Addiction
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The key components of a strategy to prevent tobacco-related disease are outlined. These measures aim to increase the cessation of tobacco use and reduce its uptake. ⋯ The prevention of tobacco-related disease has moved into the domain of campaigners and lobbyists at political, economic and international levels. The key target is countering the activities, especially the unethical trade practices, of the wealthy and powerful tobacco industry.
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This paper focuses on the prevalence and profile of opiate use, primarily heroin, in the United States and Europe. Methods include representative population surveys, which understate prevalence, and targeted approaches, which reflect more problematic use. In the United States and Europe, the lifetime prevalence of opiate use reported in surveys remained stable over the 1980s (around 1%), though young adults report higher rates. ⋯ Heroin availability and use, as well as serious heroin-related consequences, are increasing again in many European countries after an apparent pause in the mid-1980s. They are also increasing in parts of the United States. Heroin remains a public health priority, especially among vulnerable populations, including young people in central and eastern Europe.
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The objectives of this study were to investigate (1) changes in consumption of alcohol among pregnant women over a period of 5 years (1984/85-1990), (2) changes of attitudes towards drinking during pregnancy in the general population over the same period of time, and (3) possible connections between (1) and (2). The investigation was designed as a cross-sectional study. Our subjects were two representative samples of pregnant women in Oslo, n = 377 and 425, and two representative samples of the Norwegian population, n = 1004 and 1204. ⋯ There was a significant reduction (50% decrease) in alcohol consumption among the second cohort of pregnant women compared with the first. Furthermore, we found an increase during the 5-year period in the number of persons with a restrictive attitude towards alcohol use during pregnancy. There seems to be a connection between these two phenomena, but with our present state of knowledge it is hard to say anything about the causal relationship between them.