If My Blood Pressure Is High,Do I Take It to Heart? Behavioral Effects of Biomarker Collection in the Health and Retirement Study

Starting in 2006, respondents in the biennial U.S. Health and Retirement Study were asked to submit biomarkers every other wave and were notified of several results. Rates of undiagnosed high blood pressure and diabetes according to these biomarkers were 1.5 % and 0.7 %, respectively. An intent-to-treat analysis suggests that collection and notification had small effects on the average respondent and may have reduced health care utilization. Among respondents who received notification of potentially dangerous biomarker levels, subsequent rates of new diagnosis and associated pharmaceutical usage increased by 20 to 40 percentage points, an order of magnitude above baseline. High blood glucose A1C was associated with a 2.2 % drop in weight and an increase in exercise among respondents without a previous diagnosis of diabetes. Notifications appear also to have altered health behaviors by spouses, suggesting household responses to health maintenance. Biomarker collection seems to have altered circumstances for an interesting minority of HRS respondents.     

Texas pharmacist works with harm reduction on STR naloxone distribution

Legislatively, Texas may have its problems in addressing opioid overdoses and evidence‐based treatment, but the Texas Targeted Opioid Response (TTOR) grant, from the Opioid State Targeted Response (STR) from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), is changing all of that. “We have amazing folks in the TTOR department at the Texas Health and Human Services department who are aggressively minded and are focused on trying to do the right things with the money,” said Lucas Hill, Pharm.D., clinical assistant professor in the University of Texas at Austin College of Pharmacy and director of Operation Naloxone, which is funded by TTOR.     

Stop Stigma Now plans for future

Stop Stigma Now is planning to combine the names of NDRI‐USA and Stop Stigma Now, in a move that the organization hopes will give it more gravitas. Stop Stigma Now is a growing force in the methadone treatment patient community, which has been eclipsed by the general move to buprenorphine and naltrexone in media coverage.     

Global Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic

Public Organization Review -     

The other side: Pro‐cannabis physicians dispute SG advisory

Last week (see ADAW, Sept. 9), we wrote about the advisory from U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams, M.D., recommending against marijuana use by pregnant women or adolescents ( https://www.hhs.gov/surgeongeneral/reports‐and‐publications/addiction‐and‐substance‐misuse/advisory‐on‐marijuana‐use‐and‐developing‐brain/index.html ).     

ADA settlement exposes liability when providers refuse MAT patients

Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York has added opioid use disorders (OUDs) to the list of approved conditions for which medical marijuana could be prescribed in the state, following the lead last month of New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, who limited such use as an “adjunct” to medications like methadone and buprenorphine (see ADAW, Jan. 28).     

Senate Appropriations Committee hears about funding needs for SAPT block grant

The opioid epidemic is persisting, calling for the need for more funding, according to testimony on Capitol Hill last month. Mark Stringer, director of the Missouri Department of Mental Health and single state authority (SSA) for the state's Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment (SAPT) block grant. In addition, it's important to transition from opioid‐focused funding to general funding for substance use prevention and treatment in general, via increasing the block grant, he said.     

Wage and Non-Wage Compensation Among Young Alcoholic and Heavy Drinking Women: A Preliminary Analysis

The association between drinking and selected job characteristics among women aged 24 to 31 is examined. Using the 1989 NLSY, women are classified as alcohol abusers or dependent based on DSM-III-R criteria or as heavy drinkers based on reported frequency of six or more drinks. Heavy drinking is negatively associated with wage and non-wage compensation. These effects diminish when human capital measures are controlled. Current alcoholism and current and past heavy drinking are strongly negatively associated with years of schooling. The association between alcoholism and job compensation and characteristics is not as strong as that seen for heavy drinking. It is not known if this is a consequence of errors in identifying alcoholic women in population-based surveys.