Using Phosphatidylethanol as an Adjunct to Self-Reported Alcohol Use Improves Identification of Liver Fibrosis Risk.

Introduction: Accurate assessment of alcohol use informs prevention and management of liver disease. We examined whether phosphatidylethanol (PEth, an alcohol metabolite) blood concentrations are associated with liver fibrosis risk independently of self-reported alcohol use, among persons with and without HIV.

Methods: We pooled individual-level data from 12 studies from the United States, Russia, Uganda, and South Africa with PEth, Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test-Consumption (AUDIT-C), and fibrosis-4 (FIB-4) measurements.

Efficacy of medications for the treatment of alcohol use disorder (AUD): A systematic review and meta-analysis considering baseline AUD severity.

Baseline severity of alcohol use disorder (AUD) is an influencing factor in the response to medications recommended for the treatment of AUD. The scarce efficacy of AUD medications partly justifies their limited uses. We were interested in evaluating the efficacy of approved and recommended AUD medications using generic inverse-variance, an analysis facilitating comparison between medications and placebo both at the end of the study and, concomitantly, to baseline values for the same participants.

Socioeconomic Status and CD4 Count Among People with HIV Who Inject Drugs in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Lack of access to resources is a "fundamental cause" of poor HIV outcomes across the care cascade globally and may have the greatest impact on groups with co-existing marginalized identities. In a sample of people living with HIV (PWH) who inject drugs and were not on antiretroviral therapy (ART), we explored associations between access to resources and HIV severity. Fundamental Cause Theory (FCT) sees socioeconomic status/access to resources as a root cause of disease and emphasizes that individuals with limited resources have fewer means to mitigate health risks and implement protective behaviors, which ultimately generates disparities in health outcomes.

World addiction medicine reports: formation of the International Society of Addiction Medicine Global Expert Network (ISAM-GEN) and its global surveys.

Addiction medicine is a dynamic field that encompasses clinical practice and research in the context of societal, economic, and cultural factors at the local, national, regional, and global levels. This field has evolved profoundly during the past decades in terms of scopes and activities with the contribution of addiction medicine scientists and professionals globally. The dynamic nature of drug addiction at the global level has resulted in a crucial need for developing an international collaborative network of addiction societies, treatment programs and experts to monitor emerging national, regional, and global concerns.

Pilot RCT comparing low-dose naltrexone, gabapentin and placebo to reduce pain among people with HIV with alcohol problems.

Background: To estimate the effects on pain of two medications (low-dose naltrexone and gabapentin) compared to placebo among people with HIV (PWH) with heavy alcohol use and chronic pain.

Methods: We conducted a pilot, randomized, double-blinded, 3-arm study of PWH with chronic pain and past-year heavy alcohol use in 2021. Participants were recruited in St.