Publications by authors named "W S Slutske"
Binge drinking is a relatively common pattern of alcohol use among youth with normative frequency trajectories peaking in emerging and early adulthood. Frequent binge drinking is a critical risk factor for not only the development of alcohol use disorders (AUDs) but also increased odds of alcohol-related injury and death, and thus constitutes a significant public health concern. Changes in binge drinking across development are strongly associated with changes in impulsive personality traits (IPTs) which have been hypothesized as intermediate phenotypes associated with genetic risk for heavy alcohol use and AUD.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The COVID-19 pandemic was managed in part by the rapid development of vaccines, diagnostics, and therapeutics including antiviral agents and advances in emergency airway and ventilatory management. The impact of these therapeutic advances on clinically pertinent metrics of emergency care have not been well-studied.
Methods: We abstracted data from emergency department (ED) visits made to 21 US health systems during the first two years of the pandemic, from February 1, 2020 to January 31, 2022.
Background: Older adults are at higher risk of severe outcomes from COVID-19 with comorbidities increasing such risk. Much less is known about the outcomes of young adults with COVID-19 despite their having had high infection rates.
Objectives: Our objective was to determine outcomes of hospitalized young adults with COVID-19 infection including rates of oxygen use, mortality, ICU admission, intubation, duration of hospitalization, and factors associated with adverse outcomes.
Article Synopsis
- COVID-19 has significantly affected global health, but most studies on dementia's impact during the pandemic have focused on Europe and Asia without differentiating dementia subtypes.
- A study analyzing health records from 21 U.S. healthcare systems found that all-cause dementia was linked to higher mortality rates, while Alzheimer's and vascular dementia did not independently show this association.
- Patients with any form of dementia had longer hospital stays and were less likely to be admitted to the ICU, indicating a unique set of health care challenges for these individuals during the pandemic.
Article Synopsis
- The study investigates the genetic links between aggression and alcohol use, specifically focusing on how these genetic factors may influence alcohol-related aggression differently.
- Using polygenic risk scores (PRS) based on genome-wide data, the researchers analyzed the relationship between genetic risks and instances of alcohol-related aggression in two different groups: UCSF Family Alcoholism Study and the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health.
- Results showed significant links between genetic risks for alcohol use disorder and aggression in the UCSF sample, but not in the Add Health sample, suggesting varying effects based on the context and type of aggression related to alcohol use.