Despite new evidence that more people are being treated in hospital for excessive drinking, the overall trend is that we are drinking less as a nation. Why? > > > > Read More
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
SURVEILLANCE REPORT #90 APPARENT PER CAPITA ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION: NATIONAL, STATE, AND REGIONAL TRENDS, 1977–2008
This surveillance report on 1977–2008 apparent per capita alcohol consumption in the United States is the 24th in a series of consumption reports produced annually by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA).
Findings are based on alcoholic beverage sales data, either collected directly by the Alcohol Epidemiologic Data System (AEDS) from the States or provided by beverage industry sources. Population data provided by the U.S. Census Bureau are used as denominators to calculate per capita rates.
The following are highlights from the current report, which updates consumption trends through 2008:
- In the United States, per capita consumption of ethanol from all alcoholic beverages combined in 2008 was 2.32 gallons, representing a 0.4 percent increase from 2.31 gallons in 2007.
- Between 2007 and 2008, changes in overall per capita consumption of ethanol included increases in 33 States and the District of Columbia, decreases in 10 States, and no change in 7 States.
- Analysis of overall per capita alcohol consumption by census region between 2007 and 2008 indicated increases of 0.9% in the Midwest and 0.4% in the Northeast.
- Healthy People 2010 has set the national objective for reducing per capita alcohol consumption to no more than 1.96 gallons of ethanol. However, since 1999, there has been a trend of increasing per capita consumption. To meet the 2010 objective, per capita alcohol consumption will need to decrease by 15.5 percent, or about 8.1 percent per year from 2009 through 2010.
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Tackling Under-Age Drinking in Europe: Towards a Comprehensive EU-Wide Partnership
Silken Hotel, Brussels
This International Symposium will gather comparative experience and best practices in early intervention strategies based around young people and their families, and other key consequences of under-age drinking such as anti-social behaviour and drink-driving. It will also discuss the potential role of national governments and regional authorities in supporting campaigns to combat the issue and the dissemination of lessons learned from different European countries
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
National alcohol treatment statistics report (NATMS) 2009/10
The second national report on alcohol treatment has been released by the National Treatment Agency (NTA):
> > > > Read More
The Substance Abuse Policy Research Program
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The Financial Burden of Substance Abuse in West Virginia: The State Workforce Syste
The present report, part of a larger Family Funding Study project, is the fifth and last in the series that examines the cost of drug and alcohol abuse to West Virginia’s criminal justice, healthcare, education, welfare, and workforce systems. A comprehensive report, incorporating estimates from all these sectors, will be produced at the end of this project.
The present report attempts to capture the impact of drug and alcohol abuse on West Virginia’s workforce system. Although drug and alcohol abuse seriously impact the workforce system in terms of productivity, efficiency, and other factors, data illuminating those costs have yet to be systematically collected.
The present report, therefore, limits its scope to the cost of worker absenteeism related to drug and alcohol abuse. Worker absenteeism is defined as the extra days substance using workers are absent compared to non-users (Foster & Vaughan, 2005).
This report estimates that drug and alcohol abuse-related worker absenteeism costs the state over $12 million a year.
Read Full Report (PDF)
Monday, February 14, 2011
Labelling Logic - the Final Report of the Review of Food Labelling Law and Policy
Recommendation 24: That generic alcohol warning messages be placed on alcohol labels but only as an element of a comprehensive multifaceted national campaign targeting the public health problems of alcohol in society.
Recommendation 25: That a suitably worded warning message about the risks of consuming alcohol while pregnant be mandated on individual containers of alcoholic beverages and at the point of sale for unpackaged alcoholic beverages, as support for ongoing broader community education.
Recommendation 26: That energy content be displayed on the labels of all alcoholic beverages, consistent with the requirements for other food products.
Recommendation 27: That drinks that are mixtures of alcohol and other beverages comply with all general nutrition labelling requirements, including disclosure of a mandatory Nutrition Information Panel.
The Final Report is available below.
‘Labelling Logic’ – The Final Report of the Review of Food Labelling Law and Policy (PDF)
Current Issue: November–December 2010
INTERVENTIONS & ASSESSMENTS
Systematic Review: No Evidence for Efficacy of Screening and Brief Intervention among Dependent and Heavy Drinkers
SBIRT in the Emergency Department: No Effect at 6 and 12 Months
Can a Single-Question Alcohol Screen Also Detect Drug Use?
Risk of Death during Opioid Substitution Therapy in UK Primary-Care Practices
Does Higher Maternal Methadone Dose Increase Risk for Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome?
Acamprosate Does Have Efficacy for Alcohol Dependence
Stepped-Up Alcohol Screening in the Veterans Affairs System: Inconsistent Results
Using Alcohol for Sleep: A Sign of Unhealthy Use
Patients with Chronic Pain and a Prescription Drug Use Disorder Have Easily Identifiable Risk Factors
Motivational Enhancement More Effective than Cognitive Behavioral Treatment for Alcoholics with Low Motivation
Age under 65 and History of a Psychiatric or Opioid Use Disorder Are Associated with a Current Prescription Opioid Use Disorder
HEALTH OUTCOMES
Alcohol Use and Infection May Trigger Ischemic Stroke
Societal and Individual Harms from Specific Substances of Abuse
Increased Mortality in HIV-Infected Patients with Untreated Psychiatric and Substance Use Disorders
Drinking Pattern and Beverage Type Modify Alcohol?s Effect on Risk of Coronary Disease
SLIDE PRESENTATIONS
Update on Alcohol, Other Drugs, and Health
Journal Club
Free CME Opportunities
Read Full Newsletter (PDF)
African Journal of Drug and Alcohol Studies Volume 9, Number 1, 2010
Contents
Links Between Alcohol and Hiv in their Daily Practice: A Pilot Study .........................................1
Neo K. Morojele, Anne L. Pithey, Connie T. Kekwaletswe,
Marie Joubert-Wallis, Molefe I. Pule, Charles D. H. Parry
Determination of Caffeine Content in Non-Alcoholic Beverages and
Energy Drinks Using Hplc-Uv Method.........................................................................................15
Muriira Geoffrey Karau, James N Kihunyu, Nahashon M Kathenya,
Laura N Wangai, Daniel Kariuki, & Rotich Henry Kibet
Is Cannabis Use Related to Road Crashes?
A Study of Long Distance Commercial Drivers in Nigeria...........................................................23
Victor Olufolahan Lasebikan
Extent and Influence of Recreational Drug Use on Men and
Women Aged 15 Years and Older in South Africa........................................................................33
Peter Njuho and Alicia Davids
Chang’aa Drinking in Kibera Slum: The Harmful Effects of
Contemporary Changes in the Production and Consumption of Traditional Spirits.....................49
Christine Bodewes
Tributes to Alan Flisher.................................................................................................................57
Read Full Issue (PDF)
Reports highlight regional drinking problem
More people drink themselves to death in northwest New Mexico than anywhere else in the state, which is one of the worst states in the country in terms of alcohol-related deaths per capita.
Three counties in northwest New Mexico — San Juan, McKinley and Rio Arriba — have the highest concentration in the state of people who died from various alcohol-related issues from 2007 through 2009, according to reports recently published by the New Mexico Health Department
New Mexico has been one of the top three states with the highest alcohol-related death rates per capita every year since 1981, said Joe Roeber, the New Mexico alcohol epidemiologist for the state's health department.
In San Juan County, the three-year, alcohol-related injury death rate was more than double the national average and in McKinley County the rate was more than triple the national average. Examples of alcohol-related injury deaths include deaths from vehicle crashes, falls and suicides.
> > > > Read More
Indicator Report - Alcohol-Related Deaths
Excessive alcohol consumption contributes to many different poor health outcomes. Chronic heavy drinking (defined as drinking more than two drinks a day for men and more than one drink a day for women) contributes to a variety of alcohol-related chronic diseases, including liver cirrhosis and alcohol dependence. Episodic heavy (or binge) drinking (defined as drinking five or more drinks on a single occasion for men and four or more drinks on a single occasion for women) contributes to a variety of alcohol-related injuries, including motor vehicle crashes, poisonings, falls, homicides, and suicides.
According to the most recent available comprehensive estimate, the annual cost of alcohol-related harm in the United States, in 1998, was roughly 185 billion dollars per year (NIAAA, http://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/economic-2000/index.htm). This estimate included health care costs, economic costs such as the cost of lost productivity, and the cost of other effects of alcohol on society such as crime and motor vehicle crashes. Given trends in the component costs since the time of this report, this estimate likely represents a substantial underestimate of current alcohol-related costs in the United States.
In 2006, the cost of alcohol abuse in New Mexico was estimated, based on this national estimate, to be $2.5 billion. The economic burden of alcohol abuse amounted to over $1,250 for every person in the state (NMDOH, http://nmhealth.org/ERD/HealthData/SubstanceAbuse/ER%20Alcohol%20related%20costs%20112309.pdf).
> > > > Read More
Critique 033: Moderate-to-heavy alcohol intake may increase risk of atrial fibrillation
A number of well-done studies have shown an increase in the risk of atrial fibrillation to be associated with heavy alcohol intake or with alcoholism. Most previous studies suggest little if any increase in risk from light-to-moderate drinking.
The present study was a meta-analysis based on 14 studies from Europe or North America. It showed an increase in risk with alcohol, but there were limited dose-response data to determine if there was a threshold above which the risk was increased.
Overall, the scientific evidence from many studies suggests that at least heavy drinking may increase the risk of atrial fibrillation, although whether light-to-moderate intake increases the risk seems unlikely.
Previous basic scientific data of mechanisms of atrial fibrillation have suggested that alcohol has little effect on this arrhythmia.
Alcohol News - 7/2011
Views and News from Norway (Norway) - Alcohol sales brewing on the farm
Norway’s farmer-friendly Center Party (Senterpartiet, Sp) has decided to try to get its other government partners to allow sales of alcoholic beverages, including spirits, straight off the farms that produce them.
MedIndia (Finland) - Link Between Sweet Taste and Alcohol
Alcoholics who have liking for sweetness are more likely to get away with alcohol consumption with the aid of a common drug , revealed in a study. David Sinclair and colleagues at the National Institute for Health and Welfare in Helsinki, Finland, asked 78 study subjects with alcohol dependence who had taken the drug recently to rate their preference for sugar solutions.
Bird&Bird (Sweden) - Will the Swedish alcohol monopoly soon face local competition?
It finally looks like the deeply rooted Swedish liquor monopoly, Systembolaget, will face some competition after almost 60 years of state sanctioned monopoly. According to a Government Report, producers of alcoholic beverages may obtain the right to sell alcohol directly to the consumer from their own premises - an arrangement simply labeled “yard sales” in translation, or “gårdsförsäljning” in Swedish.
Stockholm News (Sweden) - More alcohol smuggling from Germany
The private import of alcohol from Denmark and Germany is increasing and this is also the case for the illegal resale of alcohol according to the Swedish border customs.
The Baltic Course (Lithuania) - Lithuania's abbots slam monk Svyturys-Utenos beer ad
Catholic monks in Lithuania are up in arms over a beer advert depicting their brethren raising glasses, saying it tarnishes their image and could encourage a boozy lifestyle.
Medical News Today - WHO Study: Alcohol Is International Number One Killer, AIDS Second
Today the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that alcohol is to blame for just about 4% of, or 2.5 million deaths worldwide annually. Alcohol attributable injuries are of a growing concern to the public health community, with alcohol-related injuries such as road traffic accidents, burns, poisonings, falls and drownings making up more than a third of the disease burden attributable to alcohol consumption.
The State (USA) - House bans sale of canned drinks that mix alcohol and caffeine
S.C. House lawmakers Wednesday approved banning Four Loko and other canned drinks that combine alcohol and caffeine.
Barents Observer (Russia) - Every fifth Russian man dies of alcohol
The Russians drink an average of 15,76 liters of pure alcohol every year, which makes them the fourth most drinking country in the world, a new report from the World Health Organization reads.
NECN (USA) - RAND group to study SD's 24/7 program
Attorney General Marty Jackley said the RAND Corporation will study the effectiveness of the state's 24/7 Sobriety Program.
EurekAlert - Moderate-to-heavy alcohol intake may increase risk of atrial fibrillation
Atrial Fibrillation (AF) is the most common cardiac arrhythmia (abnormal heart rhythm). Its name comes from the fibrillating (i.e., quivering) of the heart muscles of the atria, instead of a coordinated contraction. The result is an irregular heartbeat, which may occur in episodes lasting from minutes to weeks, or it could occur all the time for years. Atrial fibrillation alone is not in itself generally life-threatening, but it may result in palpitations, fainting, chest pain, or congestive heart failure.
Examiner.com - Gulf Operation toxins could increase Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
Gulf Coast pregnant women abstaining from alcohol to prevent Fetal Alcohol Syndrome might find their unborn babies are at risk of the disability due to Corexit that has been sprayed along with crude according to public health experts this week.
BBC News (UK) - Drunk A&E patients 'should pay' for hospital treatment
Drunk people should pay for the treatment they receive at accident and emergency units, a patients' group has said.
TVNZ (New Zealand) - Fresh call for alcohol sponsorship ban
The days of alcohol sponsorship of sport could well be numbered, a conference has been told.
TheMedGuru (Australia) - More kids in Australia becoming alcohol addicts
Alcohol addiction among Australian kids is getting out of control, necessitating treatment for kids as young as 10 years.
WalesOnline (Wales) - Alcohol watchdog calls for ban on drinks sport sponsorship
A REPORT has today called for the end of sports sponsorship by alcohol companies to stop young people becoming tomorrow’s problem drinkers.
Times LIVE (South Africa) - Zuma calls for action against substance abuse
President Jacob Zuma has called for "concerted action" to deal with the abuse of alcohol and drugs in Mitchells Plain. Zuma said in a speech at the Sultan Bahu Treatment Centre in Mitchells Plain on Tuesday that he was concerned that the abuse of alcohol and drugs was becoming a fashionable part of the lives of "some" children.
TopNews United States (Italy) - Alcohol And Drug Intake Triggers Unsatisfied Sex Among Italian Youth
As per the findings of a new survey, conducted by Sigo, a Roman organization for gynaecology and obstetrics, no less than 29% of young males and 35% of their fellow females are leading an unsatisfied sexual life.
7thSpace Interactive - Developing a method to derive alcohol-attributable fractions for HIV/AIDS mortality based on alcohol's impact on adherence to antiretroviral medication
Alcohol consumption is causally linked to nonadherence to antiretroviral treatment that in turn causes an increase in HIV/AIDS mortality. This article presents a method to calculate the percentage of HIV/AIDS deaths attributable to alcohol consumption and the associated uncertainty.
ABC Online (Australia) - Alcohol bans linked to lower STD rate
A new study in Western Australia has established for the first time a clear link between alcohol restrictions and a decrease in the level of sexually transmitted disease.
Herald Scotland (Scotland) - One in 12 young Scotsmen in trouble linked to alcohol
SHOCKING new figures show the number of young Scots reprimanded by police for drinking has reached a record high.
Addiction - ALCOHOL MARKETING RESEARCH AGENDA—LET US LOOK AT HOW THE INDUSTRY MAINTAINS ITS HEGEMONY
The paper by Meier and colleagues makes an important contribution to the alcohol policy research field [1]. There is a clear elucidation of some key research questions, the answers to which will allow for more informed discussion of alcohol marketing policy. It also contributes an excellent overview of the research evidence on mechanisms by which advertising has its effects and critique of some earlier alcohol marketing research.
Rentention & Recovery Ccapital: reshaping & rethinking interventions
Attendance at the seminar is FREE. However, places are limited and anyone wishing to attend must complete the Registration Form and notify the organisers immediately if they are subsequently unable to attend.
Throughout the UK there has been a resurgence of interest in - and demand for - addiction interventions which aspire to deliver full and sustained recovery. In Scotland, this development has been underpinned by the Scottish Government's publication of its Road to Recovery strategy and the establishment of the Scottish Drugs Recovery Consortium.
This half-day seminar, sponsored by the Scottish Drugs Recovery Consortium brings together internationally acclaimed researcher and teacher, George De Leon, respected UK recovery researcher, David Best and long-time recovery advocate Rowdy Yates (see the About page for full details of the speakers) to explore the related issues of retention and recovery capital. Read more...
Disaggregating the Burden of Substance Dependence in the United States
The primary purpose of substance use epidemiology is to determine the magnitude of the problem with a view towards establishing public health, research priorities,
and anticipating treatment needs.
One way to characterize the magnitude of substance problems in the United States is to estimate the annual prevalence of the use of each specific substance and its associated conditional probability of dependence, i.e., the percentage of 12-month users with 12-month dependence. Substance dependence reflects one of the most severe substance use problems, often indicating a need for treatment.
Substance-specific estimates of prevalence and conditional probability of dependence also illustrate each substance’s contribution to the overall number of Americans affected by substance dependence.
Data from the Wave 1 2001 to 2002 National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (Grant et al., 2001) provide unique evidence of the contributions of various substances to the overall burden of substance dependence in the United States.
Read Full Abstract
Request Reprint E-Mail: bgrant@mail.nih.gov
A model of access to and continuance in Alcoholics Anonymous
These data from a nationally representative sample of US adults with alcohol use disorders revealed a robust significant association of high symptom severity with access, continuation and discontinuation from Alcoholics Anonymous.
The association of high symptom severity and negative life events supports the behavioral economic model of AA access and continuation as proposed in this paper.
Variables associated with access to AA were also associated with continuation in AA, except for the variables for gender and education level. Women were less likely to attend AA, but more likely to continue attending. College educated respondents were less likely to attend AA, but more likely to continue attending.
A sub-group of US adults with severe externalizing disorders, identified in this study, are associated with access to and continuation in AA
In the US there is a a significant geographic regional variation in access to and continuation in AA.
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Free Issue - Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research
Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research invites you to enjoy unlimited full-text access to a free 2011 issue - no registration required!
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Sleep homeostasis in alcohol-dependent, depressed and healthy control men
Visually scored and power spectral analyses (PSA) of polysomnography (PSG) recordings reveal abnormalities in alcohol dependence (AD) and major depressive disorder (MDD), including deficiencies in slow wave activity (SWA) during non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep.
SWA parameters reflect the integrity of the homeostatic sleep drive, which have not been compared in those with AD or MDD.
Ten men with AD were compared with 10 men with MDD and 10 healthy controls (HCs), all aged 20–40 years. They maintained an 11 pm to 6 am sleep schedule for 5–7 days, followed by 3 consecutive nights of PSG in the laboratory: night 1 for adaptation/screening; night 2 for baseline recordings; and night 3 as the challenge night, delaying sleep until 2 am. SWA was quantified with PSA across 4 NREM periods
Men with AD generated the least SWA at baseline. In response to sleep delay, HC men showed the expected SWA enhancement and a sharper exponential decline across NREM periods.
Both the MDD and the AD groups showed a significantly blunted SWA response to sleep delay.
Men with MDD had the least SWA in the first NREM period (impaired accumulation of sleep drive), whereas men with AD had the slowest SWA decay rate (impaired dissipation of sleep drive).
These results suggest that both SWA generation and its homeostatic regulation are impaired in men with either AD or MDD.
Finding interventions that selectively improve these different components of sleep homeostasis should be a goal of treatment for AD and MDD.
Low plasma antibodies specific for phosphatidylethanol in alcohol abusers and patients with alcoholic pancreatitis
Phosphatidylethanol (PEth) is a group of alcohol-modified phospholipids present in cell membranes after heavy drinking.
Our aim was to demonstrate the presence of human plasma antibodies binding to PEth and to address their specificity and value in detecting subjects engaged in heavy alcohol consumption.
Antibodies to PEth were analyzed in plasma from heavy drinkers (n = 20), patients with alcoholic pancreatitis (n = 58) and control subjects (n = 24), using chemiluminescent immunoassay.
Heavy drinkers and patients with alcoholic pancreatitis demonstrated significantly lower levels of plasma IgG, IgA and IgM titers to PEth compared with controls (P < 0.001).
The specificity of the antibodies to PEth was demonstrated with competitive liquid phase immunoassays and flow cytometry.
The plasma IgG, but not IgA or IgM, titers to PEth in heavy drinkers correlated with the whole blood PEth concentration determined by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (r = 0.655, P = 0.002).
Compared with traditional markers for alcohol abuse (aspartate aminotransferase, gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase and mean corpuscular volume), receiver operating characteristic curve analysis showed that a low plasma IgA to PEth had the highest area under the curve (AUC 0.940, P < 0.001).
In conclusion, plasma IgG, IgA and IgM antibodies binding specifically to PEth were found in subjects of all study groups.
Subjects with heavy alcohol consumption showed markedly lower plasma immunoglobulin levels to PEth, potentially making them useful as a biomarker to distinguish heavy from moderate alcohol use.
Request Reprint E-Mail: antti.nissinen@oulu.fi
Ghrelin receptor (GHS-R1A) antagonism suppresses both operant alcohol self-administration and high alcohol consumption in rats
The mechanisms involved in alcohol use disorders are complex. It has been shown that ghrelin is an important signal for the control of body weight homeostasis, preferably by interacting with hypothalamic circuits, as well as for drug reward by activating the mesolimbic dopamine system.
The ghrelin receptor (GHS-R1A) has been shown to be required for alcohol-induced reward. Additionally, ghrelin increases and GHR-R1A antagonists reduce moderate alcohol consumption in mice, and a single nucleotide polymorphism in the GHS-R1A gene has been associated with high alcohol consumption in humans.
However, the role of central ghrelin signaling in high alcohol consumption is not known. Therefore, the role of GHS-R1A in operant self-administration of alcohol in rats as well as for high alcohol consumption in Long-Evans rats and in alcohol preferring [Alko alcohol (AA)] rats was studied here.
In the present study, the GHS-R1A antagonist, JMV2959, was found to reduce the operant self-administration of alcohol in rats and to decrease high alcohol intake in Long-Evans rats as well as in AA rats.
These results suggest that the ghrelin receptor signaling system, specifically GHS-R1A, is required for operant self-administration of alcohol and for high alcohol intake in rats.
Therefore, the GHS-R1A may be a therapeutic target for treatment of addictive behaviors, such as alcohol dependence.
Request Reprint E-Mail: selenab@gallo.ucsf.edu
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