Healio (4/22, Gramigna) reports, “Community racial/ethnic composition appeared associated with residents’ access to specific medications for opioid use disorder [OUD],” investigators concluded in a “cross-sectional study.”

MD Magazine (4/22, Rosenfeld) reports researchers arrived at this conclusion after examining “the extent that racial and ethnic segregation played a role in who received methadone and buprenorphine.” Included in the study were “all counties and county-equivalent divisions in the US in 2016,” as well as “data on racial and ethnic population distribution from the American Community Survey.” The study revealed “an association between less interaction with African American residents and more methadone facilities,” while “every 1% decrease in the probability of an interaction of a white resident with an African American resident was linked with 8.17 more buprenorphine facilities and the probability of an interaction of a white and Hispanic resident was associated with 1.61 more facilities providing buprenorphine.” The findings were published online April 22 in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “Access to medications for opioid use disorder linked to community racial/ethnic segregation, “Joe Gramigna, Healio, April 22, 2020

The Wall Street Journal (4/21, MacDonald, Subscription Publication) reports coronavirus lockdowns have disrupted the routines, therapy, and special education that many people with autism depend on, which has increased anxiety for many of them and their families.

Related Links:

— “For People With Autism, Lockdowns Shatter Routine, Heighten Anxiety, “Alistair MacDonald, The Wall Street Journal, April 21, 2020

Healio (4/20, Gramigna) reports, “Opioid-involved overdose deaths commonly featured alcohol and benzodiazepine co-involvement,” investigators concluded in a “repeated cross-section analysis” involving data on “399,230 opioid-involved poisoning deaths from 1999 to 2017.” The findings were published online April 9 in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “Alcohol, benzodiazepines often co-involved in opioid overdose deaths
, “Joe Gramigna , Healio, April 20, 2020

Healio (4/20, Gramigna) reports, “Risk factors for first nonfatal suicide attempt likely differ by age,” investigators concluded after analyzing “data from the second wave of the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions – a nationally representative sample of 34,629 U.S. adults.” The findings of the “nationally representative study” were published online April 7 in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “First nonfatal suicide attempt risk factors differ significantly by age, “Joe Gramigna, Healio, April 20, 2020

NPR (4/20) reports that “under the national emergency declared by the Trump Administration in March, the government has suspended a federal law that required patients to have an in-person visit with a physician before they could be prescribed drugs that help quell withdrawal symptoms, such as Suboxone [buprenorphine/naloxone]. Patients can now get those prescriptions via a phone call or videoconference with a doctor.” NPR says that “addiction experts have been calling for that change for years to help expand access for patients in many parts of the country that have shortages of physicians eligible to prescribe these medication-assisted treatments.”

Related Links:

— “Coronavirus Crisis Spurs Access To Online Treatment For Opioid Addiction, “Phil Galewitz, NPR, April 20, 2020