Prescription Medication Sharing Among Adolescents: Prevalence, Risks, and Outcomes

Nonmedical Use of Prescription Medications Among Adolescents in the United States: A Systematic Review

“…Four of the studies used self-administered questionnaires for data collection [9,34,35,37], whereas all of the studies conducted in Southeast Michigan used Web-based surveys [7,30 -33,36,38]. Other studies used a mixed data collection technique [8] or interviews [39].…”

“…Another study also found that loaning of medications was not an uncommon practice among adolescents [39]. Nearly 24% of adolescents had loaned pain relievers, and 27% had borrowed pain relievers.…”

Prescription Medication Borrowing among Adult Patients at an Urban Medical Center

“…2,12 Similar to past studies, we found that pain medications were among the most frequently borrowed. 2,11,21 This may be because: (1) pain is a symptom that is felt by the patient and it may negatively impact the patient's quality of life from day to day; (2) Controlled substances have NSAIDs nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs a N=89 subjects able to identify at least one borrowed medication by name b Sum of percents do not add to 100% due to subjects being able to respond to more than one category MEDICATION BORROWING AMONG URBAN PATIENTS strict federal regulation and are more likely to be diverted and thus providers are more cautious in prescribing these agents; (3) Given the addictive potential of these drugs, many providers reserve them as a last agent of choice. However, as opposed to other studies which found that allergy medications were frequently borrowed, we did not find this to be the case in our adult urban patient population.…”

“…2 Among the studies examining the borrowing of prescription medications, the prevalence of medication borrowing has ranged from 5% to 35%, with most national studies placing the prevalence around 23-26%. 2,[7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14] The influence of physical attributes, such as gender and age, on the rate of medication borrowing, has also been investigated. Studies suggest that although women share medications more often than men, they seem to borrow medications equally (range, 13.9-29.6% for men and 15.1-29.8% for women).…”

Sharing and borrowing prescription medication: a survey of Irish college students

“…This is surprising considering potential risk factors, such as delay in seeking professional help, missing a diagnosis, the development of antibiotic resistance, possible complications from drug interactions and increased risk of side effects [2]. Research derives almost exclusively from the US, and points to a high prevalence of these behaviours amongst people of all ages, particularly amongst young people, where up to a quarter have been found to borrow and/or share prescription drugs [3,4].…”