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.
Search key findings View Previous Lists
May 2022
Reducing craving and consumption in individuals with drug addiction, obesity or overeating through neuromodulation intervention: a systematic review and meta-analysis of its follow-up effects
Excitatory neuromodulation of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex reduces craving and consumption in people with addiction or overeating behavior.
Technology-mediated just-in-time adaptive interventions (JITAIs) to reduce harmful substance use: a systematic review
This systematic review provides an overview of technology-mediated just-in-time adaptive interventions to reduce harmful substance use.
Tracking the decline in Australian adolescent drinking into adulthood
Lighter drinking adolescent cohorts seem to maintain lower levels of drinking and risky drinking up to age 24.
Youth use of e-liquid flavours—a systematic review exploring patterns of use of e-liquid flavours and associations with continued vaping, tobacco smoking uptake or cessation
Flavours may be an important motivator for e-cigarette uptake, but their role in tobacco smoking uptake or cessation is unclear.
Longer-term impacts of trading restrictions on alcohol-related violence: insights from New South Wales, Australia
Some of the initial reduction in assault in Sydney, Australia attributed to lockout laws may have been a response to publicity of deaths connected with alcohol-related violence.
Declines in alcohol consumption in Australia: some challenges to the theory of collectivity
The declines in Australian drinking since 2010 have included important deviations from the collectivity predicted by the theory of collectivity of drinking.
Brain structural covariance network differences in adults with alcohol dependence and heavy-drinking adolescents
A specific structural covariance network profile may be an early marker of alcohol dependence in adults and adolescents.
Opioid agonist treatment uptake within provincial correctional facilities in British Columbia, Canada
Receipt of opioid agonist treatment within correctional facilities in British Columbia, Canada increased following an expansion of insurance coverage to include buprenorphine/naloxone.
Efficacy and comparative effectiveness of telephone and smartphone remote continuing care interventions for alcohol use disorder: a randomized controlled trial
An RCT found that telephone- and smartphone-delivered interventions provided effective remote continuing care for alcohol use disorder.
Opioid overdose deaths and the expansion of opioid agonist treatment: a population-based prospective cohort study
Norway's national OAT program was associated with substantial and plausibly causal reductions in drug fatalities.
Genetic liability for prescription opioid use and risk of cardiovascular diseases: a multivariable Mendelian randomization study
The causal effects of genetic liability for prescription opioid use appear to increase the risk of cardiovascular disease.
Community-based naloxone coverage equity for the prevention of opioid overdose fatalities in racial/ethnic minority communities in Massachusetts and Rhode Island
There appear to be no municipal-level racial/ethnic inequities in naloxone distribution in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, USA.
The Stop-tabac smartphone application for smoking cessation: a randomized controlled trial
The Stop-tabac smoking cessation app did not increase smoking cessation rates but did increase rates of use of nicotine medications.
Understanding long-term trends in smoking in England, 1972–2019: an age–period–cohort approach
Smoking in England seems to have declined over recent decades mainly as a result of reduced smoking uptake before age 25.
Understanding contexts of smoking and vaping among dual users: analysis of ecological momentary assessment data
Dual users of cigarettes and e-cigs vary in the strength and nature of their e-cig dependence.
Communication of personalised disease risk by general practitioners to motivate smoking cessation in England: a cost-effectiveness and research prioritisation study
Incorporating disease risk communication into English GPs' practices to motivate smoking cessation is likely to be cost-effective.
The old and familiar meets the new and unknown: patient and clinician perceptions on e-cigarettes for smoking reduction in UK general practice, a qualitative interview study
A qualitative analysis found barriers obstructing clinicians and patients from easily accepting e-cigs for harm reduction.
The geography of sobriety checkpoints and alcohol-impaired driving
Individual sobriety checkpoints appear to be associated with reductions in nearby alcohol-impaired driving.
Using death scene and toxicology evidence to define involvement of heroin, pharmaceutical morphine, illicitly manufactured fentanyl and pharmaceutical fentanyl in opioid overdose deaths, 38 states and the District of Columbia, January 2018–December 2019
Integrating drug overdose scene, witness, and toxicology findings can improve identification of specific drugs contributing to overdose deaths.
Momentary associations between stress and alcohol craving in the naturalistic environment: differential associations for Black and White young adults
Acute stress appears to be more strongly related to alcohol craving in self-identified Black compared with self-identified White individuals.
Modeling the population-level impact of opioid agonist treatment on mortality among people accessing treatment between 2001 and 2020 in New South Wales, Australia
The community and prison OAT program in NSW, Australia has substantially reduced population-level overdose and all-cause mortality.
Prenatal smoking, alcohol and caffeine exposure and maternal-reported attention deficit hyperactivity disorder symptoms in childhood: triangulation of evidence using negative control and polygenic risk score analyses
There appears to be no causal intrauterine effect of maternal prenatal substance use on offspring ADHD symptoms.