College Students and Drug Abuse
McCabe S. Screening for drug abuse among medical and nonmedical users of prescription drugs in a probability sample of college students. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2008;162:225-231.
Results from a new Internet survey show that college students who take prescription drugs for nonmedical reasons are more likely to abuse alcohol and other illicit drugs.
Students who admitted to using nonprescribed opioids, stimulants, sedatives, antianxiolytics, or sleeping medications were 6.5 times more likely to experiment and/or abuse other drugs. Concurrently, those who claimed to use prescription drugs for both medical and nonmedical reasons were five times more likely.
The researchers encourage healthcare providers to regularly screen college students for both prescription and illicit drug use.
Restricted TV Time Lowers BMI
Epstein LH, Roemmich JN, Robinson JL, et al. A randomized trial of the effects of reducing television viewing and computer use on body mass index in young children. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2008;162:239-245.
A new device, the TV Allowance, is now available to monitor and limit children's usage of the television and computer. The Academy of Pediatrics suggests that children 2 years of age and older watch no more than 2 hours of television daily, and that younger children watch no television at all. In fact, a new study shows that reducing overweight children's viewing time lowers their body mass index (BMI). This study utilized the TV Allowance to slowly wean viewing time down to 50% over 2 years.
This randomized, controlled trial included 70 children ages 4 to 7 years with BMIs in the 75th percentile or higher. These children had at least 14 hours of screen time weekly. Half the families utilized the TV Allowance device, which imposed weekly time limits on the television and computer for each child. The other half did not limit screen time during this study. The children's BMIs decreased significantly in the intervention group, especially in the lower socioeconomic status group.