Feature Channels: Alcohol and Alcoholism

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Study by Nemours Children's Health researcher finds 1 in 4 deaths of prenatally exposed infants involved caregivers who were both impaired and bed sharing at infant's time of death, suggests tailored messages to these caregivers are critical

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A new study published in the Journal of Addiction Medicine conducted by a team of Stony Brook University researchers used the PROMOTE Prenatal Screener – a unique screening tool for use during pregnancy – to pinpoint vulnerabilities for substance use.

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Alcohol-related deaths in the U.S. nearly doubled from 1999 to 2020. The sharpest spike occurred among 25–34-year-olds (nearly fourfold), while individuals aged 55–64 had the highest rates. Men consistently had higher rates but women saw the largest proportional rise, with deaths increasing 2.5 times. Asian and Pacific Islander communities experienced the steepest ethnic increase, while the Midwest saw the greatest regional rise (2.5 times), followed by the Northeast, West, and South.

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Alcohol use increased during the COVID-19 pandemic and remained elevated even after the pandemic ended, according to a large nationally representative Keck Medicine of USC study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

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A potential solution to a common beer-spoiling menace could be bubbling up from an unexpected source, thanks to research led by Paul Rowley, an associate professor of microbiology at University of Idaho. The culprit? Diastatic yeasts — pesky microorganisms that can wreak havoc in brewing by over-fermenting beer, boosting alcohol content, altering flavors and, worst of all, causing bottles to explode.

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People exposed to alcohol in utero report a greater range and frequency of physical health problems in midlife than those who were not exposed, according to a new study. Prenatal stressors and difficult early life experiences are known to increase the risk of the early onset of disease in adulthood. A theory on the developmental origins of health and disease implies that risky exposures occurring during pregnancy may increase the offspring’s vulnerability to the effects of subsequent adverse influences. Prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) may be one such exposure. Improved understanding of the long-term effects of PAE could lead to improved clinical care for affected people. Identifying areas of concern may also inform early interventions to reduce the long-term impact of PAE. In the study in Alcohol: Clinical & Experimental Research, investigators considered the possible implications of PAE for a wide range of health problems that typically occur as people grow older.

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Negative emotions may help explain the link between insomnia and dangerous drinking, according to a small study involving veterans with Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD). The findings provide new insight into why insomnia might be linked AUD. Insomnia symptoms are highly prevalent in people with substance use disorders (SUDs). Among veterans with AUD, for example, almost 2 in 3 experience insomnia.

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Adults aged 35 to 60 are drinking at unprecedented rates, with those who binge drank in high school reporting more past 30-day high-risk drinking in midlife. And this link may be especially strong for women, according to a study just published in Alcohol: Clinical and Experimental Research Health. These trends are particularly concerning as health conditions, and biological processes common with aging put adults in midlife at greater health risk from alcohol use.

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Dr. Susan Kelly-Weeder, Dean of the School of Nursing at George Washington University and an expert in high-risk health behaviors among college students. Dr. Kelly-Weeder shares her groundbreaking research on the dangerous intersection of binge drinking and disordered eating on college campuses.

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Young adults think electronic interventions might help to reduce the negative consequences of alcohol use if tailored to their personal needs and goals. In a qualitative study, young adults reported that such real-time interventions should be customizable, easy to use, and provide digestible amounts of non-judgmental information.

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The effects of rapid exposure to alcohol in early pregnancy – when a woman consumes as many as six drinks in an hour – can be detected in the placenta, an UdeM study on mice suggests.

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A study carried out on rodents has shown that exposure to high levels of alcohol in early pregnancy has detectable epigenetic effects in the placenta.

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A person’s IQ during high school is predictive of alcohol consumption later in life, according to a study by UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers published in Alcohol and Alcoholism. Participants with higher IQ levels were significantly more likely to be moderate or heavy drinkers, as opposed to abstaining.

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Injured adolescents from marginalized groups treated at pediatric trauma centers are more likely to be tested for drugs and alcohol than white adolescents, even when accounting for injury severity.

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Research roundup: How alcohol-associated liver disease differs among races; Esketamine shows promise for treatment-resistant depression; COVID-19’s effects on individual employment; EEG testing shows possible biomarker for suicidal ideation

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People with alcohol use disorder (AUD) may not respond typically to images of food (i.e., cues), according to a novel study using brain imaging.