Opioids News and Research

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An opioid is a chemical that works by binding to opioid receptors, which are found principally in the central nervous system and the gastrointestinal tract. The receptors in these two organ systems mediate both the beneficial effects and the side effects of opioids.

Money flows into addiction tech, but will it curb soaring opioid overdose deaths?

David Sarabia had already sold two startups by age 26 and was sitting on enough money to never have to work another day in his life.

21 Mar 2022

UNC researchers offer solution to detect, issue warnings about tainted street drugs

With new grant funding, Nabarun Dasgupta '13 (Ph.D.), Gillings Innovation Fellow at the UNC-Chapel Hill Gillings School of Global Public Health and senior scientist at the UNC Injury Prevention Research Center, will work with colleagues across Carolina to develop systems to detect and issue public warnings about dangerous adulterants in street drugs.

14 Mar 2022

Patients taking prescription opioids are at higher risk of developing mood disorders

People who are prescribed opioids for pain relief have a higher risk of developing mood disorders such as anxiety, University of Queensland researchers have found.

14 Mar 2022

Youth with intentional BZD overdoses more likely to have recent doctor-written prescription

A high number of teens and young adults with an overdose involving a benzodiazepine (BZD), like Xanax, or psychostimulant, like Adderall – medications commonly used to treat mental health issues like attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and anxiety disorders – have a recent medical prescription for a BZD or stimulant, according to Rutgers researchers who say physicians need to weigh the risks and benefits of these medications more closely.

10 Mar 2022

15 medical societies establish seven guiding principles for perioperative treatment of acute pain

The American Society of Anesthesiologists and 14 leading medical specialty organizations established seven guiding principles to better address the perioperative treatment of acute pain in complex surgical patients.

8 Mar 2022

Study shows anti-itch and pain relief potential of protein in tick saliva

A protein found in tick saliva could be turned into a drug that eases itching and chronic pain in people.

8 Mar 2022

Automation linked to increasing mortality rate among America's working-age adults

The automation of U.S. manufacturing — robots replacing people on factory floors — is fueling rising mortality rate among America's working-age adults, according to a new study by researchers at Yale and the University of Pennsylvania.

3 Mar 2022

Calls to overhaul methadone distribution intensify, but clinics resist

Days typically start early for patients undergoing opioid addiction treatment at Denver Recovery Group's six methadone clinics in Colorado.

3 Mar 2022

Drug overdose death rates among Black Americans surpass that of whites for first time in 20 years

In 2020, the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, the rate of drug overdose deaths among Black Americans surpassed that of whites for the first time since 1999 -; a sharp reversal of the situation a decade earlier, when rates were twice as high for whites as for Blacks, new UCLA research shows.

2 Mar 2022

Research shows intergenerational effects of preconception opioids in male offspring rats

New research from scientists at Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University suggests opioid use before pregnancy-; even if not used during pregnancy itself-; could result in a higher likelihood that a mother's male offspring will develop type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome, conditions that increase the risk of heart disease and stroke.

28 Feb 2022

Outpatient antibiotic treatment for infective endocarditis improves outcomes, reduces costs

A new modeling study suggests that when patients who inject opioids continue an antibiotic treatment for infective endocarditis outside of the hospital, they experienced better long-term health outcomes than patients who receive the standard four to six weeks of inpatient, intravenous antibiotic therapy.

28 Feb 2022

Oral health disparities persist and pose a major global public health threat, experts say

Americans' oral health has improved over the last two decades, but disparities in oral health have stubbornly persisted and pose a major global public health threat, write National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research Director Rena N. D'Souza, D.D.S., Ph.D., Science Advisor to the President and former National Institutes of Health Director Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D., and U.S. Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy, M.D., M.B.A., in a new perspective published in The New England Journal of Medicine.

27 Feb 2022

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Contemplating a post-‘Roe’ world

With those on both sides of the abortion debate anticipating that the Supreme Court this year will weaken or overturn Roe v. Wade, which established the right to the procedure, activists are arguing about how best to proceed.

24 Feb 2022

Nearly 1% of all US adults prescribed opioids are also taking various other sedatives

As many as 2.6 million Americans—equivalent to 1 per cent of all US adults —prescribed opioids are also taking various other sedatives, including benzodiazepines plus another type of sedative drug, estimates research published online in the journal Regional Anesthesia & Pain Medicine.

23 Feb 2022

‘Injections, injections, injections’: Troubling questions follow closure of sprawling pain clinic chain

On May 13 of last year, the cellphones of thousands of California residents undergoing treatment for chronic pain lit up with a terse text message: "Due to unforeseen circumstances, Lags Medical Centers will be closing effective May 19, 2021."

22 Feb 2022

Expert highlights the racist origins of US drug policy and its effect on the modern opioid epidemic

In his work as a pain management pharmacist, Dan Arendt has seen some of his patients stigmatized as "drug seekers" or blamed for their use of opioids rather than being acknowledged as a person who is suffering from a severely painful condition.

21 Feb 2022

COVID-19 survivors more likely to suffer from mental health problems

As the COVID-19 pandemic stretches into its third year, countless people have experienced varying degrees of uncertainty, isolation and mental health challenges.

17 Feb 2022

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: It’s health costs, stupid (2022 edition)

The pandemic may be showing signs of winding down, but health care costs are not.

17 Feb 2022

Identifying direct and indirect effects of SARS-CoV-2 pandemic on mortality in the US

Researchers recently differentiated the direct and indirect impacts of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic on mortality in the United States.

17 Feb 2022

Study analyzes trends in overdose deaths from use of non-benzodiazepines and gabapentinoids

With an alarming rise in the number of prescriptions filled for non-benzo sleeping/z-drugs and anti-epilepsy gabapentinoids over the last two decades, researchers at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health aimed to fill in the gap in knowledge in the proportion of overdose deaths involving those medications and learn more about their co-usage with other substances across U.S. demographics categories.

16 Feb 2022

Opioids News and Research

Further Reading

Money flows into addiction tech, but will it curb soaring opioid overdose deaths?

UNC researchers offer solution to detect, issue warnings about tainted street drugs

Patients taking prescription opioids are at higher risk of developing mood disorders

Youth with intentional BZD overdoses more likely to have recent doctor-written prescription

15 medical societies establish seven guiding principles for perioperative treatment of acute pain

Study shows anti-itch and pain relief potential of protein in tick saliva

Automation linked to increasing mortality rate among America's working-age adults

Calls to overhaul methadone distribution intensify, but clinics resist

Drug overdose death rates among Black Americans surpass that of whites for first time in 20 years

Research shows intergenerational effects of preconception opioids in male offspring rats

Outpatient antibiotic treatment for infective endocarditis improves outcomes, reduces costs

Oral health disparities persist and pose a major global public health threat, experts say

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: Contemplating a post-‘Roe’ world

Nearly 1% of all US adults prescribed opioids are also taking various other sedatives

‘Injections, injections, injections’: Troubling questions follow closure of sprawling pain clinic chain

Expert highlights the racist origins of US drug policy and its effect on the modern opioid epidemic

COVID-19 survivors more likely to suffer from mental health problems

KHN’s ‘What the Health?’: It’s health costs, stupid (2022 edition)

Identifying direct and indirect effects of SARS-CoV-2 pandemic on mortality in the US

Study analyzes trends in overdose deaths from use of non-benzodiazepines and gabapentinoids

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