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Digital pills can help track opioid use patterns

Digital pills - gelatin capsules that contain an ingestible sensor along with medication - can help track patterns of drug use, and Brigham and Women's Hospital clinicians are among the first to explore the application of this new technology among patients being prescribed opioids.

20 Nov 2017

One in 20 children still receiving codeine to treat pain despite warning from federal regulators

A new study shows as many as one in 20 children were still receiving codeine to treat pain after tonsil and adenoid surgery, two years after federal regulators warned doctors that prescribing the opioid to kids after the routine surgeries could be fatal.

16 Nov 2017

Researchers use machine learning to identify illegal selling of opioids on Twitter

Using advanced machine learning, a cross disciplinary team of University of California San Diego researchers developed technology that mined Twitter to identify entities illegally selling prescription opioids online.

25 Oct 2017

Bariatric surgical patients may be vulnerable to opioid dependence

Nearly 9 percent of bariatric surgical patients--or about one in 12--who did not take opioid pain medications until their weight-loss operation, or the month before it, report that they are still using prescription opioids one year postoperatively, according to new research findings.

24 Oct 2017

New online tool offers opioid prescribing recommendations after surgery

How many prescription pain pills should a patient receive after breast cancer surgery? Or a hernia repair? Or a gallbladder removal?

16 Oct 2017

Emergency departments write shorter duration and smaller-dose opioid prescriptions, study shows

Opioid prescriptions from the emergency department are written for a shorter duration and smaller dose than those written elsewhere, shows new research led by Mayo Clinic.

26 Sep 2017

Dying at home in an opioid crisis: Hospices grapple with stolen meds

Nothing seemed to help the patient — and hospice staff didn't know why. They sent home more painkillers for weeks. But the elderly woman, who had severe dementia and incurable breast cancer, kept calling out in pain.

22 Aug 2017

Researchers receive $3.8 million NIH grant to study medical marijuana's impact on opioid use for pain

The National Institutes of Health has awarded researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Montefiore Health System a five-year, $3.8 million grant for the first long-term study to test whether medical marijuana reduces opioid use among adults with chronic pain, including those with HIV.

8 Aug 2017

Researchers reveal prevalence of unused prescription opioids following surgery

In a review of half a dozen published studies in which patients self-reported use of opioids prescribed to them after surgery, researchers at Johns Hopkins report that a substantial majority of patients used only some or none of the pills, and more than 90 percent failed to dispose of the leftovers in recommended ways.

2 Aug 2017

Drug overdose deaths on the rise in Ohio

In light of the Ohio opioid epidemic, Advanced Recovery Systems, an integrated behavioral healthcare management company, recently opened an addiction and co-occurring mental health treatment facility in Groveport: The Recovery Village Columbus. Located 10 miles away from Columbus, this new facility opened on July 11, 2017 and is now accepting patients.

29 Jul 2017

Study finds sevenfold rise in prescription opioid use among fatally injured drivers

The percentage of fatally injured drivers who tested positive for prescription opioids rose sevenfold from 1 percent in 1995 to over 7 percent in 2015, according to a new study at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health. The findings appear online in the American Journal of Public Health.

26 Jul 2017

Mind-body therapies significantly reduce acute pain experienced by hospital patients

Mindfulness training and hypnotic suggestion significantly reduced acute pain experienced by hospital patients, according to a new study published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.

25 Jul 2017

Research shows that opioid prescription practices at Mayo Clinic exceed upcoming guidelines

More than 4 in 5 opioid prescriptions given after surgery over a recent two-year period at Mayo Clinic exceeded guidelines now in the works, the clinic's researchers have found.

14 Jul 2017

Managing stress, improving pain coping strategies may minimize need for opioids after surgery

Helping patients to better manage stress and improve coping strategies related to pain may minimize the need for opioids following ankle fracture surgery, according to new research appearing in the July 2017 issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.

6 Jul 2017

Cesarean patients prescribed more opioid pain medications than needed, study shows

Most women who undergo a cesarean childbirth are prescribed more opioid (narcotic) pain medications than needed upon release from the hospital, a Vanderbilt University Medical Center study shows.

9 Jun 2017

Opioid use gradually increases few years after bariatric surgery, study shows

While the proportion of adults with severe obesity using prescription opioids initially declines in the months after bariatric surgery, it increases within a matter of years, eventually surpassing pre-surgery rates of patients using the potentially addictive pain medications, according to new research from a National Institutes of Health -funded multicenter study led by the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health.

6 Jun 2017

Opioid prescription for minor injuries increases risk of continued use and addiction

Overprescribing of opioid medications for pain has contributed to a record-high number of drug-related deaths in the United States in recent years.

18 May 2017

Study unravels mysteries behind cause of acute liver failure

Twenty years ago, the federal government funded the study of a condition quietly killing hundreds of Americans a year - acute liver failure, or ALF. Growing evidence had linked ALF to overdoses of acetaminophen, the popular over-the-counter pain medication many viewed as harmless at the time.

29 Mar 2017

Poison control centers receive one call every 45 minutes about pediatric exposure to opioids

A new study published online today by Pediatrics and conducted by the Center for Injury Research and Policy and the Central Ohio Poison Center at Nationwide Children's Hospital found that there were more than 188,000 calls to US Poison Control Centers for pediatric exposure to opioids from January 2000 through December 2015, averaging 32 calls a day or one every 45 minutes.

20 Mar 2017

Combined use of alcohol and cocaine linked to suicide deaths

Alcohol use can be found in suicide deaths and unintentional deaths due to injuries such as those from motor vehicle collisions (MVCs).

27 Jan 2017