Subtopic Deep Dive
Adolescent Cocaine Use Prevalence
Research Guide
What is Adolescent Cocaine Use Prevalence?
Adolescent cocaine use prevalence refers to the epidemiological measurement of cocaine and crack consumption rates among Brazilian youth through school-based surveys and longitudinal studies.
Studies like Malta et al. (2011) analyzed data from the Pesquisa Nacional de Saúde Escolar (PeNSE) with 60,973 ninth-grade students, reporting prevalence of drug use including cocaine. Galduróz et al. (2004) tracked trends across four surveys from 1987 to 1997, showing stable or increasing cocaine use among secondary students. Duailibi et al. (2008) reviewed literature to profile cocaine users, noting over 250 citations.
Why It Matters
Prevalence data from Malta et al. (2011, 118 citations) guides allocation of public health resources for Brazilian school prevention programs targeting cocaine use. De Micheli and Formigoni (2004, 116 citations) link adolescent drug use to family and psychosocial factors, informing targeted interventions to reduce violence correlations in youth. Regional trends from Muza et al. (1997, 82 citations) highlight disparities in Ribeirão Preto, enabling localized policy responses.
Key Research Challenges
Survey Response Bias
Self-reported surveys like PeNSE in Malta et al. (2011) suffer from underreporting of illicit cocaine use due to social desirability. Validation against biomarkers remains rare in Brazilian youth studies. Galduróz et al. (2004) noted inconsistencies across survey waves.
Regional Disparity Measurement
Prevalence varies by region, as shown in Muza et al. (1997) for Ribeirão Preto versus national data in Malta et al. (2011). Longitudinal cohorts are limited outside urban areas. Soldera et al. (2004) identified school-type differences in public vs. private samples.
Temporal Trend Tracking
Tracking cocaine use changes requires repeated cross-sectional surveys like Galduróz et al. (2004) from 1987-1997. Recent data gaps post-2014 hinder trend analysis. Malta et al. (2014) compared PeNSE 2009-2012 but excluded cocaine specifics.
Essential Papers
Profile of cocaine and crack users in Brazil
Lígia Bonacim Duailibi, Marcelo Ribeiro, Ronaldo Laranjeira · 2008 · Cadernos de Saúde Pública · 253 citations
This article aims to systematize the profile of cocaine and crack users in Brazil. The study adopted a literature review of the MEDLINE, LILACS, Cochrane Library databases and CAPES thesis/disserta...
Causes of death among crack cocaine users
Marcelo Ribeiro, John Dunn, Ricardo Sesso et al. · 2006 · Brazilian Journal of Psychiatry · 121 citations
OBJECTIVE: The study accompanied 131 crack-cocaine users over a 5-year period, and examined mortality patterns, as well as the causes of death among them. METHOD: All patients admitted to a detoxif...
Prevalência do consumo de álcool e drogas entre adolescentes: análise dos dados da Pesquisa Nacional de Saúde Escolar
Déborah Carvalho Malta, Márcio Dênis Medeiros Mascarenhas, Denise Lopes Porto et al. · 2011 · Revista Brasileira de Epidemiologia · 118 citations
OBJETIVO: Descrever a prevalência do consumo de álcool e outras drogas entre estudantes adolescentes. MÉTODO: Estudo transversal com amostra de conglomerados de 60.973 estudantes do nono ano do Ens...
Drug use by Brazilian students: associations with family, psychosocial, health, demographic and behavioral characteristics
Denise De Micheli, Maria Lúcia Oliveira de Souza Formigoni · 2004 · Addiction · 116 citations
ABSTRACT Aims In the last few years, epidemiological studies in Brazil have detected significant increases in the use and abuse of psychoactive drugs by adolescents; however, there is a paucity of ...
The relationship between drugs use and risk behaviors in brazilian university students
Sandra Cristina Pillon, Beverley O’Brien, Ketty Aracely Piedra Chávez · 2005 · Revista Latino-Americana de Enfermagem · 98 citations
The aim was to describe relationships between gender and drug use as well as risk behaviors that may be associated with drug use among first-year students at the University of São Paulo-Ribeirão Pr...
Uso de drogas psicotrópicas por estudantes: prevalência e fatores sociais associados
Meire Aparecida Soldera, Paulo Dalgalarrondo, Heleno Rodrigues Corrêa Filho et al. · 2004 · Revista de Saúde Pública · 96 citations
OBJETIVO: Determinar a prevalência do uso pesado de drogas por estudantes de primeiro e segundo graus em uma amostra de escolas públicas e particulares, e identificar fatores demográficos, psicológ...
Trends in drug use among students in Brazil: analysis of four surveys in 1987, 1989, 1993 and 1997
José Carlos Fernandes Galduróz, Ana Regina Noto, Solange Aparecida Nappo et al. · 2004 · Brazilian Journal of Medical and Biological Research · 93 citations
The consumption of psychotropic drugs among Brazilian secondary school students was examined by comparing data from four surveys using a questionnaire adapted from the WHO's Program on Research and...
Reading Guide
Foundational Papers
Start with Duailibi et al. (2008, 253 citations) for cocaine user profiles via literature review, then Malta et al. (2011, 118 citations) for PeNSE prevalence baselines, and De Micheli and Formigoni (2004, 116 citations) for associated factors.
Recent Advances
Study Malta et al. (2014, 76 citations) for PeNSE 2009-2012 risk trends and Jansen et al. (2011, 78 citations) for mental health links in young adults.
Core Methods
Clustered sampling in school surveys (PeNSE, Malta et al. 2011), repeated cross-sections for trends (Galduróz et al. 2004), and thematic literature reviews (Duailibi et al. 2008).
How PapersFlow Helps You Research Adolescent Cocaine Use Prevalence
Discover & Search
Research Agent uses searchPapers with query 'adolescent cocaine prevalence Brazil PeNSE' to retrieve Malta et al. (2011, 118 citations), then citationGraph reveals inbound links from 200+ PeNSE follow-ups and findSimilarPapers uncovers Galduróz et al. (2004). exaSearch scans OpenAlex for regional variants like Muza et al. (1997).
Analyze & Verify
Analysis Agent applies readPaperContent to extract prevalence tables from De Micheli and Formigoni (2004), then runPythonAnalysis with pandas to compute cocaine use rates by demographics, verified via verifyResponse (CoVe) for statistical accuracy. GRADE grading scores Malta et al. (2011) as high-quality evidence due to large clustered sample.
Synthesize & Write
Synthesis Agent detects gaps in post-2014 cocaine trends via contradiction flagging between Galduróz et al. (2004) and Malta et al. (2014), then Writing Agent uses latexEditText and latexSyncCitations to draft a meta-analysis section citing Duailibi et al. (2008), with latexCompile for PDF and exportMermaid for prevalence trend diagrams.
Use Cases
"Plot cocaine prevalence trends from Brazilian student surveys 1987-2012"
Research Agent → searchPapers → Analysis Agent → runPythonAnalysis (pandas/matplotlib on extracted data from Galduróz et al. 2004 and Malta et al. 2011) → time-series plot with confidence intervals.
"Draft LaTeX report on adolescent cocaine risk factors in Brazil"
Synthesis Agent → gap detection → Writing Agent → latexEditText (structure report) → latexSyncCitations (add De Micheli 2004) → latexCompile → formatted PDF with bibliography.
"Find code for analyzing PeNSE drug survey data"
Research Agent → paperExtractUrls (Malta 2011) → Code Discovery → paperFindGithubRepo → githubRepoInspect → R script for prevalence modeling downloaded.
Automated Workflows
Deep Research workflow conducts systematic review: searchPapers on 'cocaine prevalence Brazilian adolescents' → clusters 20+ papers like Duailibi (2008) → structured report with GRADE scores. DeepScan applies 7-step analysis with CoVe checkpoints to verify trends in Galduróz et al. (2004). Theorizer generates hypotheses on violence links from De Micheli (2004) prevalence factors.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is adolescent cocaine use prevalence?
It measures cocaine and crack consumption rates among Brazilian youth via surveys like PeNSE (Malta et al., 2011, 60,973 students).
What methods track prevalence?
Cross-sectional school surveys (Malta et al., 2011; Galduróz et al., 2004) and literature reviews (Duailibi et al., 2008) use clustered sampling and self-reports.
What are key papers?
Duailibi et al. (2008, 253 citations) profiles users; Malta et al. (2011, 118 citations) reports PeNSE data; De Micheli and Formigoni (2004, 116 citations) links to risk factors.
What open problems exist?
Post-2014 trend data gaps, biomarker validation for self-reports, and rural prevalence measurement beyond urban cohorts like Muza et al. (1997).
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Part of the Youth, Drugs, and Violence Research Guide