Mental health clinicians are expected to offer support and advice to patients to promote smoking cessation. Alongside this is the relatively new and increasingly popular phenomenon of electronic cigarette use. The absence of any long-term evidence regarding safety is recognised and clinicians' awareness of e-cigarettes may be limited to personal experience or media publications, leading to uncertainty in their confidence discussing e-cigarettes with patients, both in general and as an aid to quitting smoking. This article provides a historical and contemporary overview of e-cigarettes and vaping. The reader will gain an understanding of e-cigarette usage, risks and benefits, the current position on use of e-cigarettes in mental health settings, and tips on how to take an e-cigarette/vaping history and how to offer advice about use. This is achieved in the context of recent publications and national recommendations. Although the focus is primarily on the mental health patient, the article is of benefit to all health and social care professionals to help them develop an understanding of e-cigarettes as a tobacco-smoking cessation or harm-reduction aid.. To read the full article, log in using your MPFT NHS OpenAthens details.
It has been proposed that many smokers switch to vaping because their nicotine addiction makes this their only viable route out of smoking. We compared indicators of prior and current cigarette smoking dependence and of relapse in former smokers who were daily users of nicotine vaping products (‘vapers') or who were not vaping at the time of survey (‘non‐vapers').. To read the full article, log in using your NHS Athens details. To access full-text: click “Log in/Register” (top right hand side). Click ‘Institutional Login’ then select 'OpenAthens Federation', then ‘NHS England’. Enter your Athens details to view the article.
The United Kingdom's National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidance (NICE PH48) recommends that pharmacotherapy combined with behavioural support be provided for all smokers admitted to hospital; however, relapse to smoking after discharge remains common. This study aimed to assess the effect of adding home support for newly‐abstinent smokers to conventional NICE‐recommended support in smokers discharged from hospital.. To read the full article, log in using your NHS Athens details. To access full-text: click “Log in/Register” (top right hand side). Click ‘Institutional Login’ then select 'OpenAthens Federation', then ‘NHS England’. Enter your Athens details to view the article.
There’s a lot of evidence about the relationship between alcohol consumption and harm experienced by drinkers such as ill health, disability and death. But there is less evidence to bring together what we know about the detrimental effects alcohol has on people other than drinkers, such as being a victim alcohol-related crime, family breakdown, child abuse and needing support from the police and healthcare services.
The United States Food and Drug Administration has proposed regulation to require cigarettes contain very low nicotine content (VLNC). In contrast, reducing the number of cigarettes per day (CPD) is the most common current method to reduce nicotine. This trial aims to explore whether gradually transitioning to VLNC cigarettes plus nicotine patch or reducing CPD plus nicotine patch is more effective at decreasing nicotine dependence.. To read the full article, log in using your NHS Athens details. To access full-text: click “Log in/Register” (top right hand side). Click ‘Institutional Login’ then select 'OpenAthens Federation', then ‘NHS England’. Enter your Athens details to view the article.
Understanding whether and how far smokers’ characteristics influence the effectiveness of treatment may be important for tailoring recommendations on cessation aids to those most likely to help the user achieve abstinence. This study aimed to estimate the effectiveness of commonly‐used smoking cessation aids and test whether their effectiveness differs according to cigarette addiction, socioeconomic status, age, or sex.. To read the full article, log in using your NHS Athens details. To access full-text: click “Log in/Register” (top right hand side). Click ‘Institutional Login’ then select 'OpenAthens Federation', then ‘NHS England’. Enter your Athens details to view the article.
The dramatic decline in the popularity of smoking since the turn of the millennium could largely be the result of increased education and awareness of the harms of smoking, and that it's now less socially acceptable, particularly since the smoking ban in public places.
But what will be of concern to some is that while teens may be less likely to try smoking or think it acceptable, there may have been a massive increase in the perceived acceptability of vaping and the number of teens who have tried e-cigarettes if they'd been asked about it in the surveys.
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Open access. Smoking has played a significant role in the historical culture of mental healthcare settings. Mental health professionals (MHPs) often hold dismissive attitudes regarding the importance of smoking cessation in the context of mental healthcare. In 2007, English mental health inpatient buildings were required by law to become smoke-free, and healthcare trusts have more recently begun to implement comprehensive policies (i.e. smoke-free grounds and buildings) and staff training in response to national guidance. It is therefore important to explore MHPs practice around smoking, smoking cessation, and smoke-free policy adherence. This study aimed to explore these issues by using the COM-B (capability, opportunity, motivation, behaviour) model to systematically identify barriers to, and facilitators for, MHPs addressing smoking with their patients.
For decades, researchers have called for the systematic inclusion of non‐consumption outcomes, such as alcohol‐related consequences and, temptation/craving, in addition to consumption outcomes (e.g., percent days abstinent) to evaluate alcohol use disorder (AUD) treatment efficacy. However, FDA guidelines for alcohol medications development suggest non‐consumption outcomes may be insensitive to changes that occur within AUD treatment trial assessment windows, though this has never been directly tested. We aimed to measure the predictive value of diagnostically‐related, non‐consumption measures of AUD treatment effects.. To read the full article, log in using your MPFT NHS OpenAthens details.
Free access. Commentary to: How should we set consumption thresholds for low risk drinking guidelines? Achieving objectivity and transparency using evidence, expert judgement and pragmatism.
To examine subjective and psychophysiological responses to appetitive cues during an alcohol cue reactivity task, and its relation to alcoholic liver disease and assess whether executive functioning is associated with appropriate regulation of cue-elicited responses in individuals with severe alcohol use disorder (AUD).. Please contact the library to request a copy of this article - http://bit.ly/1Xyazai
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Open access. Comment. The systematic analysis of the global burden of disease attributable to alcohol and drug use from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 20161 published in The Lancet Psychiatry, is the most comprehensive and systematic global estimate to date of the adverse health effects of substance use. The GBD 2016 Alcohol and Drug Use Collaborators systematically analysed data on the epidemiology of alcohol and drug use and prevalence of these use disorders, and used disability weights to estimate disability-adjusted life-years. The estimates include the burden attributable to alcohol and drug use as risk factors for a variety of health conditions.
Free access. I walked through a supermarket recently and saw candles saying “Wine not?”, greeting cards with “On your marks, get set, prosecco!”, and t-shirts emblazoned with “You've got to be gin it to win it.” When I reached the pharmacy, I saw a sign saying that alcohol is the leading cause of ill health, disability, and death among people aged between 15–49 years in the UK.
Open access. Alcohol and drug use can have negative consequences on the health, economy, productivity, and social aspects of communities. We aimed to use data from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2016 to calculate global and regional estimates of the prevalence of alcohol, amphetamine, cannabis, cocaine, and opioid dependence, and to estimate global disease burden attributable to alcohol and drug use between 1990 and 2016, and for 195 countries and territories within 21 regions, and within seven super-regions.
Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) may be more effective in aiding smoking cessation if higher doses of nicotine from it can be tolerated. We examined the responses to, and 4‐week abstinence rates observed when, titrating the dose of transdermal nicotine patch up to 84mg/day over 4 weeks prior to a target quit date and titrating down again over 4 weeks afterwards.. Please contact the library to request a copy of this article - http://bit.ly/1Xyazai
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Excessive alcohol consumption has a substantial impact on public health services. A key element determining alcohol availability is alcohol outlet density. This study investigated the relationship between on‐trade and off‐trade outlets and hospital admission rates in local neighbourhoods.. Please contact the library to request a copy of this article - http://bit.ly/1Xyazai
To understand the extent of the alcohol industry's financial dependence on drinking above government low‐risk guidelines in England.. Please contact the library to request a copy of this article - http://bit.ly/1Xyazai
Studies examining the next‐day cognitive effects of heavy alcohol consumption have produced mixed findings, which may reflect inconsistencies in definitions of ‘hangover’. Recent consensus has defined hangover as “mental and physical symptoms, experienced the day after a single episode of heavy drinking, starting when blood alcohol concentration (BAC) approaches zero”. In light of this, we aimed to review the literature systematically to evaluate and estimate mean effect sizes of the next‐day effects of heavy alcohol consumption on cognition.. Please contact the library to request a copy of this article - http://bit.ly/1Xyazai
An expert in substance abuse reacts to a new study published in the Lancet that suggests there is no safe level of alcohol consumption for the one in three people who drink alcohol worldwide.
Using smoking cessation medications for several weeks prior to quitting smoking facilitates quitting success, but how it does so is not clear. Candidate theories are that pre‐cessation medication enhances self‐efficacy, facilitates medication adherence post‐quit, induces aversion to smoking, reduces reward from smoking, or reduces the drive to smoke. We investigated these pathways using data from a large trial of nicotine preloading, using mediation analysis.. Please contact the library to request a copy of this article - http://bit.ly/1Xyazai
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This review was commissioned by the Department of Health (now the Department of Health and Social Care), which asked Public Health England to provide an overview of alcohol-related harm in England and possible policy solutions.
It provides a broad and rigorous summary of the types and prevalence of alcohol-related harm, as well as presenting evidence for the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of alcohol control policies.
The statistical data has also been provided on the estimated number of working years of life lost in 2015 due to alcohol, broken down by cause of death.
Public Health England (PHE) has published an update to Local Alcohol Profiles for England (LAPE).
The LAPE interactive tool presents a range of alcohol-related indicators and allows users to view and analyse data in a user-friendly format.
This release includes an update of the alcohol-related cancer and alcohol-related road traffic accident indicators.
It's perhaps not surprising that low-strength e-cigarettes were found to be less satisfying than the higher-strength versions, and interesting that the low-strength vapers compensated with their puffing, potentially exposing them to more toxins.
But this was a tiny study that only looked at habitual users of high-nicotine products, who may have found it harder to adapt to low nicotine. The findings can't necessarily be applied to all vapers.
This review is a critical reflection on the effectiveness of evidence-based alcohol policies and their implementation, based on studies and observations that have arisen in recent years.. MPFT staff can use the OVID link, or you can request a copy of this article by replying to this email. Please ensure you are clear which article you are requesting.
Alcohol is a leading risk factor for ill health and premature death. Regardless of poor levels of implementation achieved after more than 30 years of research and policy advice, alcohol screening and brief advice (SBA) remains one of the best policy options. This study updates the evidence by considering recent publications on SBA for heavy drinking and alcohol use disorder in primary healthcare at a timely moment, because researchers are, at present, debating future direction of research and policy in this field.. MPFT staff can use the OVID link, or you can request a copy of this article by replying to this email. Please ensure you are clear which article you are requesting.
People with mental illness are up to three times more likely to smoke and experience greater challenges and less success when trying to quit and therefore have higher risk of smoking‐related morbidity and mortality. There is a lack of evidence on successful interventions to reduce the smoking rates in people living with serve mental illness. A meta‐synthesis was undertaken to summarize the data from multiple studies to inform the development of future smoking cessation intervention studies.
This statistical report acts as a reference point for health issues relating to alcohol use and misuse, providing information obtained from a number of sources in a user-friendly format. It covers topics such as drinking habits and behaviours among adults (aged 16 and over) and school children (aged 11 to 15); drinking-related ill health and mortality; affordability of alcohol; alcohol-related admissions to hospital; and alcohol-related costs.
Guidelines for levels of alcohol use that pose a low risk to drinkers' health are provided by many countries, usually based on meta-analyses of epidemiological studies.1; 2 ; 3 However, to devise such guidelines is challenging because alcohol is linked to poor health in various and complex ways. Injury, suicide, and assault, for example, are associated with drinking to intoxication, whereas regular alcohol consumption increases the risks of liver cirrhosis, gastrointestinal diseases, cardiovascular disease, dementia, and some types of cancer.4 ; 5 Debate continues about whether or not moderate alcohol consumption reduces mortality from myocardial infarction.6; 7 ; 8
The study by Angela Wood and colleagues9 in The Lancet substantially improves on previous meta-analyses to define low-risk drinking thresholds.. Please contact the library to request a copy of this article - http://bit.ly/1Xyazai
Low-risk limits recommended for alcohol consumption vary substantially across different national guidelines. To define thresholds associated with lowest risk for all-cause mortality and cardiovascular disease, we studied individual-participant data from 599 912 current drinkers without previous cardiovascular disease.. Please contact the library to request a copy of this article - http://bit.ly/1Xyazai
Marie Crabbe looks at a recent retrospective cohort study which explores the contribution of alcohol use disorders to the burden of dementia in France.
NICE and Public Health England have published updated guidelines for health practitioners and stop smoking services on the best ways to help people quit smoking.
The new guideline recommends prioritising specific groups who are at the highest risk of harm from smoking, such as women who are pregnant and people with mental health problems.
To assess tobacco dependence treatment guidelines content in accordance with Article 14 of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) and its guidelines, and association between content and country income level.. Please contact the library to request a copy of this article - http://bit.ly/1Xyazai
Alcohol consumption constitutes a substantial burden of disease. Older people are being admitted to hospital for alcohol problems in increasing numbers. A recent systematic review reports cautious supportive evidence for primary prevention interventions in reducing excessive alcohol consumption in older drinkers, but does not focus on treatment of dependent drinkers. The evidence base for treatment interventions for dependent drinkers is comparatively limited, but it is growing.. To read the full article, log in using your SSSFT NHS OpenAthens details. SSOTP - You can request a copy of this article by replying to this email. Please ensure you are clear which article you are requesting.
Open access. Increasing the reach of smoking cessation services and/or including new but effective medications to the current provision may provide significant health and economic benefits; the scale of such benefits is currently unknown. The aim of this study was to estimate the cost-effectiveness from a health-care perspective of viable national level changes in smoking cessation provision in the Netherlands and England.
Open access. To investigate whether smokers prescribed varenicline had lower risks of serious ill-health during the 4 years following treatment compared with those prescribed nicotine replacement therapy (NRT).
To estimate predictors of time to smoking relapse and test if prediction varied by quit duration.. Please contact the library to request a copy of this article - http://bit.ly/1Xyazai
Alcohol consumption is common in Western countries and has been increasing in older adults. Latest figures from Great Britain suggest 75% of those over 65 years drink, an increase from 71% 10 years ago. Chronic heavy intake is a well-established cause of brain atrophy and dementia, with a recent long-term prospective study from the USA reporting a doubling of the odds of later severe memory impairment in those with a history of an alcohol use disorder. Drinking of moderate amounts has been reported to be protective for brain health in a number of epidemiological studies, including some claims of possibly reducing dementia risk. Rigorous recent research has questioned this belief, with new evidence of harmful associations in moderate drinkers compared with abstainers.. To read the full article, log in using your NHS OpenAthens details.
Open access. To assess how far motivation to reduce alcohol consumption in increasing and higher-risk drinkers in England predicts self-reported attempts to reduce alcohol consumption and changes in alcohol intake during the following 6 months.
Open access. Although smoking cessation medications have shown effectiveness in increasing abstinence in randomized controlled trials (RCTs), it is unclear to what extent benefits persist over time. This paper assesses whether the benefits of smoking cessation medications decline over the first year.