MedPage Today (4/1, Wu) reported, “Adolescents with substance use disorder (SUD) were more likely to have subsequent prescription” medication “use and symptoms of SUD in adulthood,” investigators concluded in an analysis of “Monitoring the Future study” data that “used questionnaires to assess SUD symptoms over a 32-year period from ages 18 (when participants were high school seniors) to 50, beginning in 1975.” The 5,317-respondent study revealed that “students with two or more SUD symptoms at age 18 had higher odds of medical prescription” medication “use and prescription” medicine “misuse in adulthood, and 61.6% of adolescents with the most severe SUD symptoms (six or more) had at least two SUD symptoms in adulthood.” The findings were published online April 1 in JAMA Network Open.
According to Psychiatric News (4/1), “in an accompanying editorial, National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) Director Nora Volkow, MD, and Eric M. Wargo, PhD, also of NIDA, reflected on the potential value of screening that captures the intensity of substance use by adolescents as well as the need for interventions targeting substance use in this population,” writing, “Drug use and related behavioral problems are preventable when communities, schools, and health care systems are willing to invest in evidence-based prevention and therapeutic interventions appropriate to the youth’s risks.” The editorialists continued, “For this to occur, healthcare systems must incorporate screening for drug use and SUD, including SUD severity, in office visits, and ensure that screening, prevention, and quality treatment are reimbursable by insurance.”
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