The economic value of extended-release naltrexone, compared to buprenorphine-naloxone, became more attractive after accounting for additional costs to society ...
Simona Costanzo MS, PhD
Laboratory of Molecular and Nutritional Epidemiology,
Department of Epidemiology and Prevention.
IRCCS Istituto Neurologico Mediterraneo Neuromed,
Italy
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: We investigated how the different intake of alcohol relates to all-cause and cause-specific hospitalizations. In particular, we mainly investigated the association of alcohol consumption with total number of hospitalizations that occurred during 6 years of follow-up.
We also examined cause-specific hospitalizations (e.g., alcohol-related diseases, vascular diseases, cancer, traumatic injury, and neurodegenerative diseases).
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Clinical Assistant Professor
College of Pharmacy, The University of Texas at Austin
Adjoint Assistant Professor
School of Medicine, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio
Ambulatory Care Pharmacist
Southeast Clinic, University Health System
UT Health Science Center at San Antonio
Pharmacotherapy Education and Research Center
San Antonio, TX 78229
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: Previous studies in Indiana and New York City, and the similar study in California published alongside ours identified that, despite the fact that laws designed to increase naloxone access had been in place for 2-3 years, patients were still not able to obtain naloxone without first seeing a doctor in many pharmacies.
Our study showed contrasting results to the previous studies, with a much higher proportion of pharmacies stocking naloxone and stating their willingness to dispense without an outside prescription. Among the 2,317 Texas chain community pharmacies we contacted, 83.7% correctly informed our interviewers that they could obtain naloxone without having to get a prescription from their doctor before coming to the pharmacy. We also found that 76.4% of the pharmacies had at least one type of naloxone currently in stock. (more…)
Yingxi (Cimo) Chen, MD, MPH, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
Radiation Epidemiology Branch, DCEG, NCI, NIH
Rockville MD 20850
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Death rates from drug overdose have more than doubled in the US in the 21st century. Similar increases in drug overdose deaths have been reported in other high-income countries but few studies have compared rates across countries. (more…)
Joshua Barocas, MD
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Section of Infectious Diseases
Boston Medical Center / Boston University School of Medicine
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: Massachusetts has been particularly hard hit by the opioid epidemic despite lower opioid prescribing rates, near universal health insurance, and availability of opioid treatment. That said, it is difficult to estimate the population with or at-risk for opioid use disorder. It is generally a highly stigmatized disease and typical methods to estimate of opioid use disorder relay on contact with the healthcare system and/or patient reporting.
We used a unique and powerful methodology coupled with a first-in-the-nation linked database in Massachusetts to obtain both an accurate count of people with opioid use disorder who are known to the healthcare system and estimate the number who are out there but not yet known to the system.
We found that more than 275,000 people – or 4.6 percent of people over the age of 11 in Massachusetts– have opioid use disorder, a figure nearly four times higher than previous estimates based on national data. In 2011 and 2012, the prevalence of opioid use disorder in Massachusetts for those over the age of 11 was 2.72 percent and 2.87 percent, respectively. That increased to 3.87 percent in 2013, and even more, to 4.6 percent in 2015. Those between the ages of 11 and 25 experienced the greatest increase in prevalence of all age groups. The number of “known” persons increased throughout the study period – from 63,989 in 2011 to 75,431 in 2012, and 93,878 in 2013 to 119,160 in 2015. (more…)
Mohammadhassan (Hassan) Mirbolouk, MD
American Heart Association Tobacco Regulation Center (A-TRAC)
Johns Hopkins Hospital
Baltimore, MD 21224.
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: E-cigarettes were introduced first in US market as a less harmful method of nicotine delivery which potentially would help smokers to have a less harmful option.
However, overtime e-cigarette found its niche of consumers in the younger/tobacco naïve population. Our study is amongst the first studies that describes those who use e-cigarette without any history of combustible-cigarette smoking. (more…)
Jon Zibbell, PhD,
Senior public health scientist
Behavioral Health Research Division
RTI International
Research Triangle Park, NC,
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: For the first time in 2016, U.S. overdose deaths involving illicitly-manufactured fentanyl surpassed deaths from heroin and prescription deaths.
Fentanyl is an extremely potent synthetic opioid, and an illicitly-manufactured form of the drug is regularly being mixed with heroin and often sold to unwitting consumers. Fentanyl is 50 times more potent than heroin and its illicitly-manufactured version is extremely difficult to discern when mixed with heroin. Harm reduction organizations have started to distribute FTS and people consuming street-purchased opioids are using them to test drugs for fentanyl. Our objective was to assess whether this point-of-use form of drug checking was influencing people’s drug use behavior. The study was self-funded by the research institute RTI International.
Our findings show that consumers who tested street opioids with fentanyl test strips were five times more likely to engage in safer drug use behavior when the test comes back positive. The study was conducted among a group of 125 people who inject drugs in Greensboro, North Carolina.
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Drinking just one bottle of beer increases your chances of being in an automobile accident by 46 percent. ...
Bikram Subedi, PhD
Assistant Professor of Analytical Chemistry
Murray State University, Murray KY
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: The USA is one of the major consumers of diverse neuropsychiatric and illegal drugs, and recently declared a national public health emergency on opioid abuse. Law enforcement typically utilized conventional methods of determining drug consumption rate which are based on survey questionnaire, hospital admissions, drug-related crime statistics, and self-reported information. Conventional methods typically underestimate the actual consumption rate of drugs.
Our new approach of determining consumption rates of drugs in community is time and cost effecting and comprehensive. Based on levels of drugs quantified from raw sewage, the per capita consumption rates of several illicit drugs including methamphetamine, amphetamine, cocaine, and THC in two communities of Western Kentucky (similar population and only ~50 miles apart) were significantly different. During special events such as July 4th and 2017 solar eclipse, the consumption rates were found even higher. The consumption rate of methamphetamine was among one of the highest ever reported in the country. (more…)
Derek S. Mason, MPH
Colorado University School of Medicine
MD Candidate, Class of 2022
Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: The background for this report stems from a focus group of veterinarians that was held and identified that opioid diversion could be occurring within clinics.
After this, we became concerned that human patients were indeed diverting opioids for abuse and misuse and we wanted to get a broader sense from the veterinary medical community if they had been aware of opioid diversion happening within their clinics.
Additionally, we noticed that there was a gap in the scientific literature on how the veterinary medical community feels about the opioid epidemic. As prescribers of opioids, we felt that their input was highly valuable and should be included in the discussion on how to prevent opioid abuse and misuse. (more…)
The main findings are high prescribing rate districts are concentrated in the South, Appalachia and the rural West. Low-rate districts are...
Richard Saitz, MD, MPH, FACP, DFASAM
Chair and Professor,Department of Community Health Sciences
Boston University School of Medicine
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: Most of what we know about the time course of drinking too much (at-risk use) is from people in treatment or special groups and not adults in the US population at large. That’s why we did this study. We need to know how often at-risk drinking persists, how often it resolves, and how often it appears de novo.
Risky drinking means exceeding limits that are associated with health consequences. It includes people with an alcohol use disorder but the vast majority of people drinking risky amounts do not have a disorder, they are simply drinking amounts that can harm their health. Even low amounts can harm health (e.g. breast cancer risk increases at <1 drink a day) but substantial increases in risk occur over 7 in a week on average (for women, and 14 for men) or >5 for men (>4 for women) on an occasion. The latter are associated with acute consequences (e.g. injury, unwanted sex), and the former with chronic conditions (e.g. cirrhosis). People should be aware of their risks and then they can make choices about what risks they want to take (and for those with a disorder, they may need help with those choices and help changing behavior like treatment). These are all useful thing to talk to any young adults about before they set off on a stag do in Krakow or any other city!
The main findings were….that 3 years later, 3/4ths of adults drinking risky amounts were still doing so. But importantly, a quarter had stopped drinking risky amounts. It is important to know that things change. One factor associated with that positive change was having kids—presumably a positive social change even if stressful. Of those adults not drinking risky amounts when first interviewed, 15% started doing so 3 years later. Again having children was protective but the main factor associated with starting was young age, particularly those who became of legal drinking age. Despite the fact that youth may be able to access alcohol illegally, this finding confirms that the drinking age of 21 in the US does in fact restrict access, and that turning 21 increases use and risky use by making alcohol more accessible. (more…)
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_42890" align="alignleft" width="199"] Dr. Ugiliweneza[/caption] Beatrice Ugiliweneza, PhD, MSPH Assistant Professor Kentucky Spinal Cord Injury Research Center Department of Neurosurgery, School...
