Does Tobacco Use Cause Psychosis? Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis The Lancet The authors identified a correlation between psychosis, and both age of commencement of daily tobacco use and prevalence of daily tobacco use. A causal relationship cannot yet be stated. The correlations identified in this article are striking, however.
Editor’s Comments William Haning, MD, FASAM, DFAPA Your attention is invited to the Everyday Health piece in this week’s issue, regarding the increasing prevalence of Hepatitis C among rural young injection drug users. My concern in highlighting this is not to emphasize the need for treatment services – that need is well understood – but to spotlight instead the epidemiologic implications of Hepatitis C, as a marker for possible co-infection.
Cocaine Abstinence and Reduced Use Associated With Lowered Marker of Endothelial Dysfunction in African Americans: A Preliminary Study Journal of Addiction Medicine (free ASAM member resource) Possible cocaine use biomarker study: The findings of this study revealed a possible association of cocaine abstinence/reduction with lowered endothelin (ET) levels, which suggests that such changes in cocaine use might be beneficial for preventing endothelial damage. Further studies should be conducted to investigate whether ET-1 could be used as a marker for cocaine abstinence and reduction in cocaine use.
Improving the Quality of Psychosocial Interventions for Mental and Substance Use Disorders: A Report from the IOM Journal of the American Medical Association This article provides a synopsis of an IOM report. Efforts to improve the quality of health care for all persons cannot succeed without improving the quality of care for mental health and substance use disorders. Despite a substantial evidence base documenting the efficacy of treatments for these disorders, these treatments are often not effectively implemented in routine practice. A new report by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) offers a framework to guide the actions of stakeholders to improve the quality of psychosocial interventions delivered to individuals affected by these conditions.
Options for Low Income Adults to Receive Treatment in Selected States Government Accountability Office This GAO Report endeavors to identify obstacles to behavioral health treatment access in 43 pages. Nationwide, estimates using 2008-2013 data indicated that approximately 17 percent of low-income, uninsured adults (3 million) had a behavioral health condition, defined as a serious mental illness, a substance use condition, or both. Underlying these national estimates is considerable variation at the state level.
Detecting Unplanned Care from Clinician Notes in Electronic Health Records Journal of Oncology Practice Reduction in unplanned episodes of care, such as emergency department visits and unplanned hospitalizations, are important quality outcome measures. However, many events are only documented in free-text clinician notes and are labor intensive to detect by manual medical record review. The authors propose a methodology for discovery.
Emergency Department Utilization and Subsequent Prescription Drug Overdose Death Annals of Epidemiology Prescription drug overdose (PDO) deaths are a critical public health problem in the United States. A nested case-control study of over 5400 subjects including controls confirms a link between frequency of ED visits and occurrence of PDOs.
Alcohol and Cocaine Co-Consumption in Two European Cities Assessed by Wastewater Analysis Science of the Total Environment The quantitative determination of urinary biomarkers in raw wastewater has emerged in recent years as a promising tool for estimating the consumption of illicit drugs, tobacco and alcohol in a population and for comparing local and temporal trends. In this study, a three-year monitoring campaign (2012–2014) was conducted to compare alcohol and cocaine use in two European cities (Santiago de Compostela, Spain, and Milan, Italy) by wastewater analysis.
Effectiveness and Cost-Effectiveness of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy Compared with Maintenance Antidepressant Treatment in the Prevention of Depressive Relapse or Recurrence (PREVENT) The Lancet Individuals with a history of recurrent depression have a high risk of repeated depressive relapse or recurrence. Maintenance antidepressants for at least 2 years is the current recommended treatment, but many individuals are interested in alternatives to medication. Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) has been shown to reduce risk of relapse or recurrence compared with usual care, but has not yet been compared with maintenance antidepressant treatment in a definitive trial. This is such a trial, and suggests equivalent efficacy between the approaches.
Hepatitis C Hits Young, Rural Drug Users Hard Everyday Health Hepatitis C virus infections are skyrocketing among young people in rural areas where injection drug use is common. But resources for preventing the spread of the disease — from needle exchange programs to substance abuse treatment — are sparse. This commentary is a criticism of service insufficiencies. See also Editorial Comments, above.
Biomarkers Higher in Binge Drinkers University of Illinois at Chicago This is not an endorsement of a biomarker’s utility; the validating literature should be reviewed first. Phosphatidylethanol (Peth), a biomarker found in the blood of alcohol users, is significantly higher in binge drinkers than in those who consume alcohol moderately, according to a study by researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago. It may prove useful in screening young adults for harmful or heavy drinking such as binge drinking.
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