Meth use more prevalent among women and older Ontarians than previously thought

Lawson researchers’ analysis of drug screening data challenges demographic assumptions about a growing health crisis  

If you were to picture a methamphetamine user in Ontario today, you would likely conjure the image of a young adult male.

Think again, suggests a new report with data sourced by researchers at Lawson Research Institute of St. Joseph’s Health Care London (St. Joseph’s) in what is the largest analysis of its kind in North America.

A deep dive into Ontario urine drug-screening data shows four of every 10 meth users are female. One in five persons is older than 50. Four of 10 live in deep poverty.

Those numbers – significantly higher than previously thought – have important implications for health care and health policy, says Dr. Michael Silverman, Lawson scientist and lead author of the study, published recently in the Canadian Journal of Addiction.

“As health providers, we have to realize our stereotypes of the ‘average’ patient with meth use are often off-base,” says Silverman, who is also Medical Director of the Infectious Diseases Care Program at St. Joseph’s and Professor of Medicine and Infectious Diseases, Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry at Western University.

“If current assumptions – and current treatment approaches – are aimed mostly at serving young adult men, we may miss opportunities to help other vulnerable populations.”

Previous studies have examined self-reported drug use in specific regions of Ontario. This study, the first to draw upon urinalysis data from across Ontario, suggests women tested positive about eight times more than they did in studies based on self-reported use.

 “The discrepancy is either because they are unaware of what they’re taking – meth is sometimes laced in with marijuana or other substances – or they feel less safe about disclosing what they’re taking, during surveys,” says Silverman, who is also medical director of the St. Joseph’s Infectious Diseases Care Program.

“A more accurate picture of the problem can lead to better pathways to treatment, improved substance-use programs and more focused research,” he adds.

“There’s a huge human cost to addiction and, at the same time, an economic and public-health burden. It matters to all of us.”

Patients who tested positive for methamphetamine had more visits to physicians and to hospital urgent-care and emergency departments as well as more hospital admissions, he notes.

“I would hope this helps someone empathize that this person could be their mother, sister or grandparent and that leaving people in the despair of poverty and addiction carries a cost for everyone.”

Methamphetamine, in contrast to some other drugs, is relatively easy to make and inexpensive to buy, and addiction can be fiercely difficult to treat.

The source information is anonymized data collected for health research purposes by ICES (formerly called Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences) in Ontario.

From that database, researchers scoured two years of patient urinalysis results undertaken mostly at doctors’ offices and emergency departments when patients appeared with medical symptoms consistent with drug use.

The research took place with funding from Health Canada and with donor support through St Joseph’s Health Care Foundation. Co-researchers included Western University researcher Priya Thandrasisla and Lawson scientist Cheryl Forchuk, PhD.