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U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion

Reduce the proportion of people who had drug use disorder in the past year — SU‑15 Data Methodology and Measurement

On this page:  About this objective  |  Methodology  |  History

About this objective

Data

Data Source:  National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), SAMHSA

National baseline: 8.7 percent of persons aged 12 years and over had a drug use disorder (defined as meeting DSM-V criteria) in the past 12 months in 2021

National target: 8.1 percent

Numerator
Number of persons aged 12 years and over with drug use disorder (defined as meeting DSM-5 criteria) in the past 12 months.
Denominator
Number of persons aged 12 years and over.
National target-setting method
Minimal statistical significance
National target-setting method details
Minimal statistical significance, assuming the same standard error for the target as for the baseline.
National target-setting method justification
Trend data are not available due to the NSDUH redesign. Data from 2021 cannot be compared or combined with data from previous years. The standard error was used to calculate a target based on minimal statistical significance, assuming the same standard error for the target as for the baseline. This method was used because it retains the original target setting method and was a statistically significant improvement from the baseline. The Workgroup Subject Matter Experts viewed this as an ambitious yet achievable target.

Methodology

Questions used to obtain the national baseline data

(For additional information, please visit the data source page linked above.)

From the 2021 National Survey on Drug Use and Health:

Numerator:
DRMJ01 – DRMJ22 (Marijuana abuse or dependence)
DRCC01 – DRCC22 (Cocaine abuse or dependence)
DRHE01 – DRHE22 (Heroin abuse or dependence)
DRLS01 – DRLS22 (Hallucinogen abuse or dependence)
DRIN01 – DRIN22 (Inhalant abuse or dependence)
DRME01 – DRME22 (Methamphetamine abuse or dependence)
DRPR01 – DRPR22 (Rx pain reliever abuse or dependence)
DRTR01 – DRTR22 (Rx tranquilizer abuse or dependence)
DRST01 – DRST22 (Rx stimulant abuse or dependence)
DRSV01 – DRSV22 (Rx sedative abuse or dependence)

Methodology notes

Drug use disorder is defined as meeting criteria in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th edition (DSM-5), for one or more of the following drugs: marijuana, cocaine, heroin, hallucinogens, inhalants, methamphetamine, or any use of prescription psychotherapeutic drugs (i.e., pain relievers, tranquilizers, stimulants, and sedatives). The DSM-5 SUD criteria for prescription drugs applies to people who used prescription drugs for any reason in the past year (i.e., not just misuse). A reduced set of criteria are used to define prescription drug use disorder for respondents who used prescription drugs but did not misuse them in the past year.

History

Revision History
Revised. 

In 2024, the baseline was revised from 3.0% in 2017 to 8.7% in 2021. The target setting method, minimal statistical significance, remained the same; however, the target was revised from 2.7% to 8.1% using the 2021 data.
Trend issues
SAMHSA started multimode data collection (in-person and web-based collection) for the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) beginning in Quarter 4 (i.e., October to December) of 2020 due to COVID-19 pandemic. The 2021 NSDUH is based on both in-person and web interviews. Prior to 2020, NSDUH data are based on in-person data collection alone. The 2020 NSDUH included only 2 quarters (Quarters 1 and 4) of data collection unlike the four quarters of data collected in other years. Several analyses were conducted to investigate the impacts of these and related methodological issues on estimates for 2021. Using the outcomes of the comparability analyses, the following decisions were made regarding the 2021 NSDUH data. • Estimates from 2021 cannot be compared with those in 2019 or prior years because estimates from a multimode year are not comparable with estimates from a single-mode year. Estimates of change from 2019 or earlier to 2021 would probably be too greatly influenced by the mode effect. • Because of effects on estimates when some quarters of data are excluded or missing, 2020 estimates (based on two quarters of data) cannot be compared with those of any other year, including 2021. Using only 2 quarters of data may yield a different trend than use of 4 quarters of data. • NSDUH data from 2021 should not be combined or compared with any prior data. • In addition, the criteria used to categorize substance use disorder (SUD) among NSDUH respondents changed in 2020 and onward from the fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) to the fifth edition (DSM-5), resulting in some differences in who is classified as having an SUD.