Key Findings

This is a quick summary of the main discovery for each research paper we have published, organized issue by issue. Each key finding is below the article title, with a link to the abstract. 


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August 2022

Behavioural programmes for cigarette smoking cessation: investigating interactions between behavioural, motivational and delivery components in a systematic review and component network meta-analysis

Behavioural counselling and guaranteed financial incentives are the components of behavioural support for smoking cessation associated with the greatest success

Link to Abstract

The impact of road safety policies in a deregulated alcohol tax environment in Hong Kong: a 15-year time series analysis

Road safety policies in Hong Kong are associated with net reductions in road traffic injuries.

Link to Abstract

Ageing and older people who use illicit opioids, cocaine or methamphetamine: a scoping review and literature map

Studies of older people who use illicit drugs rarely use conceptual frameworks.

Link to Abstract

The relationship between alcohol outlets and crime is not an artefact of retail geography

A positive relationship between alcohol outlet density and crime remains statistically significant after controlling for retail density

Link to Abstract

Effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of face-to-face and electronic brief interventions versus screening alone to reduce alcohol consumption among high-risk adolescents presenting to emergency departments: three-arm pragmatic randomized trial

Personalised feedback with brief advice or electronic brief intervention were not effective or cost-effective compared with screening alone in reducing adolescent drinking

Link to Abstract

Changes in predicted opioid overdose risk over time in a state Medicaid program: a group-based trajectory modeling analysis

Over 90% of Medicaid beneficiaries with one or more opioid prescriptions had consistent and predicted overdose risks over 15 months

Link to Abstract

Education matters: longitudinal pathways to mid-life heavy drinking in a national cohort of black Americans

Low childhood SEP among Black Americans may ultimately lead to low educational attainment and higher midlife heavy drinking

Link to Abstract

Association of quarterly prevalence of e-cigarette use with ever regular smoking among young adults in England: a time–series analysis between 2007 and 2018

Prevalence of e-cig use among youth in England is not associated with changes in prevalence of smoking uptake.

Link to Abstract

Is early exposure to cannabis associated with bipolar disorder? Results from a Finnish birth cohort study

Other substance use seems to confound the positive association between early cannabis exposure and subsequent bipolar disorder

Link to Abstract

Association between the implementation of tobacco control policies and adolescent vaping in 44 lower-middle, upper-middle, and high-income countries

8.6% of adolescents report vaping in the past 30 days, but only 1.7% report frequent vaping

Link to Abstract

Frequency of adolescent cannabis smoking and vaping in the United States: Trends, disparities and concurrent substance use, 2017–19

Cannabis use without vaping appears to be declining among adolescents in the US

Link to Abstract

Effect of vaping on past-year smoking cessation success of Australians in 2019—evidence from a national survey

Use of e-cigarettes appears to increase quit success among Australians who attempt to quit tobacco

Link to Abstract

Infrequent detection of unintentional fentanyl use via urinalysis among people who regularly inject opioids in Sydney and Melbourne, Australia

There appears to be little illicit fentanyl in Australian drug markets accessed by supervised injecting facilities attendees.

Link to Abstract

Cannabis legalization and traffic injuries: exploring the role of supply mechanisms

In Uruguay, the number of people allowed to self-cultivate cannabis is positively associated with traffic crashes involving injuries.

Link to Abstract

Loot box engagement: relationships with educational attainment, employment status and earnings in a cohort of 16 000 United Kingdom gamers

Demographic associations of loot box engagement include younger age, male sex, non-university educational attainment, and unemployment

Link to Abstract

The efficacy and tolerability of pharmacologically active interventions for alcohol-induced hangover symptomatology: a systematic review of the evidence from randomised placebo-controlled trials

There is no high quality evidence for any pharmacologically active intervention for hangover.

Link to Abstract

How substance use prevention research gets used in United States federal policy

Bills in US Congress that use research language are more likely to progress in the legislative cycle

Link to Abstract

Problematic gaming risk among European adolescents: a cross-national evaluation of individual and socio-economic factors

European countries with lower economic inequalities and higher family benefits may have a reduced risk of adolescent problem gambling

Link to Abstract