Author Interviews, Cannabis, Pediatrics / 02.10.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Heather Breeze Clayton, PhD, MPH Senior Scientist, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control CDC MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Thirty-three states and the District of Columbia now have policies in place legalizing marijuana for medical or adult use. While the health effects of marijuana use continue to be studied, substantial evidence suggests that a number of health risks – including cognitive and mental health outcomes- are made worse by earlier initiation of marijuana, and heavier use patterns. Scientific knowledge about the association between marijuana use and other health and risk-taking behavior in youth is still evolving. Accordingly, we sought to use nationally representative data from the Youth Risk Behavior Survey to assess what the relationship is between different patterns of marijuana use in youth (more established use vs. non-established use patterns) and a number of risk-taking and violence related behaviors. (more…)
Author Interviews, Environmental Risks, Pediatrics, Smoking, Tobacco, Tobacco Research / 24.10.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Melody Kingsley, MPH Epidemiologist, Massachusetts Department of Public Health  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: The majority of youth who use tobacco use flavored products, which are available in thousands of distinct flavors with youth appeal.[i] In response, communities in states across the country, including Massachusetts, have passed flavored tobacco restriction policies which restrict sales of flavored tobacco; the Food and Drug Administration has proposed increased restrictions on the sale of flavored tobacco nationwide as well. To date, a few studies have found that flavored tobacco restriction policies reduce sales and availability of flavored tobacco, but to our knowledge, no prior evidence exists on the short-term impact of FTRPs on youth tobacco use. Timely evaluation of these policies is important to ensure that FTRPs are an effective strategy for curbing youth tobacco use. (more…)
Accidents & Violence, Author Interviews / 25.07.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Aaron Kivisto, Ph.D., HSPP Licensed Psychologist Co-Director, Clinical Psychology Doctoral Program Associate Professor of Clinical Psychology University of Indianapolis Indianapolis, IN 46227 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: There’s a robust literature showing that increased gun ownership rates are associated with increased rates of firearm homicide and suicide. We sought to examine whether the increased risk of homicide attributable to firearms is equally distributed across the population of potential victims or whether the risk is localized to particular victim groups. Our findings showed that the risk of gun ownership is fairly localized to intimate partners and other family members; they’re bearing the bulk of the risk associated with gun ownership. (more…)
Author Interviews, Environmental Risks, Pediatrics, Toxin Research / 20.04.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Ms. Jacqueline Chiofalo, MPA Director of Policy Research & Analysis The Institute for Family Health Astoria, New York  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Exposure to lead is dangerous and has been banned from use in residential dwellings. However, residual sources of lead still exist. Few studies have examined pediatric lead poisoning between public (NYCHA) and private housing units, and no recent studies performed in New York City. Our study used retrospective chart analysis of routine child lead testing to examine the difference in blood lead levels between the two housing types. Our data showed that children seen in our health centers who lived in New York City public housing had significantly lower mean blood lead levels and fewer children were found with levels over the CDC reference range of 5 μg/dL compared to children who lived in private housing.  (more…)
Author Interviews, Depression, Mental Health Research, Vanderbilt / 16.04.2019

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Lauren Gaydosh, PhD Assistant Professor Center for Medicine, Health, and Society Public Policy Studies Vanderbilt University  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?   Response: Several years ago, life expectancy at birth in the United States declined, and this decline has continued every year since. Part of the cause underlying this decline is that midlife mortality – deaths among those 45-54 – has been rising. This increase in midlife mortality has been attributed by some to the “deaths of despair” – a cluster of causes of death including suicide, drug overdose, and alcohol-related disease - and has been most pronounced among middle-aged white adults with a HS degree or less. In our research, we wanted to better understand the indicators of despair that would be predictive of these causes of death. Things like depression, substance use, and suicidal ideation. And study them in individuals before the period of elevated risk of death – in other words, before they reached middle age. Our goal was to evaluate whether these markers of despair were rising for a younger cohort, and whether this pattern was isolated to white adults with low education. (more…)
Addiction, Author Interviews, Methamphetamine, OBGYNE, Opiods / 02.12.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Lindsay Admon, MD MSc Assistant Professor, Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation University of Michigan MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? In our previous work (https://journals.lww.com/greenjournal/Fulltext/2017/12000/Disparities_in_Chronic_Conditions_Among_Women.19.aspx), we identified higher rates of deliveries complicated by substance use among rural women. We knew that some of this difference would be accounted for by opioids.What we didn’t expect was that when we took a closer look, amphetamine use disorder accounted for a significant portion of this disparity as well. The main findings of this study are that, between 2008-09 and 2014-15, amphetamine and opioid use among delivering women increased disproportionately across rural compared to urban counties in three of four census regions. By 2014-15, amphetamine use disorder was identified among approximately 1% of all deliveries in the rural western United States, which was higher than the incidence of opioid use in most regions. Compared to opioid-related deliveries, amphetamine-related deliveries were associated with higher incidence of the majority of adverse gestational outcomes that we examined including pre-eclampsia, preterm delivery, and severe maternal morbidity and mortality.   (more…)