Connecting Research and Experts with Journalists

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In the United States, prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) is the most common preventable cause of developmental delay. Animal studies have shown some of the adverse effects of PAE on placental development, but few studies have examined these effects in humans. This is the first study to examine the effects of prenatal exposure to methamphetamine, marijuana, and cigarette smoking on human placental development.

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Heavy drinking by students is common during the college years and is associated with potentially serious consequences. While student drinking tends to fluctuate throughout the calendar year, with marked increases during celebrations, most studies of the issue are limited to the academic year itself, relatively few focus specifically on special heavy drinking events, and even fewer include drinking during summer break and subsequent school return. This study uses longitudinal data to address these gaps.

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Injury death – including those due to intentional injury, with suicide most common, as well as unintentional injury, with motor vehicle crashes (MVCs) causing a majority – is the third leading cause of death in the United States. Postmortem examinations commonly test for blood alcohol concentration (BAC). This study utilizes postmortem data to examine the hypotheses that high, and very high, BACs are more common among MVC decedents than among suicide decedents, whereas low alcohol levels are more common among suicide decedents.

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Previous research on an apparent narrowing of the historical “gender gap” in drinking prevalence found that girls were more likely to start drinking before 18 years of age compared to boys. This research seeks to extend these epidemiological findings by estimating the fine-grained, age-specific incidence of becoming a drinker among 12- to 24-year-old U.S. males and females, and comparing incidence estimates with prevalence proportions.

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One of the challenges in evaluating the effectiveness of alcohol treatment is determining what constitutes a “good” outcome or meaningful improvement. While abstinence at the end of treatment is clearly a good outcome, a focus on abstinence ignores the benefits of patients reducing their drinking to less problematic levels so that they can function better and incur fewer social costs. This study estimates the relationship between drinking practices at the end of a treatment program and subsequent health-care costs, with an emphasis on heavy and non-heavy drinking levels.

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Motor vehicle crashes (MVCs) are the leading cause of death among U.S. teens. In 2012, 184,000 young drivers were injured in MVCs, and 23 percent of young drivers (15 - 20 years old) involved in fatal MVCs had consumed alcohol. One policy that may reduce alcohol-use behaviors and impaired driving among young people at a population level is graduated driver licensing (GDL), which increases the driving privileges of young novice drivers as they age and gain more driving experience. This research seeks to determine the effects of GDLs on risky driving behaviors of youth and to assess whether GDLs have an unintended effect on underage drinking behaviors.

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Restrictions on alcohol availability may be an important crime-control policy, given that alcohol availability appears to influence crime by increasing consumption and alcohol-induced impulsivity. In 2003, Pennsylvania repealed its Sunday alcohol-sales ban for a portion of its state-run liquor stores. This paper investigates whether this change in alcohol policy, which affected alcohol availability, had an impact on crime occurring within the vicinity of liquor stores that opened on Sundays in Philadelphia.

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Alcohol-induced blackouts, defined as memory loss of all or a portion of events that occurred during a drinking episode, are reported by approximately 50 percent of drinkers, and are associated with a wide range of negative consequences, including injury and death. Identifying the factors that contribute to and result from alcohol-induced blackouts is critical for developing effective prevention programs. This manuscript is an updated review of clinical research that has focused on alcohol-induced blackouts. It outlines practical and clinical implications of these findings and provides recommendations for future research.

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Alcohol use, especially at binge levels, is associated with sexual HIV-risk behavior, but the mechanisms through which alcohol increases sexual risk taking are not well understood. This study addresses that gap.

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Prior research has shown a link between the impact of contracting economies, especially as reflected by the unemployment rate, and suicide mortality risk. This study assesses changes in the rate of heavy alcohol use among suicide decedents, for both genders, during the 2008-2009 economic crisis.