http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. In reviewing 25 years of U.S. malpractice claim payouts, Johns Hopkins researchers found that diagnostic errors—not surgical mistakes or medication overdoses—accounted for the largest fraction of claims, the most severe patient harm, and the highest total of penalty payouts. Diagnosis-related payments amounted to $38.8 billion between 1986 and 2010, they found. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-diagnostic-errors-common-costly-treatment.html Health Mon, 22 Apr 2013 19:24:27 EST news285877459 Despite efforts by law enforcement and public health officials to curb prescription drug abuse, drug-related deaths in the United States have continued to rise, the latest data show. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-deaths-tied-painkillers.html Medications Sun, 31 Mar 2013 14:10:02 EST news283956562 (HealthDay)—Children who are given codeine for pain relief after surgery to remove tonsils or adenoids are at risk for overdose and death, U.S. health officials said Thursday. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-codeine-risky-kids-surgeries-fda.html Medications Thu, 21 Feb 2013 17:54:09 EST news280691642 Officials in Estonia raised the alarm Wednesday after a report into drug use in Europe found that the small Baltic nation had the highest incidence of deaths from drug overdoses in the EU. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-estonia-tops-eu-drug-overdose.html Medications Wed, 13 Feb 2013 10:16:12 EST news279972938 The number of deaths and liver transplants due to paracetamol overdoses has significantly reduced thanks to UK legislation to make pack sizes smaller, a paper published today in BMJ suggests. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-percent-reduction-deaths-paracetamol-due.html Medications Thu, 07 Feb 2013 18:30:02 EST news279472443 Training bystanders to recognize and respond to drug overdoses can significantly reduce the number of fatalities, finds a study published in BMJ today. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-bystanders-drug-overdoses-deaths.html Health Thu, 31 Jan 2013 18:30:01 EST news278872355 Despite data on rising rates of abuse and overdoses of narcotic pain medicines across all age groups, in a new poll from the University of Michigan, most parents said they are not very concerned about misuse of these medicines by children and teens. . http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-parents-numb-misuse-narcotic-pain.html Health Wed, 23 Jan 2013 10:32:00 EST news278159488 Drug overdose was the leading cause of death among homeless adults in Boston from 2003 to 2008 and accounted for one-third of deaths among those ages 25 to 44. A study by investigators from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and the Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program (BHCHP) compared rates and causes of death among those served by BHCHP with data from a similar 1997 study and found that, while drug overdose had replaced HIV as the leading cause of death, overall mortality rates had not changed. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-drug-overdose-death-homeless-adults.html Health Mon, 14 Jan 2013 16:00:01 EST news277380759 (Medical Xpress)—Giving heroin users kits with the overdose antidote naloxone is a cost-effective way to prevent overdose deaths and save lives, according to a study released this week in The Annals of Internal Medicine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-naloxone-kits-cost-effective-overdose-deaths.html Medications Wed, 02 Jan 2013 09:40:02 EST news276340968 Given that epilepsy impacts more than 2 million Americans, there is a pressing need for new therapies to prevent this disabling neurological disorder. New findings from the neuroscience laboratory of Mark S. Shapiro, Ph.D., at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, published Dec. 20 in the high-impact scientific journal, Neuron, may provide hope. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-nerve-cell-seizures-gene-electrical.html Neuroscience Wed, 19 Dec 2012 12:00:09 EST news275136604 (Medical Xpress)—A Viewpoint article published recently in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggests that the clinical practice of prescribing amphetamines, opioids, and benzodiazepines to treat chronic pain may be contributing to the increase in fatal drug overdoses and the likelihood that those drugs will be diverted to the illegal market. "Rethinking Opioid Prescribing to Protect Patient Safety and Public Health" was authored by Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health researchers G. Caleb Alexander, MD, MS, and Daniel Webster, ScD, MPH, and Stefan P. Kruszewski, MD, of MD & Associates. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-overprescribing-opioids-impacts-patient-safety.html Medications Tue, 04 Dec 2012 06:37:42 EST news273825448 A new e-health tool that could help reduce the number of drug-related deaths in Europe will be launched in Brussels today. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-software-overdose-drug-users.html Medications Thu, 29 Nov 2012 07:12:02 EST news273395513 A joint study by University of Cincinnati (UC) Department of Emergency Medicine and Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center researchers has found that, in contrast to popular opinion, major holidays are associated with a lower number of suicide attempts by poisoning. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-suicide-poisoning-major-holidays.html Psychology & Psychiatry Fri, 12 Oct 2012 08:39:57 EST news269249990 A total of 500 Australians aged 15 to 54 died from accidental opioid overdoses in 2008 and preliminary estimates suggest deaths of this nature will be higher again in 2009 and 2010, according to the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-australia-heroin-opioid-deaths.html Addiction Wed, 10 Oct 2012 08:04:32 EST news269075066 Nonprescription medications are just as likely a cause of poisoning as prescription drugs, according to a new study by Timothy Wiegand, M.D. from the University of Rochester Medical Center in the US and colleagues. Their work, which analyzes the data from the second annual report of the Toxicology Investigators Consortium (ToxIC), is published online in Springer's Journal of Medical Toxicology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-nonprescription-medication-abuse-underestimated.html Medications Thu, 04 Oct 2012 13:27:12 EST news268575968 (HealthDay)—More Americans now commit suicide than die in car crashes, making suicide the leading cause of injury deaths, according to a new study. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-suicide-americans-car.html Psychology & Psychiatry Thu, 20 Sep 2012 18:40:01 EST news267382998 Prescription painkillers are responsible for more fatal overdoses in the United States than heroin and cocaine combined. And while most states have programs to curb abuse and addiction, a new report from Brandeis University shows that many states do not fully analyze the data they collect. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-painkiller-overdoses-mount-outline-effective.html Medications Thu, 20 Sep 2012 15:03:27 EST news267372199 (HealthDay) -- As part of its efforts to curb the abuse of narcotic painkillers, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is requiring drug makers to educate doctors about the risks of long-acting and extended-release forms of the drugs. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-dangers-long-acting-pain-meds-fda.html Medications Mon, 09 Jul 2012 17:44:05 EST news261074633 Individual use of prescription opioids has increased four-fold since the mid-1990s, in part due to increased awareness of pain control for chronic conditions such as low back pain and fibromyalgia and a Joint Commission mandate that hospitals assess patients' pain as a "vital sign" along with their blood pressure and temperature. During the same timeframe, however, the number of people using these drugs recreationally, becoming addicted to them, and dying of overdoses has also shot up. Today, nearly three quarters of all fatal drug overdoses in the United States are due to prescription drugs -- far outnumbering deaths from cocaine and heroin combined, and often outpacing car accidents as the top cause of preventable deaths. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-drug-monitoring-dangers-linked-pharmaceuticalization-21st.html Medications Wed, 30 May 2012 17:00:11 EST news257609352 Opioid-dependent individuals who want to kick the habit typically begin the road to recovery with detoxification. But detox is ineffective as a stand-alone treatment, with relapse rates ranging from 65% to 80% just one month after discharge. New research published online today in the journal Addiction reveals that individuals with substance use disorders may be as much as ten times more likely to stay abstinent when they have access to drug-free recovery housing and day-treatment programs following detox. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-recovery-housing-treatment-relapse-recovering.html Addiction Tue, 28 Feb 2012 04:43:25 EST news249626579 The number of oxycodone pills sold by Florida doctors dropped dramatically in 2011, following a series of high-profile arrests and a legislative crackdown on the storefront "pill mills" that made South Florida the hub of a nationwide black market in prescription painkillers. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-sales-oxycodone-doctors-fall-florida.html Medications Thu, 02 Feb 2012 10:20:01 EST news247399795 The dire physical and mental health effects of injecting methamphetamine are well known, but there's been little research about suicidal behavior and injecting meth. In a recent study, researchers at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health and the University of British Columbia found that drug users who inject methamphetamine had an 80% greater risk of attempting suicide than drug users who inject other substances. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-drugs-meth-suicide.html Psychology & Psychiatry Thu, 22 Dec 2011 16:41:04 EST news243794456 The number of overdose deaths from powerful painkillers more than tripled over a decade, the government reported Tuesday - a trend that a U.S. health official called an epidemic, but one that can be stopped. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-deaths-painkiller-overdose-triple-decade.html Medications Tue, 01 Nov 2011 12:46:52 EST news239370400 Fatal overdoses involving prescribed opioids tripled in the United States between 1999 and 2006, climbing to almost 14,000 deaths annually—more than cocaine and heroin overdoses combined. Hospitalizations and emergency room visits related to prescription opioid pain medicines such as oxycodone (brand name Oxycontin) and hydrocodone (Vicodin) also increased dramatically in the same period. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-08-group-health-major-opioid-abuse.html Health Thu, 04 Aug 2011 02:53:25 EST news231644960 Unintentional overdose deaths in teens and adults have reached epidemic proportions in the U.S. In some 20 states in 2007 the number of unintentional drug poisoning deaths exceeded either motor vehicle crashes or suicides, two of the leading causes of injury death. Prescription opioid pain medications are driving this overdose epidemic. Opioid pain medications were also involved in about 36 percent of all poisoning suicides in the U.S. in 2007. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-04-narcotic-pain-relief-drug-overdose.html Psychology & Psychiatry Mon, 25 Apr 2011 16:25:20 EST news222967505