, with data sourced by researchers at Western University's Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry and Lawson Research Institute of St. Joseph's Health Care London (St. Joseph's) in what is the largest analysis of its kind in North America.
A deep dive into Ontario urine drug-screening data shows four of every 10 people using meth are female. One in five is older than 50. Four in 10 live in deep poverty.
Those numbers – significantly higher than previously thought – have important implications for health care and health policy, says Dr. Michael Silverman, professor of medicine and infectious diseases and lead author of the study, published recently in the Canadian Journal of Addiction.
“As health providers, we have to realize our stereotypes of the ‘average’ patient with meth use are often off-base,” said Silverman, who is also Medical Director of the Infectious Diseases Care Program at St. Joseph’s and scientist at Lawson.
“If current assumptions – and current treatment approaches – are aimed mostly at serving young adult men, we may miss opportunities to help other vulnerable populations.”
Previous studies have examined self-reported drug use in specific regions of Ontario. This study, the first to draw upon urinalysis data from across Ontario, suggests women tested positive about eight times more than they did in studies based on self-reported use.
“The discrepancy is either because they are unaware of what they’re taking – meth is sometimes laced in with marijuana or other substances – or they feel less safe about disclosing what they’re taking, during surveys,” said Silverman.
“A more accurate picture of the problem can lead to better pathways to treatment, improved substance-use programs and more focused research,” he added.
There's a huge human cost to addiction and, at the same time, an economic and public health burden. It matters to all of us.
Professor, Department of Medicine
Patients who tested positive for methamphetamine had more visits to physicians and to hospital urgent-care and emergency departments as well as more hospital admissions, Silverman notes.
“I would hope this helps someone empathize that this person could be their mother, sister or grandparent and that leaving people in the despair of poverty and addiction carries a cost for everyone,” he said.
Methamphetamine, in contrast to some other drugs, is relatively easy to make and inexpensive to buy, and addiction can be fiercely difficult to treat.
The source information is anonymized data collected for health research purposes by ICES (formerly called Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences) in Ontario.
From that database, researchers scoured two years of patient urinalysis results undertaken mostly at doctors’ offices and emergency departments when patients appeared with medical symptoms consistent with drug use.
The research took place with funding from Health Canada and with donor support through St Joseph’s Health Care Foundation. Co-researchers included Western researchers Priya Thandrasisla and Cheryl Forchuk, PhD, professor in nursing and psychiatry and scientist at Lawson.
By the Numbers
About 215,000 patients tested with physician-requested urine drug screens across Ontario during a 24-month period. Analysis drawn from ICES health data.
- Approximately 26,000 patients tested positive for methamphetamine or amphetamine
- 41% women
- 20% aged 50-plus
- 40.5% in the low-income bracket
- More than 20% had co-positive tests: 27% methamphetamine and cocaine; 29% methamphetamine and opioids