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Fetal exposure to opioids may change a baby's immune system, triggering a rise in risks for eczema and asthma through early childhood, new research shows.

Children born to women who used opioids during pregnancy had much higher rates of eczema, as well as conditions such as "diaper rash," during infancy, Australian researchers report.

These children also went on to have significantl...

There's no link at all between weed use and a person's use of illicit opioids, one way or the other, a new review concludes.

Cannabis isn't a gateway drug that can spark a person's desire to try narcotics, results show.

On the other hand, weed also isn't effective in helping wean addicts off opioids, researchers said.

These results have significant implications for U.S. opioid...

Heart disease deaths linked with alcohol or drug use have been steadily increasing in the United States, a new study has found.

Deaths from heart disease in which substance use was cited as contributor rose an average of 4% per year between 1999 and 2019, researchers report.

Further, the death rate accelerated in recent years, rising more than 6% from 2012 to 2019, according to find...

A hot shower, a glass of wine, a good book and sex are a few of Americans' favorite ways to unwind at bedtime, a new survey shows.

"What defines a comfortable night's sleep varies from person to person, but developing a consistent sleep routine that removes distraction is a big first step in building a habit of good sleep health," said Dr. ...

Social media is abuzz with the possibility that newfangled weight loss drugs can also reduce cravings for alcohol, a new study says.

Across a number of Reddit threads, users of weight-loss drugs like Ozempic reported that they felt less need to drink beer, wine and liquor.

Threads bearing titles like “Did scientists accidentally invent an anti-addiction drug?” and “I don't kno...

A 'secret shopper' study finds that for many American families, accessing inpatient treatment for a teen battling addiction can be next to impossible.

“If you are a family in crisis and you have a kid for whom outpatient treatment is not an option, you hope to be able to call the closest residential facility to you and have access to timely, safe, affordable care for your child,” said...

Online gaming and vaping to the point of addiction have become widespread enough that most high school counselors regularly confront these behaviors in today's teens, a new survey shows.

Four out of five counselors say they've worked with at least one student during the past year who had struggled with problematic use of video games or e-cigarettes. However, few said they had the training...

A newly approved test can determine whether a person has a genetically driven risk of becoming addicted to opioids.

The AvertD test, the first of its kind, uses a DNA sample swabbed from a patient's cheek to determine if they have a combination of genetic variants associated with an elevated risk of opioid addiction.

The 15 genetic variants detected by the test are involved in the b...

In response to the ongoing crisis of opioid misuse, U.S. doctors had already cut the amount of opioids they gave patients after surgery by 2022 to just a third of the amount given in 2016, new research shows.

Much of the decline happened before the pandemic, however, and the rate at which doctors are reducing the use of post-op opioids has slowed.

The use of opioids during surgery r...

Oral nicotine pouches might be marketed as an alternative to cigarettes, but they do little to curb smokers' nicotine cravings, a new study finds.

The pouches -- which contain nicotine powder and other flavorings, but no tobacco leaf -- take too long to provide the nicotine “spike” that eases cravings, researchers report in the Nov. 15 issue of journal Addiction.

Curren...

TUESDAY, NOV. 14, 2023 (Healthday News) -- Over 1 in 6 Americans, adults and teens alike, suffered a substance use disorder in 2022, new government data released Monday shows.

In the survey, alcohol and drug abuse involved roughly the same numbers of people: About 30 million had an al...

Warnings about the dangers of vaping may be reaching American teens: A new U.S. government report shows e-cigarette use is down among high school students.

In fact, use of any tobacco product over the past 30 days declined among this age group during the 2022-2023 school year, from 16.5% to 12.6%.

This was driven largely by a decline in e-cigarette use, which dropped from 14.1% to 1...

Matthew Perry, one of the stars of the beloved television sitcom “Friends,” died on Saturday.

Perry, 54, was best known for his portrayal of Chandler Bing in the long-running show, but he also starred in many other roles.

Capt. Scot Williams, of the Los Angeles Police Department's Robbery-Homicide division, confirmed Perry's death, the New York Times reported. Investiga...

New research suggests a link between middle school students being disciplined for marijuana use and legalization of recreational weed, particularly when schools are close to dispensaries that sell the drug.

Researchers studied this in Oregon, where recreational marijuana became legal for adults back in 2015.

They found that middle school students received office discipline referrals...

While U.S. policymakers have restricted flavored vapes to make e-cigarettes less appealing to young people, that plan may be backfiring.

A new study found that for every 0.7 milliliters of “e-liquid” for e-cigarettes that isn't sold because of flavor restrictions, an additional 15 traditional cigarettes were sol...

Telehealth may be a powerful way to get people with opioid use disorder to take -- and stay on -- medication to treat their addiction.

Researchers report that those who started buprenorphine treatment via telehealth had an increased likelihood of staying in treatment longer compared to those who started the treatment in another setting.

“This study suggests that telehealth may inc...

Cigarette makers are using synthetic menthol substitutes in what appears to be an effort to skirt a looming federal menthol ban, researchers say.

The menthol flavor appeals to younger and newer smokers, according to investigators at Duke Health in Durham, N.C., and Yale University in New Haven, Conn.

These new “non-menthol” cigarettes are being introduced in states that have alr...

Medications that cut cravings have been shown to help with opioid use disorder, yet nearly a third of Medicaid recipients dealing with opioid addiction aren't getting them, a new report shows.

There were significant disparities in who gets these medications by age, race and states, according to the report re...

Critics of a law that decriminalized drug possession in Oregon have blamed the policy for rising overdose deaths in the state, but a new study finds no evidence of that.

Researchers discovered that while drug overdose deaths have risen recently in Oregon, it appears the trend has no relation to a law popularly known as Measure 110.

Passed by Oregon voters in 2020, the policy decrim...