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Predicting the Contribution of Age at First Substance Use and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder to Later Addiction Severity in a Clinical Sample from Sub-Saharan Africa: Implications for Prevention and Treatment

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Abstract

This study sought to examine the extent to which age at first substance use contributes to later addiction severity and how PTSD affects their relationships. The study enrolled 315 patients from tertiary addiction services in Rwanda. The participants’ mean age at first substance use was 18.64 years (SD = 6.1) old. Age at first substance use had a significant effect (β = − 0.130, p = .013) on later addiction severity. PTSD showed significant association with later addiction severity (β = 0.363; p = < .001). The variance explained by age at first substance use and PTSD increased from R2 adjusted = .013 to 14.7; 14.7, and this was statistically significant with F(8637) = 28.054, p < .001. The study demonstrates that early age at first substance use coupled to PTSD significantly predict more later addiction severity. This suggests prevention and clinical practice that aimed at improving addiction care outcomes should consider addessing potential consequences of associations between PTSD and addiction issues among persons seeking addiction treatment services.

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Funding

This study was partially supported by the 2018 Graduate Award from Irene Nordwich Foundation, Faculty of Health Sciences, Western University, and the Western Africa Institute Graduate Student Research Fund May 2018.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Health Sciences, Arthur and Labatt School of Nursing, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada

    Boniface Harerimana, Michael Kerr & Cheryl Forchuk

  2. Lawson Health Research Institute, Parkwood Institute, 550 Wellington Road, B3-110, STN B, P.O. Box 5777, London, Ontario, N6A 4V2, Canada

    Boniface Harerimana & Cheryl Forchuk

  3. Ndera Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital, Kigali, Rwanda

    Boniface Harerimana

  4. Department of Clinical Psychology, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Rwanda, Kigali, Rwanda

    Boniface Harerimana & Eugene Rutembesa

  5. School of Social Work, King’s University College, Western University Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada

    Richard Csiernik

  6. Department of Psychologist, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Lauren C. Ng

  7. Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine and Dentistry, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada

    Cheryl Forchuk

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  1. Boniface Harerimana
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Correspondence to Boniface Harerimana.

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The Faculty of Health Sciences, Western University, the Western Africa Institute, and Irene Nordwich Foundation did not influence any aspects of conduct, data analysis, and report of the study results.

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All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000 (5). Informed consent was obtained from all patients for being included in the study.

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Harerimana, B., Kerr, M., Csiernik, R. et al. Predicting the Contribution of Age at First Substance Use and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder to Later Addiction Severity in a Clinical Sample from Sub-Saharan Africa: Implications for Prevention and Treatment. Int J Ment Health Addiction 20, 1370–1384 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-020-00449-z

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