Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Montefiore Health System have been awarded a National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant to establish a multidisciplinary research center focused on treatments for people with both chronic pain and opioid use disorder (OUD).
American Indians who believe a myth falsely implying that they are biogenetically predisposed to heavy drinking may experience more alcohol craving, more frequent drinking, and worse alcohol-related consequences than those who don’t believe that myth, according to a new study in Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research.
About 12 percent of patients who receive implantable cardiac devices such as a pacemaker or defibrillator and fill an opioid prescription after surgery will consistently use the pain medication in the months afterward, raising the potential for addiction following these common procedures and identifying another pathway that could contribute to the national opioid crisis.
A Michigan Medicine study found that only 7.4% of patients treated for an opioid overdose at U.S. emergency departments are prescribed naloxone, an overdose rescue drug often available under the name Narcan, within 30 days. The prescription rate for buprenorphine, a medication to treat opioid addiction, was just 8.5%. Researchers say clinicians are missing critical opportunities to save lives in the ER and during follow-up visits.
The “Expanded Interprofessional Medication-Assisted Treatment Training Program” is a three-year grant totaling about $450,000 from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration (SAMHSA), a branch of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
A retrospective study sought to determine demographic and clinical predictors of a successful response to dorsal root ganglion stimulation. A history of prior chronic opioid use was associated with significantly lower rates of responder status. Other characteristics such as age, gender, body mass index, and smoking showed no changes in responder status.
A novel drug delivery matrix currently in pre-clinical development may offer a narcotic-free alternative for patients experiencing pain after surgery.
A study has revealed college students’ reasons for abstaining from alcohol or cannabis, including on days when they had initially planned to use one or both substances. The analysis, reported in Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, extends research into the so-called “intention-behavior gap” by being the first study to examine reasons for non-use following an intention to drink or to use cannabis. The findings could inform strategies for alcohol and substance use prevention and intervention on college campuses.
University of Florida researchers are developing a new artificial intelligence tool that will help clinicians identify patients at high risk for opioid use disorder and overdose.
The study used information from Statistics Canada to compare 16 months of alcohol and cannabis sales before and after the pandemic began (November 2018 to February 2020 compared to March 2020 to June 2021). During the pandemic period, Canadians bought 1.86 billion dollars more alcohol than was predicted based on the pre-pandemic trend. Increases in cannabis sales were $811 million higher, nearly a billion dollars above the predicted amount.
