Anders Romelsjö

Initiation into drug abuse The pathway from being offered drugs to trying cannabis and progression to intravenous drug abuse

The aim of the study was to analyse the initiation process into illicit drug use focusing on three endpoints which can be seen as stages in the drug career: being offered drugs, using cannabis and using intravenous drugs. Questionnaire data were available on 23482 men, aged 18–20 years, conscripted for military service in 1969–70. The association between family background, social conditions, other licit drug use, emotional control and the three endpoints were analysed. Although many conscripts tried cannabis, a smaller number continued with intravenous drug abuse. These were in general characterised by poor emotional control and a history of social maladjustment, and early onset of use. Our findings give further evidence for social maladjustment as a causative factor for illicit drug use and for the role of cannabis as a stepping stone to heavy drug abuse.

Alcohol and cancer of the colon and rectum.

The association between alcohol intake and colorectal cancer was examined in a population-based case-control study performed in Stockholm in 1986–88. The study included 352 cases of colon cancer, 217 cases of rectal cancer, and 512 controls. Relative risks, with 95% confidence intervals, were calculated for total alcohol intake and for different alcoholic beverages. Total alcohol intake (≥ 30 g 100% ethanol per day) was not associated with colon cancer (relative risk = 0.9, confidence intervals = 0.4–1.8) or rectal cancer (1.0, 0.4–2.1). There was no evidence supporting beverage specificity (for colorectal cancer and ≥ 10 g 100% ethanol per day: beer 1.1, 0.6–2.0, wine 1.0, 0.4–2.7, spirits 1.0, 0.6–1.6). The associations did not vary according to gender or site within the large bowel. These analyses were adjusted for year of birth and gender (when appropriate). Further adjustments for diet, body mass or physical activity had little or no influence on the results. The present study does not support the hypothesis that alcohol plays an important role in the aetiology of cancer of the colon and rectum in a population with a relatively low alcohol intake.

Gender Differences for the Risk of Alcohol-Related Problems in Multiple National Contexts

The primary research question asked is: After holding alcohol consumption constant, will men and women be at equal risk for a variety of alcohol-related problems? Since women are actually at a higher blood alcohol content at the same consumption levels, a physiological argument would suggest that women are at equal or greater risk for alcohol problems than men. However, variation in societal norms surrounding gender roles and/or societal-level stress may mediate the experience of men and women, regardless of the differences in physiology. Ten cross-sectional general population studies are used. Analyses control for individual-level variables (age, quantity, and frequency of drinking) and societal-level variables (proportion of women in the work force and female suicide rate) that might confound these relationships; cross-study homogeneity is examined.

Relationships between the deinstitutionalization of healthcare for patients with mental disorder, substance abuse, and isolated death.

Isolated death (ID) (i.e., dying alone without anyone noticing for several days) has been suggested to be related to social isolation, mental disorder, and alcohol and/or drug abuse. A major transfer of patients with a mental disorder and/or alcohol and/or drug abuse from institutionalized care to treatment as outpatients has been enacted in Sweden during the past decade. On the basis of the assumption that such deinstitutionalization is likely to result in increased social isolation, our working hypothesis was that the incidence of ID among patients belonging to these categories has increased in Sweden. The present study involved all deaths subjected to a medicolegal examination in Stockholm County (with a population of approximately 1.9 million people) during the period 1992-2000. The pattern of ID (defined as cases involving a postmortem delay between death and discovery of at least 1 week), as well as the incidence of fatalities subjected to medicolegal examination with a record of mental disorder and/or alcohol and/or drug abuse was evaluated. Throughout this period, the proportion of the deceased with a record of a mental disorder was high among all the cases examined and higher still among the cases of ID, especially among those younger than 65 years of age. There was a rather limited increase in the incidence of ID and a much more pronounced increase in the number of former psychiatric patients whose deaths were subjected to medicolegal examination, but did not satisfy the criteria for ID. A record of alcohol and/or drug abuse was more common than a diagnosis of mental disorder among both the males and females who died at an age of less than 65, with a clear difference between the cases of ID and non-ID in the case of men. There was no significant increase in incidence over the course of this study. Thus, this study reveals a slight increase in the number of IDs and a more pronounced increase in the number of medicolegal examination of non-IDs of individuals with a record of a mental disorder.