Geographical variations in youthful drug involvement within and across urban, and rural areas of Central America have been poorly studied in prior epidemiological evidence. To determine if there is geographical variation in the cumulative occurrence of first trial of drugs by age 13 across countries, with attention to residence in 'capital city' vs. 'non-capital' areas, crude and adjusted odds ratio estimates (by covariates such as sex and age) based on multiple logistic regressions were calculated based on a secondary data analysis of 12,560 school-attending adolescents from seven countries in Central America (Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala and Dominican Republic). This study sheds light on a possible rural-urban gap, especially in relation to alcohol and tobacco and sources of this variation could be due to genetic, environmental, economical, cultural and social factors.
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