Addiction Medicine

The Preventure program has been shown to reduce substance abuse among adolescents.
Identification of 4 personality traits along with intervention related to those traits reduces rates of substance abuse.
Program has been studied in randomized controlled trials in schools in the U.K.

State crackdown on high prescribers is associated with more than 1000 fewer deaths.
CDC reports that prescription drug-related deaths have continued to rise.
Johns Hopkins researchers find the Florida program to be effective.
Physicians are being urged to prescribe opioids in fewer cases, to fewer patients, in lower dosages.
The epidemic of prescription and non-prescription opioid deaths makes clear the need for drug treatment programs and for the widespread use of naloxone kits.

There is increasing evidence linking alcohol consumption to cancer.
Mechanisms by which drinking alcohol increase the risk of cancer are not yet understood.
New meta-analysis concludes that alcohol causes cancer of the oropharynx, larynx, esophagus, liver, colon, rectum, and breast.
“Current estimates suggest that alcohol-attributable cancers at these sites make up 5.8% of all cancer deaths world-wide,” the authors note.

There is increasing evidence linking alcohol consumption to cancer.
Mechanisms by which drinking alcohol increase the risk of cancer are not yet understood.
New meta-analysis concludes that alcohol causes cancer of the oropharynx, larynx, esophagus, liver, colon, rectum, and breast.
“Current estimates suggest that alcohol-attributable cancers at these sites make up 5.8% of all cancer deaths world-wide,” the authors note.

Deaths due to traffic collisions rose in 2015 by 7.7%—the largest increase in 1966.
Opioid-related overdose deaths are at epidemic levels.
Cannabis use is legal in 25 states.
The cost of these collisions and deaths is estimated at nearly $38 billion.
Are these phenomena related?

Weight status at ages 7 and 8 years was predictive of age of first substance use episode.
For girls, earlier substance use was associated with being overweight as a child, especially for Hispanic girls.
Girls who were overweight as children were found to be more likely to begin to use cigarettes, marijuana, or alcohol at an earlier age than their healthy-weight peers.
For boys, unhealthy weight status predicted later substance use.

Purdue Pharma’s internal notes indicate the drug maker knew that OxyContin’s effectiveness falls well short of 12 hours in most patients.
Many patients in Purdue trials were not getting 12 hours of pain relief.
Purdue Pharma seems to have been aware of this fact since as early as 1996, according to the Los Angeles Times’ investigation.
Purdue seems to have instructed physicians to prescribe increasing doses in patients who were not getting 12-hour analgesia.

Low-volume alcohol consumption did not reduce mortality risk in this meta-analysis.
Low volume drinking and occasional drinking do not reduce mortality risk but may increase cancer risk.
Lifetime abstention confers equal mortality risk but obviates cancer risks.
Even low-volume alcohol consumption increases risk of numerous cancers.

Most smoking cessation guidelines advise quitting abruptly.
This was found to be the most effective method.
Irrespective of quitting strategy, most smokers require repeated quit attempts before they are successful.
Primary care physicians can be secure in stressing the patients quit abruptly.
Millions of pack years of smoking can be avoided if smokers quit cold turkey versus tapering to a quit.

Numerous studies report that reminders via telephone, internet, and short message service (SMS), and other methods are associated with improved outcomes for patients with a variety of disorders.
Multimedia patient reminders are highly cost effective for control of a number of medical and psychiatric disorders.
Reminders were found to improve bipolar disorder medication adherence, appointment attendance, vaccination coverage, and substance misuse and abuse outcomes.

Kits to be sold without prescription at all pharmacies in Ohio.
Ohio-based CVS pharmacies join those in Arkansas, California, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, New Jersey, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, and Wisconsin in dispensing naloxone kits without a prescription.
Rates of opioid-related overdose deaths increased 14% from 2013 to 2014, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) statistics.
During 2014, 47,055 drug overdose deaths occurred in the United States, representing an increase of 6.5% over the previous year, according to CDC statistics.

Consuming more than 3 alcoholic drinks per week significantly increases a woman's risk of developing breast cancer.
Moderate drinking increases the risk of numerous cancers in both men and women.
The combination of cigarette smoking and drinking further raises the risk of developing cancer.
Alcohol does appear to be protective against a number of cancers.

“This is the largest public health crisis that we have right now,” Joan Papp, MD, told MDalert.com.
An estimated 16,000 lives are lost to opioid-related overdose in the U.S. each year.
An opioid-related death in the ER costs about $10,000.
A naloxone kit costs about $70.

At around $70 per kit, this may be the most cost-effective life-saving intervention available to physicians.
The opioid epidemic is arguably the most significant current public health emergency in the U.S.
Depending on geography, the cost of an overdose survival is ~$10,000.
The average cost of an overdose-related death at the MetroHealth System in Cleveland, Ohio, is approximately $3000.
Naloxone kit distribution programs can be run at a cost of <$1000/life saved.