Prevalence of psychoactive substance use by adolescents in public schools in a municipality in the São Paulo Metropolitan Area, Brazil.
This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of psychoactive substance use by adolescents from public schools. This is a cross-sectional study that used a random sample of adolescents from five public schools located in a municipality in the central-west region of the São Paulo Metropolitan Area, Brazil. Information on demographic, socioeconomic, and drug use was collected using self-report questionnaires. The sample consisted of 1,460 students, 716 (49%) males, aged 10-19 years (13.19±2.04 years). The prevalence of psychoactive substance use in the last month was 51% for analgesics 48.8% for alcohol 37.3% for tobacco 30.8% for tranquilizers 23.1% for marijuana 22.6% for anabolic steroids 21.6% for ecstasy 15.3% for amphetaminesstimulants 13.4% for phencyclidine 12.9% for cocainecrack 12.6% for inhalantssolvents 11.5% for opiates 11.4% for hallucinogens and 16.2% for other unclassified drugs. Elementary and middle school students were more likely to consume tobacco (OR 2.306 95%CI 1.733-3.068 p < 0.001), and male students were more likely to consume any type of substance. We identified a high use of psychoactive substances among this study participants, with a higher prevalence among male students.