How do restrictions on opioid prescribing, harm reduction, and treatment coverage policies relate to opioid overdose deaths in the United States in 2013-2020? An application of a new state opioid policy scale.

Background: Identifying the most effective state laws and provisions to reduce opioid overdose deaths remains critical.

Methods: Using expert ratings of opioid laws, we developed annual state scores for three domains: opioid prescribing restrictions, harm reduction, and Medicaid treatment coverage. We modeled associations of state opioid policy domain scores with opioid-involved overdose death counts in 3133 counties, and among racial/ethnic subgroups in 1485 counties (2013-2020).

Nationwide trends in diagnosed sedative, hypnotic or anxiolytic use disorders in adolescents and young adults enrolled in Medicaid: 2001-2019.

Background And Aim: Sedative, hypnotic or anxiolytic use disorders (SHA-UD) are defined by significant impairment or distress caused by recurrent sedative, hypnotic or anxiolytic use. This study aimed to measure trends in the prevalence of SHA-UD diagnoses in adolescent and young adult US Medicaid enrollees from 2001 to 2019.

Design: Annual, cross-sectional study, 2001-2019.

Assessing Links Between Alcohol Exposure and Firearm Violence: A Scoping Review Update.

Background: Firearm violence remains a leading cause of death and injury in the United States. Prior research supports that alcohol exposures, including individual-level alcohol use and alcohol control policies, are modifiable risk factors for firearm violence, yet additional research is needed to support prevention efforts.

Objectives: This scoping review aims to update a prior 2016 systematic review on the links between alcohol exposure and firearm violence to examine whether current studies indicate causal links between alcohol use, alcohol interventions, and firearm violence-related outcomes.

Municipal socioeconomic environment and recreational cannabis use in Mexico: Analysis of two nationally representative surveys.

Background: Recreational cannabis use is increasing in Mexico, where legalization is a possibility. The current area-level socioeconomic context of cannabis use has not been studied in the country, limiting our understanding and public health response. We aimed to analyze the association between the municipal socioeconomic environment and recreational cannabis use in Mexico.

The relationship of medical and recreational cannabis laws with opioid misuse and opioid use disorder in the USA: Does it depend on prior history of cannabis use?

Background: Wider availability of cannabis through medical and recreational legalization (MCL alone and RCL+MCL) has been hypothesized to contribute to reductions in opioid use, misuse, and related harms. We examined whether state adoption of cannabis laws was associated with changes in opioid outcomes overall and stratified by cannabis use.

Methods: Using National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) data from 2015 to 2019, we estimated cannabis law associations with opioid (prescription opioid misuse and/or heroin use) misuse and use disorder.

Substance use and psychiatric outcomes following substance use disorder treatment: An 18-month prospective cohort study in Chile.

Background And Aims: Evidence from high-income countries has linked duration and compliance with treatment for substance use disorders (SUDs) with reductions in substance use and improvements in mental health. Generalizing these findings to other regions like South America, where opioid and injection drug use is uncommon, is not straightforward. We examined if length of time in treatment and compliance with treatment reduced subsequent substance use and presence of psychiatric comorbidities.

Rates of receiving medication for opioid use disorder and opioid overdose deaths during the early synthetic opioid crisis: a county-level analysis.

Background: Medications for opioid use disorder are associated with lower risk of drug overdoses at the individual level. However, little is known about whether these effects translate to population-level reductions. We investigated whether county-level efforts to increase access to medication for opioid use disorder in 2012-2014 were associated with opioid overdose deaths in New York State during the first years of the synthetic opioid crisis.

Completeness and quality of comprehensive managed care data compared with fee-for-service data in national Medicaid claims from 2001 to 2019.

Objective: To evaluate the completeness and quality of Medicaid comprehensive managed care (CMC) data in national MAX/TAF research files.

Study Setting And Design: This observational study compared CMC with fee-for-service (FFS) enrollee data in 2001-2019 Medicaid MAX/TAF inpatient, outpatient, and pharmacy files. Completeness was assessed as the proportion of enrollees with any claim and mean claims per enrollee with any claim.

Trends in Opioid Use Disorder in the Veterans Health Administration, 2005-2022.

Importance: Given the personal and social burdens of opioid use disorder (OUD), understanding time trends in OUD prevalence in large patient populations is key to planning prevention and treatment services.

Objective: To examine trends in the prevalence of OUD from 2005 to 2022 overall and by age, sex, and race and ethnicity.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This serial cross-sectional study included national Veterans Health Administration (VHA) electronic medical record data from the VHA Corporate Data Warehouse.

Comparing neural networks against click train detectors to reveal temporal trends in passive acoustic sperm whale detections.

Passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) is an increasingly popular tool to study vocalising species. The amount of data generated by PAM studies calls for robust automatic classifiers. Deep learning (DL) techniques have been proven effective in identifying acoustic signals in challenging datasets, but due to their black-box nature their underlying biases are hard to quantify.

Statewide Trends in Medications for Opioid Use Disorder Utilization in Rhode Island, United States, 2017-2023.

Background: Buprenorphine and methadone are US Food and Drug Administration-approved medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD). Although utilization of MOUD was increasing pre-COVID-19, it is not well understood how this trend shifted during and "after" the COVID-19 pandemic in Rhode Island. This analysis will consider the differential utilization of MOUD over time and by key demographic factors.

Cannabis Use and Cannabis Use Disorder Among U.S. Adults with Psychiatric Disorders: 2001-2002 and 2012-2013.

Background: Rates of cannabis use disorder (CUD) have increased disproportionately among Veterans Administration (VA) patients with psychiatric disorders compared to patients with no disorder. However, VA patient samples are not representative of all U.S.

Sustainability of Treatment Programs Utilizing Medications for Opioid Use Disorders in Incarcerated Young Adults.

The epidemic of opioid overdose brought a major health crisis to the front line of public health in the United States. Early efforts have focused on the prevention of production, distribution, and consumption of the drugs. However, there is little information about youth populations at risk for opioid overdose and their response to targeted treatment plans.

Toward a Consensus on Strategies to Support Opioid Use Disorder Care Transitions Following Hospitalization: A Modified Delphi Process.

Background: Despite proliferation of acute-care interventions to initiate medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD), significant challenges remain to supporting care continuity following discharge. Research is needed to inform effective hospital strategies to support patient transitions to ongoing MOUD in the community.

Objective: To inform a taxonomy of care transition strategies to support MOUD continuity from hospital to community-based settings and assess their perceived impact and feasibility among experts in the field.

The Combined Relationship of Prescription Drug Monitoring Program Enactment and Medical Cannabis Laws with Chronic Pain-Related Healthcare Visits.

Background: U.S. state electronic prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs) are associated with reduced opioid dispensing among people with chronic pain and may impact use of other chronic pain treatments.

Cognitive functioning and falls in older people: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Objective: To identify which cognitive functions and specific neuropsychological assessments predict falls in older people living in the community.

Methods: Five electronic databases were searched until 30/08/2022 for studies assessing the association between specific cognitive functions and faller status (prospective and retrospective), in community-dwelling older people. Risk of bias was assessed with the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale.

Trends in Nonfatal Overdose Rates Due to Alcohol and Prescription and Illegal Substances in Colombia, 2010‒2021.

To examine drug overdoses in Colombia by type of substance, sex, age, and intent using data from a health surveillance system from 2010 to 2021. We characterized data by year, type of substance, and sociodemographic variables. We calculated age-adjusted overdose rates by substance type, sex, age groups, and intent.

A state-level history of opioid overdose deaths in the United States: 1999-2021.

We examined a natural history of opioid overdose deaths from 1999-2021 in the United States to describe state-level spatio-temporal heterogeneity in the waves of the epidemic. We obtained overdose death counts by state from 1999-2021, categorized as involving prescription opioids, heroin, synthetic opioids, or unspecified drugs. We developed a Bayesian multivariate multiple change point model to flexibly estimate the timing and magnitude of state-specific changes in death rates involving each drug type.

Improving Estimates of the Prevalence of Opioid Use Disorder in the United States: Revising Keyes et al.

Objectives: The United States faces an ongoing drug overdose crisis, but accurate information on the prevalence of opioid use disorder (OUD) remains limited. A recent analysis by Keyes et al used a multiplier approach with drug poisoning mortality data to estimate OUD prevalence. Although insightful, this approach made stringent and partly inconsistent assumptions in interpreting mortality data, particularly synthetic opioid (SO)-involved and non-opioid-involved mortality.

The role of prescription opioid and cannabis supply policies on opioid overdose deaths.

Mandatory prescription drug monitoring programs and cannabis legalization have been hypothesized to reduce overdose deaths. We examined associations between prescription monitoring programs with access mandates ("must-query PDMPs"), legalization of medical and recreational cannabis supply, and opioid overdose deaths in United States counties in 2013-2020. Using data on overdose deaths from the National Vital Statistics System, we fit Bayesian spatiotemporal models to estimate risk differences and 95% credible intervals (CrI) in county-level opioid overdose deaths associated with enactment of these state policies.

Pain Management Treatments and Opioid Use Disorder Risk in Medicaid Patients.

Introduction: People with chronic pain are at increased risk of opioid misuse. Less is known about the unique risk conferred by each pain management treatment, as treatments are typically implemented together, confounding their independent effects. This study estimated the extent to which pain management treatments were associated with risk of opioid use disorder (OUD) for those with chronic pain, controlling for baseline demographic and clinical confounding variables and holding other pain management treatments at their observed levels.

A simple heuristic for allocating opioid settlement funding to reduce overdose mortality in the United States.

As resolution for opioid-related claims and litigation against pharmaceutical manufacturers and other stakeholders, state and local governments are newly eligible for millions of dollars of settlement funding to address the overdose crisis in the United States. To inform effective use of opioid settlement funds, we propose a simple framework that highlights the principal determinants of overdose mortality: the number of people at risk of overdose each year, the average annual number of overdoses per person at risk, and the average probability of death per overdose event. We assert that the annual number of overdose deaths is a function of these three determinants, all of which can be modified through public health intervention.