ArticlePsychiatry investigation2014
Altitude may contribute to regional variation in methamphetamine use in the United States: a population database study.
Article in Psychiatry investigation, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers.
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Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed.
- Expert Consensus to Explore the Definition and Characterization of Methamphetamine-Associated Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension and Key Treatment Considerations.CHEST pulmonary · 2026Article
- Evolution of the substance use landscape: Implications for contingency management.Journal of applied behavior analysis · 2025Review
- Exploring the Link between Altitude of Residence and Smoking Patterns in the United States.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2024Article
- Nanowired Delivery of Mesenchymal Stem Cells with Antioxidant Compound H-290/51 Reduces Exacerbation of Methamphetamine Neurotoxicity in Hot Environment.Advances in neurobiology · 2023Article
- Article
- Sex-Based Impact of Creatine Supplementation on Depressive Symptoms, Brain Serotonin and SSRI Efficacy in an Animal Model of Treatment-Resistant Depression.International journal of molecular sciences · 2021Article
- Regional Variation in Methamphetamine-associated Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension: Who'd Better Call Saul?Annals of the American Thoracic Society · 2021Article
- Association between altitude, prescription opioid misuse, and fatal overdoses.Addictive behaviors reports · 2019Article
- Effect of Altitude on Veteran Suicide Rates.High altitude medicine & biology · 2019Article
- Spatial analysis of drug poisoning deaths in the American West, particularly Utah.The International journal on drug policy · 2016Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveMethamphetamine (MA) use rates in the United States (US) have consistently demonstrated geographical variation and have been higher in the West and Midwest. This uneven pattern of use could be explained by regional differences in MA manufacturing and distribution, but may also result from differences in altitude. The hypobaric hypoxia found at high altitude alters neurotransmitter synthesis in the brain, which may contribute to MA use. The present study investigated the relationship between mean altitude and MA use rate in the 48 contiguous US states and the District of Columbia.
methodsState-level estimates of past year MA use were extracted from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health report. The mean altitude of each state was calculated using the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission altitude data set.
resultsThere was a significant positive correlation between mean state altitude and MA use rate (r=0.66, p<0.0001). Multivariate linear regression analysis showed that altitude remained a significant predictor for MA use rate (β=0.36, p=0.02), after adjusting for age, ethnicity, education, socioeconomic level, employment, MA laboratory incidents, subpopulations, and other substance use.
conclusionAltitude appears to a possible contributing factor for regional variation of MA use in the US. Further studies will be required to determine biological changes in neurotransmission resulting from chronic mild hypoxia at high altitude in MA users.
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