Alcohol and drug problems are often described as ‘chronically relapsing’ conditions, implying that multiple recovery attempts are needed before an addiction can be overcome for good. However, a new study by researchers at Harvard Medical School indicates that most people with an alcohol or drug problem achieve resolution after a surprisingly small number of serious quit attempts.
A new study involving more than three thousand adult twins from Australia has investigated the contributions of genetic and environmental factors to blacking and passing out after drinking. Twins are an important resource for health research, including alcohol studies. By comparing the frequency of an outcome ─ such as blackout ─ among pairs of identical twins (who share all their genes) and non-identical twins (who share only half of their genes but many aspects of their environment), researchers can better understand the roles of genetic and enviromental factors in influencing the outcome.
During pregnancy, American Indian mothers are less likely to consume alcohol and no more likely to smoke than white mothers in South Dakota after adjusting for socioeconomic factors.
Many thousands of young people opt to study abroad for part of their degree course, seizing the personal, cultural, and academic opportunities this brings. However, excess alcohol consumption also features in some stays abroad ─ with new research showing that young people studying abroad have more excessive and harmful drinking behaviors during their stay than those staying home. This raises concern over short-term risks to health and well being, and that exchange program stays might act as a stepping stone to an alcohol use disorder in future.
Individual genetic make-up, roommates’ drinking behavior, and how much individuals think their friends are drinking all influence students’ own alcohol use, according to new findings from the ‘Spit for Science’ project at an urban campus university.
An international group of researchers has taken one of the first major steps in finding the biological changes in the brain that drive fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. New work using chaos theory to analyze brain signals, discussed in the journal Chaos, shows the long-term effects. Researchers found that teenagers who were exposed to alcohol while in the womb showed altered brain connections that were consistent with impaired cognitive performance.
College men who frequently attend parties or go to bars are more likely to be sexually aggressive compared to those who don't, Washington State University researchers have found.
Alcohol Relapse Rate Among Liver Transplant Recipients Identical Whether or Not There is A 6-Month Wait Before Transplant 04/25/2019 AddThis Sharing Buttons Share to Facebook Share to TwitterShare to EmailShare to PrintShare to More Credit: Getty Images For decades, patients with liver disease related to alcohol use have been told they must be sober for six months before they can get a liver transplant. Many die before that six-month wait period is up. Now, a growing number of researchers are questioning that six-month waiting period.
A leading clinical and research psychologist at the University of Chicago Medicine has been awarded a $3.8 million grant from the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) — a division of the National Institutes of Health — to understand alcohol responses in individuals who have problems controlling their drinking.
La Trobe University researchers have found the heaviest drinking 10 per cent of Australians drink over half the alcohol consumed in Australia, downing an average of six standard drinks per day.
The neuropeptide oxytocin blocks enhanced drinking in alcohol-dependent rats, according to a study published April 16 in the open-access journal PLOS Biology led by Drs. Tunstall, Koob and Vendruscolo of the National Institutes of Health
Drinking too much too quickly can have many harmful consequences, including alcohol-induced blackouts – where the individual continues to function and make decisions, but later has little or no memory of the events. Blackout drinking is associated with accidents and risky behaviors, may have long-term effects on brain development and function, and is linked to increased risk for alcohol misuse and alcohol use disorder (AUD) symptoms in the future. College students ─ who report higher levels of alcohol use than the general population ─ are at particular risk of experiencing alcohol-induced blackouts and their damaging consequences. This calls for a simple, cost-effective intervention to reduce blackout drinking in this group.
New research in mice suggests that a shared circuit in the brain could be one reason why heavy drinking and high-fat “junk food” cravings go hand in hand. The findings will be presented today at the American Physiological Society’s (APS) annual meeting at Experimental Biology 2019 in Orlando, Fla.
Drink reduction goals are achievable and sustainable for people seeking treatment for alcohol dependence, according to new study findings. Sustained abstinence has long been considered the optimal treatment outcome for those with a clinically diagnosed alcohol use disorder (AUD). However, most people who seek treatment would prefer to reduce their drinking, rather than quit completely. Interest in drinking reduction as a treatment goal is growing, although whether reductions can be maintained over time, and improve patients’ function, is uncertain.
A large genomic study of nearly 275,000 people led by Penn Medicine researchers revealed new insights into genetic drivers of heavy drinking and alcohol use disorder (AUD), the uncontrollable pattern of alcohol use commonly referred to as alcoholism. In the largest-ever genome-wide association study (GWAS) of both traits in the same population, a team of researchers found 18 genetic variants of significance associated with either heavy alcohol consumption, AUD, or both.
Alcohol-related cirrhosis of the liver is a serious and potentially life-threatening condition. Although patients with cirrhosis are routinely encouraged to stop drinking in order to reduce their mortality risk, many continue drinking and do not avail themselves of alcohol treatment. To understand more fully the role of alcohol treatment in determining the course of alcohol-related cirrhosis, researchers examined the rates, predictors, and outcomes of alcohol treatment in alcohol-related cirrhosis patients with private insurance. They obtained data from a large insurance database containing information on 66,053 patients with alcohol-related cirrhosis for the years 2009-2016. Nearly one-third of the patients were female, with a mean age of 54.5 years when the diagnosis of cirrhosis was made.
People under age 50 with hearing loss misuse prescription opioids at twice the rate of their hearing peers, and are also more likely to misuse alcohol and other drugs, a new national study finds. Health care providers may need to take special care when treating pain and mental health conditions in deaf and hard-of-hearing young adults.
In this issue, find research on texting while driving laws, new data on Yoga use increasing, dairy milk in school breakfasts, pregnancy outcomes in prison and more.
Recruiting participants to test treatments for alcohol use disorder (AUD) is time consuming and expensive, limiting the development of new interventions for the disorder. Crowdsourcing is a sampling method that can effectively and efficiently recruit large numbers of participants who have different health histories. Researchers tested the feasibility and acceptability of delivering cognitive training interventions, a commonly used treatment approach for AUD, via crowdsourcing. They recruited 476 participants from the crowdsourcing website Amazon Mechanical Turk (mTurk) who completed a baseline survey. Participants were then randomly assigned to receive an inhibitory control, working memory, or control training treatment intervention and asked to complete training tasks daily over a two-week period. Follow-up assessments evaluating the acceptability of the intervention and effects on alcohol and soda consumption were completed immediately following the training and then again two week
Peer approval is the best indicator of the tendency for new college students to drink or smoke, according to new research from Michigan State University. This new finding is key to help universities address the problems of underage or binge drinking.
A growing body of evidence supports the idea that alcohol exposure early in life has lasting effects on the brain and increases the risk of psychological problems in adulthood. Now, researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago have found that adolescent binge drinking, even if discontinued, increases the risk for anxiety later in life due to abnormal epigenetic programming.
Although parents have an important influence on drinking among students during their first year of college, there is limited research addressing whether parenting later in college has a similar effect. Researchers followed 1,429 students at three large public universities to examine the associations between parents’ permissiveness toward alcohol use and monitoring of students’ behavior and students’ drinking outcomes. Students completed surveys during the fall semesters of their first and fourth years of college. The study used a structural equation model, a form of causal modeling, to examine associations between parental permissiveness of college student alcohol use, parental monitoring of students’ behavior and students’ drinking and alcohol-related consequences at the two time points, controlling for parental modeling of risky drinking, peer norms, sex, and campus.
Moderate drinkers with chronic pain reported less pain, lower anxiety and depression and higher physical function in Michigan Medicine study published in the journal Pain Medicine.
New research published in Depression and Anxiety indicates that, unlike other anxiety disorders, social anxiety disorder may have a direct effect on alcoholism.
Although the use of alcohol and marijuana is common in college students, those who suffer from anxiety symptoms in social settings are particularly vulnerable to problematic use of these substances. Studies have shown that substance use by these students serves to help them cope with social anxiety.
Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a common addictive disease that affects the brain. The risk of developing AUD is due, nearly equally, to environmental and genetic effects. More than 3,000 genes have been linked to AUD or the response to alcohol. Brain imaging studies have revealed alterations in brain structure and function related to AUD. However, few studies have linked genes to brain findings in individuals with an AUD diagnosis.
University of Iowa study is the first to dig deep into the differences in the way men and women handle excessive alcohol consumption.
Only a minority of adults with an alcohol use disorder (AUD) seek treatment for it. Although women are more likely than men to seek treatment for most medical or psychiatric disorders, men are more likely to seek alcohol treatment. To understand the basis for differences in alcohol service use, researchers used a national, longitudinal study that included data on treatment utilization, the perceived need for help, and reasons for not seeking help for an AUD. They analyzed data from nearly 2,600 white, African-American, or Hispanic adults with a diagnosis of alcohol abuse or dependence in 2000-2001 who were re-interviewed in 2004-2005.
Scientists at the University of Southern California (USC), Queen’s University (Ontario) and Duke University have developed a new tool that can screen children for fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) quickly and affordably, making it accessible to more children in remote locations worldwide.
Blood alcohol levels may have a specific dose-dependent effect on treatment outcomes for people with traumatic brain injury. This effect is significant at an intermediate blood alcohol level even when multiple variables are taken into account.
An artificial intelligence technique that combs electronic medical records can identify trauma patients who misuse alcohol, a study has found. In 78 percent of cases, the technique was able to differentiate between patients who misused alcohol and those who did not.
UC San Diego Health is among 31 health facilities selected from across the state to participate in the California Bridge Program, an accelerated, 18-month training program for health care providers to enhance access to around-the-clock treatment for patients with opioid use disorder.
UCLA researchers have found that people involved in electric scooter accidents are sometimes injured badly enough — from fractures, dislocated joints and head injuries — to require treatment in an emergency department. The researchers examined data from 249 people who were treated at the emergency departments of UCLA Medical Center, Santa Monica, and Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center between Sept.
With new findings that show an unprecedented jump in nicotine-containing electronic cigarette usage among teens, many parents wonder how best to approach the topic.
There have been dramatic increases in the United States in alcohol-related problems. During the past decade the death rate from all types of alcoholic liver disease increased by more than 40%, alcohol-related emergency department visits increased by 62%, and the prevalence of alcohol use disorder among adults increased by nearly 50%. Despite these increases in alcohol-related morbidity and mortality, there have not been notable increases seen in U.S. per capita alcohol consumption.
Subtle physiological changes involving the cardiovascular and autonomic nervous systems after exposure to alcohol are difficult to perceive in humans, particularly at lower alcohol levels. Researchers sought to determine the effect of acute intravenous alcohol infusion on skin blood flow (SBF) response and associated subjective responses in 24 social drinkers who participated in an alcohol self-administration study. SBF was measured at the fingertip and earlobe at four timepoints: at baseline, and 0 minutes, 10 minutes, and 20 minutes after beginning an intravenous form of alcohol self-administration. The exposure produced relatively low breath alcohol levels of approximately 30 mg% (0.03%, compared with a reading of 0.08%, at which point an individual is considered legally intoxicated). Subjective responses were measured using questionnaires previously developed for studies such as this.
Behavioral economics is the study of the individual, cultural, and social factors that influence economic decisions. Behavioral economic approaches have identified several characteristics that determine individuals’ demand for alcoholic beverages and have been applied to university students, among whom drinking is an important public health problem. Considerable behavioral economic research has been conducted among students in the United States. Studies have shown that the price of alcohol is strongly linked to consumption. Until now, however, behavioral economics approaches have not been used to examine alcohol demand among students outside of the United States.
Binge drinking in adolescence has been shown to have lasting effects on the wiring of the brain and is associated with increased risk for psychological problems and alcohol use disorder later in life.Now, researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago Center for Alcohol Research in Epigenetics have shown that some of these lasting changes are the result of epigenetic changes that alter the expression of a protein crucial for the formation and maintenance of neural connections in the amygdala — the part of the brain involved in emotion, fear and anxiety.
Nearly 1 percent of high school seniors report using Flakka, a highly potent and potentially dangerous synthetic drug, according to a study by researchers at NYU School of Medicine, the Center for Drug Use and HIV/HCV Research (CDUHR) at NYU College of Global Public Health, and Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.
Binge and heavy drinking may trigger a long-lasting genetic change, resulting in an even greater craving for alcohol, according to a Rutgers-led study in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research.
The proportion of liver transplants in the United States for alcohol-associated liver disease increased between 2002 and 2016, with much of the increase associated with a decrease in liver transplant for hepatitis C virus infection because of antiviral therapy. This observational study used data from the United Network for Organ Sharing for all liver transplants during the 15-year period and the national study group consisted of nearly 33,000 patients, including 9,438 patients with a diagnosis of alcohol-associated liver disease. Study findings suggest five-year survival after transplant was lower in patients with alcohol-associated liver disease.
Alcohol-related cirrhosis of the liver is a serious and potentially life-threatening condition. Although patients with cirrhosis are routinely encouraged to stop drinking in order to reduce their mortality risk, many continue drinking and do not avail themselves of alcohol treatment. To understand more fully the role of alcohol treatment in determining the course of alcohol-related cirrhosis, researchers examined the rates, predictors, and outcomes of alcohol treatment in alcohol-related cirrhosis patients with private insurance. They obtained data from a large insurance database containing information on 66,053 patients with alcohol-related cirrhosis for the years 2009-2016. Nearly one-third of the patients were female, with a mean age of 54.5 years when the diagnosis of cirrhosis was made.
Researchers know that lesbian, gay and bisexual individuals are more likely than heterosexuals to use alcohol, tobacco or other drugs, but until now they didn't know to what degree.
Pain and substance use interact in a vicious cycle that can ultimately worsen and maintain both chronic pain and addiction, according to a research team including faculty at Binghamton University, State University of New York.
Epigenetics refers to external changes to DNA that turn genes “on” or “off.” These modifications do not change the sequence of the “letters” in DNA, but are physical changes that affect how cells "read" genes. Researchers hypothesized that alcohol’s effect on one kind of epigenetic change - called DNA methylation - on certain genes is associated with the motivation to drink alcohol in binge and heavy drinkers. Methylation is a change in the DNA that reduces gene expression. They measured changes in the methylation of two genes that have been implicated in the control of drinking behavior or the response to stress: the period 2 (PER2) and proopiomelanocortin (POMC) genes. Methylation changes were measured in blood samples drawn from groups of non-smokers who were moderate drinkers, binge drinkers, or heavy drinkers. These drinkers also participated in a laboratory study that measured behavioral alcohol motivation. During the three-day experiment, the participants experienced str
A new study suggests that people over age 65 who are newly diagnosed with heart failure can continue to drink moderate amounts of alcohol without worsening their condition. However, the findings do not suggest that nondrinkers should start imbibing after a heart failure diagnosis, the researchers emphasized.
As we age, we become more vulnerable to developing an alcohol use disorder, more commonly known as alcoholism. Your body processes alcohol less efficiently the older you get. Also, seniors may be drinking more to seek relief from the boredom, loneliness and grief that are common with aging.
The pancreas is an organ located behind the stomach that produces enzymes and hormones that help with digestion and blood-sugar regulation. Both heavy drinking and gallstones can cause an inflamed pancreas, called pancreatitis, which is associated with significant illness and, in about 10% of cases, death. The recent use of cannabis to manage the development of pancreatitis and its progression has yielded conflicting results. This study assessed the impact of cannabis use on both acute (sudden onset) and chronic (persistent) pancreatitis.
Researchers at McMaster University have identified trends linking health and lifestyle factors like access to public transit, the variety of fresh fruits and vegetables in grocery stores, the prices of popular foods, the availability and prices of cigarettes and alcohol, and the promotion, or lack thereof, of healthy foods in restaurants. The study findings are based on detailed data collected across Canada’s 10 provinces.
When improved antidepressants hit the market in the 1980s, heavy drinking among people with depression dropped 22 percent, suggesting people who knowingly use drugs and alcohol to relieve mental and physical pain will switch to safer, better treatment options when they can get them,
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