Prevalence and Factors Associated with Illicit Drug and High-Risk Alcohol Use among Adolescents Living in Urban Slums of Kampala, Uganda

Background Illicit drug and high risk alcohol use among adolescents leads to poor health outcomes. We enrolled adolescents from urban slums in Kampala, Uganda, to assess baseline prevalence, and factors associated with illicit drug and high-risk alcohol consumption. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional study using data collected in a cohort that enrolled 14-19-year-old male and female participants from 25-March-2019 to 30-March 2020. Data was collected on social-demographics, sexual behavior and reproductive health using interviewer administered questionnaires. The main outcomes were illicit drug use and high-risk alcohol use. Data on alcohol use was collected using the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT); results were dichotomized. Factors associated with each outcome were analyzed using multivariable logistic regression. Results We enrolled 490 participants (60.6% female) with median age 18 (IQR 17-18) years, 91.0% had less than secondary education, 48.4% had their sexual debut before 15years, 47.1% reported paid sex in the past 3 months and 24.7% had a sexually transmitted infection (chlamydia, gonorrhea and/ or active syphilis) at enrolment. The prevalence of illicit drug use was 34.9% while 16.1% were screened as high-risk alcohol users. Illicit drug use was associated with being male (aOR 9.62; 95% CI 5.74-16.11), being married (aOR 2.24; 95%CI 1.07-4.68) and having ≥10 paying sexual partners in the past 3 months (aOR 3.13; 95%CI 1.40-6.98). High risk alcohol use was associated with reporting sex work as the main job (aOR 3.19; 95%CI 1.02-9.94) and having experienced physical (aOR 1.96 95%CI 1.01-3.81) or emotional violence (aOR 2.08; 95%CI 1.14-3.82) from sexual partners. Conclusion Illicit drug and high-risk alcohol use are prevalent among adolescents involved in high risk sexual behavior and living in urban slums of Kampala. Comprehensive interventions that target substance use among this group of young people are needed and should include measures against intimate partner violence.