Adolescents and young adults who had a major depressive episode in the past year had about four times the odds of a prescription drug use disorder compared with peers without depression, according to a study published Oct. 16 in JAMA Network Open. The study found an association and does not show that depression causes drug misuse.
Researchers from Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School analyzed national survey responses from 22,906 adolescents ages 12 to 17 and 27,723 young adults ages 18 to 25. Among youths with depression, 6.0% met criteria for a prescription drug use disorder, compared with 1.5% of those without depression.
