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Article: UK incidence of children living with substance-misusing parents considerably underestimated.
- Article from:
- NewsRx Health
- Article date:
- October 25, 2009
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Current figures underestimate the number of children who may be at risk of harm from parental substance use. Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Public Health have generated new estimates using five national surveys which include measures of binge, hazardous and dependent drinking, illicit drug use and mental health.
Previous UK estimates were that 250-350,000 children live with problem drug users and 780,000 - 1.3 million with problem drinkers. However, the problem, according to the researchers, is that "these estimates are based on drug users in treatment or derive from problem drinking estimates in other countries". The study, funded by Action ...