Background and Aims Due to their small sample sizes, geographic specificity and limited examination of socio-demographic characteristics, recent studies of methamphetamine use among people using heroin in the United States are limited in their ability to identify national and regional trends and to characterize populations at risk for using heroin and methamphetamine. This study aimed to examine trends and correlates of methamphetamine use among heroin treatment admissions in the United States. Design Longitudinal analysis of data from the 2008 to 2017 Treatment Episode Data Set.Descriptive statistics, trend analyses and multivariable logistic regression were used to examine characteristics associated with methamphetamine use among heroin treatment admissions. Setting United States. Participants Treatment admissions of people aged ≥ 12 years whose primary substance of use is heroin. Measurements Primary measurement was heroin treatment admissions involving methamphetamine. Secondary measurements were demographics of sex, age, race/ethnicity, US census region, living arrangement and employment status. Findings The percentage of primary heroin treatment admissions reporting methamphetamine use increased each year from 2.1% in 2008 to 12.4% in 2017, a relative percentage increase of 490% and an annual percentage change (APC) of 23.4% (P < 0.001). During the study period, increases were seen among males and females and among all demographic and geographic groups examined. Among primary heroin treatment admissions reporting methamphetamine use in 2017, 47.1% reported injecting, 46.0% reported smoking, 5.1% reporting snorting and 1.8% reported oral/other as their usual route of methamphetamine use. Conclusions Methamphetamine use among heroin treatment admissions in the United States increased from one in 50 primary heroin treatment admissions in 2008 to one in 8 admissions in 2017.

In 2011-2012, only 34% of 13-17 years olds in the United States (US) received seasonal influenza vaccine. Little is known about the link between parents' sources of health information, their vaccine-related attitudes, and vaccination of their adolescent against influenza. This study seeks to determine the relationship between number of sources of information on influenza vaccine, parental attitudes toward influenza vaccine, and influenza vaccine uptake in adolescents. We conducted a telephone and web-based survey among US parents of students enrolled in 6 middle and 5 high schools in Georgia. Bivariate and multivariable analyses were conducted to examine associations between the number of information sources about influenza vaccine and vaccine receipt and whether parent vaccine-related attitudes act as a mediator. The most commonly reported sources of information were: a physician/medical professional (95.0%), a family member or friend (80.6%), and television (77.2%). Parents who had higher attitude scores toward influenza vaccine were 5 times as likely to report their adolescent had ever received influenza vaccine compared to parents who had lower attitude scores (adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 5.1; 95% confidence intervals (CI) 3.1-8.4; P < 0.01). Parent vaccine-related attitudes were a significant mediator of the relationship between sources of information and vaccine receipt. In light of the low response rate and participation in an adolescent vaccination intervention, findings may not be generalizable to other populations. This study shows the importance of multiple sources of information in influencing parental decision-making about influenza vaccine for adolescents. Harnessing the power of mass media and family members and friends as health advocates for influenza vaccination can potentially help increase vaccination coverage of adolescents.

Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination coverage for adolescent females and males remains low in the United States. We conducted a 3-arm randomized controlled trial (RCT) conducted in middle and high schools in eastern Georgia from 2011-2013 to determine the effect of 2 educational interventions used to increase adolescent vaccination coverage for the 4 recommended adolescent vaccines: Tdap, MCV4, HPV and influenza. As part of this RCT, this article focuses on: 1) describing initiation and completion of HPV vaccine series among a diverse population of male and female adolescents; 2) assessing parental attitudes toward HPV vaccine; and 3) examining correlates of HPV vaccine series initiation and completion. Parental attitude score was the strongest predictor of HPV vaccine initiation among adolescents (adjusted odds ratio (aOR): 2.08; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.80, 2.39). Other correlates that significantly predicted HPV series initiation were gender, study year, and intervention arm. Parental attitudes remained a significant predictor of receipt of 3 doses of HPV vaccine along with gender, race, school type and insurance type. This study demonstrates that positive parental attitudes are important predictors of HPV vaccination and critical to increasing coverage rates. Our findings suggest that more research is needed to understand how parental attitudes are developed and evolve over time.