2012

Background: The prevalence of psychological distress among persons in opioid maintenance treatments (OMT) is high. It is important to assess psychological distress among OMT mothers and their partners because such psychological distress increases the risk of relapse to substance use.

Alcohol use is an important part of the health profile of older adults, and little is known about the prevalence and correlates of drinking among this population in Ghana and South Africa. This study aimed to describe and compare the prevalence and correlates of drinking patterns among adults aged 50 and above in Ghana and South Africa, and to determine which correlates explain differences in drinking patterns between the two countries.

Psychosis induced by the use of amphetamine or methamphetamine leads to dramatic symptoms and frequent readmissions and poses diagnostic challenges. Earlier studies have often relied on history taking and/or urine samples to reveal drug use. The aim of this study was to compare the psychotic symptoms of two groups: (1) acutely admitted patients who tested positive for methamphetamines and were diagnosed with drug-induced or methamphetamine-induced psychoses and (2) acutely admitted patients who tested negative for methamphetamines and were diagnosed with schizophrenia.

AIMS: To examine associations of abstention, alcohol consumption and problem drinking with subsequent disability pensioning (DP), and whether previous excessive consumption ('sick-quitting') could explain some of the increased risk for DP among abstainers.

ABSTRACT: Use of amphetamine and methamphetamine is widespread in the general population and common among patients with psychiatric disorders. Amphetamines may induce symptoms of psychosis very similar to those of acute schizophrenia spectrum psychosis.

AIMS: To investigate whether exposure to methadone affects the risk of motor vehicle accident with personal injury.

OBJECTIVE: Although depression is common among incurable cancer patients, the prescription prevalence of antidepressants (ADs) to these patients is largely unknown. Aims were to examine the prescription prevalence of ADs in the last year of life in a 2-year national cancer death cohort and to examine its associations with sociodemographic and medical variables.

The present study tested a hypothesized model regarding associations between risk sensitivity, risk perception, transport priorities, worry, and demand for risk mitigation in transport.

Baklofen er en GABAB-agonist uten kjent misbrukspotensial som er undersøkt ved alkoholrelaterte tilstander Dokumentasjonen for bruk ved alkoholabstinenser er utilstrekkelig Baklofen kan være et alternativ til disulfiram eller akamprosat som forebyggende behandling mot tilbakefall ved alkoholavhengighet.

INTRODUCTION: Carisoprodol, a frequently used muscle relaxant, can cause potentially fatal intoxications. Conversion to its active metabolite meprobamate is almost solely mediated by cytochrome P450 2C19 (CYP2C19), and mutations in this enzyme could have significant effects on serum concentrations. The objective of this study was to investigate the role of CYP2C19 genetics in mortalities due to carisoprodol intoxication.

AIM: The aim of this study was to develop definitions to identify persons with clinically different patterns of persistent opioid use based on data from prescription databases.

Carisoprodol, a centrally acting muscle relaxant indicated for acute lower back pain, has been available in Europe and the United States since 1959. 

AIMS: This study investigates changes in criminal involvement among patients in opioid maintenance treatment (OMT) over a 7-year period prior to, during and after treatment, particularly in relation to differences in treatment engagement.

Bakgrunn. Legemiddelassistert rehabilitering (LAR) er en tverrfaglig trepartsmodell for behandling av opioidavhengighet. Modellen forutsetter samhandling mellom allmennlegene, sosialtjenesten og spesialisthelsetjenesten. Den innskrenker i noen grad legenes faglige autonomi. Undersøkelsen tar sikte på å undersøke fastlegers holdninger til modellen og spesielt erfaringene til dem som har deltatt aktivt i den.

Background: The highly prevalent comorbidity of substance use disorders and psychiatric disorders represents challenges concerning diagnosis and treatment in acute psychiatric wards.

BACKGROUND: The purposes of this study were to investigate the prevalence of psychotropic (hypnotic, antidepressant, and anxiolytic) drug use among adolescents aged 15-16 years during the period 2006-2010 according to gender and subcategories of psychotropics, and to study psychotropic drug use over the period 2007-2010 among incident users in 2007.

PURPOSE: To examine whether socioeconomic factors influence adherence to alendronate drug treatment among incident users in Norway during 2005-2009.

BACKGROUND: During opioid treatment of cancer pain, constipation is one of the most prevalent and bothersome side effects. Guidelines suggest that treatment with laxatives should be initiated when opioid therapy is started.

INTRODUCTION: Recently, low-dose transdermal buprenorphine (LD-TD-BUP) was introduced for treatment of patients with chronic non-malignant pain. The primary aim of this study was to determine the proportion of patients who were prescribed LD-TD-BUP for non-malignant pain who became long-term users. The secondary aim was to determine the proportion of patients who co-medicated with other opioids or benzodiazepines during treatment with LD-TD-BUP.

PURPOSE: To investigate the association between mental distress, other factors, and subsequent use of psychotropic drugs in adolescents aged 15-16 years.

Naltrexone is an opioid receptor antagonist that blocks the reinforcing effects of opioids and reduces alcohol consumption and craving. It has no abuse potential, mild and transient side effects, and thus appears an ideal pharmacotherapy for opioid dependence.

BACKGROUND: In Norway, most opioid-dependent women are in opioid maintenance treatment (OMT) with either methadone or buprenorphine throughout pregnancy. The inclusion criteria for both medications are the same and both medications are provided by the same health professionals in any part of the country. International studies comparing methadone and buprenorphine in pregnancy have shown differing neonatal outcomes for the two medications.

BACKGROUND: Opioid switching to methadone is reported frequently to improve pain control in patients with an unacceptable balance between pain control and side effects during treatment with first line opioids, but carries a risk of drug accumulation and respiratory depression. To justify this risk it is required that less risky treatments are tried beforehand and that a sufficiently large proportion of patients experience a long-lasting improvement in pain control.

PURPOSE: The use of restricted medications, for example, opioids, benzodiazepines (BZD), and z-hypnotics, in the older persons continues to increase. Little is known about usage practices or about the extent of polypharmacy within this group. The objectives of this study were (i) to describe polypharmacy and (ii) to develop a medication usage index (MUI) to quantify usage patterns.

AIMS: This study describes the use of prescribed drugs among women in opioid maintenance treatment (OMT) prior to, and during, pregnancy.

BACKGROUND: Although opioid maintenance treatment (OMT) has been found to reduce crime, less is known about its associations with violent crime. This study investigates changes in violent crime convictions prior to, during, and after OMT, and examines the relationship between violent crime convictions prior to OMT with the risk of violent and non-violent crime convictions during treatment.

Bakgrunn. Ulike benzodiazepiner har prinsipielt samme virkningsmekanisme og skiller seg hovedsakelig fra hverandre ved forskjeller i farmakokinetikk. Det er ikke farmakologisk grunnlag for å bruke mer enn ett benzodiazepin til samme pasient. Formålet med undersøkelsen var å studere forekomst av samtidig bruk av ulike benzodiazepiner i Norge.

A sample of 110 drug-involved offenders from two prisons was assessed regarding drug and alcohol consumption, problem awareness, ambivalence and treatment readiness.

PURPOSE: The repeated use of prescription opioids may lead to serious side effects. It is therefore important to examine factors associated with such repeated use. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between the maternal use of prescription opioids and their use by offspring of these mothers.

Aims: There is a scarcity of data on mental health problems among Sudanese internally displaced persons (IDPs). This study aims to assess the prevalence of mental disorders of IDPs in Sudan, and to determine and compare the association between mental disorders and socio-demographic variables between the rural and urban long-term IDP populations.

AIMS: The current study examines the relationship between socio-economic status (SES) and antidepressant prescription among young adults and investigates mechanisms that could explain such a potential social gradient.

BACKGROUND: According to published guidelines regarding the use of benzodiazepines or z-hypnotics (BZD-Z), the elderly should avoid hypnotic BZD, and use anxiolytic BZD and z-hypnotics only at low doses and for a short time. Our objective is to quantify inappropriate BZD-Z use in the elderly.

Research on treatments for patients with co-occurring psychiatric and substance use disorders is of core importance and at the same time highly challenging as it includes patients that are normally excluded from clinical studies