A 2013 report by the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration found that emergency room visits related to nonmedical use of prescription stimulants among adults 18 to 34 tripled from 2005 to 2011, to almost 23,000.

via Workers Seeking Productivity in a Pill Are Abusing A.D.H.D. Drugs – NYTimes.com.

“It is necessary — necessary for survival of the best and the smartest and highest-achieving people.”

Poisoning Deaths Involving Opioid Analgesics — New York State, 2003–2012

April 17, 2015 / SupremeCmdr / Leave a comment

Comparison of opioid analgesic-related mortality between those enrolled or not enrolled in Medicaid shows considerably higher death rates and a more rapid increase in mortality among Medicaid enrollees. The consistently higher age-adjusted death rates for poisonings involving opioid analgesics among Medicaid enrollees (after stratifying data by sex) suggest that differences in age and sex distributions do not underlie these Medicaid/non-Medicaid differences. Other factors, such as the greater prevalence of mental illness and substance abuse in the Medicaid population (6), might contribute to the observed differences.

via Poisoning Deaths Involving Opioid Analgesics — New York State, 2003–2012.

Maybe the title should be Socioeconomic Status and Death.

MUST READ – 5 Takeaways – Diabetes Drugs Investigation – Medpage Today

April 11, 2015 / SupremeCmdr / Leave a comment

5 Takeaways from the Diabetes Drugs Investigation | Medpage Today.

At least 3,300 deaths and 20,000 hospitalizations have been linked to new diabetes drugs in adverse event reports submitted by clinicians and pharmaceutical companies to the FDA since 2004.

Read and pay close attention to the chart of adverse events by drug. The lizard strikes back (Byetta).