Changing Trends in Nonmedical Gabapentin Use Among a Cohort of Rural Appalachian People Who Use Drugs: A Longitudinal Study Over the Time Period of Scheduling Changes in Kentucky.

Background: Recently, nonmedical gabapentin (Neurontin) use has increased in the United States, leading to its classification as schedule V substance in Kentucky in 2017. This paper examines patterns in nonmedical gabapentin (Neurontin) use in people who use drugs (PWUD) over the time of scheduling changes.

Methods: Longitudinal data (2008-2020) from the Social Networks among Appalachian People (SNAP) study were analyzed.

Long-term, bidirectional associations between depressive symptom severity and opioid use among people with HIV: A prospective cohort study.

Background: The bidirectional relationships between opioid use and depressive symptom severity among people living with HIV (PLHIV) are poorly understood. We hypothesized that higher opioid use frequency would be associated with greater subsequent depressive symptom severity and that greater depressive symptom severity would be associated with higher subsequent opioid use frequency.

Methods: We analyzed data from the Veterans Aging Cohort Study (VACS) - survey sample, a prospective cohort including PLHIV receiving care at 8 US Veterans Health Administration sites.

Association of fentanyl test strip results and change in drug use behaviors: A multi-state, community-based observational study.

Background: The Stay Safe Study, conducted between May and December 2023 in the United States, investigated the association between fentanyl test strip (FTS) use and risk reduction behaviors. This paper examines the association between self-reported FTS results and change in drug use behaviors.

Methods: We solicited self-reported drug and FTS use among people who use drugs (PWUD), with a baseline and four weekly surveys over a 28-day observation period in three states (Kentucky, New York and Ohio).

Fentanyl Test Strip Use and Overdose Risk Reduction Behaviors Among People Who Use Drugs.

Importance: Illegal fentanyl is driving overdose mortality, and fentanyl test strips (FTS) can be used to test drugs for fentanyl at the point of consumption. Evidence on whether FTS use is associated with overdose risk reduction behaviors is encouraging, but largely limited to smaller, single-site studies.

Objective: To determine whether self-reported baseline FTS use among people who use drugs (PWUD) was associated with overdose risk reduction behaviors and nonfatal overdose over a 28-day follow-up.

The effectiveness of the communities that HEAL intervention on reducing non-fatal opioid overdoses: A prespecified secondary analysis of a waitlist cluster control randomized controlled trial.

Introduction: Along with a surge of opioid overdose deaths in the United States, the rates of nonfatal opioid overdose (NFOO) emergency department (ED) visits and hospitalizations have been sharply increasing.

Methods: In the HEALing Communities Study (HCS), we conducted a pre-specified secondary analyses to evaluate the effectiveness of the Community that HEALS (CTH) intervention on reducing the count of NFOO ED visits and hospitalizations in a multi-site cluster randomized multi-site, two-arm, parallel, community-level, open, wait list-controlled trial study, Sixty-seven communities in Kentucky, Massachusetts, New York, and Ohio were randomized to the intervention (N = 34) or waitlist control condition (N = 33) stratified by state and balanced by urban/rural classification, fatal opioid overdose rate and population size of communities. We compared the rate of NFOO per 100,000 adults aged ≥18 years between intervention and control communities from July 1, 2021, to June 30, 2022.

Current Bronchodilator Responsiveness Criteria Underestimate Asthma in Older Adults.

Background: Asthma is common in older adults and is confirmed by demonstration of variable expiratory air-flow limitations, typically evaluated by spirometric assessment of bronchodilator responsiveness. However, many patients with clinically suspected asthma and documented air-flow obstruction do not exhibit a post-bronchodilator response that meets or exceeds current established guidelines. We investigated if extending the time from bronchodilator administration to assessment of bronchodilator response increases the yield of spirometry for the diagnosis of asthma in older adults.