CME: Contribution of Excessive Alcohol Consumption to Deaths and Years of Potential Life Lost in the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Excessive drinking accounted for 1 in 10 deaths among working-age adults in the United States. Alcohol-attributable death rates vary across states, but excessive drinking remains a leading cause of premature mortality nationwide. Strategies recommended by the Community Preventive Services Task Force can help reduce excessive drinking and harms related to it.
Sierra Tucson, an international leader in treating co-occurring disorders, offers comprehensive neuropsychiatric treatment programs for Addictions, Eating Recovery, Mood Disorders, Pain Management, and Trauma/PTSD. A member of CRC Health Group, Sierra Tucson is dually Accredited by The Joint Commission.
Celebrating 30 years of “Compassionate Care, Clinical Excellence.”
Women Face Gender-Specific Challenges in Fighting Addiction and Alcoholism Caron Foundation Heroin and prescription drug addiction are on the rise among affluent women, according to a 2014 survey from Caron Treatment Centers, parent company of the Hanley Center. Women cited anxiety (65 percent), depression (67 percent) and a critical internal voice (69 percent) as significant factors for their addiction. The top three stressors were relationships with parents and siblings (63 percent), romantic relationships (60 percent) and work (49 percent).
Managing Chronic Pain in Adults with or in Recovery from Substance Use Disorders SAMHSA This resource provides clinicians with a quick reference guide for treating chronic pain in adults with a history of substance abuse. Covers patient assessment through treatment and includes an algorithm for managing chronic pain and a summary of non-opioid analgesics.
Addressing Viral Hepatitis in People with Substance Use Disorders SAMHSA This resource equips clinicians with a quick reference guide to addressing viral hepatitis in those with substance use disorders. It covers patient screening and evaluation of hepatitis, treatment, managing adverse effects, and potential interactions between medications.
Vital Signs: Variation Among States in Prescribing of Opioid Pain Relievers and Benzodiazepines — United States, 2012 CDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report Persons in the United States consume opioid pain relievers (OPR) at a greater rate than any other nation. They consume twice as much per capita as the second ranking nation, Canada. Overprescribing of opioid pain relievers can result in multiple adverse health outcomes, including fatal overdoses. Opioid pain relievers were involved in 16,917 overdose deaths in 2011; in 31% of these deaths, benzodiazepine sedatives were also cited as contributing causes (CDC WONDER, unpublished data, 2014). High rates of prescribing these controlled substances are important determinants of rates of fatal overdose and drug abuse.
ASAM Applauds ONDCP Focus on Opioid Epidemic ASAM ASAM supports the ONDCP’s continued focus on addiction prevention, treatment and recovery. In particular, ASAM is pleased that this year’s plan includes policies that would support increased use of FDA-approved medications to treat opioid use disorders and wider availability of naloxone to reverse opioid overdoses.
Free ASAM CME: Patient-Centered Urine Drug Testing PCSS-MAT This module is free of charge and will provide the clinician the facts of “best clinical practices” to utilize patient–centered urine drug testing (UDT) as an important tool in the management of all patients who are being treated for substance use disorder (SUD) and/or chronic pain with opioids.
Buprenorphine Treatment for Hospitalized, Opioid-Dependent Patients JAMA Internal Medicine Compared with an inpatient detoxification protocol, initiation of and linkage to buprenorphine treatment is an effective means for engaging medically hospitalized patients who are not seeking addiction treatment and reduces illicit opioid use 6 months after hospitalization. However, maintaining engagement in treatment remains a challenge.
Self-Treatment: Illicit Buprenorphine Use by Opioid-Dependent Treatment Seekers Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment Outpatient-based opioid treatment (OBOT) with buprenorphine is an important treatment for people with opioid dependence. No quantitative empirical research has examined rationales for use of illicit buprenorphine by U.S. opioid-dependent treatment seekers. The current study sequentially screened OBOT admissions (n = 129) during a 6-month period in 2009.
The Loss of Control over Eating Scale: Development and Psychometric Evaluation International Journal of Eating Disorders This study describes the development, content validity, and convergent validity of the Loss of Control over Eating Scale (LOCES). An initial pool of 56 items covering 13 facets of loss-of-control eating was assembled by reviewing qualitative literature, clinical descriptions, and research on binge eating. Eating disorder experts (n = 34) and eating disorder clients (n = 22) rated each proposed item's clarity and relevance to the construct of loss-of-control eating, rated 13 facets for their relevance to the construct, and provided open-ended feedback about the items and facets.
Massachusetts General Hospital to Screen All Patients for Substance Abuse The Boston Globe Massachusetts General Hospital will take the unusual step of questioning all patients about their use of alcohol and illegal drugs beginning this fall, whether they are checking in for knee surgery or visiting the emergency department with the flu.
Notes from the Field: Increase in Fentanyl-Related Overdose Deaths — Rhode Island, November 2013–March 2014 CDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report During November 2013–March 2014, twice as many all-intent drug overdose deaths were reported in Rhode Island as were reported during the same period in previous years. Most deaths were among injection-drug users, and a large percentage involved fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that is 50–100 times more potent than morphine. Clusters of fentanyl-related deaths have been reported in several states recently.
Shining a Light on Alcohol Blackouts NIAAA Spectrum Blackouts are periods of amnesia during which a person actively engages in behaviors like walking and talking but does not create memories for these events as they transpire. This results in missing periods of time in the person’s autobiographical record. Blacking out is quite different from passing out, which means either falling asleep from excessive drinking or literally drinking oneself unconscious.
ASAM Partners with Top Addiction Organizations for New Course ASAM ASAM is very excited to share news of a partnership with MedU, along with TRI and the Hazelden-Betty Ford Foundation to produce the Course on Addiction and Recovery Education (CARE) for medical students across the country.
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The views and positions of any content published in ASAM Weekly are not necessarily endorsed by ASAM nor a reflection of ASAM's beliefs and policies. The features are presented as a summary of the contemporary issues being represented and expressed in scientific, governmental, commercial, and media sources across the specialty field of addiction medicine. Contact ASAM Weekly with any comments or feedback.