Preventive medicine
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Preventive medicine · Dec 2021
Trends in opioid misuse by cigarette smoking status among US adolescents: Results from National Survey on Drug Use and Health 2015-2018.
Increasing rates of opioid-related emergency department visits and deaths among adolescents in the United States are a public health concern. Adolescent cigarette smoking may be a risk factor for opioid misuse; though, there is a paucity of research on adolescents' cigarette smoking and opioid misuse. This study investigates current trends and the association between cigarette smoking and opioid misuse among US adolescents. ⋯ While there was a significant reduction in opioid misuse among the entire sample and among never-smokers over time (2.5% in 2015 to 1.9% in 2018), this trend was not significant among ever-smokers (14.2% in 2015 to 11.1% in 2018). Multivariable logistic regression showed ever-smokers (vs. never-smokers) had higher odds of past-year opioid misuse (aOR = 2.01; 95% CI = 1.66, 2.43). Findings suggest that comprehensive tobacco control policies and opioid misuse prevention programs are warranted to curb opioid misuse among adolescents.
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Over the past 10 years cholesterol levels have been falling while the number of Americans dying of heart disease has been steadily climbing. This apparent paradox compels us to question whether lowering cholesterol is the best way to prevent coronary heart disease. ⋯ Despite the widespread utilization of cholesterol-lowering statins in Europe, observational studies indicate that there has been no accompanying decline in coronary heart disease deaths. This new evidence should give us pause as we try to understand why the campaign to prevent heart disease by lowering cholesterol has not achieved its goals.