Most reproductive-age women using opioids also use another substance

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The majority of reproductive-age and pregnant women who use opioids for non-medical purposes also use at least one other substance, ranging from nicotine or alcohol to cocaine, according to a University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health analysis. It was the first to look at use of multiple substances in a nationally representative group of U.S. women age 18 to 44.

The findings, published online and scheduled for an upcoming issue of the American Journal of Public Health, indicate that public health efforts aimed at fighting the opioid epidemic should include interventions that address concurrent use of multiple substances among reproductive-age women.

“Using multiple substances—some legal, some illegal—alongside opioids is the norm, not the exception, for reproductive-age women,” said lead author Marian Jarlenski, Ph.D., M.P.H., assistant professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management at Pitt Public…

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