Drug use and associated factors: a cross-sectional study with elementary school adolescents

Aim: to estimate the prevalence of drug use among school adolescents and its association with sociodemographic and sexual variables. Method: a cross-sectional study conducted through a structured interview with 239 elementary school students from a public school in the state of Bahia, Brazil. Data were processed by the Stata program, version 12, and analyzed according to descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: the prevalence of adolescents who had used drugs in the last month was 25.92%. There was a statistical association between variable drug use and religious identification (PR=1.88 and 95%CI=1.03 - 3.41), study series (PR=2.0 and 95%CI =1.03 - 3.85) and work (PR=3.68 and 95%CI =1.08-12.54). Conclusion: high prevalence of drug use among school-age adolescents and its association with low schooling, lack of religious practice, and precocious work and sexual intercourse were identified.