27 May 4 Potential Consequences of Failing to Seek Treatment for Alcoholism
Women remain more at risk of liver disease resulting from alcohol use, although heavy users of both sexes develop fatty liver over time...
Addiction
26 May Latest Research Shows Need For Improved Long-Term Addiction Solutions
A recent study from Services for the UnderServed found that between 37 and 56 percent of patients transitioning from residential treatment facilities to their homes and communities relapsed within a year of leaving the program....
21 May Cannabis Cravings Differ Between Men and Women
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_54310" align="alignleft" width="160"]
Dr. Filbey[/caption]
Francesca Filbey, PhD
Associate Provost and Professor of Cognition and Neuroscience
Bert Moore Chair
The University of Texas at Dallas
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Studies have reported differences in how males and females respond to cannabis and how they develop problems related to cannabis use. We sought to determine whether craving may underlie this difference in male and female cannabis users.
18 May EVALI: Adolescents More Likely to Obtain Vaping Products Through Informal Sources
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Susan Hocevar Adkins, MD Lead Author, Senior Medical Officer, and Commander United States Public Health Service CDC MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Since August 2019, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and state, local, and territorial health departments have been investigating a national outbreak of e-cigarette, or vaping, product use-associated lung injury (EVALI). Although clinical presentation and outcomes of EVALI patients generally have been reported, data on adolescent patients are more limited. This article fills this gap by using data from national EVALI surveillance at CDC to examine demographic, substance use, and clinical characteristics of adolescent EVALI patients relative to young adult and adult EVALI patients.
24 Apr RECOVER Study: Recovery From Opioid Use Disorder After Monthly Long-Acting Buprenorphine Treatment
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_54006" align="alignleft" width="143"] Dr. Ling[/caption]
Dr. Walter Ling, MD
Professor of Psychiatry
Director of Integrated Substance Abuse Programs UCLA
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: RECOVER™ is a real-world, observational study looking at long-term recovery in a cohort of 533 people with moderate to severe opioid use disorder (OUD) following their transition from two Phase 3 clinical trials of SUBLOCADE® (buprenorphine extended-release) injection, for subcutaneous use (CIII), into a real-world setting.1
The RECOVER study uses data from three main sources: self-administered assessments from enrolled individuals, urine drug screens (UDS) and data collected from several public sources. Recovery is examined over 24 months – the self-administered assessment and UDS results are completed by participants every three months over the course of this period. Results are being analyzed to understand the clinical, socio-economic and environmental factors associated with continuous effects of medications to treat OUD after a clinical trial.1.2
Studies such as RECOVER can help bridge the knowledge gap between the efficacy of medications as seen in the controlled clinical trial environment, and the use and effect of medications outside of a research setting and their long-term impact on patients’ health. A collaboration between Indivior and the Fralin Biomedical Institute at Virginia Tech Carilion will enable the next phase of the RECOVER study, which may provide further information to health care providers and policymakers on how to use medications to support their patients and how continuity of care can help break down barriers to evidence-based treatment.3
24 Apr Opioid Use Disorder Drugs: Removing Need for Prior Authorization Can Save Money in the Long Run
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_53989" align="alignleft" width="200"] Dr. Mark[/caption]
Tami L. Mark, PhD
Senior Director, Behavioral Health Financing and Quality Measurement
RTI International
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: There are effective medications to treat opioid use disorder. Federal and state policymakers have tried to improve access to these medications. However, medications to treat opioid use disorders are still often subject to prior authorization. Studies of other medications finds that prior authorization can reduce access.
This study looked at whether removing prior authorization in Medicare Part D plans was associated with increases in the use of medications to treat opioid use disorder.
22 Apr Fewer EVALI Cases in States with Recreational Marijuana
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_53964" align="alignleft" width="200"]
Dr. Hollingsworth[/caption]
Alex Hollingsworth PhD
Assistant Professor
O'Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs
Indiana University
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: I've been working with Coady Wing and Ashley Bradford on a few different studies of the effects of recreational marijuana laws on drug and alcohol use.
Soon after EVALI became a major issue, the prevailing theory from the CDC and others was that EVALI was caused by the use of vitamin E acetate in illegal THC vaping products.
Our group read about this and we thought about some of the things that often happen in black markets for illegal drugs. For instance, during the alcohol prohibition era, bootleg alcohol producers often made and sold alcohol products that were not that safe to drink. In more recent years, there are cases where black market sellers of illegal drugs like heroin try to increase profit margins by adding other substances, which can be harmful.
We thought that maybe something like that could be happening in EVALI. Perhaps people in states where recreational marijuana is legal tended to purchase marijuana products from the legal market and the legal market was not selling any marijuana vaping products that included vitamin E acetate.
10 Apr Challenges of Addiction Magnified by COVID-19 Epidemic
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_53855" align="alignleft" width="146"] Dr. Volkow[/caption]
Nora D. Volkow, MD
Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse
National Institutes of Health
Bethesda, MD
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? How does vaping, hookah use, inhaled marijuana, smoking etc impact the risk of coronavirus infection? Could these activities account for some the risks and infections in younger individuals?
Response: Apart from older age, having underlying cardiopulmonary conditions is a known risk factor for the worst clinical course and outcomes of COVID-19, and many of those conditions are known to be caused or exacerbated by smoking. While evidence continues to emerge about how smoking might interact with COVID-19, it is a reasonable assumption that smoking could contribute to risk even in younger individuals.
We still don’t know how vaping—whether of nicotine or marijuana or just flavorings—contributes to the risk of infection or illness severity with the virus that causes COVID-19, but there are a number of reasons to be concerned. We have already seen lung illnesses caused by some vaping products, and evidence suggests vaping may disrupt lung epithelial cell function, which in turn increases viral susceptibility and may put individuals at increased risk of infection with the virus that causes COVID-19 or with more severe disease outcomes. Vaping is a relatively new technology, and as such, there are many unknowns. The rapid increases in vaping by young people over the last few years make this an area of concern, and thus an area where more research is urgently needed.
10 Apr How Common is Cannabis Withdrawal Syndrome?
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_53839" align="alignleft" width="137"] Dr. Bahji[/caption]
Anees Bahji, MD
PGY5, Department of Psychiatry, Queen’s University
M.Sc. Candidate, Department of Public Health Sciences,
Queen’s University
Kingston, ON, Canada
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
- There has been much speculation into the existence of a withdrawal syndrome involving cannabis much like withdrawal syndromes from opioids or alcohol. Our goal for this study was to estimate the prevalence of cannabis withdrawal syndrome (CWS) and to identify any risk factors for CWS.
- There has been a lot of research into cannabis withdrawal syndrome (CWS) in the past. A big part of this review involved understanding where the CWS field is in terms of the shared understanding on its epidemiology and physiology.
- To that end, we were not surprised to find that the prevalence of cannabis withdrawal syndrome was high. However, we found that some of the characteristics of CWS are consistent with other substance use disorders, which really serves to legitimize the decision to classify CWS and cannabis use disorders as psychiatric conditions.
01 Apr ACA Medicaid Expansion Linked to Fewer Opioid Hospitalizations, but not ER Visits
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_53598" align="alignleft" width="200"] Dr. Soni[/caption]
Aparna Soni PhD, Assistant Professor
Department of Public Administration and Policy
School of Public Affairs
American University Washington, DC
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: The United States is in the midst of an opioid epidemic. Opioids are responsible for nearly 50,000 deaths per year and present a substantial financial burden on hospitals. The rate of opioids-related hospital events has tripled since 2005.
We are particularly concerned about rising hospitalizations because they may stem from a lack of access to treatment for individuals with opioid use disorder. Medication-assisted treatment is effective in treating opioid use disorder but can be unaffordable for people without health insurance.
25 Mar Animal Study Finds Vaporized Cannabis Can Enhance Drug Seeking Behavior
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:Ryan J. McLaughlin, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Integrative Physiology & Neuroscience
College of Veterinary Medicine
Washington State University, Pullman, WA
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: The evolving legal landscape concerning the use of cannabis has increased urgency to better understand its effects on the brain and behavior. Animal models are advantageous in this respect; however, researchers traditionally use forced injections of synthetic cannabinoids which fails to capture the complex effects of volitional cannabis consumption.
In our study, we developed a novel model of cannabis self-administration using response-contingent delivery of vaporized cannabis extracts containing high concentrations of Δ9 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) or cannabidiol (CBD).
23 Mar Cognitive Outcomes of Prenatal Exposure to Opioid Use Disorder Medications
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_53548" align="alignleft" width="133"] Dr. Nelson[/caption]
Leah Nelson, MD MS
Addiction Medicine Fellow
University of New Mexico
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: With the progression of the opioid epidemic over the past decade, more women of reproductive age are seeking treatment for addiction. Many more pregnant women are prescribed methadone and buprenorphine, two opioid medications that prevent relapse and overdose. Maternal use of mediations for opioid use disorder is recommended because it lowers the risk to the fetus from uncontrolled drug use and also allows the mother to engage with prenatal care and social work. Subsequently, the number of infants born after prenatal exposure to opioids is increasing.
Several previous studies have shown measurable differences in the cognitive scores of children after prenatal opioid exposure. However, much of the previous work was done on convenience samples (easy to recruit rather than rigorously matched for comparability) and the demographic characteristics of both mothers and children in the exposed and unexposed groups varied widely on important factors such as maternal education, socioeconomics, employment, tobacco use, and infant gender. Each of these factors has been demonstrated to impact early childhood development in the absence of opioid exposure.
20 Mar Meth Addiction: Using Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation To Reduce Impulsive Behavior
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_53588" align="alignleft" width="158"]
Dr. Jiajin Yuan[/caption]
Jiajin Yuan, Ph.D
Professor of Psychology
Director, The Laboratory for Affect Cognition and Regulation,
Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University,
Chongqing, China
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Impulsivity is a critical symptom of methamphetamine addiction, and this symptom plays an important role in compulsive, unresistable drug-seeking behavioral and is thus detrimental to the rehabilitation. Impulsivity in drug addiction also contributes to disruption of people's goal pursuit/goal maintenance, and aggressive/violent behaviors after drug use. Also, lack of suitable intervention for addiction-related impulsivity is known to be a risky factor for the drug reuse after successful rehabilitation.
Thus, rehabilitaton targeted at impulsivity in methamphetamine addicts is important to comprehensive rehabilitation of the drug addiction and also to successful return to social life after rehabilitation
19 Mar Cannabidiol: Conflicts of Interest Among Authors of Published CBD Articles
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_53477" align="alignleft" width="200"] Dr. Wallach[/caption]
Joshua D. Wallach, MS, PhD
Assistant Professor of Epidemiology (Environmental Health Sciences)
Yale School of Public Health
New Haven, CT
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Over the past few years, there has been growing interest in the potential health benefits of cannabidiol (CBD), a chemical compound in cannabis. Although only one CBD-derived prescription drug has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of epilepsy, I recently started seeing products containing CBD advertised and sold across the US (e.g. CBD in foods, beverages, dietary supplements, and cosmetics). I noticed that many of these products were being marketed with unproven claims to prevent, cure, and treat various conditions, and became interested in learning more about the research supporting the use of CBD, the potential for misleading claims, and impact that the CBD-industry may be having on research that is being generated and disseminated to the public.
Research funding sources and other author conflicts of interests (e.g. consulting fees, honoraria, travel expenses) can influence the way that research is designed, conducted, and reported. Previous studies have consistently demonstrated associations between authors' conflicts of interest and proindustry conclusions in clinical research.
Given the growing number of companies invested in CBD's commercial success, we decided to analyze the disclosed funding sources, conflicts of interest statements, author employment details, and CBD-related conclusions in a large sample of published articles on the characteristics, use, and therapeutic effects of cannabidiol.
18 Mar Main Cause of US Lifespan Stagnation Not Opioids
Posted at 13:10h
in Author Interviews, Gender Differences, Heart Disease, Karolinski Institute, Opiods, PNAS
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
[caption id="attachment_53563" align="alignleft" width="155"] Dr. Myrskylä[/caption]
Mikko Myrskylä PhD
Executive Director, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research
Professorial Research Fellow,
London School of Economics Professor of Social Statistics
University of Helsinki
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Life expectancy in the U.S. increased at a phenomenal pace throughout the twentieth century, by nearly two years per decade. After 2010, however, U.S. life expectancy growth stalled and has most recently been declining. A critical question for American health policy is how to return U.S. life expectancy to its pre-2010 growth rate. Researchers and policy makers have focused on rising drug-related deaths in their search for the explanations for the stalling and declining life expectancy.
17 Mar Increased Distribution, but Pronounced Regional Variation, in US Buprenorphine Use
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_53537" align="alignleft" width="200"] Amir Pashmineh[/caption]
Amir Pashmineh, MBS
Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: The opioid buprenorphine is a mu and nociceptin receptor partial agonist, and serves as an antagonist to kappa and delta receptors. These properties contribute to this medication being a first-line evidence-based agent in Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) treatment. There have been policy changes intended to increase buprenorphine (which goes by brand names Suboxone or Subutex) availability, but access remains below optimal levels. Relative to methadone, buprenorphine is more expensive. The “abstinence only” mentality of 12-step programs for addiction treatment continues to be influential.
The objective of this study was to extend our pharmacoepidemiology knowledge regarding utilization and characterize the regional disparity in distribution in the U.S. over the last decade. Data was obtained from Drug Enforcement Administration’s Automated Reports and Consolidated Ordering System (ARCOS), a comprehensive drug reporting system of controlled substances from their point of manufacturing to point of sale and distribution.
11 Mar Success of Alcoholics Anonymous and Twelve Step Programs Documented
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_53445" align="alignleft" width="167"] Dr. Kelly[/caption]
John F. Kelly, Ph.D., ABPP.
Recovery Research Institute
Elizabeth R. Spallin Professor of Psychiatry in Addiction Medicine
Harvard Medical School
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Alcohol use disorder is one of the leading causes of disease, disability, and preventable death worldwide. Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is a widespread international recovery support organization designed to address it. While it has remained popular and influential for many decades, until recently the quantity and quality of the research on AA and clinical treatments designed to stimulate AA involvement – Twelve-Step Facilitation (TSF) treatments – had not been evaluated adequately.
This systematic review and meta-analysis used the rigor of the Cochrane review system to subject AA/TSF to the same scientific standards as other clinical interventions.
02 Mar Study Finds Adolescents Starting Drug Use Later in Life
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_53342" align="alignleft" width="200"]
Dr. Alcover[/caption]
Karl Alcover, PhD
Postdoctoral Research Associate
Behavioral Health Innovations
Washington State University
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: It has been a public health focus to prevent early exposure to drugs. Our paper shows that the average age of initiation of drug use among adolescents and young adults has been increasing from 2004 to 2017. We found that 12 of 18 drugs (including alcohol and tobacco products) had statistically increasing average ages of initiation. To our knowledge, no studies have documented these findings.
We think this is great news because delaying initiation of drugs prevents early exposure, which we know is associated with various long-term negative health outcomes. Also, these promising trends may serve as initial evidence that prevention strategies, especially those that focus on adolescents and young adults, are working.
24 Feb Cannabis Use Among Seniors Rises Sharply
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_53242" align="alignleft" width="182"]
Dr. Han[/caption]
Benjamin H. Han, MD MPH
Assistant Professor
Division of Geriatric Medicine and Palliative Care
New York University School of Medicine
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: In the past, the prevalence of cannabis use (both for recreational and for medicinal purposes) was very low among adults age 65 and older. As a reference, the national prevalence rate of past-year cannabis use among adults age 65 and older in 2006-2007 was 0.4%, it has increased dramatically since then.
13 Feb Factors Linked To Repeat ER Visits for Opioid Addiction
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_53157" align="alignleft" width="200"] Casey Balio[/caption]
Casey P. Balio, BA
Department of Health Policy and Management
Indiana University Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health
Indianapolis, IN
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: There are numerous studies that estimate the prevalence of various opioid-related outcomes including emergency department (ED) encounters, hospitalizations, and overdoses as well as risk factors for these. However, there is limited evidence about repeated opioid-related encounters.
This study uses health information exchange (HIE) data for four hospital systems in the state of Indiana from 2012-2017 to identify individual, prescription, encounter, and community characteristics that may be associated with having repeat opioid-related encounters.
10 Feb Dentists Can Help Turn Around Opioid Epidemic
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_53085" align="alignleft" width="133"] Dr. Suda[/caption]
Katie J. Suda, PharmD, MS
Study Principal Investigator
Professor of Medicine
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Dentists are one of the top prescribers of opioids; prescribing 1 in 10 opioids in the United States. Dentists also prescribe a lot of opioids to adolescents and young adults which are a high risk population for substance misuse. This is especially true because studies have shown that non-opioid pain medications are similar or more effective for the treatment of oral pain.
29 Jan How Can Virtual Assistants Be Trained to Help Substance Abusers?
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_51918" align="alignleft" width="158"] Dr. Ayers[/caption]
John W. Ayers, PhD MA
Vice Chief of Innovation | Assoc. Professor
Div. Infectious Disease & Global Public Health
University of California San Diego
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Already half of US adults use smart device enabled intelligent virtual assistants, like Amazon Alexa. Moreover, many of the makers of intelligent virtual assistants are poised to roll out health care advice, including personalized wellness strategies. We take a step back and ask do intelligent virtual assistants provide actionable health support now?
To do so we focus on a specific case study. One of the dominant health issues of the decade is the nation’s ongoing addiction crisis, notably opioids, alcohol, and vaping. As a result, it is an ideal case to begin exploring the ability of intelligent virtual assistants to provide actionable answers for obvious health questions.
28 Jan Study Finds EXPAREL Reduced Post-Surgical Opioids in Cesarean Section Patients
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_52986" align="alignleft" width="140"] David Stack[/caption]
Dave Stack
Chief Executive Officer and Chairman
Pacira BioSciences
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Cesarean sections (C-sections) are one of the most common surgeries in the United States, and research shows many women experience moderate to severe pain after this procedure. When postsurgical pain is inadequately managed for new mothers, it can interfere with recovery, maternal-infant bonding and may even lead to postpartum depression. Additionally, prescribing data reveals that postsurgical opioid consumption poses a great risk to women.
We recently completed a Phase 4 study of EXPAREL in C-section patients, and results revealed adding EXPAREL to bupivacaine transversus abdominis plane (TAP) blocks for C-section delivery provided significant reductions in opioids and pain scores. Results of that study provided the basis for the design of this next-generation study, which was created to be completely opioid-free in the EXPAREL arm.
The study was a Phase 4 multicenter, active-controlled study conducted in 18 clinical sites in the United States, with 169 enrolled patients undergoing elective C-section. The enrolled C-section patients were randomized to receive either 150 mcg morphine spinal anesthesia plus a standard of care postoperative pain regimen, 50 mcg morphine spinal anesthesia plus EXPAREL TAP field block, or opioid-free spinal anesthesia plus EXPAREL TAP block. Patients in the EXPAREL arms received a protocol-defined non-opioid postsurgical pain management regimen including ketorolac, acetaminophen, and ibuprofen.
21 Jan Sugar Has The Potential To Be Addictive
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_52891" align="alignleft" width="133"] Dr. Winterdahl[/caption]
Michael Winterdahl PhD
Associate Professor in Neuroimaging,
Department of Nuclear Medicine and PET Center
Aarhus University, Denmark
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Opioids and dopamine mediate the rewarding effects of drugs. We aimed to determine whether the intake of palatable food could lead to changes in the brain similar to those triggered by addictive substances, so we studied the effects of repeated intermittent access to sugar on opioid and dopamine receptors in porcine brain using neuroimaging.
21 Jan Cardiologists Should Screen Patients for Marijuana Use
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_52888" align="alignleft" width="200"] Dr. DeFilippis[/caption]
Ersilia DeFilippis, MD
Second-year cardiology fellow
Columbia University Irving Medical Center and
NewYork-Presbyterian
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Marijuana use has been increasing significantly and is the most commonly illicit drug used in the United States. In recent years, more states have been legalizing its use for both recreational and medicinal purposes. We have all seen news reports regarding the rise of vaping-related health hazards. Yet, data are limited regarding the cardiovascular effects of marijuana which is what drove us to explore this topic.
15 Jan Fewer Addiction Treatment Facilities in States with Medicaid Work Requirements
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Paul Christine, MD, PhD University of Michigan MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: In an effort to increase employment and "community engagement" among Medicaid enrollees, several states are seeking to implement new Medicaid work requirements. While many proposals make exemptions for individuals with substance use disorders, some require active treatment to qualify for an exemption and maintain Medicaid eligibility. Since many enrollees with substance use disorder would thus need to access treatment to maintain coverage, we sought to quantify the availability of treatment resources in states with and without Medicaid work requirements.
06 Jan Very Few Youth Receive Recommended Treatment After Opioid Overdose
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_52629" align="alignleft" width="133"] Dr. Alinsky[/caption]
Rachel H. Alinsky, MD, MPH
Adolescent Medicine and Addiction Medicine Fellow
Division of General Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: We know that over 4,000 adolescents and young adults between the ages of 15-24 are dying from an opioid overdose every year. Nonfatal opioid overdose has been identified as a potential touchpoint with the healthcare system when individuals can be drawn into treatment, yet very little is known about health care use following opioid overdose in youth. We were interested in figuring out the extent to which adolescents and young adults are receiving evidence-based treatment after an opioid overdose.
06 Jan Meth-Related Overdoses May Continue to Accelerate
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_52664" align="alignleft" width="200"] Dr. Dawson[/caption]
Dr. Eric Dawson, PharmD
Vice President, Clinical Affairs
Millennium Health
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has projected a drop in the number of overdose deaths for 2018; the first reported decline since 1990. They cite a decrease in prescription opioid deaths as the leading contributor to the overall reduction, but caution that deaths associated with synthetic opioids, primarily fentanyl, as well as stimulants appear to be increasing.
In 2019, we reported a 798% increase in urine drug test positivity rates for nonprescribed fentanyl among results positive for methamphetamine and an 1850% increase among results positive for cocaine. In an effort to conduct ongoing surveillance of the polysubstance use landscape and help characterize these evolving trends in a more timely manner, we examined our UDT data as close to real-time as possible to observe trends in positivity for methamphetamine, cocaine, and heroin, with and without illicit fentanyl.
02 Jan Atrial Fibrillation and Alcohol Abstinence
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_52609" align="alignleft" width="200"]
Dr. Kistler[/caption]
Professor Peter M Kistler MBBS, PhD, FRACP
Head of Clinical Electrophysiology Research
Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute
Head of Electrophysiology at The Alfred hospital
Professor of Medicine
University of Melbourne.
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: There is a well known association between alcohol intake and atrial fibrillation form population based studies which demonstrate that for every 1 standard drink the incidence of AFib increases by 8%.
This is the first randomised study to determine of alcohol reduction/abstinence leads to a reduction in AFib episodes and time to recurrence.