Feature Channels: Substance Abuse

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The number of babies born with drug withdrawal symptoms from opioids grew substantially faster in rural communities than in cities, a new study suggests.

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Through monitoring and dosing guidelines, provider education and training and better alternatives for patient pain management, medical group reduces monthly average of written pain medicine prescriptions by 20 percent, while the number of providers within the medical group grew by 22 percent and the number of patients grew by 12 percent.

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The study uses fMRI data to compare brain development between children who experience pervasive, continuing trauma and those with “normal” development.

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In a new study, scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have identified a possible drug candidate that suppresses pain and itch in animal models.

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While the daily dose of methadone for opiate addiction has declined in recent years, facilities run by African-American directors were more likely to provide low methadone doses than facilities run by managers of other races and ethnicities.

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Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have developed a vaccine that blocks the pain-numbing effects of the opioid drugs oxycodone (oxy) and hydrocodone (hydro) in animal models.

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Stefan Kertesz, M.D., says a better understanding of what caused and what sustains the opioid epidemic is needed among policymakers and physicians to best serve patients and address the crisis.

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– A new paper in Biological Psychiatry reports that chronic cannabis users have reduced levels of an enzyme called fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH). The enzyme has been considered for treatment for cannabis dependence because it breaks down substances made in the brain that have cannabis-like effects, called endocannabinoids, rendering them inactive.

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A study led by researchers from the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and Pitt Department of Psychology has identified a possible link between adolescent sleep habits and early substance abuse. The study, published today in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence, found that both sleep duration and sleep quality during late childhood predict alcohol and cannabis use later in adolescence.

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ROCHESTER, Minn. — Each day, 78 people in the U.S. die of opioid overdoses, and more than 1,000 are treated in emergency departments for opioid misuse, federal figures show. In a series of broadcast-quality, 60-second videos available for media use, Mayo Clinic anesthesiologist and pain medicine expert W. Michael Hooten, M.D., and gastroenterologist Michael Camilleri, M.D., discuss the opioid epidemic and the dangers associated with inappropriate use of prescription pain medication.

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Costs of patients who develop chronic post-surgical pain could range from $2.5 million to $4.1 million a year, in one Ontario hospital alone, according to a study in Pain Management.

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Nearly 2 million people in the United States are addicted to prescription opioids, and millions more feel the pain, including their families, friends and clinicians. How did we get here? “When we look back in 20 years I want us to say, ‘This is when the country woke up, when we as clinicians decided to step up in our role as leaders, as advocates, to create a foundation for better health.

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Nearly 15 percent of opioid-naïve patients hospitalized under Medicare are discharged with a new prescription for opioids, according to a study published today in JAMA Internal Medicine.  Among those patients who received a prescription, 40 percent were still taking opioids 90 days after discharge. The rate of prescription varied almost twofold between hospitals, with some hospitals discharging as many as 20 percent of patients with a prescription for opioids.

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