Friday, March 22, 2013
Some Toddlers of Women Who Used Meth in Pregnancy Show Abnormal Stress Response
Toddlers of women who used methamphetamine in pregnancy,
who live in an unstable home environment, appear to have an abnormal
response to stress, a new study suggests.
Methamphetamine stimulates the nervous system, and prenatal exposure
to the drug could affect the development of a child’s stress-response
system, HealthDay reports. If the child is repeatedly exposed to severe stress at an early age, it can further affect the stress-response system.
The study included 123 two-year-olds whose mothers used
methamphetamine during pregnancy. The researchers evaluated the
toddlers’ reactions when they were briefly separated from their mothers.
Children who lived in stressful conditions at home—such as having a
mother who drank heavily or suffered from depression or other mental
health problems—did not experience normal increases in levels of the
stress hormone cortisol.
“The lack of hormonal stress response that we observed in these
children has serious implications, such as a greater risk for
depression, anxiety and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder,” lead
researcher Namik Kirlic of the University of Tulsa in Oklahoma said in a
news release.
Children who had a more stable home environment had normal increases
in cortisol levels when they were separated from their mothers. “It’s
not the meth alone,” said researcher Barry Lester, Ph.D., Director of
the Brown Center for Children at Risk at Women & Infants Hospital of
Rhode Island and The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University.
“It’s the combination of meth exposure and adversity after birth. We see
other things coming into play—the mother’s psychological health,
alcohol use, exposure to violence at home or in the community. The
postnatal environment is hugely important.”
The study appears in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.
Thursday, March 21, 2013
Report Finds Child Poisoning Often Results From Pills Found in Purses and on Floor
A new report finds small children who end up in the
emergency room after being accidentally poisoned from medication are
more likely to find the pills in a mother’s purse or the floor than the
family medicine cabinet.
Children also find pills in other easy-to-reach spots such as sofa cushions and countertops, USA Today reports. The report was released by the nonprofit group Safe Kids Worldwide.
Most accidental medication poisonings in children result from
ingestion of medication belonging to a child’s mother or grandparents,
according to the report.
The group evaluated 2,315 emergency department records for children
up to age 4. In 2011, approximately 67,000 young children ended up in
the emergency room after being accidentally exposed to medication.
Accidental poisonings in young children rose 30 percent in a decade,
they found.
Of the records that stated the source of the medication, 27 percent
were on the floor or had been otherwise misplaced, while 20 percent came
from a purse, bag or wallet. An additional 20 percent were left on
counters, tables, nightstands or dressers, 15 percent were found in a
pill box or bag of pills, 6 percent were found in a drawer or cabinet,
and 12 percent came from other places.
In 86 percent of cases, the medications belonged to adults. Mothers
accounted for 31 percent, while grandparents accounted for 38 percent.
“You have some grandparents who have their whole pharmacy on the
kitchen counter or the bathroom counter, and it is there for the
taking,” Salvador Baeza, a pharmacist who directs the West Texas
Regional Poison Center in El Paso, told the newspaper.
Safe Kids advises parents and other caregivers to store medications
out of sight and out of reach. SafeKids CEO Kate Carr recommends that
parents ask grandparents and other relatives to secure medications when
their children are visiting. “That can be an awkward conversation,” Carr
said. “But you can just say that ‘I have a very curious child who is
just at that age where they get into everything.’”
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Heroin Use on the Rise in Southern California
An increasing number of teens and adults in southern
California are using heroin, according to Drug Enforcement
Administration (DEA) officials.
“Heroin use has become a particular concern for the DEA because we’re
seeing people using heroin at such a young age,” Agent Sarah Pullen
told NBC Los Angeles. High school counselors in Orange County are reporting a rise in heroin use, the article notes.
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
reported initiations to heroin have increased by 80 percent among teens
ages 12 to 17. The increase in heroin use is largely attributed to the
drug’s low cost and easy availability, both in southern California and
around the country.
A study published last year
found OxyContin abuse has decreased now that the painkiller has been
reformulated to make it more difficult to misuse. Many people who abused
the drug have switched to heroin.
The study included more than 2,500 people who were dependent on
opioids, who were followed between July 2009 and March 2012. During that
time, there was a 17 percent decrease in OxyContin abuse. In 2010, the
company that makes OxyContin introduced a new version of the drug that
is more difficult to inhale or inject.
Anesthesia Abuse Increases Among Health Care Professionals, Study Suggests
Abuse of the anesthesia drug propofol is on the rise among
health care professionals who have easy access to it, a new study
suggests.
The study found the number of health care professionals treated for abuse of the drug has increased steadily, the Star Tribune reports. Most of these professionals began using propofol to get to sleep, and quickly became addicted.
Propofol is used for surgery and other procedures. It takes effect
quickly, and has a fast recovery time, with fewer side effects than
other anesthetics, the article notes. The researchers state in a news release, “Propofol addiction is a virulent and debilitating form of substance dependence” with a “rapid downhill course.”
They studied data from an addiction center specializing in substance
abuse among health care professionals, and found 22 patients treated for
propofol abuse between 1990 and 2010. They included doctors, nurses and
a dentist. Most of the doctors and all of the nurses were anesthesia
providers. Most of them had depression, in addition to a history of
childhood sexual or physical abuse. A higher than expected number of
patients had family members with schizophrenia.
Most of the patients began addiction treatment within a few months
after starting to use the drug; five sought treatment after just one
propofol binge. About half of patients started treatment after a
dramatic event, such as a motor vehicle accident. Some patients received
facial injuries after passing out from propofol.
The study will appear in the April issue of the Journal of Addiction Medicine.
|
|||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)