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Croatian Medical Journal Apr 2024To review the literature data on the prevalence of benzodiazepines abuse and poisoning in older adults; the prevalence of polypharmacy with benzodiazepines in this... (Review)
Review
AIM
To review the literature data on the prevalence of benzodiazepines abuse and poisoning in older adults; the prevalence of polypharmacy with benzodiazepines in this demographic; and determine whether benzodiazepine anxiolytics or hypnotics were more frequently implicated in the cases of abuse and poisoning.
METHODS
We searched PubMed and Scopus for relevant studies published from January 1, 2013, to May 1, 2023. Twelve studies were included in the final selection.
RESULTS
The review highlights the diverse prevalence rates of benzodiazepine abuse and poisoning in the older adult population. Benzodiazepine anxiolytics were more frequently associated with negative outcomes than benzodiazepine hypnotics. Concurrent use of benzodiazepines, benzodiazepine-related medications, and opioids was reported, although these medications were not the only ones commonly used by the elderly.
CONCLUSION
It is essential to increase awareness about adhering to prescribed pharmacological therapies to mitigate issues related to drug abuse and poisoning among older adults.
Topics: Humans; Benzodiazepines; Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders; Aged; Hypnotics and Sedatives; Substance-Related Disorders; Polypharmacy; Prevalence; Aged, 80 and over; Anti-Anxiety Agents
PubMed: 38706240
DOI: 10.3325/cmj.2024.65.146 -
Journal of Medical Internet Research Aug 2020Social media are considered promising and viable sources of data for gaining insights into various disease conditions and patients' attitudes, behaviors, and...
BACKGROUND
Social media are considered promising and viable sources of data for gaining insights into various disease conditions and patients' attitudes, behaviors, and medications. They can be used to recognize communication and behavioral themes of problematic use of prescription drugs. However, mining and analyzing social media data have challenges and limitations related to topic deduction and data quality. As a result, we need a structured approach to analyze social media content related to drug abuse in a manner that can mitigate the challenges and limitations surrounding the use of such data.
OBJECTIVE
This study aimed to develop and evaluate a framework for mining and analyzing social media content related to drug abuse. The framework is designed to mitigate challenges and limitations related to topic deduction and data quality in social media data analytics for drug abuse.
METHODS
The proposed framework started with defining different terms related to the keywords, categories, and characteristics of the topic of interest. We then used the Crimson Hexagon platform to collect data based on a search query informed by a drug abuse ontology developed using the identified terms. We subsequently preprocessed the data and examined the quality using an evaluation matrix. Finally, a suitable data analysis approach could be used to analyze the collected data.
RESULTS
The framework was evaluated using the opioid epidemic as a drug abuse case analysis. We demonstrated the applicability of the proposed framework to identify public concerns toward the opioid epidemic and the most discussed topics on social media related to opioids. The results from the case analysis showed that the framework could improve the discovery and identification of topics in social media domains characterized by a plethora of highly diverse terms and lack of a commonly available dictionary or language by the community, such as in the case of opioid and drug abuse.
CONCLUSIONS
The proposed framework addressed the challenges related to topic detection and data quality. We demonstrated the applicability of the proposed framework to identify the common concerns toward the opioid epidemic and the most discussed topics on social media related to opioids.
Topics: Data Collection; Data Mining; Humans; Opioid Epidemic; Social Media; Substance-Related Disorders
PubMed: 32788147
DOI: 10.2196/18350 -
Neuropsychopharmacology : Official... Jan 2020
Review
Topics: Behavior, Addictive; Brain; Humans; Illicit Drugs; Sleep; Substance-Related Disorders
PubMed: 31311031
DOI: 10.1038/s41386-019-0465-x -
Nutrition Research (New York, N.Y.) Jul 2020Traditional theories of neuroeconomics focus on reinforcement learning and reward value. We propose here a novel reframing of reinforcement learning and motivation that... (Review)
Review
Traditional theories of neuroeconomics focus on reinforcement learning and reward value. We propose here a novel reframing of reinforcement learning and motivation that includes a hippocampal-dependent regulatory mechanism which balances cue-induced behavioral excitation with behavioral inhibition. This mechanism enables interoceptive cues produced by respective food or drug satiety to antagonize the ability of excitatory food- and drug-related environmental cues to retrieve the memories of food and drug reinforcers, thereby suppressing the power of those cues to evoke appetitive behavior. When the operation of this mechanism is impaired, ability of satiety signals to inhibit appetitive behavior is weakened because the relative balance between inhibition and simple excitation is shifted toward increased retrieval of food and drug memories by environmental cues. In the present paper, we (1) describe the associative processes that constitute this mechanism of hippocampal-dependent behavior inhibition; (2) describe how a prevailing obesity-promoting diet and drugs of abuse produce hippocampal pathophysiologies that can selectively impair this inhibitory function; and (3) propose how glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1), an incretin hormone that is recognized as an important satiety signal, may work to protect the hippocampal-dependent inhibition. Our perspective may add to neuroscientific and neuroeconomic analyses of both overeating and drug abuse by outlining the role of hippocampal-dependent memory processes in the control of both food and drug seeking behaviors. In addition, this view suggests that consideration should be given to diet- and drug induced hippocampal pathophysiologies, as potential novel targets for the treatment of dysregulated energy and drug intake.
Topics: Animals; Appetite; Body Weight; Cognition; Cognitive Dysfunction; Cues; Diet, Western; Eating; Feeding Behavior; Female; Glucagon-Like Peptide 1; Hippocampus; Humans; Inhibition, Psychological; Interoception; Liraglutide; Male; Memory; Motivation; Obesity; Reinforcement, Psychology; Reward; Satiation; Substance-Related Disorders
PubMed: 32544728
DOI: 10.1016/j.nutres.2020.05.001 -
The Journal of International Medical... Oct 2022This cross-sectional study aimed to assess the prevalence and awareness of drug and substance abuse among undergraduates in four southwestern universities in Nigeria.
OBJECTIVE
This cross-sectional study aimed to assess the prevalence and awareness of drug and substance abuse among undergraduates in four southwestern universities in Nigeria.
METHODS
The sample of 400 students included 100 male and female students in the 15- to 29-year age range from each of the four selected universities in southwest Nigeria between December 2019 and June 2020. Descriptive statistics and Pearson chi-square tests were used for data analysis using the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS).
RESULTS
Four hundred students satisfied the inclusion criteria and suitably completed the questionnaire. Most respondents were in the 15- to 19-year and 20- to 24-year age groups and were female (68%). Drug and substance abuse prevalence was 45.7%; one in every four students abused substances despite an aggregate risk awareness level of 94.6%. Alcohol and cigarettes-legally and socially accepted substances-were the most abused (61.5% and 54.5%, respectively). Codeine-containing syrup and tramadol topped the list of drugs, ranking higher than cannabis. The major motive was to 'get high' and numb emotional problems caused by predominantly socioeconomic and societal factors.
CONCLUSION
The study showed a notable prevalence of drug and substance abuse across the selected universities in southwest Nigeria.
Topics: Male; Female; Humans; Universities; Cross-Sectional Studies; Nigeria; Tramadol; Students; Substance-Related Disorders; Prevalence; Surveys and Questionnaires; Codeine
PubMed: 36284451
DOI: 10.1177/03000605221130039 -
The European Journal of Neuroscience Aug 2019Addictions are highly heritable disorders, with heritability estimates ranging from 39% to 72%. Multiple studies suggest a link between paternal drug abuse and addiction... (Review)
Review
Addictions are highly heritable disorders, with heritability estimates ranging from 39% to 72%. Multiple studies suggest a link between paternal drug abuse and addiction in their children. However, patterns of inheritance cannot be explained purely by Mendelian genetic mechanisms. Exposure to drugs of abuse results in epigenetic changes that may be passed on through the germline. This mechanism of epigenetic transgenerational inheritance may provide a link between paternal drug exposure and addiction susceptibility in the offspring. Recent studies have begun to investigate the effect of paternal drug exposure on behavioral and neurobiological phenotypes in offspring of drug-exposed fathers in rodent models. This review aims to discuss behavioral and neural effects of paternal exposure to alcohol, cocaine, opioids, and nicotine. Although a special focus will be on addiction-relevant behaviors, additional behavioral effects including cognition, anxiety, and depressive-like behaviors will be discussed.
Topics: Adult; Brain; Child; Child Behavior Disorders; Child of Impaired Parents; Epigenesis, Genetic; Humans; Illicit Drugs; Male; Paternal Exposure; Substance-Related Disorders
PubMed: 29949212
DOI: 10.1111/ejn.14060 -
The Journal of Maternal-fetal &... Dec 2023To describe the prevalence and predictors of postpartum sleep disorders.
OBJECTIVE
To describe the prevalence and predictors of postpartum sleep disorders.
DESIGN
A retrospective cohort study.
SETTING
Postpartum.
POPULATION
Commercially insured women delivering in California (USA) between 2011 and 2014.
METHODS
Using the Optum Clinformatics Datamart Database.
MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Prevalence of a postpartum sleep disorder diagnosis with and without a depression diagnosis up to 12 months following hospital discharge for inpatient delivery. We also identified predictors of a postpartum sleep disorder diagnosis using multivariable logistic regression.
RESULTS
We identified 3535 (1.9%) women with a postpartum sleep disorder diagnosis. The prevalence of sleep disorder diagnoses was insomnia (1.3%), sleep apnea (0.25%), and other sleep disorder (0.25%). The odds of a postpartum sleep disorder were highest among women with a history of drug abuse (adjusted odds ratio (aOR): 2.70, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.79-4.09); a stillbirth delivery (aOR: 2.15, 95% CI: 1.53-3.01); and chronic hypertension (aOR: 1.82; 95% CI: 1.57-2.11). A comorbid diagnosis of a postpartum sleep disorder and depression occurred in 1182 women (0.6%). These women accounted for 33.4% of all women with a postpartum sleep disorder. The strongest predictors of a comorbid diagnosis were a history of drug abuse (aOR: 4.13; 95% CI: 2.37-7.21) and a stillbirth delivery (aOR: 2.93; 95% CI: 1.74-4.92).
CONCLUSIONS
Postpartum sleep disorders are underdiagnosed conditions, with only 2% of postpartum women in this cohort receiving a sleep diagnosis using International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM) codes. Insomnia was the most common disorder and one-third of women diagnosed with a postpartum sleep disorder had a co-morbid diagnosis of depression. Future studies are needed to improve the screening and diagnostic accuracy of postpartum sleep disorders.
Topics: Pregnancy; Humans; Female; Male; Prevalence; Retrospective Studies; Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders; Stillbirth; Postpartum Period; Puerperal Disorders; Sleep Wake Disorders; Substance-Related Disorders; Sleep; Depression, Postpartum
PubMed: 36710393
DOI: 10.1080/14767058.2023.2170749 -
Pharmacology, Biochemistry, and Behavior Jul 2021
Pharmacology in the age of circuit neuroscience: Illuminating the neural mechanisms of reward, drug use and addiction and enlightening the future of translational research.
Topics: Animals; Behavior, Addictive; Brain; Humans; Neural Pathways; Neuroimaging; Neurosciences; Optogenetics; Pharmacology; Photometry; Reward; Substance-Related Disorders; Translational Research, Biomedical
PubMed: 33872665
DOI: 10.1016/j.pbb.2021.173187 -
Brazilian Journal of Anesthesiology... 2021The prevalence of Substance Use Disorders (SUD) and acceptance of drug testing among anesthetists in Brazil has not been determined.
BACKGROUND
The prevalence of Substance Use Disorders (SUD) and acceptance of drug testing among anesthetists in Brazil has not been determined.
METHODS
An internet-based survey was performed to investigate the prevalence of SUD among anesthetists in Brazil, to explore the attitudes of anesthetists regarding whether SUD jeopardizes the health of an impaired provider or their patient, and to determine the provider's perspective regarding acceptance and effectiveness of drug testing to reduce SUD. The questionnaire was distributed via social media. REDCap was utilized to capture data. A sample size of 350 to achieve a confidence level of 95% and confidence interval of 5 was estimated. Study report was based on STROBE and CHERRIES statements.
RESULTS
The survey was returned from 1,295 individuals. Most individuals knew an anesthesia provider with a SUD (82.07%), while 23% admitted personal use. The most common identified substances of abuse were opioids (67.05%). Very few respondents worked in a setting that performs drug testing (n = 17, 1.33%). Most individuals believed that drug testing could improve personal safety (82.83%) or the safety of patients (85.41%). Individuals with a personal history of SUD were less likely to believe in the effectiveness of drug testing to reduce one's own risk (74.92% vs. 85.18%, p < 0.0001) or improve the safety of patients (76.27% vs. 88.13%, p < 0.001).
CONCLUSIONS
SUDs are common among anesthetists in Brazil. Drug testing would be accepted as a viable means to reduce the incidence although a larger study should be performed to investigate the logistical feasibility.
Topics: Anesthetists; Brazil; Humans; Prevalence; Substance-Related Disorders
PubMed: 33845097
DOI: 10.1016/j.bjane.2021.03.006 -
Neuropharmacology Jun 2021Early life adversity can set the trajectory for later psychiatric disorders, including substance use disorders. There are a host of neurobiological factors that may play... (Review)
Review
Early life adversity can set the trajectory for later psychiatric disorders, including substance use disorders. There are a host of neurobiological factors that may play a role in the negative trajectory. The current review examines preclinical evidence suggesting that early life adversity specifically involving social factors (maternal separation, adolescent social isolation and adolescent social defeat) may influence drug abuse vulnerability by strengthening corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) systems and weakening oxytocin (OT) systems. In adulthood, pharmacological and genetic evidence indicates that both CRF and OT systems are directly involved in drug reward processes. With early life adversity, numerous studies show an increase in drug abuse vulnerability measured in adulthood, along a concomitant strengthening of CRF systems and a weakening of OT systems. Mechanistic studies, while relatively few in number, are generally consistent with the theme that strengthened CRF systems and weakened OT systems mediate, at least in part, the link between early life adversity and drug abuse vulnerability. Establishing a direct role of CRF and OT in mediating the relation between early life social stressors and drug abuse vulnerability will inform clinical researchers and practitioners toward the development of intervention strategies to reduce risk among those suffering from early life adversities. This article is part of the special issue on 'Vulnerabilities to Substance Abuse'.
Topics: Animals; Anxiety; Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone; Humans; Maternal Deprivation; Oxytocin; Receptors, Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone; Social Isolation; Stress, Psychological; Substance-Related Disorders
PubMed: 33862030
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropharm.2021.108567