In ongoing reporting on data about drug abuse, the Washington Post (12/12, Zezima) reports that fresh data from the National Center for Health Statistics show that “deaths from cocaine sharply increased from 2011 to 2016 across the United States, adding another dimension to a crisis of fatal overdoses that has primarily been driven by opioids.” Cocaine overdose deaths were up “about 18 percent each year during the five-year period,” while “the data also showed a staggering rise in the number of deaths from fentanyl, with deaths from the powerful synthetic opioid increasing about 113 percent each year from 2013 to 2016.” According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 70,000 people died of drug overdoses last year.

The AP (12/11, Stobbe) reports that the latest CDC data also show “a bigger share of U.S. drug overdose deaths are being caused by methamphetamine,” with that drug’s overdose death toll tripling in the period between 2011 and 2016, “while the percentage of overdose deaths involving meth grew from less than 5 percent to nearly 11 percent.”

Related Links:

— “Cocaine deaths increase amid ongoing national opioid crisis, “Katie Zezima, The Washington Post, December 12, 2018.

The AP (12/10, Ramer) reports, “Nearly half of all New Hampshire adults say they experienced stressful or traumatic events in childhood, and data released” Dec. 10 “show those experiences are hurting their health today.” Even though just “10 percent of adults with no adverse experiences during childhood reported being in fair or poor health, that percentage was 17 percent for those with at least one such experience, according to statistics presented at a news conference by the New Hampshire Department of Public of Health and Spark NH, the governor’s early childhood advisory council.”

Related Links:

— “Data show link between childhood trauma, adult health, “Holly Ramer, AP, December 10, 2018.

Medscape (12/10, Lowry, Subscription Publication) reports, “Young people with substance use disorders (SUDs) who are in treatment are at greater risk for overdose if they have a history of IV drug use or mood dysregulation,” research indicated. The findings of the 200-patient study were presented at the American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry (AAAP) 29th Annual Meeting.

Related Links:

— Medscape (requires login and subscription)

MedPage Today (12/10, George) reports, “Having an older sibling with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder” (AD/HD) “raised the risk of being diagnosed with either condition,” research indicated. In the study that “included 730 younger siblings of children with” AD/HD, “158 younger siblings of children with autism, and 14,287 younger siblings of children with no known diagnosis of either disorder,” investigators found that youngsters “whose older brother or sister had autism were 30 times more likely to receive an autism diagnosis and 3.7 times more likely to be diagnosed with” AD/HD “than children whose older sibling did not have either disorder.” The findings were published online Dec. 10 in JAMA Pediatrics.

According to Psychiatric News (12/10), the authors of an accompanying editorial wrote, “[This study] used a simple and transparent design to report novel data on later-born within- and cross-condition recurrence of ASD and” AD/HD “in a way that is useful in the clinic but also motivates research to understand how and why these conditions commonly co-occur both within individuals and within families.” HealthDay(12/10, Thompson) also covers the study.

Related Links:

— “Older Sibling with Autism or ADHD Ups Risk for Younger Kids, “Judy George, MedPage Today, December 10, 2018.

The sixth article in a series on battling opioid addition for the Boston Globe (12/9, Freyer) addresses recent emergency room improvements in helping addicted patients. For decades, according to the piece, “programs for people with addiction have developed largely outside the medical system.” But because of pressure from physicians like Dr. Alister Martin at the Massachusetts General Hospital, a new state law requires emergency departments to begin addiction treatment on site, “a mandate that calls on hospitals to meet the challenge of a crisis claiming four or five lives each day in Massachusetts.”

Related Links:

— “Emergency rooms once offered little for drug users. That’s starting to change, “Felice J. Freyer, The Boston Globe, December 09, 2018.