HHS

This research has demonstrated continued shifts in trends in illicit drug use in the United States and called attention to rising rates of prescription drug misuse and abuse. Findings have also continued to highlight the substantial comorbidity of SUDs with other psychiatric disorders and with the ongoing HIV epidemic. Building on these foundations, future challenges for research in substance abuse epidemiology will include using novel methodologic approaches to further unravel the complex interrelationships that link individual vulnerabilities for SUDs, including genetic factors, with social and environmental risk factors.