Articles related to ADDICTION/SUBSTANCE ABUSE

A comprehensive review on the widespread uptake of vaping, including its origins and history, a timeline of discoveries, terminology, epidemiology, its use as a “harm reducer,” clinical presentations of vaping lung injuries (including an overview of the 2019 EVALI outbreak), the pathophysiology of vaping-induced lung injury, clinical aspects including outcomes, COVID-19 considerations, future directions, guidelines, and questions for future research.

With treatment penetration rates less than 20% for those with serious addictions, this viewpoint offers up a strategic clinical approach that mimics the diabetes field, using the term preaddiction, a commonly understood, motivating term (such as prediabetes) that could engender broader clinical efforts to effect the planned strategy.

In 2019, the FDA warned that gabapentin might cause serious breathing difficulties when used with drugs that depress the central nervous system. The warning may have not been heeded, as overdose deaths in which gabapentin was detected doubled from 449 in the first quarter of 2019 to 959 in the second quarter of 2020.

In this cross-sectional study of 586 probands and 698 first-degree relatives, cannabis use disorder and bipolar disorder II in probands were associated with an independent increase in risk of cannabis use disorder in relatives; bipolar disorder I and major depressive disorder in probands were not significantly associated with cannabis use disorder in relatives. The risk of cannabis use disorder was highest among relatives with both familial and individual history of bipolar disorder II.

The CDC has released updated guidelines for prescribing opioids. The newest guidelines focus on patient-centered decisions and reduce some limitations on prescribing that were put in place back in 2016. The updated guidance recognizes the ongoing increase in opioid-related deaths, but seeks to give physicians and patients more direction in managing individual therapy.