The number of hospital admissions among Americans ages 45 and older for medication and drug-related conditions doubled between 1997 and 2008, according to a new report released today by HHS' Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Medication and drug-related conditions include effects of both prescription and over-the-counter medications as well as illicit drugs.
Hospital admissions among those 45 years and older were driven by growth in discharges for three types of medication and drug-related conditions - drug-induced delirium; "poisoning" or overdose by codeine, meperidine and other opiate-based pain medicines; and withdrawal from narcotic or non-narcotic drugs.
Admissions for all medication and drug-related conditions grew by 117 percent - from 30,100 to 65,400 - for 45- to 64-year-olds between 1997 and 2008. The rate of admissions for people ages 65 to 84 closely followed, growing by 96 percent, and for people ages 85 and older, the rate grew by 87 percent. By comparison, the number of hospital admissions for these conditions among adults ages 18 to 44 declined slightly by 11 percent.
"This report reveals a disturbing trend, and we need to find out more about why these admissions are increasing," said AHRQ Director Carolyn M. Clancy, M.D. "As the average age of hospital patients continues to increase, so does the need for close monitoring of the types and dosages of drugs given to them."
Drug-induced delirium or dementia can be caused by sleeping pills as well as drugs for urinary incontinence, nausea and other problems common in the elderly, but doctors sometimes cannot identify the cause. Poisoning by pain medicines or other drugs containing codeine, meperidine or other opiates can be caused by accidental overdosing or the failure to recognize the drug's active ingredient. Drug withdrawal occurs when there is an abrupt withdrawal or significant reduction in the dosage of pain or other prescription medicines to which a person can become addicted, as well as of illicit drugs.
HHS' Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration helped support the analysis of the data in the report on hospital care for mental health and substance abuse disorders. "Substance abuse is rising, and drug abuse of all kinds is exploding as a major public health concern for our country," said SAMHSA Administrator Pamela S. Hyde, J.D. "The challenge for our health care practitioners is to see that patients receive medications when there is medical need but also to help prevent the adverse health consequences from drug use."
The new AHRQ report also shows that Medicare and Medicaid were responsible for 57 percent of the $1.1 billion cost to hospitals in 2008 for treating patients with medication and drug-related conditions, private insurance covered 24 percent, and the uninsured accounted for 14 percent. The remaining 5 percent of hospital costs for treating these conditions were borne by other sources such as TRICARE.
AHRQ's report also includes data on other types of medical conditions treated in U.S. community hospitals, surgical and other procedures, and costs in 2008. For more information, see HCUP Facts and Figures: Statistics on Hospital-Based Care in the United States, 2008.
Source:
AHRQ
вторник, 31 мая 2011 г.
понедельник, 30 мая 2011 г.
Link Between Children's Mental Health And Later Substance Abuse Studied At Rutgers-Camden
Research underway at Rutgers University-Camden seeks to examine links between children's mental health problems and alcohol, nicotine, and illegal drug use over time.
The National Institute on Drug Abuse at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded a highly prestigious Career Development Award to Naomi Marmorstein, an associate professor of psychology at Rutgers-Camden, who will use the $649,503 grant to further her intensive research on how children's anxiety and depression may be associated with substance abuse throughout adulthood. According to the NIH, Marmorstein's award is part of an integrated program designed to foster the development of outstanding scientists and enable them to expand their potential to make important scientific contributions.
"Children can show symptoms of depression and anxiety at very young ages, and some youth smoke, drink, and use drugs as well. A better understanding of the associations between these problems will help us more effectively prevent and treat them. If we can get youth on a trajectory of healthy emotional and behavioral development, they are at reduced risk for psychiatric and substance abuse problems as adults," says Marmorstein.
During the next five years, Marmorstein will receive specialized training on complex statistical techniques; collect her own data with child-appropriate questionnaires; and revaluate existing data with new research methodologies that allow for more fine-grained analyses of developmental trajectories over time. She also will seek to pinpoint crucial differences between types of internalizing disorders, like generalized anxiety and social anxiety, to examine whether these problems relate to substance abuse in different ways.
"We have known for a long time that some people who have depression or anxiety drink alcohol or use drugs to cope with those unpleasant feelings; this is called the 'self-medication' model of substance abuse. However, there is also some evidence that heavy substance use may predict internalizing disorders, rather than the other way around. It is time to apply the advances we have made in research methodologies in order to better understand these associations," says Marmorstein.
The results of the Rutgers-Camden research could be used by those who work with at-risk children to create programs that help these vulnerable young clients as effectively as possible.
A graduate of Yale University and the University of Minnesota, Marmorstein joined the Rutgers-Camden faculty in 2001 and teaches a range of clinical psychology courses including abnormal psychology, developmental psychopathology, and theories of psychotherapy. She resides in Philadelphia.
Source: Cathy Donovan
Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey
The National Institute on Drug Abuse at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded a highly prestigious Career Development Award to Naomi Marmorstein, an associate professor of psychology at Rutgers-Camden, who will use the $649,503 grant to further her intensive research on how children's anxiety and depression may be associated with substance abuse throughout adulthood. According to the NIH, Marmorstein's award is part of an integrated program designed to foster the development of outstanding scientists and enable them to expand their potential to make important scientific contributions.
"Children can show symptoms of depression and anxiety at very young ages, and some youth smoke, drink, and use drugs as well. A better understanding of the associations between these problems will help us more effectively prevent and treat them. If we can get youth on a trajectory of healthy emotional and behavioral development, they are at reduced risk for psychiatric and substance abuse problems as adults," says Marmorstein.
During the next five years, Marmorstein will receive specialized training on complex statistical techniques; collect her own data with child-appropriate questionnaires; and revaluate existing data with new research methodologies that allow for more fine-grained analyses of developmental trajectories over time. She also will seek to pinpoint crucial differences between types of internalizing disorders, like generalized anxiety and social anxiety, to examine whether these problems relate to substance abuse in different ways.
"We have known for a long time that some people who have depression or anxiety drink alcohol or use drugs to cope with those unpleasant feelings; this is called the 'self-medication' model of substance abuse. However, there is also some evidence that heavy substance use may predict internalizing disorders, rather than the other way around. It is time to apply the advances we have made in research methodologies in order to better understand these associations," says Marmorstein.
The results of the Rutgers-Camden research could be used by those who work with at-risk children to create programs that help these vulnerable young clients as effectively as possible.
A graduate of Yale University and the University of Minnesota, Marmorstein joined the Rutgers-Camden faculty in 2001 and teaches a range of clinical psychology courses including abnormal psychology, developmental psychopathology, and theories of psychotherapy. She resides in Philadelphia.
Source: Cathy Donovan
Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey
воскресенье, 29 мая 2011 г.
Exercise Helps You Quit Smoking More Successfully
You are more likely to succeed in your attempt to give up smoking if you also do regular exercise, say researchers from Austria. They found that smokers who use nicotine gum or skin patches were much more likely to stay off tobacco if they also did regular exercise, compared to people who just had the nicotine replacement therapy and no exercise.
In this study, 68 volunteers at Otto Wanger and Lainz Hospitals were monitored for three months. Half of them did regular exercise while the other half didn't. All of them received nicotine replacement therapy. 80% of those who exercised were still not smoking at the end of the three months, compared to just 52% of those who didn't exercise.
The researchers also found that the exercisers who failed to stay off tobacco smoked less than the non-exercisers who went back to smoking.
I had my last cigarette on 20th May this year and celebrated 5 months without touching any tobacco products. I have been going to the gym everyday (Monday to Friday) and using the Nicotine Inhaler. I do 45 minutes of cardiovascular exercise and 30 minutes of resistance (weights) training each day.
What really did it for me was the change in my stationary heartbeat (pulse while resting). On my last smoking day it was 78, six weeks later it was 59. I was amazed at the difference.
If you are trying to give up ask someone, a gym instructor or a health professional, to take your 'resting heartbeat/pulse' on the day you give up. Then follow up six weeks later. It is an incredible motivator. The way I see it is that "My heart now gets the same job done with 25% less effort." Whenever I think of cigarettes, I say to myself "You will go back up to 78. Do you want that?"
I am sure the exercise has also helped keep my weight down since I gave up. I have tried to see the whole experience as a liberation, rather than an abstention. Perhaps the term 'giving up' should be replaced by 'liberation' - it is a positive thought, and positive thoughts tend to lead to better success.
American College of Chest Physicians
In this study, 68 volunteers at Otto Wanger and Lainz Hospitals were monitored for three months. Half of them did regular exercise while the other half didn't. All of them received nicotine replacement therapy. 80% of those who exercised were still not smoking at the end of the three months, compared to just 52% of those who didn't exercise.
The researchers also found that the exercisers who failed to stay off tobacco smoked less than the non-exercisers who went back to smoking.
I had my last cigarette on 20th May this year and celebrated 5 months without touching any tobacco products. I have been going to the gym everyday (Monday to Friday) and using the Nicotine Inhaler. I do 45 minutes of cardiovascular exercise and 30 minutes of resistance (weights) training each day.
What really did it for me was the change in my stationary heartbeat (pulse while resting). On my last smoking day it was 78, six weeks later it was 59. I was amazed at the difference.
If you are trying to give up ask someone, a gym instructor or a health professional, to take your 'resting heartbeat/pulse' on the day you give up. Then follow up six weeks later. It is an incredible motivator. The way I see it is that "My heart now gets the same job done with 25% less effort." Whenever I think of cigarettes, I say to myself "You will go back up to 78. Do you want that?"
I am sure the exercise has also helped keep my weight down since I gave up. I have tried to see the whole experience as a liberation, rather than an abstention. Perhaps the term 'giving up' should be replaced by 'liberation' - it is a positive thought, and positive thoughts tend to lead to better success.
American College of Chest Physicians
суббота, 28 мая 2011 г.
How To Save $1 Billion And 800 Lives In Canada
The economic burden of alcohol abuse costs each Canadian $463 per year. In fact, the direct health care costs for alcohol abuse in Canada exceed those of cancer. Released by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), the Avoidable Cost of Alcohol Abuse in Canada 2002 report estimates that, even under very conservative assumptions, implementing six reviewed interventions would result in cost savings of about $1 billion per year and a savings of about 800 lives, close to 26,000 years of life lost to premature death and more than 88,000 acute care hospital days in Canada per year. This pioneering study is Canada's first systematic estimate of the avoidable costs of alcohol abuse, and the first study of its kind worldwide.
To calculate the avoidable burden and avoidable costs of alcohol abuse in Canada for 2002, CAMH Senior Scientist Dr. Jurgen Rehm and his team estimated the potential economic impact of increasing alcohol taxation, lowering the blood alcohol concentration (BAC) legal limit from 0.08 per cent to 0.05 percent, zero tolerance BAC for all drivers under age 21, increasing the legal minimum drinking age from 19 to 21 years of age, a Safer Bars intervention, and brief interventions (routine screening with concise advice for problematic alcohol users by primary care physicians or other health professionals).
The data revealed that:
Implementing all six interventions would decrease productivity losses by more than $561 million or 58 per cent of the total avoidable cost due to alcohol, decrease health care costs (saving almost $230 million or 24 per cent), and lower criminality costs by almost $178 million or 18 per cent.
The most effective intervention to reduce avoidable costs in health care, criminality and productivity losses was the brief interventions (saving almost $602 million per year, 62 per cent of total savings), followed by increasing alcohol taxes (saving more than $211 million per year, 22 per cent of total savings).
The most effective intervention for preventing drinking and driving incidents in Canada was lowering the BAC level, which would result in a 19 per cent reduction.
The Safer Bars program was the most effective measure to avoid homicide and other violent crimes (more than 3 per cent reductions were estimated).
Brief interventions were the most effective measure to avoid other alcohol-attributable criminal activities (e.g., property crime), resulting in an almost 3 per cent reduction in these types of crimes.
"It's clear that the largest impact would come from interventions affecting the level of drinking in general such as brief interventions and increasing alcohol taxation," says Dr. Rehm. "However, the greatest overall cost avoidance would be achieved when multiple rather than single effective and cost-effective alcohol interventions are implemented as part of a comprehensive alcohol policy."
The scientists also estimated the potential impact of privatizing alcohol sales in those provinces that sell alcohol through a government monopoly. The analysis showed that substantial increases in direct and indirect costs would occur if Canadian provinces were to privatize alcohol sales. Productivity losses would increase by more than $468 million (7 per cent), health care costs would increase by more than $258 million (8 per cent), and costs related to criminality would increase by about $102 million (3 per cent).
While studies that investigate the cost of illness are a valuable indicator of the overall economic burden due to substance abuse in Canada, they do not offer potential solutions to reduce the burden. As Dr. Rehm explains, "this study shows the benefits potentially available to the community as a whole by directing public resources to specific policies, strategies and programs. It also helps identify information gaps, target problems, and identify potential solutions."
The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) is Canada's largest mental health and addiction teaching hospital, as well as one of the world's leading research centres in the area of addiction and mental health. CAMH combines clinical care, research, education, policy development and health promotion to transform the lives of people affected by mental health and addiction issues.
CAMH is fully affiliated with the University of Toronto, and is a Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization Collaborating Centre.
Source: Michael Torres
Centre for Addiction and Mental Health
To calculate the avoidable burden and avoidable costs of alcohol abuse in Canada for 2002, CAMH Senior Scientist Dr. Jurgen Rehm and his team estimated the potential economic impact of increasing alcohol taxation, lowering the blood alcohol concentration (BAC) legal limit from 0.08 per cent to 0.05 percent, zero tolerance BAC for all drivers under age 21, increasing the legal minimum drinking age from 19 to 21 years of age, a Safer Bars intervention, and brief interventions (routine screening with concise advice for problematic alcohol users by primary care physicians or other health professionals).
The data revealed that:
Implementing all six interventions would decrease productivity losses by more than $561 million or 58 per cent of the total avoidable cost due to alcohol, decrease health care costs (saving almost $230 million or 24 per cent), and lower criminality costs by almost $178 million or 18 per cent.
The most effective intervention to reduce avoidable costs in health care, criminality and productivity losses was the brief interventions (saving almost $602 million per year, 62 per cent of total savings), followed by increasing alcohol taxes (saving more than $211 million per year, 22 per cent of total savings).
The most effective intervention for preventing drinking and driving incidents in Canada was lowering the BAC level, which would result in a 19 per cent reduction.
The Safer Bars program was the most effective measure to avoid homicide and other violent crimes (more than 3 per cent reductions were estimated).
Brief interventions were the most effective measure to avoid other alcohol-attributable criminal activities (e.g., property crime), resulting in an almost 3 per cent reduction in these types of crimes.
"It's clear that the largest impact would come from interventions affecting the level of drinking in general such as brief interventions and increasing alcohol taxation," says Dr. Rehm. "However, the greatest overall cost avoidance would be achieved when multiple rather than single effective and cost-effective alcohol interventions are implemented as part of a comprehensive alcohol policy."
The scientists also estimated the potential impact of privatizing alcohol sales in those provinces that sell alcohol through a government monopoly. The analysis showed that substantial increases in direct and indirect costs would occur if Canadian provinces were to privatize alcohol sales. Productivity losses would increase by more than $468 million (7 per cent), health care costs would increase by more than $258 million (8 per cent), and costs related to criminality would increase by about $102 million (3 per cent).
While studies that investigate the cost of illness are a valuable indicator of the overall economic burden due to substance abuse in Canada, they do not offer potential solutions to reduce the burden. As Dr. Rehm explains, "this study shows the benefits potentially available to the community as a whole by directing public resources to specific policies, strategies and programs. It also helps identify information gaps, target problems, and identify potential solutions."
The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) is Canada's largest mental health and addiction teaching hospital, as well as one of the world's leading research centres in the area of addiction and mental health. CAMH combines clinical care, research, education, policy development and health promotion to transform the lives of people affected by mental health and addiction issues.
CAMH is fully affiliated with the University of Toronto, and is a Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization Collaborating Centre.
Source: Michael Torres
Centre for Addiction and Mental Health
пятница, 27 мая 2011 г.
Students who get drunk weekly have higher risk of injuries
College students who get drunk at least once a week are significantly more likely to be hurt or injured than other
student drinkers, according to new research from Wake Forest University School of Medicine.
The research suggests that a simple screening question - "In a typical week, how many days do you get drunk?" - may help
identify at-risk students.
"Each year approximately 1,700 college students die from alcohol-related injuries," said Mary Claire O'Brien, M.D., assistant
professor of emergency medicine and public health sciences at Wake Forest's School of Medicine, which is part of Wake Forest
University Baptist Medical Center. "Our goal was to develop a simple tool to tell which student drinkers are at highest risk
of getting hurt, as a result of their own drinking and the drinking of others."
The results, part of an ongoing, five-year research project to develop effective strategies for reducing problem drinking on
college campuses, were reported today at the annual meeting of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine in New York City.
Wake Forest researchers found that students who got drunk at least once weekly were three times more likely to be hurt or
injured due to their own drinking than student drinkers who do not report getting drunk at least once a week. They were twice
as likely to fall from a height and need medical care, and 75 percent more likely to be sexually victimized. Getting drunk
was defined as being unsteady, dizzy or sick to your stomach.
"When you drink, you're also at risk because of other people's drinking," O'Brien said.
For example, students who got drunk at least once weekly were three times more likely to be in an automobile accident caused
by someone else's drinking and twice as likely to be taken advantage of sexually by someone who was drinking.
O'Brien's goal was to identify a one-question screening tool that could be used in busy hospital emergency departments. She
said the Wake Forest "single question" was designed specifically for college students.
"The emergency department presents a teachable moment," she said. "Research has shown that a brief intervention, such as
simple advice, can change drinking patterns."
O'Brien said that current screening tools define problem drinking as having four or five drinks in a row.
"In my experience, patients lie about how much they drink, and screening tests based on quantity don't account for
differences in weight, gender, alcohol tolerance, body metabolism, medications and other variables," she said. "What it takes
to make someone drunk varies from individual to individual."
The overall goal of the $3.2 million Study to Prevent Alcohol-Related Consequences (SPARC) is to reduce the availability of
alcohol to students and to help change campus cultures that promote drinking. The study uses such strategies as restricting
alcohol at campus events, increasing enforcement, constraining marketing and educating alcohol sellers and servers,
landlords, students and parents.
Ten North Carolina universities are participating in the Wake Forest study. Students are surveyed once a year on their
alcohol consumption, availability of alcohol, attitudes and perceptions, and consequences experienced from drinking.
Strategies to reduce problem drinking are being implemented at half of the campuses, with emphasis on forming
campus-community coalitions that address issues specific to each school. The web-based student surveys are one of several
measures of the project's effectiveness.
The multidisciplinary study team is led by Robert H. DuRant, Ph.D., professor of pediatrics and public health sciences at
Wake Forest Baptist. The research is funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA).
O'Brien's research is based on the first student web survey (fall 2003), which found that 63 percent of students under age 21
drink and that 20 percent of the drinkers usually have seven or more drinks. More than half (54 percent) of the drinkers said
they get drunk at least weekly.
According to the NIAAA, about four out of five students drink and about half of the drinkers engage in heaving episodic
consumption. It is estimated that that 97,000 students each year are victims of alcohol-related sexual assault or date rape,
that almost a third (31 percent) of college students meet the criteria for a diagnosis of alcohol abuse and that 2.8 million
college students drove under the influence of alcohol last year.
The 10 universities involved in the study are Appalachian State, Duke, High Point, Western Carolina and the Asheville, Chapel
Hill, Charlotte, Wilmington and Pembroke campuses of the University of North Carolina.
Other members of the SPARC research team are Barbara Alvarez-Martin, M.P.H., Heather Champion, Ph.D., Gail Cohen, M.D., Ralph
B. D'Agostino Jr., Ph.D., Sheryl Hulme, Thomas McCoy, M.S., Cindy Miller, A.A.S., Ananda Mitra, Ph.D., Morrow Omli, M.A. Ed.,
Scott Rhodes, Ph.D., Adrienne Robbins, B.A., Lisa Sobieski, B.A., Hoa Teuschlser, B.S., Leslie Tuttle, Kim Wagoner, M.S., and
Mark Wolfson, Ph.D, all from Wake Forest.
Media Contacts: Karen Richardson, krchrdsnwfubmc; Shannon Koontz, shkoontzwfubmc; at 336-716-4587
About Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center: Wake Forest Baptist is an academic health system comprised of North
Carolina Baptist Hospital and Wake Forest University Health Sciences, which operates the university's School of Medicine. The
system comprises 1,282 acute care, psychiatric, rehabilitation and long-term care beds and is consistently ranked as one of
"America's Best Hospitals" by U.S. News & World Report.
Contact: Karen Richardson
krchrdsnwfubmc
336-716-4453
Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center
wfubmc
student drinkers, according to new research from Wake Forest University School of Medicine.
The research suggests that a simple screening question - "In a typical week, how many days do you get drunk?" - may help
identify at-risk students.
"Each year approximately 1,700 college students die from alcohol-related injuries," said Mary Claire O'Brien, M.D., assistant
professor of emergency medicine and public health sciences at Wake Forest's School of Medicine, which is part of Wake Forest
University Baptist Medical Center. "Our goal was to develop a simple tool to tell which student drinkers are at highest risk
of getting hurt, as a result of their own drinking and the drinking of others."
The results, part of an ongoing, five-year research project to develop effective strategies for reducing problem drinking on
college campuses, were reported today at the annual meeting of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine in New York City.
Wake Forest researchers found that students who got drunk at least once weekly were three times more likely to be hurt or
injured due to their own drinking than student drinkers who do not report getting drunk at least once a week. They were twice
as likely to fall from a height and need medical care, and 75 percent more likely to be sexually victimized. Getting drunk
was defined as being unsteady, dizzy or sick to your stomach.
"When you drink, you're also at risk because of other people's drinking," O'Brien said.
For example, students who got drunk at least once weekly were three times more likely to be in an automobile accident caused
by someone else's drinking and twice as likely to be taken advantage of sexually by someone who was drinking.
O'Brien's goal was to identify a one-question screening tool that could be used in busy hospital emergency departments. She
said the Wake Forest "single question" was designed specifically for college students.
"The emergency department presents a teachable moment," she said. "Research has shown that a brief intervention, such as
simple advice, can change drinking patterns."
O'Brien said that current screening tools define problem drinking as having four or five drinks in a row.
"In my experience, patients lie about how much they drink, and screening tests based on quantity don't account for
differences in weight, gender, alcohol tolerance, body metabolism, medications and other variables," she said. "What it takes
to make someone drunk varies from individual to individual."
The overall goal of the $3.2 million Study to Prevent Alcohol-Related Consequences (SPARC) is to reduce the availability of
alcohol to students and to help change campus cultures that promote drinking. The study uses such strategies as restricting
alcohol at campus events, increasing enforcement, constraining marketing and educating alcohol sellers and servers,
landlords, students and parents.
Ten North Carolina universities are participating in the Wake Forest study. Students are surveyed once a year on their
alcohol consumption, availability of alcohol, attitudes and perceptions, and consequences experienced from drinking.
Strategies to reduce problem drinking are being implemented at half of the campuses, with emphasis on forming
campus-community coalitions that address issues specific to each school. The web-based student surveys are one of several
measures of the project's effectiveness.
The multidisciplinary study team is led by Robert H. DuRant, Ph.D., professor of pediatrics and public health sciences at
Wake Forest Baptist. The research is funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA).
O'Brien's research is based on the first student web survey (fall 2003), which found that 63 percent of students under age 21
drink and that 20 percent of the drinkers usually have seven or more drinks. More than half (54 percent) of the drinkers said
they get drunk at least weekly.
According to the NIAAA, about four out of five students drink and about half of the drinkers engage in heaving episodic
consumption. It is estimated that that 97,000 students each year are victims of alcohol-related sexual assault or date rape,
that almost a third (31 percent) of college students meet the criteria for a diagnosis of alcohol abuse and that 2.8 million
college students drove under the influence of alcohol last year.
The 10 universities involved in the study are Appalachian State, Duke, High Point, Western Carolina and the Asheville, Chapel
Hill, Charlotte, Wilmington and Pembroke campuses of the University of North Carolina.
Other members of the SPARC research team are Barbara Alvarez-Martin, M.P.H., Heather Champion, Ph.D., Gail Cohen, M.D., Ralph
B. D'Agostino Jr., Ph.D., Sheryl Hulme, Thomas McCoy, M.S., Cindy Miller, A.A.S., Ananda Mitra, Ph.D., Morrow Omli, M.A. Ed.,
Scott Rhodes, Ph.D., Adrienne Robbins, B.A., Lisa Sobieski, B.A., Hoa Teuschlser, B.S., Leslie Tuttle, Kim Wagoner, M.S., and
Mark Wolfson, Ph.D, all from Wake Forest.
Media Contacts: Karen Richardson, krchrdsnwfubmc; Shannon Koontz, shkoontzwfubmc; at 336-716-4587
About Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center: Wake Forest Baptist is an academic health system comprised of North
Carolina Baptist Hospital and Wake Forest University Health Sciences, which operates the university's School of Medicine. The
system comprises 1,282 acute care, psychiatric, rehabilitation and long-term care beds and is consistently ranked as one of
"America's Best Hospitals" by U.S. News & World Report.
Contact: Karen Richardson
krchrdsnwfubmc
336-716-4453
Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center
wfubmc
четверг, 26 мая 2011 г.
Fewer Young Adults Seek Help For Cocaine And Crack Use
New figures from the National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse (NTA) show a sharp drop for the first time in the numbers of drug users seeking treatment for addiction to cocaine and crack.
The fall affects all age groups but is particularly marked among young adults aged 18-24, and reverses the recent trend of steadily increasing treatment demand from users of these Class A drugs.
According to an NTA report, Drug Treatment in 2009-10 which is published today, the reduction disclosed by annual treatment statistics reflects recent evidence of a decline in popularity of cocaine as scarce street supplies are cut and adulterated by dealers.
The NTA report is published alongside independent research that estimates the number of heroin addicts in England has fallen by almost 11,000 in recent years. A study by Glasgow University, commissioned by the NTA, also found the numbers of heroin and crack addicts falling fastest among young adults.
A year ago the NTA discovered a dramatic drop in demand nationally for heroin treatment among young adults aged 18-24. That fall has continued this year, and now affects the 25-29 age-group as well.
NTA Chief Executive, Paul Hayes said:
"These statistics are more than just an annual snapshot for one year, 2009-10. We now have five years' worth of robust data from the National Drug Treatment Monitoring System, so we can show some reliable trends.
"This year's figures confirm the NTA's claim that the 'trainspotting generation' that got hooked in the 1980s is growing older, fewer young people are risking getting addicted to heroin, and treatment is beginning to show an impact on drug use.
"Our priority now is to refocus the drug treatment system in England to deliver sustained recovery from addiction so that users can get off drugs altogether, start re-living their lives and contribute to their families, communities and society."
However, just as young adults are shunning heroin, there is a small rise in treatment demand among the over-40s. As the heroin-using population gets older, some entrenched users are beginning to come into treatment for the first time.
Notes
Drug Treatment 2009-10 (see here) draws on information from:
- A Long Term Study of the Outcomes of Drug Users Leaving Treatment September 2010 (see here)
- National Drug Treatment Monitoring System (NDTMS) Statistical report for 2009/10 (see here)
- Prevalence estimates for England 2008/09 (Glasgow University) (see here )
Source:
National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse (NTA)
The fall affects all age groups but is particularly marked among young adults aged 18-24, and reverses the recent trend of steadily increasing treatment demand from users of these Class A drugs.
According to an NTA report, Drug Treatment in 2009-10 which is published today, the reduction disclosed by annual treatment statistics reflects recent evidence of a decline in popularity of cocaine as scarce street supplies are cut and adulterated by dealers.
The NTA report is published alongside independent research that estimates the number of heroin addicts in England has fallen by almost 11,000 in recent years. A study by Glasgow University, commissioned by the NTA, also found the numbers of heroin and crack addicts falling fastest among young adults.
A year ago the NTA discovered a dramatic drop in demand nationally for heroin treatment among young adults aged 18-24. That fall has continued this year, and now affects the 25-29 age-group as well.
NTA Chief Executive, Paul Hayes said:
"These statistics are more than just an annual snapshot for one year, 2009-10. We now have five years' worth of robust data from the National Drug Treatment Monitoring System, so we can show some reliable trends.
"This year's figures confirm the NTA's claim that the 'trainspotting generation' that got hooked in the 1980s is growing older, fewer young people are risking getting addicted to heroin, and treatment is beginning to show an impact on drug use.
"Our priority now is to refocus the drug treatment system in England to deliver sustained recovery from addiction so that users can get off drugs altogether, start re-living their lives and contribute to their families, communities and society."
However, just as young adults are shunning heroin, there is a small rise in treatment demand among the over-40s. As the heroin-using population gets older, some entrenched users are beginning to come into treatment for the first time.
Notes
Drug Treatment 2009-10 (see here) draws on information from:
- A Long Term Study of the Outcomes of Drug Users Leaving Treatment September 2010 (see here)
- National Drug Treatment Monitoring System (NDTMS) Statistical report for 2009/10 (see here)
- Prevalence estimates for England 2008/09 (Glasgow University) (see here )
Source:
National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse (NTA)
среда, 25 мая 2011 г.
Increasing Taxes On Alcoholic Beverages Reduces Disease, Injury, Crime And Death Rates
Increasing the costs to consumers of beer, wine, and hard liquor significantly reduces the rates of a wide range of alcohol-related deaths, diseases, injuries, and other problems, according to a new study published in the online edition of the American Journal of Public Health and scheduled for inclusion in the November print edition. Researchers at the University of Florida (UF) report that public policies that increase the price of alcoholic beverages, such as increases in alcohol excise taxes, not only reduce drinking but also significantly reduce most of the negative and costly outcomes associated with alcohol.
According to the researchers, alcohol taxes have considerably larger effects than prevention programs on a state's burden of alcohol-related problems. The results suggest that doubling the average state tax on alcohol would be associated, on average, with a 35 percent reduction in alcohol-related mortality, an 11 percent reduction in traffic crash deaths, a 6 percent reduction in STDs, a 2 percent reduction in violence, and a 1.4 percent reduction in crime.
"Our meta-analysis cumulated information from all the published scientific research on this topic over the past half century, and results clearly show increasing the price of alcohol will result in significant reductions in many of the undesirable outcomes associated with drinking," said Alexander C. Wagenaar, PhD, professor of health outcomes and policy at UF College of Medicine and lead author of the study. "Simply adjusting decades-old tax rates to account for inflation could save thousands of lives and billions of dollars in law enforcement and health care costs."
For this meta-analysis study, the researchers identified 50 published research papers containing 340 estimates of the effects of alcohol taxes or prices on the rates of a variety of outcomes, including: all-cause morbidity and mortality, alcohol-related diseases or injuries, violence, suicide, traffic safety outcomes, STDs and risky sexual behaviors, other drug use, and crimes and misbehaviors. Through a meta-analysis of the aggregate data from all those studies, the researchers found that alcohol prices and taxes are significantly and inversely related to all outcome categories examined except suicide, for which data were too sparse to draw a firm conclusion.
"Results are surprisingly consistent," said Wagenaar. "With the sole exception of suicide rates, every category of outcome examined shows a significant effect of alcohol taxes and prices."
Today's study follows a previous meta-analysis study through which these researchers found that a 10 percent increase in alcohol price results in about a 5 percent reduction in alcohol consumption. That study examined 112 research papers containing 1,004 estimates of the effects of alcohol prices on alcohol sales and drinking behaviors.
"Taken together, these two studies establish beyond any reasonable doubt that, as the price of alcohol goes up, alcohol consumption and the rates of adverse outcomes related to consumption go down," said Wagenaar. "The strength of these findings suggests that tax increases may be the most effective way we have to prevent excessive drinking - and also have drinkers pay more of their fair share for the damages caused and costs incurred."
Wagenaar's study, Effects of Alcohol Tax and Price Policies on Morbidity and Mortality: A Systematic Review, was funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Source:
Becky Wexler
Burness Communications
According to the researchers, alcohol taxes have considerably larger effects than prevention programs on a state's burden of alcohol-related problems. The results suggest that doubling the average state tax on alcohol would be associated, on average, with a 35 percent reduction in alcohol-related mortality, an 11 percent reduction in traffic crash deaths, a 6 percent reduction in STDs, a 2 percent reduction in violence, and a 1.4 percent reduction in crime.
"Our meta-analysis cumulated information from all the published scientific research on this topic over the past half century, and results clearly show increasing the price of alcohol will result in significant reductions in many of the undesirable outcomes associated with drinking," said Alexander C. Wagenaar, PhD, professor of health outcomes and policy at UF College of Medicine and lead author of the study. "Simply adjusting decades-old tax rates to account for inflation could save thousands of lives and billions of dollars in law enforcement and health care costs."
For this meta-analysis study, the researchers identified 50 published research papers containing 340 estimates of the effects of alcohol taxes or prices on the rates of a variety of outcomes, including: all-cause morbidity and mortality, alcohol-related diseases or injuries, violence, suicide, traffic safety outcomes, STDs and risky sexual behaviors, other drug use, and crimes and misbehaviors. Through a meta-analysis of the aggregate data from all those studies, the researchers found that alcohol prices and taxes are significantly and inversely related to all outcome categories examined except suicide, for which data were too sparse to draw a firm conclusion.
"Results are surprisingly consistent," said Wagenaar. "With the sole exception of suicide rates, every category of outcome examined shows a significant effect of alcohol taxes and prices."
Today's study follows a previous meta-analysis study through which these researchers found that a 10 percent increase in alcohol price results in about a 5 percent reduction in alcohol consumption. That study examined 112 research papers containing 1,004 estimates of the effects of alcohol prices on alcohol sales and drinking behaviors.
"Taken together, these two studies establish beyond any reasonable doubt that, as the price of alcohol goes up, alcohol consumption and the rates of adverse outcomes related to consumption go down," said Wagenaar. "The strength of these findings suggests that tax increases may be the most effective way we have to prevent excessive drinking - and also have drinkers pay more of their fair share for the damages caused and costs incurred."
Wagenaar's study, Effects of Alcohol Tax and Price Policies on Morbidity and Mortality: A Systematic Review, was funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Source:
Becky Wexler
Burness Communications
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