Key Findings

This is a quick summary of the main discovery for each research paper we have published, organized issue by issue. Each key finding is below the article title, with a link to the abstract. 


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March 2021

Psychosocial interventions for reducing alcohol consumption in sub‐Saharan African settings: a systematic review and meta‐analysis

Psychosocial interventions show promise at increasing self‐reported alcohol abstinence in sub‐Saharan Africa but results should be interpreted with caution.

Link to Abstract

Alcohol policy in Chile: a systematic review of policy developments and evaluations

Chile has enacted alcohol policies in all WHO policy domains but has not adopted policies with highest likely cost‐effectiveness.

Link to Abstract

Telephone‐based motivational interviewing enhanced with individualised personality‐specific coping skills training for young people with alcohol‐related injuries and illnesses accessing emergency or rest/recovery services

Young people with alcohol‐related injuries or illnesses who attended emergency department and rest/recovery services and received an individualised personality‐specific coping skills training intervention (QuikFix) drank less alcohol at 12 months compared with those who received motivational interviewing or an assessment feedback/information intervention.

Link to Abstract

Prices, alcohol use initiation and heavy episodic drinking among Chilean youth

Increasing the price of alcohol products in Chile appears to have delayed alcohol initiation among young people.

Link to Abstract

Reporting of alcohol as a contributor to death in Australian national suicide statistics and its relationship to post‐mortem alcohol concentrations

An ICD‐10 alcohol code was not assigned as an underlying or contributory cause of death in over half of suicides in Australia (2010–2015) with a BAC ≥0.05 g/100 mL.

Link to Abstract

Changes in alcoholic beverage preference and consumption in Taiwan following accession to the World Trade Organization

After Taiwan became a member of the WTO and abolished its alcohol monopoly in 2002, drinkers preferring rice spirits and Asian wine decreased by 53% and 89%, respectively and drinkers preferring fruit wine and Asian spirits increased 2.9‐fold and 1.6‐fold, respectively.

Link to Abstract

Incidence and factors associated with discontinuation of opioid agonist therapy among people who inject drugs in Australia

People who inject drugs attending needle-syringe programmes in Australia appear to be significantly more likely to discontinue opioid agonist treatment if they were prescribed buprenorphine or buprenorphine-naloxone compared with methadone.

Link to Abstract

The long‐term effectiveness of universal, selective and combined prevention for alcohol use during adolescence: 36‐month outcomes from a cluster randomized controlled trial

A universal schools programme and a selective prevention programme appeared to be effective long term in reducing alcohol consumption and alcohol problems compared with standard Australian health education.

Link to Abstract

A pilot randomized controlled trial of assertive treatment including family involvement and home delivery of medication for young adults with opioid use disorder

A youth opioid recovery support intervention for extended‐release naltrexone adherence and opioid relapse prevention among young adults with opioid use disorder appeared to improve treatment and relapse outcomes compared with standard treatment.

Link to Abstract

Drug‐related harm coinciding with income assistance payments: results from a community‐based cohort of people who use drugs

In Vancouver, Canada, people who use illicit drugs and receive income assistance report high prevalence of payment‐coincident drug‐related harm.

Link to Abstract

Deconstructing the ‘cheque effect’: short‐term changes in injection drug use after receiving income assistance and associated factors

Among people who inject drugs in Montreal, Canada, injection drug use and receptive syringe‐sharing appear to be more prevalent in the 2 days after versus before receiving income assistance.

Link to Abstract

Cannabis use disorder trajectories and their prospective predictors in a large population‐based sample of young Swiss men

Factors associated with persistent cannabis use disorder in young Swiss men include mental health problem severity, poor relationship with parents, having peers with drug problems, and higher neuroticism and sociability.

Link to Abstract

User pathways of e‐cigarette use to support long term tobacco smoking relapse prevention: a qualitative analysis

A sample of UK e‐cigarette users who report having used e‐cigarettes to quit smoking perceived a social context that supports continued vaping as helpful in preventing relapse to smoking.

Link to Abstract

Association between marijuana use and electrocardiographic abnormalities by middle age: the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study

In a middle‐aged US population, lifetime cumulative and occasional current marijuana use were not associated with increases in electrocardiogram abnormalities.

Link to Abstract

Time‐varying effects of ‘optimized smoking treatment’ on craving, negative affect and anhedonia

A multi‐component treatment intervention for smoking cessation suppressed significant withdrawal symptoms more effectively than recommended usual care among daily adult smokers motivated to quit.

Link to Abstract

Friends’ childhood adversity and long‐term implications for substance misuse: a prospective Swedish cohort study

Within a birth cohort of individuals born in 1950s Stockholm, Sweden, friends’ childhood adversity is associated with substance misuse in later life independently of own childhood adversity.

Link to Abstract

Alcohol and drug problems among Australian homicide offenders

High proportions of homicide offenders in Australia appear to have problematic substance use in the year preceding the homicide offence.

Link to Abstract

Adolescent cannabis and tobacco use are associated with opioid use in young adulthood—12‐year longitudinal study in an urban cohort

Cannabis and tobacco use in early adolescence may be risk factors for opioid use in young adulthood among African Americans living in urban areas.

Link to Abstract

Association of vaping‐related lung injuries with rates of e‐cigarette and cannabis use across US states

US states with higher rates of e‐cigarette and cannabis use prior to the 2019 ‘e‐cigarette or vaping product use‐associated lung injury’ (EVALI) outbreak had lower EVALI prevalence, suggesting that EVALI cases arose from locally distributed e‐liquids or additives most prevalent in the affected areas.

Link to Abstract