Drug Abuse Treatment Services

Research Findings from September, 2003 Director's Report

This section lists selected summaries from NIDA funded research projects that investigate the child and adolescent drug abuse treatment. The summaries provided were selected from recent issues of the Director's Report to the National Advisory Council on Drug Abuse. For a more comprehensive listing of NIDA funded projects see the Director's Report.

Chronic Drug Use and Reproductive Health Care among Low-Income Women in Miami

In this study, researchers interviewed a stratified, network-referred sample of chronic drug-using women (CDUs) and socially and ethnically similar women who were not CDUs about reproductive health issues. Women who were not CDUs were significantly more likely to report a regular source of health care than CDUs. About one third of each group reported experiencing reproductive health problems (other than pregnancy) in the 12 months preceding their interview. Chronic drug users were twice as likely to report that these problems remained untreated. Measures of use of preventive services (physical exam, breast exam, pelvic exam, family planning visit) consistently showed lower use by CDUs. A higher proportion of women who were not CDUs reported pregnancies in the 12 months preceding interview. The 32 pregnant CDUs were much less likely to have received prenatal care than the 42 pregnant women who were not CDUs. For women who reported a pregnancy in the year preceding interview, logistic regression analysis showed a strong and robust negative effect of being a CDU on receiving prenatal care even when the effects of having a usual source of care and having third-party coverage were controlled. Crandall, L., Metsch, L., McCoy, C., Chitwood, D. and Tobias, H. Chronic Drug Use and Reproductive Health Care among Low-Income Women in Miami, Florida: A Comparative Study of Access, Need, and Utilization, J Behav Health Serv Res., 30(3), pp. 321-331, July-September 2003.