Evidence map›Paper›PMID 22531819›Full record

ArticleJournal of addiction medicine2012

Cocaine use in the past year is associated with altitude of residence.

Kristen K Fiedler, Namkug Kim, Douglas G Kondo, Perry F Renshaw

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of addiction medicine, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
11citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

11 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Exploring the Link between Altitude of Residence and Smoking Patterns in the United States.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2024
    Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Effect of Altitude on Veteran Suicide Rates.High altitude medicine & biology · 2019
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Kristen K FiedlerBrain Institute, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84108, USA. kristen.fiedler@utah.edu
Namkug Kim
Douglas G Kondo
Perry F Renshaw

Funding

MENTORING IN DRUG ABUSE NEUROIMAGINGK24DA015116 · NIDA · UNIVERSITY OF UTAH · PI RENSHAW, PERRY FRANKLIN · 2002 to 2010
$1.3M
Mentoring in Drug Abuse NeuroimagingK05DA031247 · NIDA · UNIVERSITY OF UTAH · PI RENSHAW, PERRY FRANKLIN · 2011 to 2015
$661k
NIDA NIH HHS DA015116NIDA NIH HHS DA031247NIDA NIH HHS K05 DA031247NIDA NIH HHS K24 DA015116
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectivesRecently, increased rates of suicide in US counties at higher altitudes have been noted. Because of the documented association between cocaine use and suicide, we hypothesized that there would be a correlation between incidence of cocaine use and altitude of residence.

methodsCocaine use data were obtained from the Substate Substance Abuse Estimates from the 1999-2001 National Surveys on Drug Use and Health. Data related to the percentages of people 12 years or older who used cocaine in the past year. Average elevation for US counties was calculated using the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission elevation data set, and subject region elevation was calculated by averaging the weighted elevations of each region's relevant counties. The correlation between elevation of a substate region and incidence of cocaine use in that region was calculated using Pearson correlation coefficients.

resultsA significant correlation exists between mean altitude of a substate region and incidence of cocaine use in that region (r = 0.34; P < 0.0001). Regression analysis controlling for age, sex, race, education level, income, unemployment, and population density was performed. Altitude remained a significant factor (P = 0.007), whereas male sex (P = 0.008) and possessing less than a college education (P < 0.0001) were also significant predictors of self-reported cocaine use in the past year. It is important to note that cocaine use was assessed in isolation of other drugs of abuse, an additional confounding variable.

conclusionsThis study demonstrates a significant correlation between altitude of substate region of residence and incidence of cocaine use. It is possible that stress response due to hypoxia is responsible; however, this requires further investigation. However, because other substance use was not assessed, specificity of this association is unknown. In addition, this correlation may help explain the increased rate of suicide in areas of higher elevation.

Indexed as

AltitudeResidence CharacteristicsAdolescentAgedCocaine-Related DisordersCross-Sectional StudiesEducational StatusFemaleHealth SurveysHumansIncidenceMalePopulation DensitySex FactorsStatistics as TopicSuicide

Identifiers

PMID22531819
PMCPMC4586105

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.