Three quarters of those who reported using sleep aids said they did so only to go to sleep; 69 percent said they used opioid drugs for pain control only; while 29 percent said they used stimulants only to concentrate better or stay alert.

The more motives a person listed for the use of a drug, the higher he or she scored on a test used to screen for drug abuse risk.

The findings suggest that there are two distinct groups of teens who abuse prescription drugs -- those who get high, and those who self-medicate, Boyd's group suggests.

Even though the kids who are self-medicating are less likely to have drug abuse problems, Boyd noted, they run many other risks, including mixing prescription drugs with alcohol or other drugs. They may also have medical conditions that could make the use of unprescribed drugs deadly. For example, stimulants can be fatal in people with certain heart problems.

According to Boyd, "friendly sharing" of prescription medication is common among adults, and teens appear to be picking up this practice. "The family members are creating a norm for the self-treating and medication sharing," she said. "Parents are not such good role models on this."

SOURCE: Pediatrics, December 2006.

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Blacks more likely to want end-of-life intervention

Last Updated: 2006-12-06 15:18:24 -0400 (Reuters Health)

By Anne Harding

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Blacks are more likely than whites to want life-sustaining care at the end of life for an incurable illness or a serious physical or mental disability, a new study shows.

While more than half of black individuals surveyed said they would want life support if they had a chronic condition and were brain dead, just 11 percent of whites would want this intervention. Nearly three quarters of blacks said they would want life-sustaining care if they were terminally ill and had senile dementia, compared with 22.2 percent of whites.

These preferences are in conflict with the "prevailing ethic" of the U.S. medical establishment that "it's not advisable to offer life-extending treatment to people in a terminal situation," Dr. William A. Bayer of the University of Rochester in New York, the study's lead author, told Reuters Health.

Bayer was prompted to do the study after noticing how black families frequently wanted a loved one to stay on life support, while hospital staff -- largely white - though it should be discontinued.

A number of other studies, he and his colleagues note, have found a preference among blacks for life-sustaining care such as CPR and mechanical ventilation at the end of life.

Bayer's group asked 50 black and 27 white men and women who were 50 years of age or older if they would want life-sustaining care in eight different scenarios involving different levels of mental and physical status, from their current state of mental functioning to dementia to coma to brain death.

Across the board, blacks were more likely to want life-sustaining care than whites, Bayer and his colleagues found. The differences were starkest in the scenarios involving brain death and senile dementia.

Bayer points out that the current perception among U.S. medical professionals that life-sustaining care should not be given to terminally ill patients is cultural, not absolute, and does also not necessarily offer economic benefits.

"In my practice as a family practitioner I've seen that if people don't feel that the most was done in their eyes for their loved one it can have ramifications for many generations," he said.

Bayer also urged everyone to appoint a health care proxy and talk with him or her about their preferences for life-sustaining care. "This would avoid a lot of trauma to the family trying to decide what their loved ones wishes would or wouldn't be."

SOURCE: Ethnicity & Disease, Autumn 2006.

Copyright © 2006 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.