Rural regions in the U.S. have been disproportionately affected by the opioid epidemic, while also having the fewest number of programs to treat opioid use disorder.
Researchers identified 579 locations in the human genome associated with a predisposition to self-regulation-related behaviors, such as addiction. With data from 1.5 million people of European descent, the effort is one of the largest genome-wide association studies to date.
CHICAGO - Drug overdose deaths broke records during 2020, and while the pandemic no doubt contributed, surgery plays an often-overlooked role in America’s ongoing opioid epidemic because many patients continue to use their prescribed opioids months after their procedures. Pain medicine specialists are leading the way in addressing the opioid epidemic by developing strategies to reduce opioid misuse related to surgery, from helping to ease pain before the procedure to ensuring at-risk patients have access to naloxone to prevent an accidental overdose, according to the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA).
Half of adults aged 20-39 with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have had a substance use disorder (SUD) in their lifetime according to new research published online ahead of print this month in Alcohol and Alcoholism.
Among adolescents ages 10 to 14 in the U.S, the overall rate of drug use remained relatively stable in the first six months of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, one change was a decreased use of alcohol, but an increased use of nicotine and misuse of prescription drugs.
Expert Q&A: Do breakthrough cases mean we will soon need COVID boosters? The extremely contagious Delta variant continues to spread, prompting mask mandates, proof of vaccination, and other measures. Media invited to ask the experts about these and related topics.
People of mixed race are experiencing high levels of racial discrimination, and this is linked to their increased risk of heavy drinking, according to a new study in Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research. Multiracial individuals also report relatively low levels of racial identity affiliation — a sense of connection to a racial group or groups that may buffer against the impact of discrimination. Heavy alcohol use is linked to higher risk of negative health consequences including alcohol use disorder. But research on relevant factors linked to heavy alcohol use in multiracial people is incomplete, with mixed findings. Understanding the interaction of racially linked influences and alcohol consumption can potentially inform interventions aimed at preventing or reducing risky drinking. Researchers at the University of Rhode Island compared levels of heavy drinking and some factors that may influence it, including racial discrimination and racial identity affiliation, in multiracia
Five years ago, CDC released an evidence-based guideline to help doctors treat their patients’ pain while balancing the risks and benefits of prescription opioid medications. A new study suggests it may have started to have an effect in the first two years after its launch.
A new study shows that taking both an opioid and a benzodiazepine drug is especially risky if multiple doctors prescribe the two different types of drugs to the same patient rather than the same doctor.
Data show that concurrent with the opioid overdose crisis, there has been an increase in hospitalizations of people with opioid use disorder (OUD). One in ten of these hospitalized medical or surgical patients have comorbid opioid-related diagnoses.
A systematic review and meta-analysis found that using contingency management (CM) at end-of-treatment improved outcomes on six common clinical problems during medication for OUD (MOUD): psychomotor stimulant use, polysubstance use, illicit-opioid use, cigarette smoking, therapy attendance, and medication adherence.
A UC Davis Health study published in JAMA found a 68% increase in overdose events and a doubling of mental health crises among patients who were on stable opioid therapy but saw their doses tapered.
New research in the July 2021 issue of JNCCN indicates a need to increase substance use and mental health support capabilities at cancer centers across the United States. Researchers found 85.4% of centers offered mental health services but only 45.5% had chemical dependency services.
With overdose rates involving cocaine soaring nearly 27% in 2020, researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) hope that a clinical trial combining a medication approved for the treatment of Type 2 diabetes with cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) can help prevent relapse in cocaine use disorder patients.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is embarking on a massive research project to shed light on early child development, including the health and developmental implications of opioid use during pregnancy. The very first task is to ensure the study — the HEALthy Brain and Child Development study (HBCD) — is on solid legal and ethical ground.
Lonely, older adults are nearly twice as likely to use opioids to ease pain and two-and-a-half times more likely to use sedatives and anti-anxiety medications, putting themselves at risk for drug dependency, impaired attention, falls and other accidents, and further cognitive impairment, according to a study by researchers at UC San Francisco.
Emergency department visit rates because of an opioid overdose increased by 28.5% across the U.S. in 2020, compared to 2018 and 2019, recent Mayo Clinic research finds. Emergency visits overall decreased by 14% last year, while visits because of an opioid overdose increased by 10.5%. The result: Opioid overdoses were responsible for 0.32 out of 100 visits, or 1 in every 313 visits, which is up from 0.25, or 1 in every 400 visits, the previous two years.
As opioid overdose deaths rose during the COVID-19 pandemic, people seeking treatment for opioid addiction had to wait nearly twice as long to begin methadone treatment in the United States than in Canada, a new Yale study has shown.
Financial instability, lack of infrastructure, a deteriorating sense of community and family fragmentation are key contributors to diseases of despair in Pennsylvania communities, according to Penn State College of Medicine and Highmark Health researchers.
Members of a coalition of 50+ leading public health groups who issued a set of five guiding principles for spending opioid settlement funds in January are reacting to the announcement of the $26 billion settlement deal between a group of state attorneys general and Cardinal Health, AmerisourceBergen, McKesson, and Johnson & Johnson.
Recognizing the urgent need for comprehensive approaches to opioid use disorder that address the needs of the entire family, the Foundation for Opioid Response Efforts (FORE) is today issuing a new Request for Proposals for projects that will engage and empower vulnerable families and communities to prevent opioid use disorder and overdose.
A new national study published in Public Health Nutrition on July 15 found that Americans experiencing food insufficiency were three times as likely to lack mental health support during the COVID-19 pandemic than those not experiencing food insufficiency.
More than 75% of women with Opioid Use Disorder report having had an unintended pregnancy, but they are less likely to use effective contraception compared to women who do not use drugs. Results from a multi-year trial found that a two-part intervention featuring co-located contraceptive services in opioid treatment programs and financial incentives could offer an effective solution.
Combined perceptions of the risk and availability of cannabis influence the risk of cannabis use more than perceived risk and perceived availability alone, according to a new study at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.
The Foundation for Opioid Response Efforts (FORE) will host a webinar on Understanding and Bolstering the Recovery Workforce and release results from the qualitative portion of its first-ever national surgery of peer recovery coaches. The webinar will take place on Wednesday, July 14, 2021, from 3pm to 4:30pm EST.
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) has a major impact on the lives of affected patients and families. But it doesn't necessarily lead to an increased risk of marital instability, as two-thirds of patients with TBI are still married to the same partner 10 years after their injury, reports a study in the July/August issue of the Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation (JHTR). The official journal of the Brain Injury Association of America, JHTR is published in the Lippincott portfolio by Wolters Kluwer.
University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) Professor of Diagnostic Radiology & Nuclear Medicine, Linda Chang, MD, MS, received the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) 2021 Avant Garde Award (DP1) for HIV/AIDS and Substance Use Disorder Research — a National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director’s Pioneer Award.
Rutgers scientists have used a diagnostic technique for the first time in the opioid addiction field that they believe has the potential to determine which opioid-addicted patients are more likely to relapse.
At least so far, the currently limited research base does not establish that cannabis has additional adverse effects on brain development or functioning in adolescents or young adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), concludes a review in the July/August issue of Harvard Review of Psychiatry. The journal is published in the Lippincott portfolio by Wolters Kluwer.
The federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration recently issued a statement calling cognitive behavioral therapy the standard of care for psychosis.
“This is being called a 'watershed moment’ for advancing care for people with schizophrenia,” said lead author of the statement, a UW Medicine psychologist.
Experiencing sexual violence is significantly linked to increased e-cigarette use among sexual minority high school students, but not heterosexual students, according to a University at Buffalo study.
When young adults are more interested in socializing and casually dating, they tend to drink more alcohol, according to a new paper led by a Washington State University professor.
New research published online in the journal Substance Use & Misuse is good news for those struggling with alcohol dependence: the possibility of ending this dependency gets easier with age.
Surgeons can ease their patients’ pain from common operations without prescribing opioids, and avoid the possibility of starting someone on a path to long-term use, a pair of new studies suggests.
Loyola Medicine’s Opioid Task Force, in partnership with the Cook County Sheriff's Department, is organizing a Medication Take Back Day for community members, patients and colleagues to safely dispose of their old medications on Friday, June 11 from 10 am – 2 pm in the Loyola Outpatient Center (2160 S. First Ave., Maywood).
A pain-management protocol designed by Emese Zsiros, MD, PhD, FACOG, to be reported at the American Society of Clinical Oncology 2021 annual meeting, resulted in a 45% decrease in opioids prescribed to patients undergoing surgery, without significant effect on recovery or satisfaction.
After a 2020 Vanderbilt University Medical Center study showed women have a difficult time accessing treatment for opioid use disorder (OUD), investigators analyzed comments received from the study’s participants to further shed light on barriers to care, which included everything from long on-hold times to difficult interactions with clinic receptionists during phone calls seeking appointments.
The $2.3 million, four-year Avenir Award will support his innovative research project, “Tele-Harm Reduction for Rapid Initiation of Antiretrovirals in People Who Inject Drugs: A Randomized Controlled Trial.”
The number of specialty behavioral health establishments, their workforce and their wages have increased steadily between 2011 and 2019, according to a new study by Indiana University and University of Michigan researchers.
An emotion regulation strategy known as cognitive reappraisal helped reduce the typically heightened and habitual attention to drug-related cues and contexts in cocaine-addicted individuals, a study by Mount Sinai researchers has found.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Johns Hopkins Medicine Media Relations is focused on disseminating current, accurate and useful information to the public via the media. As part of that effort, we are distributing our “COVID-19 Tip Sheet: Story Ideas from Johns Hopkins” every other Wednesday.
Researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago are a step closer to discovering why it is so difficult for people to withdraw from some antidepressant medications. The paper “Antidepressants produce persistent Gαs associated signaling changes in lipid rafts following drug withdrawal,” published in the journal Molecular Pharmacology, addresses the molecular and cellular mechanisms that cause antidepressant withdrawal syndrome.
o help increase access to the availability of non-opioid pain management treatments, the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists (AANA) supports the recent introduction of the Non-Opioids Prevent Addiction in the Nation (NOPAIN) Act introduced by U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell (D-AL), along with Reps. David McKinley (R-WV), Ann Kuster (D-NH), and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA). The Senate version of this legislation (S. 589) was previously introduced.
Now that a key policy regarding prescription of a medication for opioid use disorder has been changed, experts reflect on the remaining challenges standing in the way of more people getting effective medication-assisted treatment, and discuss efforts to overcome those barriers.
Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine found that functional impairments among adults aged 50 and older are associated with a higher risk of medical cannabis use; and prescription opioid and tranquilizer/sedative use and misuse.
A study published in the scientific journal Addiction provides the most comprehensive evidence to date of the association between recreational cannabis laws (RCLs) in US states and responses in the illegal markets for cannabis, heroin, and other drugs in those states.
Amid the rising toll of opioid overdoses and deaths in the U.S., several states are considering laws enabling civil commitment for involuntary treatment of patients with substance use disorders (SUDs). Most addiction medicine physicians support civil commitment for SUD treatment – but others strongly oppose this approach, reports a survey study in Journal of Addiction Medicine, the official journal of the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM). The journal is published in the Lippincott portfolio by Wolters Kluwer.