Addiction, Author Interviews, Cleveland Clinic, COVID -19 Coronavirus, Mental Health Research / 16.09.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Rong Xu PhD Center for Artificial Intelligence in Drug Discovery, School of Medicine Case Western Reserve University Cleveland, OH MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Chronic use of tobacco, alcohol and other drugs is associated with cardiovascular, pulmonary, and metabolic diseases, all of which are also risk factors for COVID-19 infection and for worse outcomes.  Additionally, individuals with substance use disorders are more likely to experience social adversity such as homelessness, decreased access to health care, housing insecurity among others. Based on these, we hypothesis or predict that individuals with SUD are especially vulnerable for COVID-19 infection and adverse outcomes. In our study, we found that  individuals with substance use disorders, especially individuals with OUD and African Americans with SUD, as having increased risk for COVID-19 and its adverse outcomes  (more…)
Addiction, Author Interviews, JAMA, Mental Health Research / 10.01.2014

Sarah M. Hartz, MD, PhD Assistant Professor of Psychiatry Washington University in St. Louis, MissouriMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Sarah M. Hartz, MD, PhD Assistant Professor of Psychiatry Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of this study? Dr. Hartz: This is the first large-scale study to comprehensively evaluate substance use in people with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and other severe mental illness.We found that people with severe mental illness have rates of smoking, alcohol use, and other substance use that are 3 to 5 times higher than people in the general population. (more…)