The Link Between Substance Use and Reproductive Health Service Utilization Among Young US Women

Abstract

ABSTRACT.  Background: The authors sought to investigate associations between young women's use of alcohol and other substances and their sexual and reproductive health (SRH) service utilization. Methods: The authors used data from 4421 young women aged 15–24 years in the nationally representative study, National Survey of Family Growth, 2002–2008. The authors examined associations between frequency of tobacco, alcohol, marijuana, and illicit drug use and SRH service use in the past year using logistic regression. Results: Over half (59%) of the young women used SRH services, including contraception (48%), gynecological examination (47%), and sexually transmitted infection (STI) testing/treatment (17%) services. Proportions of SRH service use increased with higher frequencies of substance use (all P values <.001); service use was particularly common among daily substance users (range: 72% of daily marijuana users to 83% of daily binge drinkers). In multivariable analyses, associations between substance and SRH service use varied by substance and service type: weekly marijuana (odds ratio [OR] = 2.5, 95% confidence interval [95% CI] = 1.4, 4.3, P = .002) and alcohol (OR = 1.7, 95% CI = 1.1, 2.4, P = .01) use were positively associated with gynecological service use. All substances were positively associated with STI service use. However, daily smoking was negatively associated with contraceptive service use (OR = 0.6, 95% CI = 0.4, 0.8, P = .001). Conclusion: SRH service use was common among women reporting frequent substance use. SRH settings provide an opportunity to deliver substance use screening and preventive care to young women.

Keywords:

• Alcohol
• health service utilization
• marijuana
• reproductive health
• substance use
• tobacco

Acknowledgments

This work was supported in part by a Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Building Interdisciplinary Careers in Women's Health K-12 Career Development grant (K12HD001438) and by a National Institute of Child Health and Human Development grant for Center Infrastructure for the Office of Population Research at Princeton University (R24HD047879; Principal Investigator: J.T., K.S.H. during her postdoctoral fellowship).