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By:Robert Preidt
Date Posted:August 27, 2010 via MedicineNet.com
Article Summary:University at Buffalo researchers interviewed 75 patients hospitalized for opioid detoxification and found that 31 of them said they first became addicted to legitimately prescribed painkillers. Another 24 patients said their addiction began when they used a friend's left-over prescription pills or stole drugs from a parent's medicine cabinet, while the remaining 20 patients said they got hooked on street drugs. Read the complete article here.
By:Amanda Gardner
Date Posted: August 27, 2010 via MedicineNet.com
Article Summary:"People who want to fake ADHD could be able to do a good job of faking on a number of standard clinical instruments that are used to diagnose ADHD," said David Berry, senior author of the report appearing in the current issue of Psychological Assessment. Obviously, healthcare professionals need to be concerned, he said, adding that "our evidence suggests [fakers] are pretty good at it if they want to be." Read the complete story here.
By:SB. Leavitt, MA, PhD
Date Posted:August 14, 2010 via Pain-Topics.org
Article Summary:Patients with chronic pain who show aberrant drug-related behaviors, or an inclination toward such misbehaviors, often are denied treatment or discontinued from treatment when they are noncompliant with their use of prescribed opioid analgesics. New research demonstrates that close monitoring and substance-misuse counseling may facilitate compliance with opioid analgesic therapy in even the most difficult patients. Read the complete commentary on this study at the Pain-Topics.org blog.
By:Andy Greenberg
Date Posted:August 28, 2008 via Forbes.com
Article Summary:In the shady world of online pharmacies, the rich are getting richer. That's the finding of a study released by brand abuse tracking firm MarkMonitor, measuring the disturbing growth of counterfeit drug sales on the Web. By sifting through 60 million spam emails for mentions of six major drug brands and following the Web links included in those messages, researchers found numbers implying a three-fold spike in prescription drugs sold online. As the problem grows, Congress is working to make combating fraudulent drug sales easier. The Ryan Haight Bill--named after an 18-year-old who died from an overdose of Vicodin purchased online in 2001--would make it illegal to sell prescription drugs online without proof of a prescription issued to the patient in person by a doctor. Read the complete article here.
By:Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
Date Posted:August 19, 2010 via JoinTogether.org
Article Summary:A new report shows that behavioral health problems affect every community throughout America - but in unique, and sometimes surprising ways. The report, based on a nationwide survey commissioned by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), offers detailed analyses of the substance use problems occurring within smaller geographical areas. Titled Substate Estimates from the 2006-2008 National Surveys on Drug Use and Health, the report measures and analyzes 21 substance use behaviors in 344 substate regions representing all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Read the compete article here; view individual state reports here.
Date Posted: August 18, 2010 via MedicineNet.com
Article Summary:Many black patients and women with chronic pain receive inadequate treatment for their pain while being treated by a primary care doctor, a U.S. study has found. Researchers looked at nearly 200 patients with chronic pain and found that black patients were prescribed fewer pain medications than whites, and that doses of pain medications received by women were often too weak to manage chronic pain. Read the complete story here.
By:Maggie Fox
Date Posted:August 17, 2010 via Reuters
Article Summary:In a new study published by a research team at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center last Tuesday in the American Heart Journal, the research team found that those who had abused amphetamines had triple the odds of aortic dissection. Recommendations from this study included that doctors should begin screening young adults with aortic dissection for amphetamine abuse in searching for a potential cause. Read the complete Reuters article here.
By:Stephen Smith
Date Posted:August 12, 2010 via The Boston Globe
Article Summary:At least 9,000 Massachusetts residents are suspected of engaging in doctor shopping annually, said Alice Bonner, director of the state Bureau of Health Care Safety and Quality. With a few computer keystrokes, Massachusetts physicians will soon be able to identify patients who travel from clinic to clinic in pursuit of potent prescription drugs that feed lethal addictions. Deaths blamed on substance abuse rose dramatically in Massachusetts in the past decade, to more than 600 a year. Read the complete Boston Globe article here.
By:Drew Griffin and David Fitzpatrick
Date Posted: August 23, 2010 via CNN.com
Article Summary: Pharmacies in Utah and Illinois are at the heart of an illicit nationwide network providing prescription drugs over the internet, federal agents state in court papers filed in two cities. In search warrant affidavits obtained by CNN, the business was centered around two pharmacies, one in the Chicago suburb of Des Plaines, Illinois, and the other in a small town south of Salt Lake City. The affidavits say most of the drugs were highly addictive, especially muscle relaxants called Soma and tramadol. Read the complete story and watch the video on CNN.com.
By:Associated Press
Date Posted:August 17, 2010 via Indianapolis Star
Article Summary:Federal health scientists are questioning whether the antidepressant Cymbalta is safe and effective enough to be approved for use against chronic pain. FDA reviewers have called statistical methods used to evaluate the drug and liver side effects into question. The drug is currently utilized to treat more than 15 million Americans with diabetic nerve pain and fibromyalgia, and an FDA approval of the drug for treatment of chronic pain would greatly expand its use. Read the complete article here.
By: Arkansas News Bureau
Date Posted:August 17, 2010 via The Times Record
Article Summary:In advance of expected new opioid prescribing guidelines from the VA, the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences will review six years of data from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to evaluate the effectiveness of VA policies on prescribing painkillers known as opioids. More than half the tens of thousands of veterans diagnosed with pain could receive treatment that would involve opioid painkillers. Read the complete article here.
By:Pamela Lewis Dolan
Date Posted:August 9, 2010 via amednews.com
Article Summary:A 2009 Manhattan Research survey found that 60% of doctors said they use, or want to use, social networking sites. The Mayo Clinic's effort to start a social media center to train physicians and hospitals in the ways of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and podcasting is one of the biggest signs yet that social media in health care has gone mainstream. Although no formal studies have outlined proven benefits from using social media, anecdotal evidence of how it has connected physicians and patients -- and the ubiquity of social media use by patients -- is forcing physicians to think about at least dipping a toe into the online pool, experts said. Read the complete article here for more details.
Date Posted:August 4, 2010 via MedicineNet.com
Article Summary:Though we typically think of drug abuse as crossing all borders and boundaries of gender and race, the following study provides evidence that this is not necessarily the case. The study also found significant differences in rates of adult substance use among various Hispanic-American groups. Substance use rates are much higher among U.S.-born Hispanic Americans than those who were born outside the United States. Read the complete article here.
By:U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
Date Posted:July 28, 2010 via FDA Consumer Updates
Article Summary:Pharmacologist Michael Klein, Ph.D., is director of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Controlled Substance Staff. During more than 30 years of federal service, he has amassed extensive experience with issues related to drug regulation, abuse, misuse, and addiction. In this article, Dr. Klein answers questions designed to help the layman understand the basics prescription drug abuse, misuse and diversion. Although these answers are not new to you, they may provide new angles for you on basic talk tracks. Read the complete Q&A here.