Web-Based Alcohol, Smoking, and Substance Involvement Screening Test Results for the General Spanish Population: Cross-Sectional Study

BACKGROUND Information technology in health sciences could be a screening tool of great potential and has been shown to be effective in identifying single-drug users at risk. Although there are many published tests for single-drug screening, there is a gap for concomitant drug use screening in general population. The ASSIST (Alcohol, Smoking and Substance Involvement Screening Test) website was launched on February 2015 in Madrid, Spain, as a tool to identify those at risk. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to describe the use of a tool and to analyze profiles of drug users, their consumption patterns, and associated factors. METHODS Government- and press-released launching of a Spanish-validated ASSIST test from the World Health Organization (WHO) was used for voluntary Web-based screening of people with drug-related problems. The tests completed in the first 6 months were analyzed . RESULTS A total of 1657 visitors of the 15,867 visits (1657/15,867, 10.44%) completed the whole Web-based screening over a 6-month period. The users had an average age of 37.4 years, and 78.87% (1307/1657) screened positive for at least one of the 9 drugs tested. The drugs with higher prevalence were tobacco (840/1657, 50.69%), alcohol (437/1657, 26.37%), cannabis (361/1657, 21.79%), and sedatives or hypnotics (192/1657, 11.59%). Polyconsumption or concomitant drug use was stated by 31.80% (527/1657) of the users. Male respondents had a higher risk of having alcohol problems (odds ratio, OR 1.55, 95% CI 1.18-2.04; P=.002) and double the risk for cannabis problems (OR 2.07, 95% CI 1.46-2.92; P<.001). Growing age increased by 3 times the risk of developing alcohol problems for people aged between 45 and 65 years (OR 3.01, 95% CI 1.89-4.79; P<.001). CONCLUSIONS A Web-based screening test could be useful to detect people at risk. The drug-related problem rates detected by the study are consistent with the current literature. This tool could be useful for users, who use information technology on a daily basis, not seeking medical attention.