Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs and Prescription Opioid-Related Outcomes in the United States.

Prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs) are a crucial component of federal and state governments' response to the opioid epidemic. Evidence about the effectiveness of PDMPs in reducing prescription opioid-related adverse outcomes is mixed. We conducted a systematic review to examine whether PDMP implementation within the United States is associated with changes in 4 prescription opioid-related outcome domains: opioid prescribing behaviors, opioid diversion and supply, opioid-related morbidity and substance-use disorders, and opioid-related deaths.

Trends in marijuana use in two Latin American countries: an age, period and cohort study.

Background And Aims: Uruguay and Chile have the highest levels of marijuana use in Latin America, and have experienced consistent increases during the last two decades. We aim to calculate separate age-period-cohort (APC) effects for past-year marijuana use in Uruguay and Chile, which have similar epidemiologica, and demographic profiles but diverging paths in cannabis regulation.

Design: APC study in which period and cohort effects were estimated as first derivative deviations from their linear age trend, separately by country and gender.

Medical marijuana laws and driving under the influence of marijuana and alcohol.

Aims: Medical marijuana law (MML) enactment in the United States has been associated with increased cannabis use but lower traffic fatality rates. We assessed the possible association of MML and individual-level driving under the influence of cannabis (DUIC) and also under the influence of alcohol (DUIA).

Design And Setting: Three cross-sectional U.

Trends in drug use among electronic dance music party attendees in New York City, 2016-2019.

Objective: Electronic dance music (EDM) party attendees are a high-risk population for drug use and associated adverse effects. We examined trends in past-year drug use within this population to better inform prevention and harm reduction efforts.

Methods: Each summer from 2016 through 2019, we used time-space sampling to survey a cross-section of adults entering EDM parties at randomly selected nightclubs and at dance festivals in New York City.

Perspectives on the Future of Epidemiology: A Framework for Training.

Over the past century, the field of epidemiology has evolved and adapted to changing public health needs. Challenges include newly emerging public health concerns across broad and diverse content areas, new methods, and vast data sources. We recognize the need to engage and educate the next generation of epidemiologists and prepare them to tackle these issues of the 21st century.

County Jail Incarceration Rates and County Mortality Rates in the United States, 1987-2016.

To evaluate the relationship between changes in county jail incarceration rates and subsequent county mortality rates across the United States. We analyzed county jail incarceration rates from the Bureau of Justice Statistics from 1987 to 2016 for 1884 counties and mortality rates from the National Vital Statistics System. We fit 1-year-lagged quasi-Poisson 2-way fixed-effects models, controlling for unmeasured stable county characteristics, and measured time-varying confounders, including county poverty and crime rates.

U.S. Adults With Pain, a Group Increasingly Vulnerable to Nonmedical Cannabis Use and Cannabis Use Disorder: 2001-2002 and 2012-2013.

Objective: Given changes in U.S. marijuana laws, attitudes, and use patterns, individuals with pain may be an emerging group at risk for nonmedical cannabis use and cannabis use disorder.

The great decline in adolescent cigarette smoking since 2000: consequences for drug use among US adolescents.

Objective: Adolescent cigarette smoking declined steadily and substantially from 2000 to 2018. This paper considers the potential consequences of this 'great decline' for the prevalence of other drug use among adolescents.

Methods: Data are annual, cross-sectional, nationally representative Monitoring the Future surveys of more than 1.

Distress level and daily functioning problems attributed to firearm victimization: sociodemographic-specific responses.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to estimate the effect of firearm involvement during violent victimization on the level of distress experienced and daily functioning within sociodemographic subgroups.

Methods: We used cross-sectional data from the National Crime Victimization Survey (n = 5698) and Targeted Maximum Likelihood Estimation. Sociodemographic subgroups were defined by age, race, sex, and socioeconomic position.

Heavy and binge alcohol drinking and parenting status in the United States from 2006 to 2018: An analysis of nationally representative cross-sectional surveys.

Background: Binge and heavy drinking are preventable causes of mortality and morbidity. Alcohol consumption by women who parent is damaging to child health, and it is concerning that women in the United States in their reproductive years have experienced increased drinking over the past decade. Although media attention has focused on the drinking status of women who are child-rearing, it remains unclear whether binge and heavy drinking vary by parenting status and sex.

Stigma as a fundamental hindrance to the United States opioid overdose crisis response.

Alexander Tsai and co-authors discuss the role of stigma in responses to the US opioid crisis.

Alcohol consumption predicts incidence of depressive episodes across 10 years among older adults in 19 countries.

Alcohol consumption is increasing in many countries, and excessive alcohol consumption is particularly increasing among older adults. Excessive alcohol consumption causes morbidity and mortality, especially among older adults, including an increased risk of depressive episodes. We review the mechanisms through which alcohol consumption may affect depression, and argue that the effects of alcohol consumption on depressive episodes among older adults are understudied.

Association Between Recreational Marijuana Legalization in the United States and Changes in Marijuana Use and Cannabis Use Disorder From 2008 to 2016.

Importance: Little is known about changes in marijuana use and cannabis use disorder (CUD) after recreational marijuana legalization (RML).

Objectives: To examine the associations between RML enactment and changes in marijuana use, frequent use, and CUD in the United States from 2008 to 2016.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This survey study used repeated cross-sectional survey data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (2008-2016) conducted in the United States among participants in the age groups of 12 to 17, 18 to 25, and 26 years or older.

Diverging Trends in the Relationship Between Binge Drinking and Depressive Symptoms Among Adolescents in the U.S. From 1991 Through 2018.

Purpose: From 1991 to 2018, binge drinking among U.S. adolescents has precipitously declined; since 2012, depressive symptoms among U.

Psychiatric comorbidities in alcohol use disorder.

Alcohol use disorder is a major contributor to the morbidity and mortality burden worldwide. It often coexists with other psychiatric disorders; however, the nature of this comorbidity is still a matter of debate. In this Series paper, we examine the main psychiatric disorders associated with alcohol use disorder, including the prevalence of co-occurring disorders, the temporal nature of the relationship, and mechanisms that might explain comorbidity across the lifespan.

Alcohol use and binge drinking among U.S. men, pregnant and non-pregnant women ages 18-44: 2002-2017.

Background: Drinking during pregnancy dropped sharply in the U.S. in the 1980s.

Racial differences in alcohol and tobacco use in adolescence and mid-adulthood in a community-based sample.

Purpose: Smoking and alcohol use have been posited as possible contributors to racial health disparities, despite higher smoking and alcohol use among non-Hispanic White youth and young adults compared to Blacks. To further investigate this claim, we aim to assess variation in alcohol and cigarette use across two distinct points of the life course.

Method: Data are from a subset of 559 (279 male, 280 female) self-identified Black and White participants of the Child Health and Development study.

Structural stigma and all-cause mortality among sexual minorities: Differences by sexual behavior?

Using updated data from the General Social Survey/National Death Index (GSS/NDI) study, we examined whether the relationship between structural stigma-measured by aggregating 4 items assessing prejudice towards homosexuality to the community level-and all-cause mortality is present among gay men/lesbian women. Our hypothesis is based on emerging evidence that indicators of structural stigma specific to homosexuality, such as those used in the GSS/NDI, uniquely predict health outcomes among this group. Because the GSS/NDI lacked an identity-based measure of sexual orientation, we tested our hypothesis by employing a strategy that has a relatively high degree of sensitivity and specificity for ascertaining individuals most likely to identify as gay or lesbian: restricting analyses to individuals who reported same-sex sexual partners in the past year.

Understanding cognitive impairment in mood disorders: mediation analyses in the UK Biobank cohort.

Background: Cognitive impairment is strongly linked with persistent disability in people with mood disorders, but the factors that explain cognitive impairment in this population are unclear.

Aims: To estimate the total effect of (a) bipolar disorder and (b) major depression on cognitive function, and the magnitude of the effect that is explained by potentially modifiable intermediate factors.

Method: Cross-sectional study using baseline data from the UK Biobank cohort.

Alcohol Consumption in Later Life and Mortality in the United States: Results from 9 Waves of the Health and Retirement Study.

Background: Alcohol consumption in later life has increased in the past decade, and the relationship between alcohol consumption and mortality is controversial. Recent studies suggest little, if any, health benefit to alcohol. Yet most rely on single-time point consumption assessments and minimal confounder adjustments.

Generational differences in longitudinal blood pressure trajectories by geographic region during socioeconomic transitions in China.

Objectives: To examine generational differences in longitudinal blood pressure trajectories by region following socioeconomic transitions, which is important for establishing the population risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs).

Methods: With data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey (1991-2011), we used multilevel growth-curve models to estimate systolic/diastolic blood pressure (SBP/DBP) levels at the mean age and rates of change by cohort (born between 1931 and 1980), region, and sex.

Results: Younger cohorts generally had higher SBP/DBP levels at 44.