Blood pressure reduction by gender and menopause status among hypertensive participants of a mobile health cardiovascular risk self-management program.

Background: Despite being the leading cause of death for women in the United States, cardiovascular disease (CVD) in this population remains underrecognized, understudied, underdiagnosed, and undertreated. CVD risk is particularly pronounced in postmenopausal women. The current study evaluates the effectiveness of an mHealth cardiovascular risk self-management program in improving blood pressure (BP) control among women, especially during and after the onset of menopause.

Empirical Derivation and Prediction of Treatment Trajectories in Harmonized AUD Clinical Trial Datasets.

In clinical settings targeting alcohol use disorder (AUD), it is often unclear whether a treatment option may best suit a patient's clinical needs. Clinicians providing AUD treatment are often required to predict patients' responses to guide treatment decisions. Recently, machine learning approaches have been used as tools in precision medicine to help guide these clinical decisions.

Sex-based Influences on White Matter Tract Integrity in Alcohol Use Disorder: a Systematic Review.

Purpose Of The Review: Women experience worse alcohol-related health consequences compared to men, including greater risk and susceptibility to the neurotoxic effects of alcohol. There is a critical need to identify underlying neurobiological mechanisms underlying sex differences in alcohol use disorder (AUD) phenotypes to better inform individualized treatment options. This report aimed to systematically review existing original literature that examined sex differences in white matter tract integrity in individuals with heavy drinking/AUD using diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI) and provide recommendations for future research.

Preclinical and clinical sex differences in the effects of alcohol on measures of brain dopamine: a systematic review.

Introduction: Dopamine is involved in reward processing and plays a critical role in the development and progression of alcohol use disorder (AUD). However, little is known about the effect of sex on the relationship between dopamine and alcohol use/AUD. There is a critical need to identify the neurobiological mechanisms that contribute to sex differences in AUD to inform treatment approaches.

Cost Savings and Improved Clinical Outcomes From a Mobile Health Cardiovascular Disease Self-Management Program.

Objectives: This study evaluated the impact of a mobile health (mHealth) cardiovascular disease (CVD) self-management program on medical spending, healthcare utilization, and clinical outcomes.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort, pre-post observational analysis of medical claims data from February 2018 to September 2023. Participants enrolled in the mHealth CVD self-management program were compared with matched nonparticipants to assess changes in medical spending and utilization, using a difference-in-differences (DiD) approach.

Digital phenotyping from wearables using AI characterizes psychiatric disorders and identifies genetic associations.

Psychiatric disorders are influenced by genetic and environmental factors. However, their study is hindered by limitations on precisely characterizing human behavior. New technologies such as wearable sensors show promise in surmounting these limitations in that they measure heterogeneous behavior in a quantitative and unbiased fashion.

Alcohol use and cannabis craving in daily life: Sex differences and associations among young adults.

Background: Alcohol and cannabis are commonly used together by young adults. With frequent pairings, use of one substance may become a conditioned cue for use of a second, commonly co-used substance. Although this has been examined for alcohol and cannabis in laboratory conditions and with remote monitoring, no research has examined whether pharmacologically induced cross-substance craving occurs in naturalistic conditions.

Intensive, Real-Time Data Collection of Psychological and Physiological Stress During a 96-Hour Field Training Exercise at a Senior Military College: Feasibility and Acceptability Cohort Study.

Background: Poor physical fitness, stress, and fatigue are factors impacting military readiness, national security, and economic burden for the United States Department of Defense. Improved accuracy of wearable biosensors and remote field biologic sample collection strategies could make critical contributions to understanding how physical readiness and occupational stressors result in on-the-job and environment-related injury, sleep impairments, diagnosis of mental health disorders, and reductions in performance in war-fighters.

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of intensive biomarker and biometric data collection to understand physiological and psychological stress in Army Reserved Officer Training Corps cadets before, during, and after a 96-hour field training exercise (FTX).

The Causes and Consequences of Stigma among Individuals Involved in the Criminal Legal System: A Systematic Review.

The purpose of this study was to systematically review the types of stigmatized attributes that have been assessed and the causes and consequences of stigma for individuals involved in the criminal legal system. PubMed, GoogleScholar, and PsycInfo databases were searched to identify studies for inclusion through March 2021. Eligible studies were peer-reviewed, quantitative, and assessed stigma from the perspective of the person involved in the criminal legal system.

Navigating ethical challenges in psychological research involving digital remote technologies and people who use alcohol or drugs.

Digital and remote technologies (DRT) are increasingly being used in scientific investigations to objectively measure human behavior during day-to-day activities. Using these devices, psychologists and other behavioral scientists can investigate health risk behaviors, such as drug and alcohol use, by closely examining the causes and consequences of monitored behaviors as they occur naturalistically. There are, however, complex ethical issues that emerge when using DRT methodologies in research with people who use substances.

Sex steroid hormone levels associated with dopamine D receptor availability in people who smoke cigarettes.

Introduction: Sex differences exist in tobacco smoking. Women have greater difficulty quitting smoking than men. Tobacco smoking is driven by the reinforcing effects of nicotine, the primary addictive component in cigarettes.

Developmental trajectories of alcohol and cannabis concurrent use in a nationally representative sample of United States youths.

Background: Previous studies have identified common trajectories of single type substance use over the course of adolescence; however, no study to date has examined joint trajectories of cannabis and alcohol concurrent use. Given that expansion of legal cannabis has increased availability, it is important to understand patterns of concurrent use in adolescents and factors that place male and female youth at risk for harmful trajectories of concurrent use. The current study sought to identify joint trajectories of cannabis and alcohol use - and predictors of harmful use trajectories - among male and female adolescents.

Liquor consumption is associated with other medical conditions in females who consume alcohol.

Background: Our group previously identified that females with AUD and females engaging in heavy or extreme binge drinking were more likely to report cancers and other medical conditions compared to their male counterparts. This analysis aimed to extend our previous findings to examine relationships between sex and consumption of alcohol by type on past year medical condition diagnoses.

Methods: Data from the U.

Lower Dopamine D2/3 Receptor Availability is Associated With Worse Verbal Learning and Memory in People Who Smoke Cigarettes.

Introduction: Tobacco smoking is a major public health burden. The mesocortical dopamine system-including the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC)-plays an important role in cognitive function. Dysregulated dopamine signaling in dlPFC is associated with cognitive deficits such as impairments in attention, learning, working memory, and inhibitory control.

Adverse Childhood Experiences and Pathways to Violent Behavior for Women and Men.

Childhood maltreatment is associated with risk for committing future violence, but the relationship between subgroups and biological sex is unknown. The relationship between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), violence, and sex was examined using a nationally representative sample. Results from a latent class analysis suggested a four-class model (low adversity; moderate maltreatment with high household dysfunction; severe maltreatment with moderate household dysfunction; severe multi-type adversities).

Licit and illicit drug use across trimesters in pregnant women endorsing past-year substance use: Results from National Survey on Drug Use and Health (2009-2019).

Purpose: Given the health consequences, perinatal substance use is a significant public health concern, especially as substance use rates increase among women; ongoing data regarding the rates of substance use across trimesters of pregnancy is needed.

Methods: The present study utilized cross-sectional population-based data from the National Survey of Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) between 2009 and 2019. We aimed to explore both licit and illicit substance use assessed within each trimester among women endorsing past-year substance use.

Using machine learning to predict heavy drinking during outpatient alcohol treatment.

Background: Accurate clinical prediction supports the effective treatment of alcohol use disorder (AUD) and other psychiatric disorders. Traditional statistical techniques have identified patient characteristics associated with treatment outcomes. However, less work has focused on systematically leveraging these associations to create optimal predictive models.

Sex Differences across Retrospective Transitions in Posttraumatic Stress and Substance Use Disorders.

Concurrent substance use disorder (SUD) and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) occur at high rates and are typically associated with poor treatment outcomes in both sexes. However, women have a propensity to cope with increased negative affect via substance use in comparison to men; thus, it is important to elucidate the sex-specific bidirectional relationships between SUD and PTSD to improve our understanding of concurrent SUD/PTSD in men and women. Using data from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC-Wave 3;  = 36,309), the present study evaluated the impact of sex on the relationship between past-year SUDs (new, remitted, ongoing), including alcohol and drug use, and retrospective transitions in new absent and ongoing remitted diagnoses of PTSD.

Risk drinking levels and sex are associated with cancer and liver, respiratory, and other medical conditions.

Background: Heavy alcohol use is associated with increased risk of alcohol-related health consequences. Alcohol consumption has increased in females in the last fifteen years and females are more likely to experience exacerbated health risks due to drinking. Our group identified that females with AUD were more likely to report respiratory conditions or cancers compared to their male counterparts.

Prospective Associations of Pain Intensity and Substance Use in the United States Population: A Cross-Lagged Panel Analysis.

Objective: Pain is associated with increased risk for harmful substance use. Substance use also may increase levels of pain, suggesting that these two factors may reciprocally increase risk. The current study examined the reciprocal association between pain and substance use outcomes (i.

Establishing a Global Standard for Wearable Devices in Sport and Exercise Medicine: Perspectives from Academic and Industry Stakeholders.

Millions of consumer sport and fitness wearables (CSFWs) are used worldwide, and millions of datapoints are generated by each device. Moreover, these numbers are rapidly growing, and they contain a heterogeneity of devices, data types, and contexts for data collection. Companies and consumers would benefit from guiding standards on device quality and data formats.

Sex and alcohol use disorder predict the presence of cancer, respiratory, and other medical conditions: Findings from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions-III.

Background: Women experience greater health consequences of alcohol compared to their male counterparts. In recent years, rates of drinking and heavy alcohol use have increased in women while remaining relatively steady in men. Thus, our aim was to newly examine associations between sex, AUD, and the presence of medical conditions in a large nationally representative, cross-sectional dataset.

Gender and past year serious psychological distress are associated with past year AUD: Time-varying results from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH; 2008-2017).

Background: Rates of alcohol use disorder (AUD) have increased in women in the last decade. Women may be more likely to engage in alcohol use to regulate stress and negative affect compared to men. Findings from our group found that life event stress was more strongly associated with new AUD in women vs.