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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June 2021
The association of smoking status with SARS‐CoV‐2 infection, hospitalization and mortality from COVID‐19: a living rapid evidence review with Bayesian meta‐analyses (version 7)
Compared with people who have never smoked, current smokers appear to be at reduced risk of SARS‐CoV‐2 infection, while former smokers appear to be at increased risk of hospitalization, increased disease severity and mortality from COVID‐19.
Adolescent income and binge drinking initiation: prospective evidence from the MyLife study
Norwegian adolescents with higher disposable income have a greater risk of subsequent binge drinking initiation than those with lower disposable income.
Shifts in alcohol consumption during the COVID‐19 pandemic: early indications from Australia
The closure of licensed premises and social distancing measures in Australia in response to the COVID‐19 outbreak appears to have reduced harmful alcohol consumption in younger drinkers, particularly women.
Alcohol‐related harm in emergency departments: linking to subsequent hospitalizations to quantify under‐reporting of presentations
Among young people in Western Australia, twice as many alcohol-related emergency department presentations could be identified by using diagnosis information from subsequent hospitalizations compared with emergency department data alone.
Recovery from alcohol problems in the absence of treatment: a qualitative narrative analysis
People who resolve an alcohol use disorder in the absence of treatment or mutual aid appear to explain their recovery in terms of at least four different life narratives: emancipation, discovery, mastery or coping.
Cross‐country differences in age trends in alcohol consumption among older adults: a cross‐sectional study of individuals aged 50 years and older in 22 countries
Use and harmful use of alcohol among older adults appears to vary widely across age and countries.
Effect of a 1‐year short message service in detoxified alcohol‐dependent patients: a multi‐center, open‐label randomized controlled trial
In Germany, a mobile phone message intervention enhanced the reduction in heavy drinking for 1 year in routine care among adults with alcohol dependence discharged from inpatient detox.
Applying Bayesian cognitive models to decisions to drive after drinking
In a hypothetical alcohol‐impaired driving (AID) decision task, individuals who considered both consumption level and ride service cost were more likely to report recent AID than those who made decisions based entirely on consumption level.
Risk of overdose‐related death for people with a history of incarceration
Previous incarceration appears to be a major risk factor for overdose‐related death.
Effect of alcohol label designs with different pictorial representations of alcohol content and health warnings on knowledge and understanding of low‐risk drinking guidelines: a randomized controlled trial
Labels with enhanced pictorial representations of alcohol content improved knowledge and understanding of the UK's low‐risk drinking guidelines compared with industry‐standard labels.
Perceptions of injectable opioid agonist treatment (iOAT) among people who regularly use opioids in Australia: findings from a cross‐sectional study in three Australian cities
Interest in injectable opioid agonist treatment does not appear to be universal among people who regularly use opioids.
Does correctional supervision of amphetamine users reduce the risk of re‐offending?
Correctional supervision does not appear to have been effective in New South Wales, Australia, in reducing the risk of reoffending among people convicted of amphetamine use/possession.
Availability of buprenorphine/naloxone films and naloxone nasal spray in community pharmacies in Texas, USA
Most pharmacies in Texas do not appear to be willing and able to dispense prescribed buprenorphine/naloxone films and naloxone nasal spray to patients with opioid use disorder promptly.
Age‐based preferences for risk communication in the fentanyl era: ‘A lot of people keep seeing other people die and that's not enough for them’
People who engage in illicit fentanyl use prefer fentanyl‐related risk communication that is compassionate and uses trust‐building approaches.
Experimenting first with e‐cigarettes versus first with cigarettes and transition to daily cigarette use among adolescents: the crucial effect of age at first experiment
Among older French adolescents, experimenting with e‐cigarettes first (as opposed to tobacco first) appears to be associated with a reduction in the risk of daily tobacco smoking.
Impact of policy changes on the provision of naloxone by pharmacies in Ontario, Canada: a population‐based time–series analysis
Changes to the Ontario Naloxone Program for Pharmacies to add intranasal naloxone and remove the government health card requirement appeared to increase pharmacy‐based naloxone dispensing uptake in Ontario, Canada.
Socio‐economic distribution of e‐cigarette use among recent former regular smokers and current smokers at ages 25–26 in England
Among young adult smokers in England, lower‐status occupational groups were more likely to use e‐cigarettes on a non‐daily basis than to have never used compared with higher status occupational groups.
Risk of neuropsychiatric and cardiovascular adverse events following treatment with varenicline and nicotine replacement therapy in the UK Clinical Practice Research Datalink: a case–cross‐over study
There appear to be positive associations between use of (1) nicotine replacement therapy and myocardial infarction, death and risk of self‐harm and (2) varenicline and increased risk of self‐harm and suicide, as well as a negative association between varenicline use and all‐cause death.
The rewarding recovery study: a randomized controlled trial of incentives for alcohol and drug abstinence with a rural American Indian community
Contingency management incentives were associated with increased alcohol abstinence in American Indian adults living on a rural reservation, diagnosed with alcohol dependence who also used drugs.
Evaluation of the London Smoking Cessation Transformation Programme: A time-series analysis
The Sep 2017 promotion of the London Smoking Cessation Transformation Programme was associated with a significant increase in quit attempts compared with the rest of England.
Carfentanil and the rise and fall of overdose deaths in the United States
The 2016–2017 acceleration and 2018 decline in drug overdose deaths in the US was associated with the sudden rise and then fall of carfentanil availability.
A cluster randomized controlled trial evaluating the effectiveness of the school‐based drug prevention program #Tamojunto2.0
The drug prevention program #Tamojunto 2.0 reduced alcohol initiation but not past‐month binge drinking among students in Brazil.
Changes in alcohol consumption associated with social distancing and self‐isolation policies triggered by COVID‐19 in South Australia: a wastewater analysis study
Wastewater analysis suggests that COVID‐19 social distancing and isolation policies in Adelaide, South Australia, were associated with a decrease in population‐level weekend alcohol consumption.
Essential tobacco dependence medicines in 137 countries
Tobacco dependence medicines do not appear on the essential medicines lists of most countries.