Introduction Gender differences in substance use/abuse have been the focus of research in the last 15 years. Initiation, use patterns, acceleration of disease course, and help-seeking patterns are known to be influenced by gender differences in regards to biologic, psychological, cultural and socioeconomic factors. Aims The paper presents a systematic review of published data on gender differences towards use/abuse of psychoactive and psychotic drugs, focusing on the importance of a multidisciplinary approach. Methods Basis for this paper was obtained by Medline searches using the key words “human” and “gender”, combined with individual drug names or “drug abuse”. The reference lists of these papers were further checked for other relevant studies. Results Traditionally, drug abuse has been considered as a problem specific to men and most research has focused on the study of such gender. Actually, the gender difference is evident in adults more than in adolescents (13-19 years): adult men are 2-3 times more likely than women to develop drug abuse/dependence disorders and about 4 times as likely to have an alcohol use disorder. Such prevalence rates are not observed in adolescents, since percentages of alcoholics and drug users/abusers, as well as the gender differences disappears. Differences between men and women involve i)the biological response to drug; ii)the course or progression to dependence, iii)the comorbid psychiatric diagnoses, and may be due to both sociocultural factors and to innate biological differences. A crucial role played by ovarian hormones (estrogens and progesterone) has been evidenced by both human and animal model studies. Conclusions Epidemiological data on how psychobiological and physiological peculiarities on the female gender influence vulnerability to both drug addiction and toxicological consequences of drugs taking are still in their infancy. There are still significant gaps in our knowledge mainly attributable to the lack of empirical data that only a systematic and multidisciplinary approach to the topic can generate. The introduction of the gender variable into forensic toxicological evaluations may be beneficial since it could help in the elucidation of the relationship between absorption of drugs of abuse (alone or in combination) and the onset of intoxications both lethal and none.

Differenze di genere, abuso di sostanze stupefacenti e/o psicotrope: implicazioni tossicologico-forensi e medico-legali / Pieri, Maria. - (2016).

Differenze di genere, abuso di sostanze stupefacenti e/o psicotrope: implicazioni tossicologico-forensi e medico-legali

Maria Pieri
2016

Abstract

Introduction Gender differences in substance use/abuse have been the focus of research in the last 15 years. Initiation, use patterns, acceleration of disease course, and help-seeking patterns are known to be influenced by gender differences in regards to biologic, psychological, cultural and socioeconomic factors. Aims The paper presents a systematic review of published data on gender differences towards use/abuse of psychoactive and psychotic drugs, focusing on the importance of a multidisciplinary approach. Methods Basis for this paper was obtained by Medline searches using the key words “human” and “gender”, combined with individual drug names or “drug abuse”. The reference lists of these papers were further checked for other relevant studies. Results Traditionally, drug abuse has been considered as a problem specific to men and most research has focused on the study of such gender. Actually, the gender difference is evident in adults more than in adolescents (13-19 years): adult men are 2-3 times more likely than women to develop drug abuse/dependence disorders and about 4 times as likely to have an alcohol use disorder. Such prevalence rates are not observed in adolescents, since percentages of alcoholics and drug users/abusers, as well as the gender differences disappears. Differences between men and women involve i)the biological response to drug; ii)the course or progression to dependence, iii)the comorbid psychiatric diagnoses, and may be due to both sociocultural factors and to innate biological differences. A crucial role played by ovarian hormones (estrogens and progesterone) has been evidenced by both human and animal model studies. Conclusions Epidemiological data on how psychobiological and physiological peculiarities on the female gender influence vulnerability to both drug addiction and toxicological consequences of drugs taking are still in their infancy. There are still significant gaps in our knowledge mainly attributable to the lack of empirical data that only a systematic and multidisciplinary approach to the topic can generate. The introduction of the gender variable into forensic toxicological evaluations may be beneficial since it could help in the elucidation of the relationship between absorption of drugs of abuse (alone or in combination) and the onset of intoxications both lethal and none.
2016
Differenze di genere, abuso di sostanze stupefacenti e/o psicotrope: implicazioni tossicologico-forensi e medico-legali / Pieri, Maria. - (2016).
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11588/758088
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