HealthDay (12/31, Preidt) reported that on its own, “opioid addiction is tough enough to beat, but new research shows that having an accompanying methamphetamine habit may make quitting” much harder. After looking at “799 people receiving opioid addiction treatment at three sites in Washington State,” investigators “found that methamphetamine use was associated with a more than twofold higher risk of dropping out of treatment for opioid addiction.” The findings were published online ahead of print in the February issue of the Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment.

Related Links:

— “Opioid-Meth Habit Particularly Hard to Break, “Robert Preidt, HealthDay, December 31, 2019

The New York Times (12/30, Chokshi) reports researchers “found that opioid deaths were about 85 percent higher among people of prime working age – 16 to 65 – in counties where automotive assembly plants had closed five years earlier, compared with counties where such factories remained open.” The study, which was published in JAMA Internal Medicine, suggests that the closure of automotive factories “may have contributed to a rise in local opioid overdose deaths in recent years.”

Newsweek (12/30, Gander) reports researchers examined data between 1999 and 2016 from 112 industrial counties largely in the Midwest and the South. During the study period, “29 counties were affected by a plant closure, while 83 counties weren’t.” The researchers found that “plant closures were followed by a statistically significant increase in deaths due to opioids overdoses. After five years, mortality rates increased by 8.6 deaths…per 100,000 in such regions, compared with areas not hit by a factory shutting down,” which “amounted to an 85 percent increase.”

Related Links:

— “Opioid Deaths Rise When Auto Plants Close, Study Shows, ” Niraj Chokshi, The New York Times, December 30, 2019

The Atlantic (12/30, Rizga) reports on a program called ASD Nest, which places students with autism “alongside neurotypical students in classrooms led by specially trained teachers.” The program, which “launched in 2003 with four teachers and has since expanded to 54 elementary, middle, and high schools in New York City,” is a “collaboration between the New York City Department of Education and NYU.” Furthermore, the program “places two certified and specially trained teachers in each participating classroom, which allows one of them to provide one-on-one social, emotional, or academic support whenever the need arises, without disrupting the lesson or pulling a student out of the classroom.”

Related Links:

— “What School Could Be If It Were Designed for Kids With Autism, “Kristina Rizga, The Atlantic, December 30, 2019

The Boston Globe (12/30, Martin) reports on a program aiming “to curb problematic pot use” among teenagers. The “Charlestown program – funded by Massachusetts General Hospital’s center for community health improvement – is part of a growing effort around the state to help high schoolers make sound choices about cannabis in an era of marijuana legalization,” focusing more so on “treatment rather than on abstinence and punishment.” The article adds, “The program teaches students to try healthy stress relievers like exercise or meditation, before encouraging them to cut back on pot in a realistic way,” however, it “stops short of one step: demanding they quit altogether.”

Related Links:

— “New approach to curbing marijuana use among teens: ‘just say no’ gives way to ‘just smoke less’, ” Naomi Martin, The Boston Globe, December 30, 2019

In the New York Times (12/30) “Personal Health” column, Jane E. Brody writes that hearing loss “is the largest modifiable risk factor for developing dementia, exceeding that of smoking, high blood pressure, lack of exercise and social isolation.” Brody writes that “new findings on cognitive losses linked to subclinical hearing loss, gleaned from among 6,451 people age 50 or older, suggest that any degree of hearing loss can take a toll.”

Related Links:

— “For Better Brain Health, Preserve Your Hearing, “Jane E. Brody, The New York Times, December 30, 2019