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Background: Because official statistics (e.g. mortality and morbidity data) report the high prevalence of drug abusers in the Parisian region, we hypothesized that drug use is higher in Parisian suburbs than in other regions of France., Methods: Two epidemiological surveys were carried out in 1993: one among 12,391 adolescents in secondary schools aged 11 to 19, another among 2,821 youth, aged 16 to 24, in the scholar rehabilitation system. The level of drug use (alcohol, tobacco, cannabis and other illicit drugs) and associated behavior (violent behavior, school absenteeism, suicide attempt and road accidents) was compared between youth living in the Ile-de-France region (IDF) and youth living outside the region (NIDF)., Results: 1/Alcohol and tobacco consumption rates were lower in the IDF than in the NIDF; 2/There was no statistical difference between the illicit drug consumption rates in IDF and NIDF; 3/The association between alcohol, tobacco and cannabis was more frequent in IDF than in NIDF; 4/There was an association between drug use and the other behavioral problems among French youth, independent of the region., Conclusion: In 1993, there was no difference between Parisian region and the outside of the region, as far as drug consumption is concerned. One can expect, in the future, a more homogeneous pattern of mortality and morbidity statistics between regions.

Four hundred and fifteen Parisian pre-school children were followed for 3 years (1974-1977). Four epidemiological questionnaires carried out at the ages of 3, 9, 18 and 36 months provided information on the familial and social situation as well as the physical and psychological development of the children. A cluster analysis was carried out on the behaviour variables of the 3 year-old children and 3 different groups were identified. Most children (69%) belonged to the first group, characterized by the absence of difficulties or the presence of few minor symptoms and 10% of the children belonged to the third group, a "high risk group" because of the frequency of the symptoms. Children of the "high risk group" and matched controls were followed up till their school entrance (7 years of age) and compared on different variables: health problems, sleep disorders, school problems, psychosomatic symptoms, difficulties in communicating with others. Comparison between the high risk group and controls permits discussion of the predictive value of early functional disorder risk indicators.

A 3 years supervision of 415 pre-school children was undertaken in Paris from 1974 to 1977. Four epidemiological sets of questions provided information on the familial and social situation as well as on the physical and psychological development of the child at 3, 9, 18 and 36 months of age. A cluster analysis was applied to the behavior and health variables in the 3 year-old child and 3 different groups were identified. Most children (69%) belong to the first group, characterized by the absence of difficulties or the presence of a few minor symptoms, 10% of the children belong to the third group, a "high risk group" because of their high frequency of symptoms. Half-way between these 2 groups, a "low-risk group" (21%) was identified. The reliability of this analysis was further supported by the study of the families (especially their social and economic status and the parents' mental health). This study also revealed the early onset of the symptoms in high risk children.