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JAMA Netw Open 2021 03 1;4(3):e210242. Epub 2021 Mar 1.

National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia.

Importance: A persistently high US drug overdose death toll and increasing health care use associated with substance use disorder (SUD) create urgency for comprehensive estimates of attributable direct costs, which can assist in identifying cost-effective ways to prevent SUD and help people to receive effective treatment.

Objective: To estimate the annual attributable medical cost of SUD in US hospitals from the health care payer perspective.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This economic evaluation of observational data used multivariable regression analysis and mathematical modeling of hospital encounter costs, controlling for patient demographic, clinical, and insurance characteristics, and compared encounters with and without secondary SUD diagnosis to statistically identify the total attributable cost of SUD. Read More

Seishin Shinkeigaku Zasshi 2011 ;113(12):1184-98

National Institute of Mental Health, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry.

Purpose: The purpose of the present study was to examine the current situation regarding sedative (mainly benzodiazepines)-related disorder in Japan and the clinical characteristics of Japanese patients with this disorder.

Subjects: Subjects were 671 drug-related disorder patients diagnosed according to the ICD-10 classification as "F1: mental and behavioural disorders due to psychoactive substance use," who abused psychoactive substances other than alcohol. Of all the psychiatric hospitals in Japan between September and October 2010, these drug-related disorder patients had consecutively consulted or were admitted to 153 psychiatric hospitals. Read More

Addict Sci Clin Pract 2011 Jul;6(1):18-31

University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, USA.

More than 22 million Americans age 12 and older have used inhalants, and every year more than 750,000 use inhalants for the first time. Despite the substantial prevalence and serious toxicities of inhalant use, it has been termed "the forgotten epidemic." Inhalant abuse remains the least-studied form of substance abuse, although research on its epidemiology, neurobiology, treatment, and prevention has accelerated in recent years. Read More

Nihon Rinsho 2010 Aug;68(8):1494-8

Department of Psychiatry, Graduate School of Medical Science, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine.

Inhalant abuse and dependence are prevalent in adolescent population because inhalants are inexpensive, legal and accessible substance for youth. In Japan, the prevalence of inhalant abuse and dependence is gradually declining in these days, although inhalants can still become a "gateway drug" to other dependent substances such as cocaine and cannabinoids. Inhalant abuse causes show serious mental and somatic symptoms, and mortality in acute and chronic phases, while the abusers are ignorant about it. Read More

Subst Use Misuse 2010 Jul;45(9):1330-9

Department of Behavioral Science, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky 40536-0086, USA.

This study describes the number and characteristics of accidental deaths associated with recreational inhalant misuse in North Carolina from 2000 to 2008. Inhalant-related deaths were identified via an electronic search of records of the North Carolina Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. Thirty deaths were attributed to recreational inhalant use, and nearly a third involved the inhalation of compressed-air products. Read More

BMC Psychiatry 2009 Mar 8;9. Epub 2009 Mar 8.

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Tate-Turner-Kuralt Building, Campus Box 3550, 325 Pittsboro Street, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3550, USA.

Background: Inhalant use is among the most pernicious and poorly understood forms of adolescent substance use. Many youth in the juvenile justice system have used inhalants, but little is known about inhalant use disorders (IUDs) in antisocial youth populations. The purpose of this study was to examine the prevalence, clinical features, and latent structure of DSM-IV IUDs in a state population of antisocial youth. Read More

Drug Alcohol Depend 2007 Nov 18;91(1):40-9. Epub 2007 Jun 18.

Center for Education and Drug Abuse Research, University of Pittsburgh, 711 Salk Hall, 3501 Terrace St., Pittsburgh, PA 15621, USA.

Inhalants, as a class of drugs, consists of heterogeneous substances that increase the probability of many serious illnesses and death. Research on inhalant abuse has lagged behind other drugs partly because of the need for a diagnostic instrument of different types of inhalants. This study was conducted to obtain reliability estimates for the new Substance Abuse Module DSM-IV inhalants diagnoses for four types of inhalants: aerosols, gases, nitrites, and solvents as well as different diagnostic configurations of inhalant-related criteria. Read More

Bull Narc 1989 ;41(1-2):83-93

National Research Institute of Police Science, Tokyo, Japan.

Japan experienced a serious stimulant epidemic during the period from 1946 to 1956 and has been experiencing a second one since 1970. Over the years, a series of drug control measures have been put into effect by the Japanese Government. In 1953, the Japanese police system was reorganized, centralized and made more efficient. Read More