PREVALENCE AND CURRENT SITUATION
Decline in new psychoactive substance use disorders following legislation targeting headshops: Evidence from national addiction treatment data.
Smyth, Bobby P and Lyons, Suzi and Cullen, Walter (2017) Drug and Alcohol Review, Early online
http://www.drugsandalcohol.ie/27172/
The aim of this study was to acertain if legislation that caused the closure of Headshops had an impact on the rate of NPS use disorders.
Conclusion: Over the 2 years after the enactment of prohibition-styled legislation targeting NPS and headshops, the rate of NPS related addiction treatment episodes among young adults declined progressively and substantially. We found no coinciding trend change in the rate of episodes linked to other drug groups.
Factors associated with different smoking status in European adolescents: results of the SEYLE study.
Banzer, Raphaela and Haring, C and Buchheim, A and Oehler, S and Carli, V and Wasserman, C and Kaess, M and Apter, A and Balazs, J and Bobes, J and Brunner, R and Corcoran, P and Cosman, D and Hoven, C W and Kahn, J P and Keeley, H S and Postuvan, V and Podlogar, T and Sisask, M and Värnik, A and Sarchiapone, M and Wasserman, D (2017) European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry , Early online .
http://www.drugsandalcohol.ie/27139/
The aim of the presented analysis was to investigate risk and influencing factors for different smoking status in a big sample of European adolescents.
Conclusion: Our data show that smoking among adolescents is still a major public health problem and adolescents who smoke are at higher risk for mental problems. Further, adolescent smoking is associated with broken home families and parental behaviors. Therefore, early preventive measures are necessary not only for adolescents, but also for their parents.
Alcohol consumption among university students: a latent class analysis.
Davoren, Martin P and Dahly, Darren L and Shiely, Frances and Perry, Ivan J (2017) Drugs: Education Prevention and Policy , Early online .
http://www.drugsandalcohol.ie/27020/
The aim of the current research was to use latent class analysis to employ a person centred approach to describe alcohol consumption among university students with particular reference to gender.
Conclusion: Both men and women reported a class of “Guarded Drinkers”, “Responsible Conformers” and “Realistic Hedonists”. The remaining class of women was described as “Peer-influenced drinkers”. Identifying consumption typologies provides those working on tackling excessive alcohol consumption with profiles to implement tailored health promotion strategies.
The country-level effects of drinking, heavy drinking and drink prices on pre-drinking: An international comparison of 25 countries.
Labhart, Florian and Ferris, Jason and Winstock, Adam (2017) Drug and Alcohol Review , Early online
http://www.drugsandalcohol.ie/27039/
The aim of this study was to model the impact of the on-premise/off-premise drinks price ratio, the prevalence of current drinkers and of heavy drinkers on the percentage of pre-drinkers.
Conclusion: Pre-drinking appears to be a worldwide phenomenon. The significant effects of all three indicators demonstrate the role of country-level determinants underpinning the prevalence of pre-drinking across countries. Policy makers could use the reported findings for initiating campaigns to reduce pre-drinking behaviour.
Cross-cultural comparisons of drinking motives in 10 countries: Data from the DRINC project.
Mackinnon, Sean P and Couture, Marie-Eve and Cooper, M L and Kuntsche, Emmanuel and O'Connor, Roisin M and Stewart, Sherry H (2017) Drug and Alcohol Review , Early online
http://www.drugsandalcohol.ie/27108/
This study tested the measurement invariance of the Drinking Motives Questionnaire-Revised Short Form (DMQ-R-SF) in undergraduates across 10 countries.
Conclusion: There was broad cross-cultural consistency in the factor structure and mean patterns of drinking motives. Undergraduate students appear to drink mainly for positive reinforcement (i.e. for social and enhancement reasons), although this tendency is particularly pronounced among those from more individualistic countries. [Mackinnon SP, Couture M-E, Cooper ML, Kuntsche E, O'Connor RM, Stewart SH, and the DRINC Team. Cross-cultural comparisons of drinking motives in 10 countries: Data from the DRINC project. Drug Alcohol Rev 2017;00:000-000].
'APAAN in the neck' - A reflection on some novel impurities found in seized materials containing amphetamine in Ireland during routine forensic analysis.
Power, John D and Kavanagh, Pierce and McLaughlin, Gavin and Barry, Michael and Dowling, Geraldine and Brandt, Simon D (2017) Drug Testing and Analysis , Early online
http://www.drugsandalcohol.ie/27080/
The Republic of Ireland has a population of approximately 4.7 million citizens. Illicit drug misuse is tackled by legislative control mechanisms and the sole national forensic laboratory (Forensic Science Ireland) is tasked with detailing any controlled drugs present in seized materials by issuing a ‘certificate of analysis’ which is utilized for court purposes.
This paper reports on the newly identified impurities detected in Irish amphetamine importation seizures, some of which have been published previously, others presented for the first time. Reagent purity and synthesis conditions have been shown to affect the components observed during analysis of seizures. Post synthesis additions (adulteration) and storage conditions may also have a profound effect on the analytical profiles obtained from seized items. The finding of new impurities, their abundances, the use of reagents that contain or form known existing impurities and post synthesis additions all have the potential to adversely affect existing profiling methodologies, which aim to link different seizures to a source.
Lifetime risk of mortality due to different levels of alcohol consumption in seven European countries: implications for low-risk drinking guidelines.
Shield, Kevin D and Gmel, Gerrit and Gmel, Gerhard and Mäkelä, Pia and Probst, Charlotte and Room, Robin and Rehm, Jürgen (2017) Addiction , Early online
http://www.drugsandalcohol.ie/27053/
The aim of this study was to estimate alcohol mortality risks for seven European countries based on different average daily alcohol consumption amounts.
Conclusion: If low-risk alcohol guidelines were based on an acceptable risk of 1 in 1,000 premature deaths, then maximums for Europe should be 8-10 g/day for women and 15-20 g/day for men, and some of the current European guidelines would require downward revision.
Experiences of codeine use, misuse and dependence: application of Liese and Franz's cognitive developmental model of substance abuse.
Van Hout, Marie Claire and Norman, Ian and Rich, Eileen and Bergin, Michael (2017) Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy , Early online , pp. 1-15.
http://www.drugsandalcohol.ie/26839/
Aims: We present the application of Liese and Franz's (1996) cognitive developmental model of substance abuse to the trajectory from legitimate codeine use for pain, towards that of therapeutic and other forms of misuse, and physical and psychological dependence. It illustrates a cognitive behavioural analysis of the experiences of codeine misusers - which 'surfaces' the specific beliefs, thoughts, emotions and behaviours of this group of hidden codeine dependent individuals, who are distinct and unique from other opioid-dependent cohorts.
Conclusion: The concept mapping of codeine misuse and dependence presented here could provide psychological therapists working with individuals experiencing problems with codeine, misusing codeine and those with iatrogenic dependence, with an enhanced understanding of the key concepts involved in misuse and recovery pathways.
Use of prescription medication by individuals who died by suicide in Northern Ireland.
Benson, Tony and Corry, Colette and O'Neill, Siobhan and Murphy, Sam and Bunting, Brendan (2017) Archives of Suicide Research , Early online
http://www.drugsandalcohol.ie/26779/
Aims: To understand medication use prior to suicide in relation to patterns, polypharmacy and adherence.
Conclusion: Both medication use but also non-adherence rates were high in this sample of individuals who died by suicide. Potential implications and areas for future research are discussed.
New psychoactive substances: Current health-related practices and challenges in responding to use and harms in Europe
Pirona, Alessandro and Bo, Alessandra and Hedrich, Dagmar and Ferri, Marica and van Gelder, Nadine and Giraudon, Isabelle and Montanari, Linda and Simon, Roland and Mounteney, Jane (2017) The International Journal on Drug Policy , 40 , pp. 84-92.
http://www.drugsandalcohol.ie/27032/
The aim of this study was to explore current health responses to NPS, and highlight key issues in order to inform planning and implementation of adequate responses.
Conclusion: Immediate investments are required in expanding substance identification capabilities, competence building among professionals and dissemination of risk information among relevant stakeholders. The risks of neglecting under-served risk populations and failure to address the information needs of health professionals and users on NPS harms in a context of rapid changing drug markets in Europe may have unforeseeable consequences at societal level.
Hospital readmissions - independent predictors of 30-day readmissions derived from a 10 year database.
Kidney, Rachel and Sexton, Eithne and Galen, Louise Van and Silke, Bernard and Nanayakkara, Prabath and Kellett, John (2017) Acute Medicine, 16, (1), pp. 4-9.
The aim of this study was to investigate what factors were most strongly associated with early readmission.
Conclusion: Disease and patient-related factors beyond control of the hospital are the factors most strongly associated with 30 day readmission to hospital, suggesting that this may not be an appropriate quality indicator.
POLICY AND LEGISLATION
Correlation between tobacco control policies, consumption of rolled tobacco and e-cigarettes, and intention to quit conventional tobacco, in Europe.
Lidón-Moyano, Cristina and Martín-Sánchez, Juan Carlos and Saliba, Patrick and Graffelman, Jan and Martínez-Sánchez, Jose M (2017) Tobacco Control , 26 , pp. 149-152.
http://www.drugsandalcohol.ie/25209/
Aims: To analyse the correlation between the implementation of tobacco control policies and tobacco consumption, particularly rolling tobacco, electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) users and the intent to quit smoking in 27 countries of the European Union.
Conclusion: The level of smoke-free legislation among European countries is correlated with a decrease in the prevalence of smoking of conventional cigarettes and an increase in the intent to quit smoking within the past 12 months. However, the consumption of other tobacco products, particularly hand-rolled tobacco, is positively correlated with TCS among former cigarette smokers. Therefore, tobacco control policies should also consider other tobacco products, such as rolling tobacco, cigars and pipes.
RESPONSES
Promoting college students to seek help for mental health difficulties: a social normative approach.
Murphy, Donnchadh and Hennessy, Ellis (2017) International Journal of Mental Health Promotion , Early online .
http://www.drugsandalcohol.ie/26845/
The aim of this study was to test whether an online social normative intervention would promote college students’ help seeking attitudes and intentions.
Conclusion: The findings of this study are discussed with respect to methodological considerations, and recommendations for practice and future research are provided for student counselling clinics.
Development and implementation of a 'Mental Health Finder' software tool within an electronic medical record system.
Swan, D and Hannigan, A and Higgins, S and McDonnell, R and Meagher, D and Cullen, W (2017) Irish Journal of Medical Science , 186 , (1) , pp. 191-200.
http://www.drugsandalcohol.ie/27144/
We describe the development and initial implementation of a software tool ('mental health finder') within a widely used primary care electronic medical record system (EMR) in Ireland to enable large-scale data collection on the epidemiology and management of mental health and substance use problems among patients attending general practice.
CONCLUSIONS: The finder is a feasible and promising methodology for large-scale data collection on mental health problems in primary care.
