Category: From Newswise – Substance Abuse

Prenatal exposure to opioids had been linked to a range of adverse outcomes in infants, including poor fetal growth, low birthweight, possible congenital defects and a higher risk of admission to neonatal intensive care. Less information is known, however, on how developmental opioid exposure shapes an infant’s microbiome and how that influence, in turn, may trigger neurological or behavioral effects later in life.

‘Overdosing’ on vitamin D supplements is both possible and harmful, warn doctors in the journal BMJ Case Reports after they treated a man who needed hospital admission for his excessive vitamin D intake.

They may only be in 4th or 5th grade, but 1 in 10 pre-teen children already say they’re curious about using alcohol or tobacco products, and 1 in 50 say they’re curious about using marijuana, a new study shows.
As many as 3% of the nearly 12,000 9- and 10-year-olds surveyed say they already have a friend who uses one of these substances. And those who said they did were also much more likely to be curious about trying alcohol or tobacco and other nicotine-containing products themselves.

A small tweak to hospitals’ prescribing systems might make a big difference in reducing risk from leftover opioid pain medication, while still making sure surgery patients get relief from their post-operation pain, a new study suggests.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound effect on many people’s lives. Emerging adults may have been particular impacted, given their transition from adolescence to adulthood during such a time of upheaval, with their educational and career aspirations thrown into disarray. A new study has found that the risk for depression tripled among young people – particularly younger women – during the pandemic, and that this risk persisted into 2021.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, policy interventions designed to reduce the virus’ spread included shelter-in-place (SIP) orders and phased “reopenings” of public spaces. Knowing that adult alcohol and substance use generally rose during the pandemic due to factors such as stress, boredom, worsening mental health, and increased alcohol availability, a new study sought to understand the impact of SIPs and reopenings on adolescent alcohol use in California. Analysis shows SIP decreased frequency of alcohol use. Also, compliance with SIP orders was associated with decreased frequency and quantity of use.

Older adults – those more than 50 years of age – who consume alcohol beyond healthy drinking guidelines are a growing public health concern. A new study has found that using text messaging can help reduce drinking among this population. These findings will be shared at the 45th annual scientific meeting of the Research Society on Alcoholism (RSA) in Orlando, Florida.

Members of racial and ethnic minority groups were less likely to obtain prescriptions to treat opioid addiction during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a study by researchers at Rutgers and Indiana University.

Scientists investigating substance use are making progress on eliminating stigmatizing language that can perpetuate negative biases and worsen outcomes, according to a new analysis of published research articles. Nevertheless, the field has further to go.

Online resources for supporting recovery from Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) are promising but underused, a new study suggests. The expansion of digital recovery supports, such as video meetings, discussion forums, and social networking sites, could potentially help address a substantial unmet need for services. In 2020, fewer than one in ten Americans with current or recent substance use disorder received any form of treatment. Women are less likely to access treatment than men, research shows. Online services may make recovery support more accessible, eliminating certain barriers associated with traditional treatment (e.g., transportation and cost) and reducing others (e.g., stigma). Research is sparse, however, and the factors influencing the use and effects of digital services are not well understood. For the study in Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, researchers explored how people in recovery from AUD use online supports and whether that use is linked to gender or outcome