Special interest: Addiction

Patients with depression and those who drink at risky levels are more than twice as likely to report gambling problems, a UK primary care study has shown.

The traditional gender difference in alcohol misuse and alcohol-related harm, where men have been at much higher risk than women is changing, a recent study has confirmed.

More than half of those who have ever injected drugs (PWID) in Scotland have hepatitis C (HCV) and six out of ten remain undiagnosed, a modelling study has estimated. Case finding is essential both from the individual health and public health perspectives. Much of this will be undertaken in drug services. The study shows that a high proportion of undiagnosed cases are no longer injecting and are in an older age group, and so may no longer be in contact with drug services. Doctors working in primary care may need to take a more active role in case finding. ‘Targeting older individuals with a history of injecting drug use though primary care can also be an effective case-finding approach,’ the authors state.

People who work long hours are more likely to increase their drinking to levels that pose a health risk, a systematic review and meta-analysis published in the BMJ has found. Data were analysed from 36 published studies, of which 34 were cross sectional and two prospective, as well as unpublished individual participant data from 27 other cross-sectional studies.

The rise in the use of e-cigarettes in England has been associated with an improvement in the success of quit attempts, a study in the BMJ has found.

Offering smokers admitted to hospital behavioural support and pharmacotherapy could help reduce smoking rates significantly, a national audit in England has shown.

Smoking cessation services in England have trebled their impact in helping smokers to give up over the past decade, a study has found. However, a wide variation across local services was noted. The researchers analysed the performance of stop smoking services across England from 2001/02 to 2010/11, asking the questions: How has the performance of the services changed? How well have the services met the needs of different groups including economically disadvantaged smokers? How much local variation has there been in success rates?

It has been estimated that around 20% of patients attending their GP are at risk from their drinking or have an alcohol use disorder. Without using specific screening tools GPs may typically detect about 40% of cases they see, but miss the majority. The study authors suggest a single or two question approach to initial screening, followed by either the CAGE or AUDIT test for those who are positive, and onward referral for those who test positive on the more in-depth questionnaire.