Making
Sense of the Stats on Binge Drinking. What you need to
know about the CDC’s report on binge drinking in women and girls
The trouble with statistics is that each morsel of
information raises an infinite number of questions. To make any sense of it,
you often need a good bit of related data to avoid a partial picture that distorts
the view. So, when it comes to the U.S.
Center for Disease Control and Prevention's recent report on binge drinking in
America, U.S. News aims to provide you with a fuller picture of the problem. For starters, binge drinking is defined, for
females, as four or more drinks on one occasion, and, for males, five or more.
These quantities are generally considered to raise the blood-alcohol level to
(or even well over) .08, the legal limit for driving.
While binge drinking has long been associated with men and boys, it is,
in fact, a common occurrence among females; one in eight women and one in five
high school girls engage in the behavior, leading to some 23,000 deaths among
American women and girls each year. "There's
been a shift in the drinking culture," where "males and females are
considered equal, and unfortunately that has led to a stubborn level of binge
drinking among girls," says Aaron White, health scientist administrator at
the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), a division of
the National Institutes of Health. To put it more bluntly, "they started
to drink more like boys and they're not letting go," he says. Click on link to read the rest of the story: http://health.usnews.com/health-news/articles/2013/01/17/making-sense-of-the-stats-on-binge-drinking.
‘Drinking
Mirror’ app shows effects that alcohol can have on facial appearance
New app shows how drinking might make a person look prematurely old.
Ever wonder about the impact all that drinking has on your looks? “Drinking Mirror,” a new smartphone app, aims to show you. The free app, part of the “Drink Smarter” campaign by the Scottish government to make people aware of the line between social drinking and binge drinking, plays on people’s vanity and specifically targets women. Android and iPhone users with the “Drinking Mirror” app are able to upload or snap photos of themselves and enter information about their drinking habits. Once they do so, they will see how their faces might age if they continue to drink at their current rate. The app’s Web site, which seeks to spread awareness about health concerns associated with excessive alcohol consumption, warns that weight gain, dull skin, wrinkles and red cheeks are associated with drinking heavily on a regular basis. Read more at http://www.drinksmarter.org/handy-tools/drinking-mirror-app
New app shows how drinking might make a person look prematurely old.
Ever wonder about the impact all that drinking has on your looks? “Drinking Mirror,” a new smartphone app, aims to show you. The free app, part of the “Drink Smarter” campaign by the Scottish government to make people aware of the line between social drinking and binge drinking, plays on people’s vanity and specifically targets women. Android and iPhone users with the “Drinking Mirror” app are able to upload or snap photos of themselves and enter information about their drinking habits. Once they do so, they will see how their faces might age if they continue to drink at their current rate. The app’s Web site, which seeks to spread awareness about health concerns associated with excessive alcohol consumption, warns that weight gain, dull skin, wrinkles and red cheeks are associated with drinking heavily on a regular basis. Read more at http://www.drinksmarter.org/handy-tools/drinking-mirror-app
Commentary: Time to “Make An Impact” on Rx Epidemic
Every month approximately 1,200 calls are received from individuals in
southern and eastern Kentucky seeking help with an addiction issue. Multiply
this by the hundreds of regions across America and it’s easy to understand why
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention consider prescription drug abuse
a public health “epidemic.” One accidental overdose death every 19 minutes;
more than the number of deaths from car crashes. That’s a sobering statistic.
Families and communities are being torn apart, and our children are not immune
to addiction’s deadly consequences. Rest
of the commentary is available here.Military Deployment Increases Risk of Substance Abuse in Young Family Members
Having a parent or sibling who has been deployed in the military increases the risk of drug and alcohol use among middle and high school students, a new study finds. The study found multiple deployments by a parent or sibling was linked with an increased risk of lifetime and recent use of drugs and alcohol, MedicalXpress reports. The study found a high number of deployments was linked with a 14 percent increase in the likelihood of lifetime drug use, and an 18 percent increased risk of recent use. The researchers at the University of Southern California School of Social Work found youth in grades 5 to 11 with a sibling in the military were more likely to use drugs than those with a parent in the military. The findings appear in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. “The potential for strain and the trauma associated with multiple deployments in the past 10 years of war seem to be driving this. People need to be aware that these experiences have an impact,” lead author Tamika Gilreath said in a news release. She added, “Everyone talks about the impact of parents, but no one talks about the impact of other close family members, such as siblings. There is research to suggest that the deployment of a sibling is similarly disruptive as parental deployment. Parental concern may influence their interactions with the younger sibling who is left to cope with their own sense of loss as well as their parents’.” The researchers suggest schools with a high density of students with deployed family members should consider providing education about substance use. They also recommend that community medical providers increase substance abuse screening in these children.Smoke-Free Laws Lead to Fewer Children Hospitalized for Asthma Attacks: Study
British researchers say there appears to be a link between smoke-free laws and a drop in the number of children hospitalized for asthma attacks. Their study found a 12.3 percent decrease in hospital admissions for childhood asthma attacks in the first year after smoke-free laws were enacted in Britain. The law prohibits smoking in enclosed public places and workplaces, according to Reuters. Before the law went into effect, hospital admissions for children with severe asthma attacks were rising by 2.2 percent annually. Admission rates began to drop immediately after the law went into effect, the article notes. The trend was seen in boys and girls of all ages, in both wealthy and poor neighborhoods, and in urban and rural areas. This change was equivalent to 6,802 fewer hospital admissions in the first three years after implementation of the smoke-free law, the researchers wrote in the journal Pediatrics. Lead researcher Dr. Christopher Millett of Imperial College London School of Public Health noted in a news release, “There is already evidence that eliminating smoking from public places has resulted in substantial population health benefits in England, and this study shows that those benefits extend to reducing hospital admissions for childhood asthma. Previous studies have also suggested that the smoke-free law changed people’s attitudes about exposing others to second-hand smoke and led more people to abstain from smoking voluntarily at home and in cars. We think that exposing children to less second-hand smoke in these settings probably played in important role in reducing asthma attacks.”
Seeking “Higher” Ground: The Dangers of
Designer Drugs
Since ancient times, humans have been fascinated with ways
to alter consciousness, and have gone to great lengths to reach a
“higher” ground. From naturally occurring substances such as opium
and betel nuts, to synthetic drugs like LSD, people have long experimented with
mind-altering substances. This long history of experimentation with psychoactive
substances even pre-dates the existence of the word “drug.” Read
the rest of the article here
Deadly Pills: A National Epidemic
Drugs are now the No. 1 accidental killer in the U.S., with
the vast majority of deaths caused by prescription meds. This week, PEOPLE
offers a look at how medicines that are now a part of everyday life can also
turn families upside down forever. The statistics are staggering, the medicines powerful and highly addictive:
This year more Americans will die of drug over-doses than in any other type of
accident – including car crashes. In most cases, those deaths are caused by
pills in many people's medicine cabinets given to them by trusted doctors, left
over from routine surgeries or prescribed to manage chronic conditions. Rest
of the story is available here.
NGA
Promotes Prescription Drug Abuse Project
On Wednesday, January 9th, the National
Governor’s Association (NGA) convened a press conference on the State of the
States at the National Press Club. The Chairman of the NGA, Jack Markell (D-DE)
and the Vice Chair, Mary Fallin (R-OK), highlighted key policy topics that the
Association and its members plan to address in 2013. The Governors included the
Prescription Drug Initiative that was launched in 2012, led by Governors Robert
Bentley (R-AL) and John Hickenlooper (D-CO). The initiative includes the
Prescription Drug Abuse Reduction Policy Academy, which
consists of 7 States developing and implementing comprehensive and coordinated
strategies. Those States include Alabama and Colorado, as well as Arkansas,
Kentucky, New Mexico, Oregon, and Virginia. In September, the Initiative released
an issue brief describing six strategies for reducing prescription drug abuse.
For more information visit, National
Governor’s Association Prescription Drug Abuse Project For the full Issue
Brief visit, Six
Strategies for Reducing Prescription Drug Abuse
DEA
Releases Proposed Rule on Disposal of Controlled Substance Prescription Drugs (Taken
from DEA Press Release)
On Friday, December
21st, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) released a proposed
rule to implement the Secure and Responsible Drug Disposal Act of 2010. The
rule proposes requirements to govern the secure disposal of controlled
substance medications by both DEA registrants and what the Controlled
Substances Act refers to as “ultimate users” of these medications (patients and
animals). The proposed rule seeks to expand the options available to
collect these medications from ultimate users for the purpose of disposal, to
include take-back events, mail-back programs, and collection box
locations. The proposed rule contains specific provisions that:
- Continue to allow law enforcement agencies to voluntarily conduct take-back events, administer mail-back programs, and maintain collection boxes;
- Allow authorized manufacturers, distributors, reverse distributors, and retail pharmacies to voluntarily administer mail-back programs and maintain collection boxes;
- Allow authorized retail pharmacies to voluntarily maintain collection boxes at long term care facilities.
Click here
for the proposed rule. The public has 60 days to submit comments (February 19th,
2013). Should you
have any questions or concerns, do not hesitate to contact Michelle Dirst,
Director of Public Policy, at mdirst@nasadad.org or Andrew
Whitacre, Public Policy Associate, at awhitacre@nasadad.org
Alcohol
Use from Adolescence to Adulthood Follows Different, Complex Pathways
Adolescence is often a time of novelty seeking and risk
taking, including the initiation of drinking. While heavy drinking that begins
in adolescence can lead to problematic alcohol use later in life, other risk
factors are also involved in trajectories of alcohol use that may develop. A
study of factors predicting alcohol use and patterns of use over time has
identified six distinct trajectories that concern level of alcohol use, rate of
increase in use during early adolescence, and persistence of use into
adulthood. Results will be published in the March 2013 issue of Alcoholism:
Clinical & Experimental Research and are currently available at Early View.
"Increased levels of exploration and risk taking seem
to mark the transition from adolescence to adulthood," said Marieke
Wichers, associate professor at Maastricht University Medical Centre as well as
corresponding author for the study. "From an evolutionary point of view,
this boost of explorative behaviour may be advantageous to adolescents in order
to get to know the world around them and become independent. Thus, we see that
that all over the world – on average – adolescents have higher levels of
novelty seeking and are more risk taking that other age groups." "Some teens begin adult behaviors ranging from sexual
behavior to driving to taking their first job very early while others delay
initiating these behaviors," added Victor Hesselbrock, professor of
psychiatry at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine. "Novelty
seeking is likely one of several personality factors that may influence the
timing of the initiation of drinking behaviors. Many do consider teenage
drinking a 'rite of passage,' given the ubiquity of the behavior across
different environments and cultures." "We tried to identify whether subgroups exist that
follow similar changes in alcohol use over time," said Wichers. "This
is important in order to differentiate adolescents in terms of their future
course of alcohol use and identify the characteristics that may predict which course
adolescents will follow."
"Most current studies of alcohol and other substance
use in adolescence now use some variant of the 'developmental trajectories'
approach," noted Hesselbrock. "This study is somewhat unique in that
the sample size is fairly large and contains both girls and boys. Importantly,
it assesses a number of relevant psychological traits and environmental factors
considered either risk or protective for onset of drinking behavior. The sample
also covers the age range of 15 to 36 years of age. This is important as it
captures the typical age of initiation of drinking but also other drinking
milestones such as first intoxication, onset of regular drinking, appearance of
early drinking problems, as well as the period of time in early adulthood when
drinking behaviors further diverge into different patterns."
Wichers and her colleagues obtained retrospective data from
1,560 adult male twins concerning their average monthly alcohol use, as well as
risk and protective factors in their lives, through interviews and
questionnaires. The age span addressed was from 15 to 36 years of age. Risk
factors included parental alcohol use, poor school performance, and specific
personality traits. Protective factors included religiosity, parental
monitoring, and social activities. "We found six different subgroups of individuals that
could be clustered together in terms of their trajectories of alcohol
use," said Wichers. "Alcohol use in these six trajectories differed
in terms of, one, overall level of use, in that some subgroups used more
alcohol than others, two, peak of alcohol use, in that some subgroups had a
more pronounced early peak of use in early adolescence than other subgroups,
and three, persistence of use, in that two subgroups were both characterized by
a sharp increase in use during adolescence and high levels of use."
"Again, the sample of 15-36 years of age is important
as it captures the typical age of initiation of drinking to the time of maximum
consumption, typically ages 18-22," said Hesselbrock. "However, it
also captures other drinking milestones into adulthood when drinking patterns
further diverge, typically showing either significant decreases in alcohol
consumption or a trajectory towards chronic alcoholism." "After identifying these different subgroups, a second
aim of this study was to find personal characteristics that might predict to
what subgroup individuals may belong," said Wichers. "We found that a
number of risks that predicted average alcohol consumption did not always
predict the pattern of alcohol use over time. For instance, sensation seeking
and low school performance were associated with a higher average level, but not
with an early peak pattern, of alcohol use. On the other hand, peer deviance,
ADHD symptoms, and genetic risk of externalizing disorders impacted on the
timing of alcohol use in early adolescence. Among the most striking findings
was that genetic risk for externalizing problem behavior and peer deviance was
the strongest predictor of belonging to subclasses with initial high average
consumption and an early peak in alcohol consumption during adolescence. In
summary, this study showed that these predictors do not all influence alcohol
use in the same manner: some predict increased level of use while others
predict pattern of use in early adolescence or persistence of high-level
alcohol use. Thus, indeed there seems to be a varied influence of certain
factors at different stages in one's life."
Hesselbrock agreed. "This study clearly shows that 'one
size' or one risk factor does not fit all," he said. "The importance
of different vulnerability varies from latent class to latent class, with
different risk factors affecting consumption levels and consumption patterns
over time. Similarly, so does the importance of different well-known protective
factors such as church attendance, parental attitudes, and parental
monitoring." Both Wichers and Hesselbrock said that future research is a
necessity.
"Before a clinician can use these findings to construct
an effective intervention, other research needs to examine whether these
identified predictors are causal," said Wichers. "Then clinicians may
use this knowledge to construct intervention strategies and identify
individuals at risk." "We need to determine whether behavioral,
pharmacological, or both types of treatments targeted for specific classes will
be more effective," said Hesselbrock. "We need to identify more
specific genetic determinants that can be addressed either pharmacologically or
by a behavioral intervention. It will also be interesting to see how these
findings relate to quantity and patterns of use of other substances such as
tobacco and marijuana, given that teens typically use a variety of substances,
not just alcohol alone. Treatment providers should keep these different
trajectories in mind and adjust their treatment plans as necessary as they
follow their patients forward. Remember that this study is observational; the
question remains whether these different class memberships and drinking
trajectories can be changed with treatment."
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