A recently published study shows the United States in the grip of several simultaneously occurring opioid epidemics, rather than just a single crisis. The epidemics came to light after the researchers analyzed county-level data on drug overdose deaths. The study highlights the importance of different policy responses to the epidemics rather than a single set of policies.
A computer betting game can help predict the likelihood that someone recovering from opioid addiction will reuse the pain-relieving drugs, a new study shows.
People in treatment for opioid addiction are more likely to relapse when they become more tolerant of risks, according to a study by Rutgers and other institutions. The findings can help clinicians better predict which patients are most vulnerable.
A study published in the Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment of 799 patients in three locations found that methamphetamine use was associated with more than twice the risk for dropping out of treatment for opioid-use disorder.
People who abuse cigarettes, alcohol and/or heroin are less likely to drop out of a substance use disorder treatment than those who are addicted to cocaine, according to a new study led by a researcher at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. The study found that approximately 30 percent of participants in psychosocial substance use disorder treatments do not finish the programs. This is the first time a study of this kind has been published.
Preventing chronic disease could help curb the opioid epidemic, according to research from the University of Georgia. The study is the first to examine the relationship between hospitalizations due to opioid misuse and chronic disease.
DARPA-funded project called STOP PAIN aimed at the design of safer, more effective pain treatments
Research to focus on understanding the biology of pain as a way to transform clinical care, help stem the public health crisis fueled by opioids
Efforts will encompass expertise from fields including neurobiology, stem cell biology, artificial intelligence and computational and medicinal chemistry
A study published in Neuropsychopharmacology reported that addiction relapse can be prevented by controlling cells in a brain region called the nucleus accumbens.
The University of Illinois at Chicago has received a grant from the Coleman Foundation to develop a screening process for prescribing opioids and managing opioid use disorders in cancer patients who receive care at UI Health, UIC’s clinical health enterprise.
Daily marijuana use during pregnancy may lead to an increased risk of low birth weight, low resistance to infection, decreased oxygen levels and other negative fetal health outcomes, according to a new study from a team of UNLV Medicine doctors.
A new study conducted by the Center for Injury Research and Policy and the Central Ohio Poison Center at Nationwide Children’s Hospital found there were more than 67,300 calls to U.S. Poison Control Centers regarding exposures to natural psychoactive substances. The study looked at calls from January 2000 through December 2017, which totaled an average of 3,743 exposures each year, or approximately 10 calls every day.
A Tulane University researcher is part of a nationwide initiative to improve treatment of chronic pain and ultimately achieve long-term recovery from opioid addiction.
Michael J. Moore, professor of biomedical engineering in the Tulane School of Science and Engineering, is part of a $945 million National Institutes of Health project called the HEAL Initiative, or Helping to End Addiction Long-term Initiative.
Research from Florida State University is giving physicians a better understanding of ketamine, a potentially useful tool in treating depression that still has unanswered questions. A team of researchers working in the laboratory of Mohamed Kabbaj, a professor of Biomedical Sciences and Neuroscience in the College of Medicine, showed that ketamine can decrease alcohol consumption in male rats that previously had consumed high amounts of alcohol when given unrestricted access several times a week.
The research team looked at all research on the effects of cannabis use on illicit opioid use during methadone maintenance therapy, which is a common treatment for opioid use disorder, and found six studies involving more than 3,600 participants.
Recommendations suggest that opioids are not routinely needed for pain management after most dermatologic procedures, and minimizing their use helps improve patient care and safety
A new study by researchers at the University of Montreal shows close to 172,000 Canadians injected drugs in 2016, up from 130,000 just five years earlier, but support varies.
The U.S. opioid epidemic is still raging – it’s particularly pronounced in low-income areas and in those where people lack access to health care services, which includes cities in Michigan and across the Rust Belt. But the effectiveness of efforts to provide treatment and recovery options to those who need it most – that is, in locations with the greatest number of deaths from opioid overdose – has been unclear.
The University of Pittsburgh School of Dental Medicine is the first in the nation to establish opioid-free pain management guidelines for the vast majority of procedures performed in all of its clinics.
A new study from researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that in several cities and counties the proportion of high-schoolers who have ever used heroin or misused prescription opioids is much higher than the national average.
Colleagues at the University of California at Irvine have developed an electronic prescription drug accountability program to keep track of prescribing among hospitalists, primary care physicians, and emergency department physicians within an institution.
A new study published Nov. 4, 2019, in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine details the first comprehensive look across the scientific literature at the role of mind-body therapies in addressing opioid-treated pain. The researchers found that certain mind-body therapies can reduce pain, as well as reduce opioid use, among patients treated with prescription opioids.
An international team of researchers has used nanoparticles to deliver a drug—one that previously failed in clinical trials for pain—into specific compartments of nerve cells, dramatically increasing its ability to treat pain in mice and rats. The findings are published Nov. 4 in Nature Nanotechnology.
Hackensack Meridian Health Ocean Medical Center Foundation has been awarded a Major Grant in the amount of $10,000 from The Provident Bank Foundation to help improve the care and support provided to children and young adults with autism, developmental disabilities and substance abuse issues presenting in Emergency Department crisis units at Hackensack Meridian Health Ocean Medical Center and Hackensack Meridian Health Southern Ocean Medical Center.
Keith Chan of UAlbany's School of Social Welfare, found that among girls ages 12-17, the misuse of opioids greatly increases the chance of having a major depressive episode.
Findings from Kellogg Eye Center suggest ophthalmic surgeons are prescribing more opioids than needed after eye surgery. The study in JAMA Ophthalmology showed prescriptions can be reduced without compromising pain control.
Opioid use disorder and overdose deaths are a major public health crisis in the United States. While medication-assisted treatments for opioid use disorder exist, these treatments remain inadequate for many patients, resulting in a high rate of relapse following detoxification.
A suicide risk screening tool that Johns Hopkins Medicine implemented in its pediatric emergency department six years ago appears to provide an accurate gauge of which youth are most vulnerable and has identified more than 2,000 patients who might benefit from mental health treatment and resources, according to a study led by researchers at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Johns Hopkins Medicine
Construction workers are more likely to use drugs than workers in other professions, finds a study by the Center for Drug Use and HIV/HCV Research (CDUHR) at NYU College of Global Public Health.
A state-mandated policy restricting opioid prescriptions along with increased public awareness and education about the opioid epidemic preceded drastic reductions in opioid prescribing and use for surgical patients at the University of Vermont Medical Center.
A new online course about opioids aims to help all types of health professionals understand the roots of the opioid epidemic, how it's affecting patients and society, and what's being done to address it.
A new study by the University of Washington’s Social Development Research Group shows how a parent’s use of marijuana, past or present, can influence their child's substance use and well-being.
The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), awarded a $3.58 million grant to Sanford Burnham Prebys scientist Anthony Pinkerton, Ph.D., to advance a potential treatment for opioid-use disorders, called SBI-553.
U.S. Surgeon General Jerome M. Adams, M.D., M.P.H. will speak to attendees of ANESTHESIOLOGY® 2019, the annual meeting of the American Society of Anesthesiologists, about major public health issues affecting the U.S. and how physician anesthesiologists can help solve them and improve patient health through better advocacy and community engagement.
Patients who suffer from infective endocarditis (IE) and struggle with substance use disorder (SUD) have a 240% increased risk of dying within 6 months to 5 years after valve surgery compared to other IE patients.
A growing number of young adults are dealing with a substance use disorder – in some cases, multiple substance use disorders – and not seeking help, according to a study led by an Iowa State University researcher. The results show two in every five young adults reported a past-year SUD.
The need to prevent and rapidly treat opioid overdoses is in the spotlight. But a new study suggests more focus is needed on the risk of alcohol overdoses among people who use opioids of all kinds, and other drugs. Ninety percent of residential recovery center patients surveyed had overdosed on alcohol at least once, and 80 percent of them said that at the time of their overdose, they had also been taking other drugs.
The total amount of opioids dispensed per new opioid prescription decreased by 22 percent in Penn Medicine outpatient practices in New Jersey after the state passed a law limiting prescriptions to a five-day supply for new opioid prescriptions. Penn Medicine implemented an electronic health record (EMR) alert, or “nudge,” to notify clinicians if that limit had been reached. The study, published online today in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, is one of the first evaluations of a state law’s impact on prescribing outcomes, and is the first report of an EMR being used to make compliance with prescribing limits easier. Importantly, after the prescribing limit and alert went into effect there was no evidence to suggest pain control worsened.
A new study led by researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has found that being held in restrictive housing (i.e., solitary confinement) is associated with an increased risk of death after a person is released from prison.
For people with substance use disorders, their brains tell them they must use to stay alive. Now, we know the same thing happens in the brains of the people caring for them.
Scientists from the UCLA Integrated Substance Abuse Programs will lead a $25 million National Institutes of Health study testing treatments, including the use of telemedicine, to help fight the opioid epidemic in rural America.
Whitney Luke, MD, a board certified pain medicine and addiction medicine specialist at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, explains how to properly taper opioid medication.