It is well recognised that substance use during pregnancy can harm the developing foetus, leading to potential cognitive dysfunction and mental and behavioural difficulties in later life.

Longitudinal studies, which track participants over an extended amount of time, allow researchers to examine specific factors that may influence the growth and development of an individual. 

Despite the frequent co-occurrence of prenatal alcohol exposure and instances of childhood maltreatment, there has been little research investigating the complicated relationship between the factors and potential long...

This mouse study describes the structural differences in brains of mice who are dependent on alcohol compared to those who are not. Rather than looking at function of specific sections of the brain, the study looked at the overall structure of the brain to understand differences in a new way.

The article is open access - full article available via the link

EFFECTIVENESS OF SCREENING AND BRIEF INTERVENTIONS

First instalment of a fortnightly course on the evidence for alcohol treatment and related topics. This instalment selects, explains and explores seminal and key research on the effectiveness of screening and brief interventions, intended to reduce harm across a population of heavy but not dependent drinkers. Highlights the SIPS studies, the most significant to date in the UK, and helps develop evidence-informed understandings of four key questions:

Do the SIPS results mean, ‘Just do the minimum’?
How ‘real world’ are supposedly real-world...

THE SALIS COLLECTION is a full-text, digital lending library of literature in the field of alcohol, tobacco, other drugs, and addictions. “Other drugs” refers to marijuana, heroin, LSD, cocaine, methamphetamine, opioids etc. International and interdisciplinary in scope, the collection includes seminal academic and popular press books, reports, documents, grey literature, and other text resources such as organization newsletters. With breadth and depth, encompassing mainly the 20th and 21st centuries, it addresses drug use and misuse, legal and illegal drugs, substance use disorders and...

Researchers have continuously debated the link between anxiety and alcohol use. However, despite the previous examination of the direction and strength of the association, the form of the relationship remains unclear.

A recent systematic review, published in the Journal of Addiction, has sought to uncover some of the unanswered questions about child and adolescent anxiety and later alcohol use outcomes.

All the articles used in the review were English language publications, used human participants. They examined anxiety exposure (predictor variable) in childhood or adolescence and alcohol...

The adverse impact of alcohol consumption include the negative consequences of drinking on individuals other than the drinkers themselves, including both health and social problems.  Alcohol’s harm to others (HTO) is an interactional occurrence at the level of individuals and their relationships and is determined from the perspective of those affected by the drinker rather than from the perspective of the drinker or the society. The major social relationships to drinkers involve four main sets of roles: family, friend, co-worker and stranger.

In 2011, WHO, the Thailand Health Promotion...

The need to reduce alcohol-related harms has been recognized by the 2010 World Health Organization (WHO) Global Strategy to Reduce the Harmful Use of Alcohol (adopted by the Sixty-third World Health Assembly), the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, the WHO Global Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases 2013-2020, and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) Plan of Action to Reduce the Harmful Use of Alcohol.

The amount and frequency of alcohol consumed by an individual are determined, in large part, by the affordability of alcoholic beverages.

Th...

On 16 September 2014, European Union (EU) the Member States, represented by the Committee on National Alcohol Policy and Action (CNAPA), endorsed the Action Plan on Youth Drinking and on Heavy Episodic Drinking (Binge Drinking) (2014-2016). 

The Action Plan was intended to complement the EU Strategy to Support Member States in Reducing Alcohol-related Harm and to provide a means to strengthen long-standing policy implementation work from the Member States in the area of alcohol while addressing key identified areas, namely youth drinking and heavy episodic drinking (HED).

In an EU-funded...

Open Access article

Abstract:

Background

Alcohol use has increased globally, with varying trends in different parts of the world. This study investigates gender, age, and geographical differences in the alcohol-attributable burden of disease from 2000 to 2016.

Methods

This comparative risk assessment study estimated the alcohol-attributable burden of disease. Population-attributable fractions (PAFs) were estimated by combining alcohol exposure data obtained from production and taxation statistics and from national surveys with corresponding relative risks obtained from meta-analyses and...

Drinking alcohol increases the risk of mouth cancer, pharyngeal (upper throat) cancer, oesophageal (food pipe) cancer, laryngeal (voice box) cancer, breast cancer, bowel cancer and liver cancer.

Having conversations with patients about the amount of alcohol they consume can be challenging. However, it is vital that health care professionals are fully informed and feel confident in advising services users about the potentially unexpected harm that alcohol can cause.

Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems (SHAAP) has published a brochure that examines the trends of alcohol-attributable...

Abstract

There is increasing emphasis on screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment (SBIRT) for unhealthy alcohol use in the general hospital, as highlighted by new Joint Commission recommendations on SBIRT. However, the evidence supporting this approach is not as robust relative to primary care settings. This review is targeted to hospital-based clinicians and administrators who are responsible for generally ensuring the provision of high quality care to patients presenting with a myriad of conditions, one of which is unhealthy alcohol use. The review summarizes the major...