Healio (1/4, Gramigna) reports, “Heavy alcohol consumption during adolescence appeared associated with deleterious effects on white matter microstructural integrity,” researchers concluded in a study that “analyzed data of 451 participants aged 12 to 21 years at baseline who were included in the National Consortium on Alcohol and Neurodevelopment in Adolescence cohort.” Study “participants had two or more usable magnetic resonance diffusion tensor imaging scans and up to five examination visits across four years.” The findingswere published online Dec. 30 in JAMA Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Heavy alcohol consumption produces ‘deleterious’ effects on adolescents’ white matter “Joe Gramigna, Healio, January 4, 2021

The Washington Post (12/4, Searing) reports, “Among high school teens in the United States, about 22 percent said they had used e-cigarettes, known as vaping, in the preceding 30 days,” according to researchpublished in the journal JAMA Pediatrics. Meanwhile, “two new studies, published in the journals Tobacco Induced Diseases and PLOS One, report a link between vaping and mental fog.” Further, “people who vape, compared with those who do not, are 43 percent more likely to develop a respiratory disease,” according to research published in JAMA Network Open, and “a new study in the journal Addictive Behaviors finds that youths who vape are nearly three times more likely to take up cigarette smoking and more than twice as likely to try smokeless tobacco as are those who do not use e-cigarettes.”

Related Links:

— “The Washington Post (requires login and subscription)

Reuters (12/31, Erman, O’Donnell) reported pharmaceutical companies raised US prices for 2021 amid the “effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has reduced doctor visits and demand for some drugs.” The companies planned “to raise U.S. prices on more than 300 drugs in the United States on Jan. 1, according to drugmakers and data analyzed by healthcare research firm 3 Axis Advisors.”

The Wall Street Journal (1/1, Hopkins, Subscription Publication) reported that according to an Rx Savings Solutions analysis, companies raised their prices by an average of 3.3%.

Related Links:

— “Exclusive: Drugmakers to hike prices for 2021 as pandemic, political pressure put revenues at risk “Michael Erman, Carl O’Donnell, Reuters, December 31, 2020

HealthDay (12/30, Thompson) reports, “Almost half of teenagers who regularly use” marijuana “admit they’ve gotten behind the wheel while stoned,” researchers concluded after analyzing “responses from more than 6,800 students 14 or older who participated in the 2017 Youth Risk Behavior Survey.” The study revealed that “nearly 13% of teen drivers said they’d operated a vehicle while stoned within the past month, compared with 5% who said they drove drunk.” The findings were published online in a research letter in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “With Pot Rules Relaxed, More U.S. Teens Driving While High: Study “Dennis Thompson, HealthDay, December 30, 2020

The New York Times (12/30, Frakt) reports in “The Upshot” that “white Americans have higher rates” of suicide “than most other racial and ethnic groups.” In fact, “suicide in America has been rising for two decades, with rates for white Americans consistently well above those for Asian-Americans, Black Americans and Hispanics.” A possible “explanation may be a racial disparity in suicide data.” For example, research indicates that “deaths of Black Americans are far more likely to be coded as undetermined than those of white Americans, in part because Black Americans dying by suicide are less likely than whites to leave a note and to have a record of mental disorders.” The article includes links to a number of studies exploring racial disparities in suicide rates.

Related Links:

— “What Can Be Learned From Differing Rates of Suicide Among Groups “Austin Frakt, The New York Times, December 30, 2020