American journal of preventive medicine
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Past research examining the relationship between alcohol use and weight status has not differentiated among classes of obesity. There is limited research investigating whether adults trying to lose weight consume less alcohol. ⋯ Lower frequency of alcohol use (both sexes) and higher continued volume (female adults only) are associated with higher odds of higher weight status. Female adults trying to lose weight drink more, despite guidelines suggesting reducing caloric intake for weight control.
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This study presents a framework for identifying "high-risk" days for asthma attacks associated with elevated concentrations of criteria pollutants using local information to warn citizens on days when the concentrations differ from Environmental Protection Agency Air Quality Index (AQI) warnings. Studies that consider the unique mixture of pollutants and the health data specific to a city provide additional information for asthma self-management. This framework is applied to air pollution and asthma data to identify supplemental warning days in Houston, Texas. ⋯ Houston uses this framework to identify supplemental air quality warnings to improve asthma self-management. Supplemental days reflect risk lower than the National Ambient Air Quality Standards and consecutive poor air quality days, differing from the AQI.
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Prescription opioids were responsible for approximately 17,000 deaths in the U.S. in 2016. One in five prescription opioid deaths also involve alcohol. Drinkers who misuse prescription opioids (i.e., use without a prescription or use only for the experience or feeling it causes) are at a heightened risk of overdose. However, little is known about the relationship between drinking patterns and prescription opioid misuse. ⋯ More than half of the 4.2 million people who misused prescription opioids during 2012-2014 were binge drinkers, and binge drinkers had nearly twice the odds of misusing prescription opioids, compared with nondrinkers. Widespread use of evidence-based strategies for preventing binge drinking might reduce opioid misuse and overdoses involving alcohol.