Binge Drinking and Inhalant Abuse

In this morning’s news alerts, we came across an interesting item regarding the Federal Trade Commission’s new campaign “Let’s Make it a Safe Summer. Don’t Serve Alcohol to Teens.”

Towards the end of the release, an interesting note caught our attention: “Teens who drink are at more likely than nondrinkers to ride with a drinking driver; have unwanted, unintended, and unprotected sexual activity; use tobacco; experience interpersonal violence; consider or attempt suicide; and use marijuana, cocaine, or inhalants.”

Called over to the FTC’ Bureau of Consumer Protection and they were extremely helpful in sending the citation to support this statement. “J.W. Miller et al., Binge Drinking and Associated Health Risk Behaviors Among High School Students, 119 Pediatrics 76-85 (2007).

The table includes “current inhalant use” (which is defined as “sniffed glue, breathed aerosol spray, or inhaled paints one or more times during the past 30 days”)

TABLE 3 (last line) Prevalence and AOR of Risk Behaviors Among US High School Students According to Drinking Status, 2003

• All respondents: 4% current inhalant use.
  
  
• Non-drinkers: 1% current inhalant use.
  
  
• Current Drinkers Who Did Not Binge Drink: 2.7 % current inhalant use. (Adjusted odds ratio: 3.2%)
  
  
• Current Drinkers Who Binge Drank: 8.8% current inhalant use. (Adjusted odds ratio: 12.3%)

The correlation between binge drinking and increased inhalant use is indeed startling.