Tag: Opium

What to call someone who uses heroin?

A first-ever study to ask people who use heroin what they want to be called finds “people first” language often best, and language suggesting misuse or dependence generally worst. In the ongoing opioid crisis, many researchers and clinicians now use “person first” terms such as “person with substance use disorder” instead of loaded labels like

Growing life expectancy inequality in US cannot be blamed on opioids alone

A new University of Michigan study challenges a popularized view about what’s causing the growing gap between the lifespans of more- and less-educated Americans — finding shortcomings in the widespread narrative that the United States is facing an epidemic of “despair.” Some influential studies have argued that growing life expectancy inequality is driven by so-called

Physician-targeted marketing is associated with increase in opioid overdose deaths, study shows

Many individuals cite prescription opioids as their gateway to illicit opioid use. However, while prescription opioids are involved in more than one-third of all opioid overdose deaths in the U.S., examining any correlation between prescription opioid overdose deaths and pharmaceutical industry marketing has been limited — until now. New research from NYU School of Medicine

Common painkillers triple harmful side effects in dementia: Commonly-prescribed opioid-based painkillers led to harmful side effects tripling in people with dementia

Commonly-prescribed opioid-based painkillers led to harmful side effects tripling in people with dementia. Researchers from the University of Exeter, King’s College London and the University of Bergen are presenting two studies at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference 2018 (AAIC) highlighting a significant increase in harmful side effects related to the use of commonly prescribed opioid

Prescription drug monitoring programs may have negative unintended consequences: Study shows programs may be linked to fatal drug overdoses

Prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs) are a key component of the President’s Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention Plan and considered a critical tool for reducing prescription opioid-related illness and death. The results of a study just conducted at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health and University of California, Davis, show there is insufficient evidence to

Post-surgical opioids can, paradoxically, lead to chronic pain: Rats given morphine experienced pain-reactivity for three weeks longer, inflammatory changes in spinal cord

Giving opioids to animals to quell pain after surgery prolongs pain for more than three weeks and primes specialized immune cells in the spinal cord to be more reactive to pain, according to a new study by the University of Colorado Boulder. The authors say the paradoxical findings, if replicated in humans, could have far-reaching