Special interest: Addiction

Errors in prescribing, supervised or non-supervised dispensing, and monitoring and communication, were responsible for patient safety incidents in opioid substitution treatment, a study from England and Wales has shown.

Non drug-related morbidities are the most common cause of death as methadone-treated opioid dependent patients age, a study from Scotland has found. The study authors used information from the Community Health Index and data on methadone prescriptions held within the Scottish National Prescribing Information System for 36,606 patients who had received one or more methadone prescriptions between 2009 and 2015.

Parental alcohol use disorder is associated with an increased likelihood of marriage to a spouse with alcohol use disorder, a Swedish population-based study has found. In particular, daughters of affected mothers were more likely to have an affected spouse.

Individuals who suffer abuse as children are more likely to use marijuana or cocaine later in life, a study from the United States has found.

Opioid prescribing rates are increasing and show notable geographical variations across England. They are highest in the North and in areas of social deprivation, a study on primary care prescribing has shown. Virtually all the low prescribing areas were in the south of England and nine of the ten highest prescribing areas were northern clinical commissioning groups (CCGs).

More than a third of smokers who completed a pilot study of e-cigarettes as a smoking cessation aid quit smoking.

Smoking cessation in pregnant women is associated with a reduced risk of preterm birth, a large study from the United States has shown. Information was obtained from live birth certificates issued between 2011 and 2017 as part of the US National Vital Statistics System. Overall, 25,233,503 pregnant women who delivered live neonates and had data recorded on pre-pregnancy and trimester-specific cigarette smoking frequency were included in the analysis.

The cardiovascular and overall mortality benefits of stopping smoking far outweigh the risks of weight gain and acquiring type 2 diabetes, a study from the United States has shown.

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.