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<b>Copyright information:</b>Taken from "The nonmedical use of prescription ADHD medications: results from a national Internet panel"http://www.substanceabusepolicy.com/content/2/1/32Substance Abuse Treatment,... more
<b>Copyright information:</b>Taken from "The nonmedical use of prescription ADHD medications: results from a national Internet panel"http://www.substanceabusepolicy.com/content/2/1/32Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention, and Policy 2007;2():32-32.Published online 31 Oct 2007PMCID:PMC2211747.old that they had ADHD or were never prescribed medications specifically for ADHD and who were estimated to have obtained diverted medications in specific ways (including error bars). Estimates are not mutually exclusive. Bars represent 95% confidence intervals. ADHD = attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder. * Stolen from friends, family members, or other sources. Obtained fraudulently by mispresenting symptoms or presenting to a physician who "didn't ask too many questions."
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Fifty percent of variability in HIV-1 susceptibility is attributable to host genetics. Thus identifying genetic associations is essential to understanding pathogenesis of HIV-1 and important for tar-geting drug development. To date,... more
Fifty percent of variability in HIV-1 susceptibility is attributable to host genetics. Thus identifying genetic associations is essential to understanding pathogenesis of HIV-1 and important for tar-geting drug development. To date, however,CCR5 remains the only gene conclusively associ-ated with HIV acquisition. To identify novel host genetic determinants of HIV-1 acquisition, we conducted a genome-wide association study among a high-risk sample of 3,136 injection drug users (IDUs) from the Urban Health Study (UHS). In addition to being IDUs, HIV- controls were frequency-matched to cases on environmental exposures to enhance detection of genetic ef-fects.We tested independent replication in theWomen’s Interagency HIV Study (N=2,533). We also examined publicly available gene expression data to link SNPs associated with HIV acquisition to knownmechanisms affecting HIV replication/infectivity. Analysis of the UHS nominated eight genetic regions for replication testing. SNP rs4878712 i...
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ABSTRACT
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Objective. To estimate to what extent triers (puffer) who never smoked a whole cigarette differ on non-biological factors from those smoking a whole cigarette in the first year of initiation. Methods. A 2004 and 2006 nationally... more
Objective. To estimate to what extent triers (puffer) who never smoked a whole cigarette differ on non-biological factors from those smoking a whole cigarette in the first year of initiation. Methods. A 2004 and 2006 nationally representative sample of students enrolled in grades 6 through 12 in the U.S. Our analysis included students aged 1218 years who started smoking <1 year since the date of the interview (n=1,884). Analyses were conducted using SUDAAN 9.0.1. Results. Most (72.3%) of the recent initiates tried a few puffs on a cigarette but did not smoke a whole cigarette. Adolescents aged 12 14 years, females, blacks and Other-Non-Hispanics had higher rates of puffers than adolescents aged 15 18 years, males, whites and Hispanics. In the fully adjusted model, whole cigarette smokers were more than twice as likely than puffers to think that smoking makes you look cool (OR=2.14) and to report that their friends smoke cigarettes (O.R.=1.91). Peer smoking was perhaps the most si...
Objective. To determine rates of four selected nicotine dependence symptoms nicotine withdrawal (irritable, restless), cravings, urges, and self-efficacy within different levels of smoking. Methods. A 2004 nationally representative sample... more
Objective. To determine rates of four selected nicotine dependence symptoms nicotine withdrawal (irritable, restless), cravings, urges, and self-efficacy within different levels of smoking. Methods. A 2004 nationally representative sample of students enrolled in grades 6 through 12 in the U.S. Our analysis included students aged 1218 years who smoked at least one day in the past 30 days (n=2,580). We calculated weighted percentages by smoking patterns that were created from the options for quantity (5 levels) and frequency (5 levels). Results. About 26% of current smokers who started smoking less than a year prior to the survey and who in the past month smoked at low levels (<1 cigarette, 1 cigarette, 2-5 cigarettes) on a few days (1 or 2 days, 3-5 days) reported having at least 1 of 4 nicotine dependence symptoms. The more prevalent symptom was withdrawal (19.6%), followed by cravings (13.5%), believing not been able to quit if wanted to (6.4%) and urges (5.2%). About 18% of low...
Background: Among people who inject opioids, the experience of physical withdrawal sometimes causes people to be less careful about needle-borne risk. In this paper we conduct an epidemiological analysis of the magnitude of withdrawal... more
Background: Among people who inject opioids, the experience of physical withdrawal sometimes causes people to be less careful about needle-borne risk. In this paper we conduct an epidemiological analysis of the magnitude of withdrawal symptoms and HIV risk among people who inject drugs (PWID). Methods: We conducted a community based, study of non-medical use of prescription drugs by PWID in San Francisco (2011-2014). Participants were recruited using targeted sampling and interviewed using a modified version of the Subjective Opiate Withdrawal Scale (SOWS),as well as questions regarding drug use, syringe sharing (receptive and distributive), and syringe reuse. The modified SOWS is a 17-item scale used to assess intensity of withdrawal with a score ranging from 0 – 17. We limited this analysis to participants who injected heroin or other opiates in the past 6 months (N=539). Bivariate and multivariate statistics were used to assess the odds of needle-borne risk by the number of SOWS ...
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Little information exists on the daily experiences of pain among street-level injection drug users. The data reported herein are drawn from an ongoing community-based survey among street-level injection drug users in San Francisco. To... more
Little information exists on the daily experiences of pain among street-level injection drug users. The data reported herein are drawn from an ongoing community-based survey among street-level injection drug users in San Francisco. To date, 143 clinical assessments have been conducted, with sample characteristics as follows: 76% male, median age 35 (sd 14.5 years), and 39% white. Over 56% of the sample reported any physical pain in prior day. The overall pain rating (0-10) was in the moderate range (mean=5.4, sd=2.5). The levels of pain over the day were quite variable, ranging from 7.3 (range 0-10, sd=2.3) at its worst to 2.98 (sd=2.5) at its least. No significant differences were observed in non-medical prescription pain reliever use in the past 6 months (59% among those with pain versus 58% among those with no pain). However, those with current pain had more extensive histories of nonmedical opioid use, using on average of 87 days in the prior 6 months compared to 51 days for tho...
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This report compares adult mental health prevalence estimates generated from the 2009 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) with estimates of similar measures generated from other national data sources. It also describes the... more
This report compares adult mental health prevalence estimates generated from the 2009 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) with estimates of similar measures generated from other national data sources. It also describes the methodologies of the different data sources and discusses the differences in survey design and estimation that may contribute to differences among these estimates. The other data systems discussed include the 2001 to 2003 National Comorbidity Survey Replication (NCS-R), 2001 to 2002 National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC), 2007 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), 2008 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), 2008 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS), and 2008 Uniform Reporting System (URS). Mental health indicators compared include past year serious mental illness (SMI), past year any mental illness (AMI), past month serious psychological distress (SPD), past year major depressive episode (MDE), and pa...
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Identifying trajectories of cigarette smoking based on usage patterns is important in elucidating the pathway from initiation to nicotine dependence. Various methods have been used to identify different smoking patterns based on either... more
Identifying trajectories of cigarette smoking based on usage patterns is important in elucidating the pathway from initiation to nicotine dependence. Various methods have been used to identify different smoking patterns based on either quantity or frequency smoked. This paper examines the link between smoking exposure and nicotine dependence symptoms while looking at both daily and less-than-daily smokers in a nationally representative sample. Our study found a distinct pattern of cigarette smoking among adolescents aged 12-18 years, suggesting a trajectory in which smokers typically progressed through the following steps: smoking less than 1 cigarette on 1-5 days per month; smoking 1-5 cigarettes on 1-5, 6-9, 10-19, 20-29, and 30 days; and then smoking 6-10 cigarettes on 30 days, 11-20 on 30 days, and more than 20 on 30 days. Few smokers deviated from this pattern. A dose-response relationship was observed between this smoking pattern and having any of the four nicotine dependence symptoms and also with the number of reported nicotine dependence symptoms. The relationship we found between smoking exposure and nicotine dependence symptoms is consistent with the homeostasis-sensitization theory: according to which sensitization involves periods in which a person is increasing the number of cigarettes smoked per day and homeostasis occurs when the number of cigarettes smoked per day remains stable. We provide data that can be used in future studies to update and expand the work on trajectories.
Research Interests: Marketing, Adolescent, Medicine, Comorbidity, Humans, and 15 moreSmoking, Nicotine, Female, Male, Child and Adolescent Psychology, Nicotine Dependence, Sensitization, Recurrence, Clinical Sciences, Peer group, Questionnaires, Cigarette Smoking, Public health systems and services research, Adolescent Behavior, and attitude to health
Page 1. RTI International RTI International is a trade name of Research Triangle Institute. www.rti.org Rates of Users Switching to and from Menthol and Non-menthol Cigarettes: Topic 8 Eric O. Johnson, Ph.D. Scott P. Novak, Ph.D. Jennifer... more
Page 1. RTI International RTI International is a trade name of Research Triangle Institute. www.rti.org Rates of Users Switching to and from Menthol and Non-menthol Cigarettes: Topic 8 Eric O. Johnson, Ph.D. Scott P. Novak, Ph.D. Jennifer Schoden RTI International ...
... Prepared by Scott Novak, Ph.D. Jennifer Kasten, MSW RTI International and Deborah Garnick, Sc.D. Margaret Lee, Ph.D. Constance Horgan, Sc.D. Elizabeth Merrick, Ph.D. Mary Brolin, Ph.D. Brandeis University Page 2. Table of Contents... more
... Prepared by Scott Novak, Ph.D. Jennifer Kasten, MSW RTI International and Deborah Garnick, Sc.D. Margaret Lee, Ph.D. Constance Horgan, Sc.D. Elizabeth Merrick, Ph.D. Mary Brolin, Ph.D. Brandeis University Page 2. Table of Contents Section Page ...
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People who inject drugs (PWID) are at increased risk for bacterial skin and soft tissue infections (SSTIs). Although SSTIs pose significant health risks, little is known about their prevalence and characteristics in the population of PWID... more
People who inject drugs (PWID) are at increased risk for bacterial skin and soft tissue infections (SSTIs). Although SSTIs pose significant health risks, little is known about their prevalence and characteristics in the population of PWID in the United States. This study investigates whether behavioral factors related to skin and equipment hygiene and tissue-damaging injection practices are associated with recent SSTIs among PWID. Active PWID were recruited using targeted sampling in San Francisco in 2011-2013. Interviewers collected information on behavioral risk factors of past-month self-reported SSTIs. Inferential analyses used multivariate logistic regression methods (i.e., generalized linear model) to characterize risk factors for past-month SSTIs. The self-reported prevalence of lifetime, past-year, and past-month SSTI was 70%, 29%, and 11%, respectively. Several factors were significantly associated with past-month SSTIs in bivariate analysis, including injecting nonpowder d...
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People who inject drugs (PWID) often have poor health and lack access to health care. The aim of this study was to examine whether PWID engage in self-treatment through nonmedical prescription opioid use (NMPOU). We describe the... more
People who inject drugs (PWID) often have poor health and lack access to health care. The aim of this study was to examine whether PWID engage in self-treatment through nonmedical prescription opioid use (NMPOU). We describe the prevalence and features of self-reported physical pain and its association with NMPOU. PWID (N = 702) in San Francisco, California (age 18+) were recruited to complete interviewer administered surveys between 2011 and 2013. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was conducted to examine the associations among self-reported pain dimensions (past 24-h average pain, pain interference with functional domains) and NMPOU, controlling for age, sex, psychiatric illness, opioid substitution treatment, homelessness, street heroin use and unmet healthcare needs. Almost half of the sample reported pain, based on self-reported measures in the 24 h before their interview. The most common pain locations were to their back and lower extremities. Past 24-h NMPOU was commo...
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In the United States, nonmedical prescription opioid use is a major public health concern. Various policy initiatives have been undertaken to tackle this crisis, including state prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs). This study... more
In the United States, nonmedical prescription opioid use is a major public health concern. Various policy initiatives have been undertaken to tackle this crisis, including state prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs). This study uses the 2004-2014 National Survey of Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) and exploits state-level variation in the timing of PDMP implementation and PDMP characteristics to investigate whether PDMPs are associated with a reduction in prescription opioid misuse or whether they have the unintended consequence of increasing heroin use. In addition, the study examines the impact of PDMPs on the availability of opioids from various sources. The study finds no effect of PDMP status on various measures of nonmedical prescription opioid use (abuse, dependence, and initiation), but finds evidence of a reduction in the number of days of opioid misuse in the past year. The study also finds that implementation of PDMP was not associated with an increase in heroin use or...
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Food products containing cannabis extract (edibles) have emerged as a popular and lucrative facet of the legalized market for both recreational and medicinal cannabis. The many formulations of cannabis extracts used in edibles present a... more
Food products containing cannabis extract (edibles) have emerged as a popular and lucrative facet of the legalized market for both recreational and medicinal cannabis. The many formulations of cannabis extracts used in edibles present a unique regulatory challenge for policy makers. Though edibles are often considered a safe, discreet, and effective means of attaining the therapeutic and/or intoxicating effects of cannabis without exposure to the potentially harmful risks of cannabis smoking, little research has evaluated how ingestion differs from other methods of cannabis administration in terms of therapeutic efficacy, subjective effects, and safety. The most prominent difference between ingestion and inhalation of cannabis extracts is the delayed onset of drug effect with ingestion. Consumers often do not understand this aspect of edible use and may consume a greater than intended amount of drug before the drug has taken effect, often resulting in profoundly adverse effects. Wri...
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The primary aim of this work was to present the prevalence data from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC), a representative 3-year longitudinal survey (ages 18+ years) that captured information on... more
The primary aim of this work was to present the prevalence data from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC), a representative 3-year longitudinal survey (ages 18+ years) that captured information on patterns of self-reported pain interference and prescription pain reliever misuse. A second aim was to assess the degree to which the risk of various types of opioid misuse (onset, desistance, and incidence of dependence) was related to the longitudinal course of self-reported pain interference over the 3-year period. We used a two-wave, nationally representative sample of adults (aged 18+ years) in which the baseline data were collected during 2001-2002 and a single follow-up was obtained ~3 years later (2004-2005 with 34,332 respondents with complete data on study variables for both waves). Our findings indicated that ~10% reported high pain interference in the past month at each wave. There was tremendous stability in levels of pain, with ~5% repo...
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The purpose of this study was to explore the influence of maternal depressive symptoms on adolescent alcohol use among a sample of Latino/Latina youth aged 10 to 16 years from a high-risk community. Direct and mediating effects of youth... more
The purpose of this study was to explore the influence of maternal depressive symptoms on adolescent alcohol use among a sample of Latino/Latina youth aged 10 to 16 years from a high-risk community. Direct and mediating effects of youth depressive symptoms, controlling for levels of concurrent emotion dysregulation, on alcohol use were examined. Participants consisted of 525 children and their mothers randomly sampled from low-income schools with high rates of substance use. The panel design included four waves, and we used structural equation modeling with a longitudinal mediational framework. Results indicated that the relationship between maternal depressive symptoms and adolescent alcohol use was mediated by adolescents’ symptoms of depression for girls only. Findings are discussed in the context of the development of skills to cope with negative affect and the influence parental depressive symptoms may have on this process.
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Research Interests: Health Education, Injury Prevention, Adolescent, Medicine, Logistic Regression, and 15 moreHumans, Demographics, Female, Alcohol Drinking, Male, Occupational Safety and Health, Hashish, Middle Aged, Human Factors and Ergonomics, Adult, Driving Under the Influence, Curriculum and Pedagogy, Odds, Marijuana abuse, and Automobile driving
A potential unintended consequence of legalizing recreational marijuana is increased marijuana-related driving impairment. Some states where recreational marijuana is legal have begun implementing interventions to mitigate driving under... more
A potential unintended consequence of legalizing recreational marijuana is increased marijuana-related driving impairment. Some states where recreational marijuana is legal have begun implementing interventions to mitigate driving under the influence (DUI) of marijuana, including media campaigns to increase knowledge about DUI laws. However, little is known about the associations between knowledge of DUI laws and marijuana DUI behavior. In this study, we provide new data from a survey of marijuana users in Colorado and Washington to examine associations between marijuana drugged driving and two potential behavioral precursors of marijuana DUI. We also explore other factors that may influence marijuana DUI. Data are from an online survey of marijuana users in Colorado and Washington. Respondents who reported any marijuana use in the past 30 days (n = 865) served as the analytic sample. We examined prevalence of two behavioral outcomes: (1) any driving of a motor vehicle while high in...
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We examined initiation patterns among different birth cohorts of people who used prescription opioids and heroin because of historical differences in drug use availability. We examined data from a community-based study of persons who... more
We examined initiation patterns among different birth cohorts of people who used prescription opioids and heroin because of historical differences in drug use availability. We examined data from a community-based study of persons who inject drugs (n = 483) in California and a general population survey from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (n = 1264) and found that individuals born after 1980 were more likely than were individuals born before 1980 to initiate opioids through nonmedical use of prescription opioids than heroin. (Am J Public Health. Published online ahead of print December 21, 2015: e1-e3. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2015.302972).
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s / Drug and Alcohol Dependence 156 (2015) e102–e182 e165 Novel psychoactive substance use in the European Union Scott P. Novak1, Anders Hakansson2, Jens Reimer5, Jose Martinez-Raga4, Jennifer Lorvick3 1 Behavioral Epidemiology, RTI... more
s / Drug and Alcohol Dependence 156 (2015) e102–e182 e165 Novel psychoactive substance use in the European Union Scott P. Novak1, Anders Hakansson2, Jens Reimer5, Jose Martinez-Raga4, Jennifer Lorvick3 1 Behavioral Epidemiology, RTI International, Research Triangle Park, NC, United States 2 Division of Psychiatry, U of Lund, Lund, Sweden 3 RTI International, RTI, San Francisco, CA, United States 4 Teaching Unit of Psychiatry and Psychological Medicine, U of Valencia, Valencia, Spain 5 Centre for Interdisciplinary Addiction Research, Hamburg Medical, Hamburg, Germany Aims: Novel psychoactive substances (e.g., bath salts, Krokodil, synthetic marijuana) are synthetic, semi-synthetic or natural compounds, often advertised and sold as ‘legal’ alternatives to illicit drugs. The current study is among the first population-based studies in the EU to identify their prevalence and characteristics. Methods:General population surveys,modeled after theUnited States’ National Survey of Drug Use and Health, were conducted by RTI International in seven European countries (29 metropolitan strata, sample n=22,057) in 2014. Self-report (in English or native language) surveys among persons aged 12 or older were collected andweighted to achieve country-specific representative estimates. Results: The lifetime estimates for NPS ranged from 0.7% (Denmark) to 2.2% (Great Britain), with a mean of 1.8% and a population estimate of 5.5 million. An estimated 500,000 (0.5%) persons reported past-yearNPS. Controlling for country, latent classmodels indicated six classes of past-year illicit drug use, with NPS present in a homogenous class characterized by males (AOR=2.5, p< .001), whites at higher risk relative to black/African descent (AOR=1.6, p< .05), and Asian (AOR=3.3, p< .001). Youth (ages 18–24) were at higher risk for NPS relative to those ages 12–17 (AOR=1.5, p< .001) and 35+ (AOR=1.6, p< .001). Mood/anxiety disorders conferred higher risk of NPS compared to those with no disorder (AOR=2.5, p< .001), or subthreshold symptom levels (AOR=1.6, p< .001). NPS users also reported a greater use of social media. Conclusions: With the increasing erosion of geographic boundaries and increased increased communication, studies are desperately needed to identify the international landscape of drug use.Additionalwavesareplanned to identify trends in transmission patterns between countries and population sub-groups. Financial support: Shire, NIH, RTI International, the European Drug Union. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2015.07.448 Effects of withdrawal from chronic nicotine on emotional and cognitive behaviors in adult and adolescent mice Paul A. Nucero2, Erica Holliday1, Munir G. Kutlu1, Thomas Gould1, Ellen Unterwald3 1 Psychology, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, United States 2 Center for Substance Abuse Research, Temple University School of Medicine, Ambler, PA, United States 3 Center for Substance Abuse Research, Temple University School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA,
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Nonmedical prescription drug use is estimated to be the second most abused category of drugs after marijuana among adolescents. Prescription drugs can be highly addictive and prolonged use can produce neurological changes and... more
Nonmedical prescription drug use is estimated to be the second most abused category of drugs after marijuana among adolescents. Prescription drugs can be highly addictive and prolonged use can produce neurological changes and physiological dependence and could result in adverse mental health outcomes. This topic is largely unexplored, as current knowledge of possible mechanisms of the linkage between adverse mental health consequences and prescription drug misuse is limited. This study explores the relationship between nonmedical use of prescription drugs and depression outcomes among adolescents. Given their complex and confounded relationship, our purpose is to better understand the extent to which nonmedical use of prescription drugs is an antecedent of depressive episodes. Using data from the 2008-2012 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, the study employs a propensity score matching methodology to ascertain whether nonmedical use of prescription drugs is linked to major depr...
Research Interests: Psychology, Psychiatry, Addiction, Mental Health, Public Health, and 15 moreAdolescent, Medicine, Applied Economics, Prescription drug misuse, Humans, Child, Major Depressive Disorder, Female, Male, Public health systems and services research, Sex Factors, Age Factors, Substance-Related Disorders, Socioeconomic Factors, and Medical prescription
Major depressive disorder (MDD) has been found to be negatively associated with labor market outcomes. However, MDD has many different courses that are chronic or persistent, relapsing and remitting, or limited to a single lifetime... more
Major depressive disorder (MDD) has been found to be negatively associated with labor market outcomes. However, MDD has many different courses that are chronic or persistent, relapsing and remitting, or limited to a single lifetime episode. Such heterogeneity has been ignored in most past analyses. We examine the impact of heterogeneity in course of MDD on labor market outcomes. Wave I (2001-2002) respondents of the National Epidemiological Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions - a nationally representative panel survey - were interviewed on average 3 years later (2004-2005). We categorized changes in MDD before and after wave I and before wave II into six courses: incident, recent remission, persistent remission, relapse, persistent depression, and no history of MDD. Odds ratios (ORs) and marginal effects of MDD transitions in multivariable multinomial regressions of labor market outcomes (being out of the labor force, being unemployed, working part-time, and working full-time -...
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Research Interests: Internal Medicine (General Medicine), Addiction, Evidence Based Practice, General Internal Medicine, Public Health, and 13 moreMedicine, Cape Town, Substance Use, Alcohol, Journal Article, HIV Prevention, Men, Abstinence, Workers, Randomized Controlled Trial, Science Technology, Guidance and Counseling Intervention Programs, and Life Sciences & Biomedicine
In 2011, the prevalence of prescription drug abuse exceeded that of any other illicit drug except marijuana. Consequently, efforts to curtail abuse of new medications should begin during the drug development process, where abuse liability... more
In 2011, the prevalence of prescription drug abuse exceeded that of any other illicit drug except marijuana. Consequently, efforts to curtail abuse of new medications should begin during the drug development process, where abuse liability can be identified and addressed before a candidate medication has widespread use. The first step in this process is scheduling with the Drug Enforcement Agency so that legal access is appropriately restricted, dependent upon levels of abuse risk and medical benefit. To facilitate scheduling, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has published guidance for industry that describes assessment of abuse liability. The purpose of this paper is to review methods that may be used to satisfy the FDA's regulatory requirements for animal behavioral and dependence pharmacology. Methods include psychomotor activity, self-administration (an animal model of the rewarding effects of a drug), drug discrimination (an animal model of the subjective effects of a ...
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Background. Recent research has demonstrated that smokers are at an elevated risk for psychiatric disorders. This study extends the enquiry by examining: (1) the specificity of the psychiatric sequelae of smoking; and (2) the variability... more
Background. Recent research has demonstrated that smokers are at an elevated risk for psychiatric disorders. This study extends the enquiry by examining: (1) the specificity of the psychiatric sequelae of smoking; and (2) the variability in the likelihood of these sequelae by proximity and intensity of smoking.Method. Data come from the National Comorbidity Survey (NCS), a representative sample of the US population 15–54 years of age. The Smoking Supplement was administered to a representative subset of 4414 respondents. A modified World Health Organization – Composite International Diagnostic Interview was used to measure DSM-III-R disorders. Survival analysis with smoking variables as time-dependent covariates was used to predict the subsequent onset of specific psychiatric disorders.Results. The estimated effects of daily smoking varied across disorders. In the case of mood disorders, daily smoking predicted subsequent onset, with no variation between current versus past smokers ...
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South Africa's concurrent epidemics of HIV, substance use, and gender-based violence point to the urgent need for interventions that address the intersectional nature of these issues. A community-based randomized trial assessed the... more
South Africa's concurrent epidemics of HIV, substance use, and gender-based violence point to the urgent need for interventions that address the intersectional nature of these issues. A community-based randomized trial assessed the efficacy of an adapted evidence-based Woman-Focused HIV intervention addressing all three issues with sex workers and non-sex workers. At 6-month follow-up, non-sex workers in the Woman-Focused intervention reported significantly lower mean numbers of days drinking alcohol in the previous 30 days, were significantly less likely to meet DSM-IV criteria for alcohol dependence, were more likely to report using a condom at last sex with a main partner, and were less likely to report sexual abuse by a main partner in the previous 90 days. Sex workers in the Woman-Focused intervention were significantly less likely to report physical abuse by a main partner. The findings suggest that gender-focused interventions can be effective for vulnerable women and sho...
Research Interests: Psychology, Sexual Abuse, Medicine, Drug, Gender based violence, and 11 moreSouth Africa, Substance Use, Psychological Intervention, Sex Workers, Physical Abuse, Randomized Trial, Alcohol dependence, Public health systems and services research, Condom, Guidance and Counseling Intervention Programs, and Drug Issues
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Objectives. We examined whether retail tobacco outlet density was related to youth cigarette smoking after control for a diverse range of neighborhood characteristics. Methods. Data were gathered from 2116 respondents (aged 11 to 23... more
Objectives. We examined whether retail tobacco outlet density was related to youth cigarette smoking after control for a diverse range of neighborhood characteristics. Methods. Data were gathered from 2116 respondents (aged 11 to 23 years) residing in 178 census tracts in Chicago, Ill. Propensity score stratification methods for continuous exposures were used to adjust for potentially confounding neighborhood characteristics, thus strengthening causal inferences. Results. Retail tobacco outlets were disproportionately located in neighborhoods characterized by social and economic disadvantage. In a model that excluded neighborhood confounders, a marginally significant effect was found. Youths in areas at the highest 75th percentile in retail tobacco outlet density were 13% more likely (odds ratio [OR]=1.13; 95% confidence interval [CI]=0.99, 1.28) to have smoked in the past month compared with those living at the lowest 25th percentile. However, the relation became stronger and signi...