Using Urine Drug Testing to Estimate the Prevalence of Drug Use

Objectives Estimating the prevalence of drug use in the general population is important given its potential health consequences but is challenging. Self-reported surveys on drug use have inherent limitations that underestimate drug use. We evaluated the performance of linking urine drug testing with a local, representative health examination survey in estimating the prevalence of drug use in New York City (NYC). Methods We used urine drug testing from the NYC Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NYC HANES) to estimate the prevalence of drug use (benzodiazepines, cocaine, heroin, and opioid analgesics) among the study sample and compare the findings with self-reported responses to questions about past–12-month drug use from the same survey. Results Of 1527 respondents to NYC HANES, urine drug testing was performed on 1297 (84.9%) participants who provided urine and consented to future studies. Self-reported responses gave past–12-month weighted estimates for heroin, cocaine, or any prescription drug misuse of 13.8% (95% CI, 11.6%-16.3%), for prescription drug misuse of 9.9% (95% CI, 8.1%-12.1%), and for heroin or cocaine use of 6.1% (95% CI, 4.7%-7.9%). Urine drug testing gave past–12-month weighted estimates for any drug use of 4.3% (95% CI, 3.0%-6.0%), for use of any prescription drug of 2.8% (95% CI, 1.9%-4.1%), and for heroin or cocaine use of 2.0% (95% CI, 1.2%-3.6%). Conclusion Urine drug testing provided underestimates for the prevalence of drug use at a population level compared with self-report. Researchers should use other methods to estimate the prevalence of drug use on a population level.

Hypertension Prevalence in New York City Adults: Unmasking Undetected Racial/Ethnic Variation, NYC HANES 2004

<p><strong>Objective: </strong>Using 2004 New York City Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NYC HANES) data, we sought to examine variation in hypertension (HTN) prevalence across eight Asian and Hispanic subgroups. <strong></strong></p><p><strong>Design: </strong>Cross-sectional <strong></strong></p><p><strong>Setting: </strong>New York City, 2004 <strong></strong></p><p><strong>Main Outcome Measures: </strong>Logistic regression was performed to identify differences in HTN prevalence between ethnic subgroups controlling for age, sex, education and BMI. <strong></strong></p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Overall HTN prevalence among NYC adults was 25.5% (95% CI: 23.4-27.8), with 21.1% (95% CI: 18.2-24.3) among Whites, 32.8% (95% CI: 28.7-37.2) Black, 26.4% (95% CI: 22.3-31.0) Hispanics, and 24.7% (95% CI: 19.9-30.3) Asians. Among Hispanic subgroups, Dominicans had the highest HTN prevalence (32.2%), followed by Puerto Ricans (27.7%), while Mexicans had the lowest prevalence (8.1%). Among Asian subgroups, HTN prevalence was slightly higher among South Asians (29.9%) than among Chinese (21.3%). Adjusting for age, Dominican adults were nearly twice as likely to have HTN as non-Hispanic (NH) Whites (OR=1.96, 95% CI: 1.24-3.12), but this was attenuated after adjusting for sex and education (OR=1.27, 95% CI: .76 – 2.12). When comparing South Asians with NH Whites, results were also non-significant after adjustment (OR=2.00, 95% CI: .90-4.43). <strong></strong></p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>When analyzing racial/ethnic subgroups, NH Black and Hispanic adults from Dominican Republic had the highest HTN prevalence followed by South Asian and Puerto Rican adults. Mexican adults had the lowest prevalence of all groups. These findings highlight that ethnic subgroup differences go undetected when stratified by broader racial/ ethnic categories. To our knowledge, this is the first population-based study using objective measures to highlight these differences. <em>Ethn Dis. </em>2016;26(3):339-344; doi:10.18865/ed.26.3.339 </p>

Abstract 17878: Hospital Admission Rates for Myocardial Infarction and Stroke in New York City Before and After the Ban on Trans Fatty Acids

Introduction: Numerous bans on the use of trans fatty acids (TF)s in eateries are in effect across the United States. No studies have examined cardiovascular event rates after the bans were enacted. Hypothesis: The July 1, 2007 ban on TFs in restaurants and food trucks in New York City (NYC) was associated with an accelerated decline in MI and stroke. Methods: We used the 2002-2013 New York Department of Health Statewide Planning and Research Cooperative System (SPARCS) data to calculate hospital admission rates for incident of MI and stroke in NYC residents (using county of residence). Diagnosis was established using primary discharge ICD-9-CM codes 410.00-410.99 for MI and 430.00-438.99 for stroke. Rates were calculated using Census 2000 and 2010 data and intercensal estimates. Incidence rates of MI and stroke declined between 2002 and 2007. To analyze whether there was additional decline from these prior trends after implementation of the NYC TF ban, we used negative binomial regression to model event trends and compare this to actual trends. We also used publicly available data from the 2004 NYC Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NYC HANES) to investigate restaurant usage per week among NYC residents. This was reported as never, less than weekly (we estimated as 0.5 uses per week), or 1 to 25 uses per week. All analyses were stratified by decade of age. Results: After 2007, younger age groups (25-34 and 35-44) experienced an additional decline in stroke (see table), but not MI, that was greater than would have been expected based on temporal trends. Younger age groups also reported higher mean restaurant use in NYC HANES. Conclusions: Stroke rates in NYC among younger adults declined faster than would have been expected after the 2007 TF ban. Additionally, younger age groups were also those that had highest restaurant usage. Further study to compare event trends in NYC counties to other New York counties is warranted to investigate if this trend is related to other secular trends.