Journal: American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine, 2025, doi: 10.1177/15598 276251401194
Authors: Dawn M. Mussallem, Elizabeth K. Farkouh, Taryn L. Smith, & Jing Wang
Abstract:
Objective: To estimate the proportion of female patients from Mayo Clinic Family Medicine and Community Internal Medicine clinics who are aware of alcohol use as a breast cancer (BC) risk factor.
Patients and methods: One thousand women aged 21 to 70 completed a survey collecting information on demographics, medical/family history, frequency and quantity of alcohol consumption, and other health behaviors. Participants were also asked to grade how likely certain factors were to increase lifetime BC risk.
Results: Most participants (844/990 [85.3%]) identified a family history of BC as a BC risk factor. In contrast, 48.4% (475/982) identified alcohol use as a BC risk factor. The remaining 51.6% (507/982) reported either they were not sure about alcohol consumption as a risk factor (341/982 [34.7%]), believed that there was no association (143/982 [14.6%]), or believed that alcohol consumption decreases the risk of BC (23/982 [2.3%]). In multivariable analyses, factors associated with awareness of alcohol consumption and BC risk included having never been pregnant (P = 0.048), more education (P < 0.001), and higher frequency of alcohol consumption in the past 12 months (P = 0.005).
Conclusion: Further education of patients and the public is needed to promote awareness of alcohol as a risk factor for BC.
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Journal: Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 2025, doi: 10.1093/abm/kaaf096
Authors: Nhung Nguyen, Jason M. Satterfield, Salomeh Keyhani, Gregory M. Marcus, & Pamela M. Ling
Abstract:
Background: Despite young adults’ growing use of nicotine and cannabis vaporized products (vaping), little is known about factors influencing vaping cessation.
Purpose: Identify barriers and facilitators to nicotine and/or cannabis vaping cessation among young adults (18-29 years old).
Methods: We conducted a thematic analysis of interviews with 20 California young adults (mean age = 22.8, racially and ethnically diverse) who vaped nicotine and/or cannabis (specifically delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol or THC) in 2024-2025. We mapped cessation-related barriers and facilitators to Capability, Opportunity, Motivation, and Behavior model and Theoretical Domains Framework.
Results: Young adults expressed stronger motivation to stop vaping nicotine than cannabis. Psychological Capability barriers involved a lack of self-control over nicotine vaping. Physical Opportunity factors, such as product accessibility and treatment unaffordability, hindered quitting, while the cost burden of vaporized products was a facilitator. Social Opportunity included both barriers (ie, socialization) and facilitators (ie, protection of loved ones or relationships). Automatic Motivation barriers included habitual use and addiction, while negative emotion toward vaping harms facilitated quitting. Reflective Motivation included the most identified factors for barriers (eg, low perceived risk of vaping, coping with mental health, and personal identity linked to vaping) and facilitators (eg, quitting desire and concerns about health and vaporized product quality). Most factors influencing vaping cessation overlapped for nicotine and cannabis. Substance-specific barriers for nicotine (ie, self-control, oral fixation, and flavor appeal) and cannabis (ie, perceived benefits) were identified.
Conclusions: Findings provide insights into potential targets for future interventions to help young adults quit vaping nicotine and/or cannabis.
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Journal: Substance Use: Research and Treatment, 2025, doi: 10.1177/29768357 251367574
Authors: Efrat Aharonovich, Dvora Shmulewitz, Abigail Zavod, Elizabeth Keane, Anna Legedza, Deborah Hasin, & Maria A. Sullivan
Abstract:
Background: Opioid use disorder (OUD) can be associated with cognitive impairment. However, little is known about how patients with OUD self-perceive any cognitive impairments, particularly in attention, executive function, and memory. No studies have addressed this issue in patients with OUD and self-reported adherence to office-based medication-assisted treatment (MAT).
Methods: This was an observational, multisite, cross-sectional survey study to evaluate self-reported cognitive function in adults with OUD, enrolled at 7 sites in the U.S., who had received ⩾3 months of office-based MAT. A cognitive self-report survey was administered to a clinical sample of adults with OUD (N = 255) adherent to buprenorphine (BUP; N = 139) or extended-release naltrexone (XR-NTX; N = 116). Impairments in attention, executive function, and memory were assessed with relevant items of the Executive Function Index (EFI) and Prospective Retrospective Memory Questionnaire (PRMQ). Factor analysis explored item factor structure; item scores were summed to generate scales, and association was estimated by linear regression.
Results: Approximately one-third of participants reported head injury and nearly one-half reported psychiatric comorbidities, particularly anxiety and depression. Most participants reported difficulties in ⩾1 cognitive item: 80.8% (206/255) for EFI and 49.0% (125/255) for PMRQ. Factor analysis suggested 3 cognitive scales (attention, executive, memory). Differences between the XR-NTX and the BUP groups on memory, executive function, and attention either were not found or lost significance after adjustment for neurological history. seizure). All scales were associated with a range of demographic and clinical variables.
Conclusions: Most adults receiving office-based MAT for OUD reported self-perceived cognitive impairment, but neurological comorbidities may also play a role in these perceptions.
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Journal: Frontiers in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 2025, doi: 10.3389/ frcha.2025.1631474
Authors: Srinivasan A. Ramakrishnan, Riaz B. Shaik, Siddhartha Peri, Faith Adams, Shalaila S. Haas, Sophia Frangou, … Muhammad A. Parvaz
Abstract:
Background: Family history of substance use (FHSU), along with sociodemographic and psychosocial factors, has been identified as a key risk factor for adolescent substance use and progression to substance use disorders (SUD). However, the interaction between distinct sociodemographic and psychosocial profiles in adolescents with FHSU and constitutional factors, such as psychopathological symptom severity, impulsivity, and reward processing, remains unclear. Given the complexity of these factors, it is crucial to explore how these elements contribute to the differential vulnerability to SUD among youth with family history of substance use. Particularly as, the identification of clinically relevant subgroups of at-risk youth may inform precision prevention and treatment approaches to reduce adverse outcomes related to SUDs.
Methods: Here, we used data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study and grouped the participants (age: 9-10 years) into positive and negative FHSU [i.e., FHSU-P (n = 1955; female 49.7%, White 57.95%), and FHSU-N (n = 4,369; female 48.33%, White 61.16%), respectively]. We used K-means clustering to identify latent subgroups in the FHSU-P population based on psychosocial variables and then compared the resulting subgroups on internalizing, externalizing, and total psychopathology, impulsivity, and reward prediction errors.
Results: K-means clustering revealed five subgroups within FHSU-P: Subgroups 1 (n = 744) and 2 (n = 300) exhibited favorable psychosocial profiles, marked by higher school involvement, social engagement, and parental acceptance. Subgroups 3 (n = 267), 4 (n = 201), and 5 (n = 443) were characterized by lower engagement across peer, school, and parental domains. Group comparisons showed that Subgroups 1 and 2 had comparable levels of psychopathology and impulsivity, while Subgroups 3, 4, and 5 displayed higher psychopathology and impulsivity. Reward prediction errors were similar across all subgroups. Other group differences are also presented and discussed in the main text.
Conclusion: These findings highlight significant heterogeneity within the FHSU-P group and emphasize the importance of stratifying adolescents based on sociodemographic and psychosocial factors. Such stratification can help identify adolescents at higher risk for psychopathologies, including SUDs, offering insights for targeted prevention and intervention strategies.
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Journal: The Lancet Regional Health – Americas, 2025, doi: 10.1016/j.lana. 2025.101226
Authors: Deborah Dowell, Nisha Nataraj, Michaela Rikard, Joohyun Park, Kun Zhang, & Grant Baldwin
Abstract:
While overdose deaths remain high in the United States (U.S.), national data show a 25.0% decline in overdose deaths from the year ending in March 2025 compared to the previous year. Reductions since 2015 in the population exposed to overdose risk through drug use may have until recently been offset by an increased per-person mortality risk, driven by replacement of heroin with fentanyl in the drug supply. We estimated overdose deaths and counterfactual scenarios from 2016 to 2023. An estimated 109,783 additional people would have died from opioid overdose if the population exposed to opioid overdose risk had remained constant rather than declining; an estimated 260,024 fewer people would have died from overdose if probability of fentanyl involvement in opioid overdose deaths had remained constant rather than increasing. Fentanyl’s representation in the U.S. drug supply appears to be a key driver of overdose trends. A declining population exposed to overdose risk over the last decade may be related to prior deaths and to evidence-based efforts to prevent substance use and opioid use disorder.
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