Published since 1884 by the Society for the Study of Addiction.
This is a quick summary of the main discovery for each research paper we have published, organized issue by issue. The article titles are in bold and each key finding is below the article title. Use the filters below to isolate key findings for each issue or search for a particular topic across all of this year's issues.
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A brief course of motivational interviewing plus cognitive behavioural therapy, all delivered by telephone, can help to reduce cannabis dependence and promote abstinence in the short term. Link to Abstract
Among people who inject illicit drugs, ethnic minorities are approximately twice as likely to be HIV seropositive than ethnic majorities. Link to Abstract
Indirect drug screening of new mothers, which asks questions about non-drug factors that indicate drug use without requiring direct disclosure, may increase the accuracy of mothers\' self-reports of prenatal drug use. Link to Abstract
People who report having three or more drinks before driving show evidence of greater impulsivity when under the influence of alcohol than those who do not report heavy drinking before driving. Link to Abstract
In the Spanish population, genetic factors are associated with level of alcohol intake. Also, heavy drinkers tend to smoke more, eat more meat, eat less fruit, and be less educated than very low drinkers. Link to Abstract
Poor drinking habits may contribute to retirement because of disability among middle-aged working people in Finland. Link to Abstract
Children under age 13 with different risk factors for alcohol use, such as impulsive behaviour and parents with drinking problems, tend later on to develop specific forms of alcohol use, such as early onset drinking and alcohol problems, depending on the risk factor. Link to Abstract
There is a high degree of variability in the apparent effectiveness of the treatment for substance use disorders in England in different areas. Link to Abstract
Insomnia, antidepressant use and alcohol dependence may increase the risk of benzodiazepine dependence. Link to Abstract
An individually tailored web-based intervention for stopping smoking was found to be no more effective than web-based materials that presented broadly similar non-tailored information. Link to Abstract
A $1 tax increase could reduce the economic burden of smoking for a state in the US by an average of $530.6 million and increase gross tax revenue by an average of 162%. Link to Abstract
In the US, white and Hispanic adolescents appear to be more likely than black adolescents to try smoking as a result of exposure to smoking in movies. Among white adolescents, susceptibility to movie smoking appears to increase with socio-economic status. Link to Abstract
Across a range of European countries, 4.4% of adolescents appear to show what might be considered 'pathological internet use', or internet addiction. Adolescents lacking emotional and psychological support are at highest risk. Link to Abstract
Smokers receiving help with quitting from specialist practitioners have very different chances of success depending on which specialist they see. Link to Abstract
Gambling intervention reports need to adhere better to transparency guidelines, which require clear and comprehensive descriptions of experiments and reporting of all outcomes. Link to Abstract
Iran is facing a major HIV epidemic among non-injecting illicit drug users. Link to Abstract
At-risk adolescents appear to be motivated toward stimuli associated with drinking (e.g. pictures of beer) shortly after they start drinking. These motivations particularly affect the drinking behaviour of adolescents with low inhibition. Link to Abstract
Among people convicted of driving while impaired in the United States, those who start drinking at a young age or combine drinking with substance use are more likely to engage in risky drinking behaviour later in life. Compared with men, women start drinking later in life and are more likely to stop drinking. Link to Abstract
Among psychiatric inpatients in Iceland, diagnoses of alcohol use disorder are rising among women and falling among men. The male-to-female ratio of alcohol use disorder decreased from 4.2 in 1993 to 1.5 in 2007. Link to Abstract
While depression in parents appears to increase risk of depression in their children when they reach late adolescence through the way they behave, substance use disorder and cannabis and nicotine use of parents appears to be linked to similar behaviour in children through gene transmission. Link to Abstract
Attending 12-Step meetings appears to help with depression beyond any effect on substance use. Link to Abstract
Opiate substitution and syringe exchange programmes can reduce hepatitis C prevalence if they are sustained long term. Link to Abstract
Methamphetamine use can be reduced for a short time by community residential programmes but simple 'detoxification' programmes do not appear to be effective. Link to Abstract
Contrary to what has been predicted by opponents of smoke-free laws, banning smoking in indoor public places and work-places has not increased exposure of children to second-hand smoke at home. Link to Abstract
Genetic factors contribute differently to amount smoked and nicotine dependence. Link to Abstract
A significant minority of smokers in England believe that using nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) for one year or more is harmful but this belief does not seem to deter them from using NRT. Link to Abstract
Tobacco control campaigns appear to be more effective at getting people to try to quit smoking than pharmaceutical companies' nicotine replacement therapy campaigns. Link to Abstract
Combining Quitline smoking cessation support (which uses nicotine replacement therapy and behavioural support) with very low nicotine content cigarettes (to be used whenever quitters had an urge to smoke for up to 6 weeks after the quit date) may help some smokers to quit smoking entirely. Link to Abstract
Using wastewater analysis to monitor illicit drug use in large populations does not raise major ethical concerns because individual drug users are not identifiable. In smaller populations, such as prisons, schools or work-places, wastewater analysis could potentially harm individuals and businesses. Link to Abstract
Students with a family history of alcohol problems do not drink more than other students, but they may be at greater risk for difficulties with alcohol and drugs. Link to Abstract
Children whose carers abuse alcohol or drugs are more likely to experience recurrent abuse and neglect than children whose carers do not abuse alcohol or drugs. Link to Abstract
Young binge drinkers appear to show abnormal brain activity that may underlie difficulties in impulse control. Link to Abstract
People who are alcohol dependent may experience impairments in prospective memory (the ability to perform intended actions at an appropriate moment in the future). Link to Abstract
Treating opioid-dependent patients with implant naltrexone can reduce mortality and opiate overdose during the first four months following treatment compared with patients treated with oral naltrexone. Link to Abstract
In the Russian city of Ekaterinburg, inadequate drug treatment practices prevent HIV-infected drug users from receiving HIV treatment. Access to HIV treatment appears often to be contingent upon prior drug treatment or evidence of having become 'drug free', yet there is no access to opioid substitution therapy in Russia. Link to Abstract
Dronabinol (a synthetic version of the psychoactive ingredient in cannabis, used medicinally to treat anorexia, nausea, vomiting, and chronic pain) impairs driving performance in occasional and heavy users. Link to Abstract
People with current or lifetime depression have a lower likelihood of quitting smoking, and former smokers with current depression have a greater likelihood of smoking relapse, compared with people who do not have current or lifetime depression. Link to Abstract
Cigarette smoking may be reduced significantly among pregnant, methadone-maintained women by providing incentives for gradual reductions in breath carbon monoxide levels. Link to Abstract
German medical students receive little training on the treatment of alcohol use disorders and smoking. Link to Abstract
Pathological gamblers may have greater difficulty than others in learning from unpleasant experiences. So they may be less likely to learn from the experience of losing when they bet. Link to Abstract
Among people with alcohol-dependence, the severity of the baseline alcohol problem predicts both the recurrence and persistence of dependence while the severity of their symptoms of depression or anxiety predicts the recurrence of alcohol dependence but not severity. Link to Abstract
Tailored, multi-faceted programmes aimed at improving general practitioners' management of patients' drinking are difficult to implement and do not show an effect on practitioners' rates of screening or advising their patients on alcohol use. Link to Abstract
Young adults with long-standing illnesses that limit their activities are more likely to be non-drinkers. So part of the link between non-drinking and health problems later in life may be due to people with health problems being less likely to take up drinking rather than moderate drinking being beneficial to health. Link to Abstract
Very few patients who try to taper off from methadone maintenance treatment succeed. Success is more likely when patients combine tapering with periods of stable methadone use. Link to Abstract
Crime rates are not higher in the vicinity of methadone treatment centres. Link to Abstract
Misconceptions about methadone are common among opiate addicts in China who are prescribed methadone maintenance therapy for the first time. These misconceptions are associated with poor adherence to the treatment regime and a high rate of dropout. Link to Abstract
A cannabis dependence programme that combines contingency management (CM), which rewards abstinence, and cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT), which builds skills for maintaining abstinence, does not appear to be more successful than a program that offers only CM or CBT. Link to Abstract
Children and adolescents who exhibit aggression, delinquency, and attention problems are more likely to become smokers, while those with anxiety and depression are less likely to become smokers. Link to Abstract
Italy's 2005 smoke-free policy did not appear to have a long-term effect on smoking prevalence. Link to Abstract
State-funded treatment to help smokers to quit, in very low income areas, can have a substantial reach. Success rates are lower than is typically found in randomised trials but higher than would be expected for smokers trying to stop by themselves. Link to Abstract
Compared with environmental factors, genetic factors play a larger role in the way smoking patterns develop in adolescence. Link to Abstract
Studies evaluating family-based prevention of alcohol misuse in young people often don't include enough information to assess how far the results generalise beyond the study sample. Link to Abstract
Cannabis users who also smoke tobacco are more dependent on cannabis, have more psychosocial problems, and find it harder to quit using cannabis, compared with cannabis users who do not use tobacco. Link to Abstract
Among college students drinking with their peers, unconscious positive perceptions about alcohol do not increase drinking. But conscious positive beliefs, like 'drinking is pleasant' or 'drinking increases happiness', do seem to cause increased drinking. Link to Abstract
The most effective piece of advice a doctor can give to a heavy drinker is to encourage the patient to monitor his or her alcohol consumption, typically by keeping a daily record. Link to Abstract
Prevalence of alcohol use disorders, such as alcohol dependence and harmful use, is low in Singapore. But those with alcohol use disorders also have higher odds of depression, nicotine dependence, gastric ulcers, respiratory problems, and chronic pain. Link to Abstract
Women who end marriages to husbands who are problem drinkers may decrease their own risk of alcohol-related problems. Link to Abstract
People who start outpatient substance abuse treatment increase their use of general health-care services. Link to Abstract
Pregnant women living in Ibiza substantially under-report their illicit drug use. Under-reporting is particularly strong among Spanish nationals. Link to Abstract
Newborn infants whose mothers are on methadone maintenance treatment during pregnancy are likely to spend less time hospitalized in neonatal units compared with infants whose mothers also use opiates, benzodiazepine, or cocaine during pregnancy. Link to Abstract
Electronic cigarettes can reduce cravings for traditional cigarettes and appear to have lower potential for abuse compared with traditional cigarettes. Link to Abstract
The urge to smoke is strongly connected with relapse in the first week of quitting smoking. Other withdrawal symptoms such as mood disturbance appear to play on a minor role. Link to Abstract
Clinicians and administrators are more likely to adopt evidence-based practice for treating addiction if the practice is seen as helpful to clients and if it is supported by their co-workers and administrators. Link to Abstract
Although drinking alcohol increases the risk of cancer of the oesophagus, quitting drinking reduces the risk over time. Link to Abstract
Although low to moderate drinking offers some protection against heart disease, the size of the benefit varies across drinkers. Link to Abstract
The rate of alcohol-related injuries is higher among people who frequently drink heavily or have occasional heavy-drinking episodes. Link to Abstract
People under the influence of alcohol are less able to perceive facial assymmetry, a trait associated with physical unattractiveness. Link to Abstract
Training people to control the impulse to drink triggered by alcohol-related stimuli (e.g., pictures of beer) reduces excessive drinking by lowering people's implicit positive attitudes towards alcohol Link to Abstract
High-risk sexual behaviors during young adulthood seem to be driven both by individual traits, such as sensation seeking or impulsivity, and the state of intoxication brought about by alcohol use. Link to Abstract
The anti-epilepsy drug Topiramate does not help current methamphetamine users to quit but can lower relapse rates among individuals who have already quit using the drug. Link to Abstract
The use of cannabis is linked to a reduction in work commitment among adults in Norway. Link to Abstract
The rapidly increasing number of prescription opioid injectors are at high risk for contracting Hepatitis C. Link to Abstract
A significant minority of menthol cigarettes smokers in the United States would try to stop smoking altogether if menthol cigarettes were banned. Link to Abstract
A policy of making nicotine replacement therapy prescribable to patients with cardiovascular disease does not increase prescribing rates among those patients. Link to Abstract
Nicotine patches help quitting smokers recover from smoking lapses. Link to Abstract
Bangladeshi women in the UK who chew paan with tobacco are more likely to quit if they use nicotine replacement therapy, have relatively low levels of social deprivation and are recruited via the community rather than via primary care practices. Link to Abstract
People who share drug-preparation equipment have the same risk of Hepatitis C infection as people who share needles. Link to Abstract
Doctors may be more effective in getting their patients to stop smoking by offering assistance to all smokers rather than by advising all smokers to quit and offering assistance only to those who say they want to quit. Link to Abstract
Showing alcohol-related images to people who are strongly motivated to drink prompts them to focus on the images and ignore peripheral information. It is thus possible that alcohol cues, such as advertisements for alcoholic beverages, can produce a narrow, alcohol-focused mindset that leads to drinking. Link to Abstract
In Australia, almost 25% of parents and other child carers report that a child for whom they were responsible has been adversely affected by someone's alcohol consumption in the past year. Link to Abstract
Focusing on the immediate priorities of people who inject drugs, such as improving access to injectable veins and minimizing the pain and length of injection time, can re-engage injectors who are jaded or confused by hepatitis C prevention messages. Link to Abstract
Collaborative behavioral management, which offers incentives for good behavior, may reduce substance use among prison parolees who primarily use marijuana or other 'non-hard' drugs without increasing the number of reincarcerations. Link to Abstract
Spain's expansion of harm reduction services in response to a national epidemic in heroin and injecting drug use was greatly delayed. Medium-level coverage for needle exchange programs and opioid substitution treatment did not occur until 8 years after peak need. Link to Abstract
Among cannabis users in Denmark, self-reported cannabis use using the timeline follow-back technique (which uses a visual calendar to enhance recall) is as accurate as blood sampling in determining cannabis consumption. Link to Abstract
Patients on low daily doses of methadone may show a tendency to prolonged QT intervals, a risk factor for irregular heartbeats and fatal heart attacks. Link to Abstract
The atypical antidepressant bupropion appears to blunt the preference for cocaine over monetary reward but increases how much enjoyment is derived from it. Link to Abstract
One session of personalized feedback combined with 4-6 sessions of group cognitive-behavioral therapy may help to reduce compulsive and problem gambling among US college students. Link to Abstract
Plain packaging is probably more effective than larger health warnings in undermining the appeal of cigarette brands and reducing intention to buy cigarettes. Link to Abstract
In women who stop smoking during pregnancy, anxiety and depression may be a factor in resumption of smoking both during and after pregnancy. Link to Abstract
Excessive cannabis and multi-drug use in adolescence is associated with psychotic experiences in adulthood. Link to Abstract
Withdrawal reactions to selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRIs, used as antidepressants) appear similar to those for benzodiazepines. There is therefore no basis for claiming that benzodiazepines cause dependence while SSRIs do not. Link to Abstract
Increasing the minimum price of alcohol can substantially reduce alcohol consumption. Link to Abstract
Zopiclone, a hypnotic agent used to treat insomnia, can impair psychomotor performance at blood concentrations as low as16 µg/l. Link to Abstract
Over a 7-year period, US adolescents with substance abuse disorders who continued to attend 12-step meetings such as Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous were more likely to stay off alcohol and drugs than those who did not. Link to Abstract
Drug counseling in the first 4 months of treatment is not essential to a achieve benefit from supervised methadone treatment in adults dependent on heroin. Link to Abstract
A brief intervention for illicit drug use that is linked to the Alcohol, Smoking and Substance Involvement Screening Test (ASSIST) is effective, at least in the short term, in Australia, Brazil and India. Link to Abstract
In Norway, men on methadone maintenance treatment appear to have an increased risk of being involved in motor vehicle accidents involving personal injuries compared with men in the general population. Link to Abstract
People with substance use disorders are more likely to stay off drugs when they have access to drug-free recovery housing and day-treatment programs following detox. Link to Abstract
Members of the US military service increase their probability of taking up smokeless tobacco when they are deployed, exposed to combat, show symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, start smoking, or return to smoking after quitting. Link to Abstract
In England, very low rate smokers (fewer than one cigarette per day) and light smokers (one to nine cigarettes per day) are at least as motivated to quit as heavier smokers. Although very low rate and light smokers are less likely to use prescription medication to help them stop smoking and are more likely to quit successfully, they still fail in quit attempts to a substantial degree. Link to Abstract
Compared with non-smokers, smokers have a greater preference for small, immediate rewards over larger, delayed rewards. This observation holds true over several methods of measuring this preference. Link to Abstract
There is limited evidence that programs designed to reduce both substance use and sexual risk in school children are effective. The most promising programs address several levels that influence risk behaviour (i.e., individual and peer, family, school, and community). Link to Abstract
The proportion of people in Sweden who never drink alcohol has increased from 1968 to 2000 primarily because each successive group has more teetotalers, not because people tend to stop drinking as they get older. Link to Abstract
Compared with young white men, US-born Hispanics aged 40+ years have a higher risk of developing alcohol use disorder and all younger minority men have an increased risk of developing alcohol dependence. Compared with young white women, older black women and US-born Hispanics have a higher risk of developing alcohol use disorder and alcohol dependence. Link to Abstract
In the USA, no more than 7 scheduling decisions with respect to the 63 substances studied might be considered errors, and results for other countries are broadly similar. Link to Abstract
Many patients receiving methadone maintenance therapy in Ontario, Canada receive overlapping prescriptions for other opioids such as codeine and oxycodone. Many prescriptions may reflect deceitful drug-seeking behavior, either for personal use or for sale to others. Link to Abstract
It appears that d-amphetamine, a frequently prescribed medication, has a similar potential for abuse as methamphetamine. Link to Abstract
Despite the health risks, young people who continued to use mephedrone after it became illegal would try a new legal high if it were pure and rated highly by their friends or on the Internet. Link to Abstract
A preventive nicotine vaccination program is unlikely to be a cost-effective way to stop adolescents from becoming smokers. Link to Abstract
Proposed changes to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) of Mental Disorders would increase the number of young people diagnosed with nicotine use disorder (called 'nicotine dependence' under the current DSM) despite no changes in their smoking habits and would introduce potentially problematic new criteria for diagnosis. Link to Abstract
Adolescents who do well in school are less likely to smoke, suggesting that it would be cost-effective to focus smoking prevention activities on the unstable low achievers who are more likely to begin smoking at an early age. Link to Abstract
An intervention based on the Stages of Change model to promote smoking cessation in cardiac patients in China was not effective beyond one year. Link to Abstract
In Australia, most people aged 15 to 25 are aware that substance use has a negative impact on mental disorders, but a few high-risk groups remain, including males, young adults (18 to 25) of both sexes, and young people with high levels of psychological distress. Link to Abstract
Smokers think a lot about quitting and make many unsuccessful attempts to quit, relapsing even after extended periods of nonsmoking. It's important to find ways to translate efforts to quit into long-term abstinence. Link to Abstract
Brief advice from physicians is a cost-effective intervention for tobacco control in Vietnam. Pharmacological therapies are not cost-effective at current prices. Link to Abstract
Cannabis use has declined in Australia since 1998 and the age of first use among those under 20 has increased. Link to Abstract
Drug users who voluntarily take drugs as participants in research projects do not show subsequent increased heroin use. Some research participants go on to enter treatment and stop heroin use in the short term. Link to Abstract
Heroin users have dysfunctional eating patterns that are amenable to improvement with help. Link to Abstract
When deep brain stimulation produces 49% of patients remaining heroin-free after 6 months of treatment, it is as cost effective as methadone maintenance treatment in treating opiate addiction. Link to Abstract
A high mortality rate, particularly caused by HIV infection, has reduced hepatitis C among injecting drug users in Amsterdam. Link to Abstract
Drug abuse is a substantial problem in both urban and rural areas in China. Link to Abstract
People with antisocial, borderline and schizotypal personality disorders tend to maintain drug use disorders over a three-year period. Link to Abstract
In Appalachia, in the United States, the prescription opioid OxyContin® is widely used non-medically and users show a higher risk of rapid transition to injection drug use compared with the use of other illicit drugs. Link to Abstract
'Seeking Safety', a manualised treatment approach for substance use disorder, shows better drug use outcomes than 'treatment as usual′ in male veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder. Link to Abstract
In the UK, problematic alcohol use in girls (but not boys) is associated with prior depressive symptoms. This association may be caused by family and social factors. Link to Abstract
One in five songs sampled from US popular music has explicit references to alcohol, and one-quarter of these mention a specific alcohol brand. Specific alcohol brand mentions involve a luxury life-style characterized by wealth, sex, partying, and other drugs. Link to Abstract
In Australia, there is a clear short-term temporal relationship between emergency department attendances for acute alcohol problems and assaults reported to police. Link to Abstract
Young people who show behavioral disinhibition and negative emotionality before they start using alcohol have an increased risk of developing alcohol use disorders. Development of an alcohol use disorder affects the rate of personality change during emerging adulthood. Link to Abstract
In Norway, each additional one-hour extension to the opening times of premises selling alcohol is associated with a 16% increase in violent crime. Link to Abstract
In the Netherlands, alcohol initiation, frequency, and quantity have increased among adolescents over a 15-year period, but there are no changes in the genetic basis of adolescent alcohol use. Link to Abstract
Benefits of opioid maintenance treatment in prison include recruiting problem opioid users into treatment, reducing illicit opioid use and risky behaviours, allowing continuity of treatment as people enter and leave prison, and possibly minimising overdose risks upon release. Link to Abstract
When asked for their opinions of the net societal harm caused by major addictive products, French addiction experts appeared to assign more weight to the products' benefits than to their harms. Link to Abstract
'Hardcore' smoking seems to involve both low motivation to quit and high nicotine dependence. Motivational factors, such as the intention to quit and previous quit attempts, best predict whether a smoker will try to quit in the first place. Measures of sm Link to Abstract
Point-of-sale health warnings about tobacco are more prominent in Australia than the USA, UK, or Canada and appear to have some effect in prompting people decide to quit smoking. Link to Abstract
Like regular smokers, and unlike non-smokers, young people who experiment with cigarettes tend to prefer small immediate rewards over large delayed rewards. Link to Abstract
According to a simulation model, in the Netherlands, smoking and smoking-related deaths can be reduced through tax increases, smoke-free legislation, high-intensity media campaigns, stronger advertising bans and health warnings, comprehensive cessation treatment, and youth access laws. Link to Abstract
As may be expected, low-risk gamblers who shift to high-risk gambling are subsequently more likely to experience future gambling-related harms than those who remain low-risk. Link to Abstract
Norwegians who are in opioid maintenance treatment appear to commit fewer crimes than when they are not. Link to Abstract
Methadone use may blunt emotional responses. Link to Abstract
Among Dutch school students, there is an association between cannabis use at an early age and psychotic experiences, even after they report having not used cannabis for at least a year. Link to Abstract
In New South Wales, Australia, opioid substitution treatment after release from prison appears to have reduced the average risk of being sent back to prison by one-fifth. Link to Abstract
The PROMETA protocol is no more effective than placebo in reducing methamphetamine use, keeping patients in treatment, or reducing methamphetamine cravings. Link to Abstract
Injection drug users in southern India demonstrate a high rate of quitting, but relapse is common and quitting often coincides with an increase in alcohol use. Link to Abstract
Among African Americans, violent victimization appears to drive substance use. African Americans who are not raised in extreme poverty are the most negatively affected by violence. Link to Abstract
For a given amount of alcohol consumed, young drinkers are more likely to show alcohol tolerance, drink more than intended, and spend time getting, drinking, or recovering from the effects of alcohol. Older drinkers are more likely to experience alcohol withdrawal symptoms Link to Abstract
Drinkers' own reports of being intoxicated, having hangovers and passing out appear to be useful in identifying drinkers at risk for later health problems caused by drinking. Link to Abstract
Adolescents who begin drinking at an early age appear to show reduced activity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis in response to stress. Link to Abstract
Any pattern of AA attendance, even if it declines or is never high for a particular 12-month period, is better than little or no attendance in terms of helping maintain abstinence. Keeping a sponsor over a period of time raises the attendance benefit. Link to Abstract
Alcoholics Anonymous helps people recover at least in part by changing its members' social networks and boosting self-belief in high risk social contexts. Link to Abstract
There are no proven treatments to help people stop volatile substance use but three types of intervention merit further study: family therapy, activity-based programmes and some residential approaches. Link to Abstract
In the United States, substance-using mothers have 8.4 times the mortality of non-substance-using women because of more severe problems of employment, physical health, and psychiatric health. Link to Abstract
In adolescents, substance use disorder and psychological dysregulation appear to be associated with reduced frontoparietal network white matter maturation, which is commonly found among adolescents with disruptive behaviour disorders. Link to Abstract
There is wide variation across countries in rates of attempts to stop smoking and use of assistance to quit, with medication being more popular than behavioural support. Link to Abstract
Higher cost of smoking does not appear to have affected smoking prevalence in the European Union in recent years. Link to Abstract
In the Netherlands, antidepressant therapy seems to be more effective in aiding smoking cessation among people with high-activity variants of a gene that promotes release of serotonin. Link to Abstract
Among Australian smokers, exposure to retail displays of tobacco increases the probability of smoking and leads to higher levels of smoking. Link to Abstract
Children who exhibit impulsive behaviour at age seven are more likely to report problem gambling in adulthood. Link to Abstract
People who are co-infected with HIV and Hepatitis C who also engage in treatment for Hepatitis C show high adherence to anti-retroviral treatment for HIV. Link to Abstract
Direct buprenorphine/naloxone (BNX) induction is a safe and effective strategy for maintenance treatment of opioid dependence. Link to Abstract
Cocaine-dependent patients who achieve at least two weeks of abstinence and are then given sertraline take longer to relapse than similar patients given placebo. Link to Abstract
Pregnant HIV-infected injecting drug users (IDUs) in Ukraine have worse clinical status, poorer access to prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) prophylaxis and highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), more adverse pregnancy outcomes, and higher risk of mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) than Ukrainian women who do not inject drugs. Link to Abstract
Russian women substantially reduce drinking after they know they are pregnant. Russian women who know they might become pregnant or are trying to conceive show no reductions in drinking prior to knowing they have become pregnant. Link to Abstract
In Norway, problem drinkers and those who do not drink alcohol at all are at increased risk of eventually needing disability pensions. Link to Abstract
In Swedish men there is an association between low IQ measured in adolescence and later risk of alcohol-related disease and death Link to Abstract
In New Zealand, longer work hours appear to be associated with higher rates of alcohol-related problems, including more frequent alcohol use, higher rates of alcohol abuse/dependence, and a greater number of alcohol abuse/dependence symptoms. Link to Abstract
The prevention paradox, which holds that a majority of alcohol-related problems in a population can be attributed to low and moderate drinkers, seems to be valid among adolescent European boys and girls. Link to Abstract
Most drinking problems in Brazil are associated with low or moderate drinkers. Binge drinking better accounts for the distribution of alcohol problems than total volume consumed. Link to Abstract
Alcohol consumption increases a person's intention to have unsafe sex. Link to Abstract
Stigma associated with substance use disorder can be reduced by a range of interventions including Acceptance Commitment Therapy and communicating positive stories of people with this disorder. Link to Abstract
Chronic, frequent use of ketamine is associated with ulcerative cystitis, neurocognitive impairment, and deficits in working and episodic memory. Link to Abstract
