The
NSDUH Report: Substance Use Among Older Adults: 2002 &
2003 Update
Highlights:
- Based
on SAMHSA's 2002 and 2003 National Surveys on Drug Use & Health
(NSDUH), an annual average of 13.7 million persons aged 50 or older
(17.1%) smoked cigarettes and 36 million (45.5%) drank alcohol during
the past month.
- About
12.2% of older adults reported binge alcohol use and 3.2% reported
heavy alcohol use. A binge drinker is defined as a person who drank
five or more drinks on the same occasion on at least
one day in the past 30 days.
- Among
older adults, 1.4 million (1.8%) used an illicit drug during the past
month. Marijuana was the most commonly used illicit drug (used by
1.1% older adults), followed by prescription-type drugs used nonmedically
(0.7%), and cocaine (0.2%).
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This Short
Report, The
NSDUH Report: Substance Use Among Older Adults: 2002 & 2003
Update, is based on SAMHSA's National
Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH). The NSDUH is conducted
by SAMHSA's Office of Applied Studies (OAS) in
the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).
SAMHSA's NSDUH is the primary source of information on the prevalence,
patterns, and consequences of drug and alcohol use and abuse in the general
U.S. civilian non institutionalized population, age 12 and older.
The NHSDA/NSDUH also provides estimates for drug
use by State.
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