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Needle exchanges are targeted by eco-rooted lawsuits. A new California law will stop that.

For more than 30 years, public health officials and nonprofits in California have provided clean hypodermic needles to people who use them to inject drugs.

6 Oct 2021

Fatal opioid overdoses four times more likely in the first two days after hospital discharge

The period after hospital discharge is a high-risk time for people who use illicit opioids such as heroin, according to new research publishing October 5th in the open access journal PLOS Medicine.

5 Oct 2021

Immigration adds 1.4 to 1.5 years to U.S. life expectancy, study says

If immigrants to the United States formed their own country, their pre-COVID-19 life expectancies would exceed or match those of the world's leaders in longevity - Swiss men and Japanese women.

30 Sep 2021

Researchers to investigate suicidal behavior and self-harm among healthcare workers

A group of researchers from the University of Bristol and University College London recently collaborated in order to plan an investigation into suicidal behavior and self-harm in healthcare workers.

23 Sep 2021

Study finds rise in methamphetamine-involved overdose deaths from 2015 to 2019

Overdose deaths involving methamphetamine nearly tripled from 2015 to 2019 among people ages 18-64 in the United States, according to a study by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health.

22 Sep 2021

Researchers create a living bioengineered nerve circuit to tackle opioid overdose crisis

In 2019, nearly 50,000 people in the United States died from opioid overdoses, bringing the total of number of deaths from the opioid crisis to half a million over the past 10 years, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.

21 Sep 2021

Hospitalized patients with opioid use disorder die at a rate comparable to heart attack patients

Hospitalized patients with opioid use disorder died at a rate comparable to those who suffered heart attacks within a year of hospital discharge, according to a new study from Oregon Health & Science University.

15 Sep 2021

Study finds increasing disparities in opioid overdose deaths for Black people

Non-Hispanic Black individuals in four U.S. states experienced a 38% increase in the rate of opioid overdose deaths from 2018 to 2019, while the rates for other race and ethnicity groups held steady or decreased, according to a new study by the National Institutes of Health published in the American Journal of Public Health.

9 Sep 2021

People living with HIV have higher risk of sudden cardiac death, finds study

People living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) have a higher risk of sudden cardiac death than people who do not have HIV, especially if the virus is not well-controlled or if they have other heart disease risk factors.

8 Sep 2021

Collaborative program uses peer recovery coaches to guide people with substance use disorder

About 90% of Americans who need treatment for a substance use disorder don't get it. West Virginia University researchers have developed a program that allows people who have already walked the path of substance use disorder through recovery to be their guides to a healthier life.

31 Aug 2021

Rescue breathing CPR for pediatric cardiac arrest has superior outcomes, analysis shows

Rescue breathing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) had superior neurological outcomes compared with compression-only CPR or no CPR at all in infants, children and adolescents, according to a new analysis published today in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

30 Aug 2021

Mobile telemedicine unit found to be effective in treating opioid use disorder in rural areas

Rural regions in the U.S. have been disproportionately affected by the opioid epidemic, while also having the fewest number of programs to treat opioid use disorder.

28 Aug 2021

NIH HEAL Initiative leverages the strengths of communities to address opioid public health crisis

An article published in the Journal of the American Medical Association highlights the results of numerous strategies through which the National Institutes of Health's Helping to End Addiction Long-term Initiative, or NIH HEAL Initiative, is finding scientific solutions to address the nation's opioid crisis.

26 Aug 2021

From Uber vouchers to patient advocates: What it takes to increase ER addiction treatment

For years, Kayla West watched the opioid epidemic tear through her eastern Tennessee community. As a psychiatric nurse practitioner, she treated people with mental illness but felt she needed to do more to address addiction.

25 Aug 2021

Study suggests a balanced approach to developing safer opioid analgesics

Opioids are powerful painkillers but their use is hindered because patients become tolerant to them, requiring higher and higher doses, and overdoses can cause respiratory depression and death.

24 Aug 2021

Study finds significant increase in opioid-associated cardiac arrests

A nationwide US study has shown that the rate of opioid-related cardiac arrests has steeply risen and is now on par with the rate of cardiac arrest from other causes. The research is presented at ESC Congress 2021.

23 Aug 2021

Researchers use residues in wastewater to study illicit drug consumption

At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, stay-at-home orders and other restrictions drastically affected how people lived and worked, resulting in social isolation and economic instability. Now, researchers show that some people turned to a variety of drugs for relief. Using wastewater analysis, the team identified a spike in consumption of easily abused prescription opioids and anti-anxiety sedatives, while some illicit drug use plummeted, between March and June 2020.

23 Aug 2021

Children and young adults are frequently exposed to unsafe opioid prescriptions, study suggests

Children and young adults who have pain from surgery, dental care and other conditions are often prescribed opioids.

19 Aug 2021

New AHA Presidential Advisory addresses opioid use and its effects on heart and brain health

The misuse of opioids in the United States continues to lead to high rates of dependency as well as a staggering number of deaths due to overdose.