substance use

Drs. Chang, Krans, and Miller conducted 15 semistructured interviews with pregnant and postpartum women who have experienced opioid use disorder (OUD) and intimate partner violence (IPV). Their team found that
➡️ Partners impacted their ability to seek OUD care
➡️ Seeking help for OUD and IPV was siloed and they wished for integrated services
➡️ They were more comfortable disclosing OUD than IPV
➡️ They perceived pregnancy as a barrier and facilitator to OUD care

Dr. Tamar Krishnamurti was one of the panelists discussing real world implementation considerations for in-home opioid disposal systems for National Academies Sciences Engineering Medicine's drug forum publication on drug disposal systems for opioids. 

Drs. Mendez, Jarlenski, Chang, and their team measured racial inequities in drug testing among pregnant people and found that clinicians were more likely to order urine drug testing for Black patients compared with their White counterparts.

Read more of their findings here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37769307/

Dr. Marian Jarlenski's recent study shows:

• There are racial/ethnic inequities in medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD) use during pregnancy.
• Less is known about racial/ethnic inequities in MOUD use postpartum.
• White women had longer duration of MOUD postpartum than Hispanic or Black women.
• Inequities differed by type of MOUD.
• Reducing inequities in MOUD use is critical to improving perinatal outcomes.

Drs. Jarlenski and Krans conducted a scoping review including seven studies that highlight the literature's limited understanding of why women in the first year postpartum are particularly vulnerable to opioid overdose. Recomendations within the literature include:

Dr. Ashley Hill and her team developed an empowerment-intersectional framework for sexual health and substance use prevention programming to address gendered racism against Black girls.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37166152/

Dr. Marian Jarlenski's study looked at the duration of medication for opioid use disorder during pregnancy and postpartum by race and ethnicity in Medicaid and found that: 

- There are racial/ethnic inequities in MOUD use during pregnancy.
- Less is known about racial/ethnic inequities in MOUD use postpartum.
- White women had longer duration of MOUD postpartum than Hispanic or Black women.
- Inequities differed by type of MOUD.

Drs. Gao, Krans, and Jarlenski found in their recent study that female parents are less likely to be diagnosed with a substance use disorder (SUD) or receive medication for an opioid use disorder (MOUD) than male parents. Removing policies that criminalize parental SUD and addressing childcare-related barriers may improve SUD identification and treatment.

Read more about their findings here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37214425/

Findings from Dr. Liz Krans' recent study include:

Drs. Jarlenski, Brown-Podgorski, and Krans sought to understand associations between race, receiving urine toxicology testing, and positive test results among pregnant patients. Findings show that Black patients experience increased drug testing practices.

Read more about their findings here: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama-health-forum/fullarticle/2803729