Genetic liability, illicit drug use, life stress and psychotic symptoms: preliminary findings from the Edinburgh study of people at high risk for schizophrenia

Aim: The objective of the study was to investigate if there was a relationship between high risk behaviors among adolescents and orofacial trauma. Material and Methods: The study used a cross-sectional retrospective design with data collected from electronic health records of over 4,000 patients treated in the Department of Pediatric Dentistry at the University of Pittsburgh School of Dental Medicine from May 2009 through September 2013. This study was approved by the University of Pittsburgh Institutional Review Board. Risk factors for trauma were obtained from each patient’s medical and social history and included tobacco, alcohol and illicit drug use, tattoos, piercings, and mouthguard use during sports. Outcome measures used were history of broken bones or orofacial trauma. The odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) of each risk factor in increasing risk for trauma outcomes were calculated. Chi-square tests were also performed with an alpha of 0.05. Results and Conclusions: A total of 2,609 patients were included in this study. Males (N=1,340) had statistically more often orofacial trauma than females, and were statistically more often exposed to all risk factors (tobacco, alcohol and illicit drug use, tattoos, and physical altercations) than females with the exception of using piercings in body parts other than the ears and not wearing mouthguard for sports. Wearing mouthguard for sports decreased in 50% the risk of orofacial trauma (OR=0.53; 95% CI 0.42-0.68; p=0.00000001). Tobacco use and physical altercations increased the chance of broken bone, fractured tooth, and orofacial trauma in 2-fold (smoking, OR=1.85-2.28, 95% CI 1.3-2.96; physical altercations, OR=1.9-2.34; p=0.0005). Drinking and using illicit drugs increased the risk of broken bone (OR=1.9, 95% CI 1.37- 2.64; p=0.0001). Use of mouthguards for sports dramatically reduced the risk of orofacial trauma. Tobacco, alcohol and illicit drug use, and getting into physical altercations increased the risk of orofacial trauma.

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Physical Abuse, Sexual Victimization, and Illicit Drug Use: Replication of a Structural Analysis Among a New Sample of High-Risk Youths

Violence and Victims ◽

10.1891/0886-6708.4.2.121 ◽

1989 ◽

Vol 4 (2) ◽

pp. 121-138 ◽

Cited By ~ 82

Author(s):

Richard Dembo ◽

Linda Williams ◽

Lawrence La Voie ◽

Estrellita Berry ◽

Alan Getreu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Sexual Abuse ◽

High Risk ◽

Drug Use ◽

Physical Abuse ◽

Structural Model ◽

Sexual Victimization ◽

Illicit Drug ◽

Illicit Drug Use ◽

Care Providers ◽

Physical And Sexual Abuse

Mounting evidence of serious adverse consequences of childhood physical and sexual abuse has important implications for public health officials and care providers. Given the potential impact on social policy of this area of inquiry, programmatic research is needed for the validation of theoretical models across populations and over time. This study, based on a sample of high-risk youths, replicates a structural model that specified the influence of child physical and sexual abuse on self-derogation and drug use. Results suggest that for male and female youths, physical abuse and sexual victimization had a direct effect on self-derogation and illicit drug use, and an indirect effect on drug use that was mediated by self-derogation. Moreover, structural coefficients for the model were found to be identical across gender. Subsequent analyses demonstrated the equivalence of the structural model of child physical and sexual abuse on drug use across two study cohorts. Implications for the identification and treatment of youths in high-risk groups are discussed.

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