Social determinants of nonmedical sedative and opioid use among U.S. Latinos

Patria Rojas, Weize Wang, Yajaira A Cabrera Tineo, Said S Salehe, Delaram Ghanooni and Mariana Sanchez

PLOS ONE, 2026, vol. 21, issue 8, 1-13

Abstract: The non-medical use of sedatives and prescription opioids is a growing public health concern, particularly among Latino populations. This study aim was to identify individual and social determinants associated with non-medical use of sedatives and prescription opioids among Latinos in the United States. A cross-sectional analysis was conducted using the National Institute of Health All of Us Dataset. The sample included 22,457 Hispanic/Latino adults with complete data. The main outcomes were lifetime street opioids use, and past 3-month non-medical use of sedatives and prescription opioids. Independent variables included depression, discrimination, education, income, nativity, and language spoken at home. The non-medical use of sedatives and opioids in the past 3 months was low (0.4% sedatives, 0.2% opioids). Older age, being male, and reporting depression, discrimination, and neighborhood disorder were associated with increased odds of opioids use. Higher education, income, foreign-born status, and non-English language spoken at home were protective factors. Findings highlight the need for culturally tailored interventions targeting high-risk adult Latino subgroups to address opioid and non-medical use of sedatives disparities.

Date: 2026
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:plo:pone00:0354367

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0354367

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