Up to 5 Percent of Children May Have Problems Related to Alcohol Exposure Before Birth

/BY JOIN TOGETHER STAFF

October 29th, 2014/

As many as 5 percent of children may have some type of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD), caused by alcohol exposure before birth, a new study suggests.

Researchers at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, found between 2.4 percent and 4.8 percent of children have FASD, HealthDay reports. “Knowing not to drink during pregnancy and not doing so are two different things,” particularly before a woman finds out she is pregnant, said lead researcher Philip May.

The study appears in the journal Pediatrics.

According to the National Organization on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, FASD is an umbrella term describing the range of effects that can occur in a person whose mother drank alcohol during pregnancy. These effects may include physical, mental, behavioral, and/or learning disabilities with possible lifelong implications.

Fetal alcohol syndrome is the most severe type of FASD. It is characterized by growth retardation, structural brain abnormalities and specific facial characteristics. The researchers note children on the less severe end of the spectrum may have behavioral issues or difficulty completing tasks required to do well in school.

To estimate the prevalence of FASD, the researchers looked at data from a nationally representative town in the Midwest. The researchers identified first graders who had a developmental problem or who were below the 25th percentile for height, weight or head circumference. These children were given behavior and memory tests, and their results were compared with those of a group of typically developing peers. Children were also assessed for physical signs of FASD.

The researchers concluded between six and nine of every 1,000 children had fetal alcohol syndrome and between 11 and 17 per 1,000 children had partial fetal alcohol syndrome. These estimates are higher than those found in previous research, the article notes.

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Two-Thirds of ER Visits for Opioid Overdoses Involve Prescription Drugs

/BY JOIN TOGETHER STAFF

October 28th, 2014/

More than two-thirds of emergency department visits for opioid overdoses involve prescription drugs, a new study finds.

Researchers from Stanford University analyzed tens of thousands of reports of opioid overdoses nationwide from 2010, HealthDay reports. Approximately 68 percent involved prescription drugs, the researchers write in JAMA Internal Medicine. The number may be even higher, since 13 percent of cases did not specify the drugs involved. In 3 percent of cases, multiple narcotics were involved. Heroin alone was involved in 16 percent of overdose cases.

“Opioid overdose exacts a significant financial and health care utilization burden on the U.S. health care system,” the researchers wrote. “Most patients in our sample overdosed on prescription opioids, suggesting that further efforts to stem the prescription opioid overdose epidemic are urgently needed.”

The study found 84 percent of prescription opioid overdoses occurred in urban areas, and 40 percent took place in the South. Women accounted for 53 percent of prescription opioid overdoses.

Many patients who came to the hospital for overdoses had other illnesses, such as chronic mental health problems, or circulatory or respiratory diseases. About half of the patients who were rushed to the ER for opioid overdoses were admitted to the hospital.

Internet Administrator Criticized for Not Cracking Down on Illegal Online Pharmacies

/BY JOIN TOGETHER STAFF

October 28th, 2014/

Critics charge the Internet’s central administrator is not doing enough to crack down on illegal online pharmacies, The Wall Street Journal reports. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) says its powers are limited.

This summer, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) worked with Interpol and many other countries to try to close down more than 1,300 websites suspected of selling drugs without a prescription. Officials sent a list of the websites to the Chinese company that registered them, the article notes. The company said it could not take action against the sites.

The officials then asked ICANN to act. The organization is continuing to investigate the matter, ICANN said earlier this month. Since February, 4,700 suspicious drug-selling websites have been reported to the group, and about 4,000 are still online, according to LegitScript, which tracks online pharmacies.

ICANN could help crack down on illicit Internet operators, according to regulators and law-enforcement agencies. The organization manages technical functions and oversees registrars that sell Web addresses.

ICANN’s Chief Executive, Fadi Chehadé, says critics do not understand the group’s role and what it can do. He compared ICANN to a motor-vehicle department. “We authorize a group of license plates to registrars to do business,” he told the newspaper. “I’m not responsible for what happens in the car.”

According to an investigation by The Wall Street Journal, thousands of complaints about online pharmacies and other sites piled up for months because ICANN stopped maintaining one of its computer systems in 2012.

Axelle Lemaire, France’s Secretary of State for Digital Affairs, says the organization’s “lack of transparency is very worrying. When it comes to selling illegal drugs online, it’s the health of world-wide citizens at stake.”

Daniel Burke, a special agent in the FDA’s cybercrime investigations unit, said ICANN “closes complaints, and they don’t say why, and the websites are still operating. It’s really quite frustrating.”

Teens Less Likely to Drink if Their Communities Have Strong Social Hosting Laws

/BY JOIN TOGETHER STAFF

October 28th, 2014/

A new study finds teenagers are less likely to drink at parties if their community has strong social hosting laws. These laws hold adults responsible if teens drink on their property, even if the adults claim they were unaware that underage drinking was taking place.

The researchers looked at 50 communities in California, half of which had social hosting laws, Business Standard reports. Teens were less likely to say they drank at parties if they lived in communities with especially strong social hosting laws.

“It does look like there is less-frequent drinking among teenagers in cities with stringent social host laws, even when other city and youth characteristics that are related to underage drinking are controlled for,” lead researcher Mallie Paschall of the Prevention Research Center in Oakland, California said in a news release. “So these laws might be an effective strategy for reducing hazardous drinking.” He noted, “Most kids get alcohol from social sources, not commercial ones.”

The findings are published in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.

Strong social hosting laws specifically target underage drinking. They include a civil penalty, such as a large fine, that is quickly administered, Paschall said. Strong social hosting laws also hold property owners responsible, even if they say they didn’t know underage drinking occurred. He said police in some communities don’t enforce these laws, possibly because of a lack of support from the public or the local prosecutor’s office.

The researchers plan to study rates of teen drinking before and after social hosting laws are passed, to better measure their impact. They also want to assess the laws’ effect on problems related to teen drinking, such as drunk driving.