Inhalant use linked to head injuries, traumatic experiences and mental illness

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-10/gsu-iul101315.php

Public Release: 13-Oct-2015
Inhalant use linked to head injuries, traumatic experiences and mental illness
Georgia State University

Incarcerated youth who have suffered head injuries, traumatic experiences and mental illness diagnoses are more likely to abuse multiple inhalants, according to researchers at Georgia State University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

The findings published in the journal PLOS One in Sept. report that severe polyinhalant users had more than double the rate of head injuries, the highest rates of traumatic experiences and the highest rates of mental illness diagnoses among study participants. Delinquent behavior was also higher in severe polyinhalant users and began younger than in other inhalant users.

Polyinhalant use refers to using an assortment of inhalants over a period of time, either simultaneously or successively.

•••••

Inhalants are volatile substances that produce chemical vapors that can be inhaled to induce a psychoactive or mind-altering effect, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Inhalant users "sniff," "huff" or "snort" fumes from containers, paper or plastic bags, soaked rags or directly from aerosol cans.

Inhaling these substances can have dangerous health consequences, including brain damage, heart irregularities, optic nerve damage, hearing loss, liver damage, muscle atrophy and death.

Inhalant use in adolescents disproportionally affects antisocial youth who regularly exhibit behaviors such as aggression, hostility, defiance and destructiveness. Forty percent of antisocial youth have used inhalants compared to about 9 percent of youth in the general population.

•••••