Trajectories of initiation for the heroin-based drug whoonga - qualitative evidence from South Africa.

BACKGROUND: Whoonga is a smoked heroin-based street drug that first emerged in South Africa a decade ago. While previous scientific reports suggest that use is growing and youth are particularly vulnerable, trajectories of initiation are not well characterized. METHODS: In 2015, 30 men undergoing residential addiction treatment for this smoked heroin drug in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa participated in semi-structured interviews about their experiences using the drug. Interview data were coded using qualitative content analysis. RESULTS: Participant trajectories to initiating smoked heroin were "vertical" in the context of marijuana use or "horizontal" in the context of other hard drug use. Participants reporting vertical trajectories began smoking heroin as youth at school or in other settings where people were smoking marijuana. Several participants with horizontal trajectories started smoking heroin to address symptoms of other drug or alcohol addiction. Social influences on initiation emerged as an overarching theme. Members of participants' social networks who were smoking or distributing heroin figured prominently in initiation narratives. Surprisingly, references to injection drug use were absent from initiation narratives. Participants reported people who smoke heroin differ from those who inject heroin by race. CONCLUSION: Consistent with theories implicating social and structural influences on substance use initiation, people who started smoking heroin had social contacts who smoked heroin and frequented places where substance use was common. Smoked heroin initiation for several participants with horizontal trajectories may have been averted if they accessed evidence-based treatments for stimulant or alcohol use disorders. With increasing reports of heroin use across Africa, a coordinated approach to address this growing epidemic is needed. However, because smoked heroin and injection heroin use occur in distinct risk environments, interventions tailored to people who use smoked heroin will be needed to prevent smoked heroin use, prevent transition to injection use, and mitigate other social harms.

Clinical correlates of depression chronicity among people living with HIV: What is the role of suicidal ideation?

BACKGROUND: Chronicity of depression among people living with HIV (PLWH) is associated with poorer viral suppression and mortality risk. The extent to which suicidal ideation (SI) and other baseline characteristics predict a prolonged duration of depressive illness among PLWH is not known but could help identify PLWH most at risk. METHODS: Data were drawn from a sample of 1002 depressed PLWH engaged in primary care at a metropolitan HIV clinic from 2007-2018, representing 2,569 person-years. Depression characteristics were derived from the Patient Health Questionnaire 9 (PHQ-9), administered during routine screening. Other characteristics were derived from clinic data. Unadjusted and covariate-adjusted survival analyses compared the time to depression remission between depressed participants with and without SI at their initial screening. RESULTS: At baseline, 38.4% of depressed PLWH endorsed SI. Depressed PLWH with SI took significantly longer to achieve remission from depression than those without SI. The association appeared to be mediated by depression symptom severity. When adjusted for age, depression diagnosis, any recent drug use, and depression symptom severity, baseline SI no longer predicted remission hazard. LIMITATIONS: Participants were assessed for depression with variable frequency. The analysis assumed all patients received comparable treatment for their depression. Some variables were based on clinic measurements that may be subject to misclassification bias. CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest that depressed PLWH with SI are at risk for greater chronicity of depression because their depression is more severe. Accordingly, PLWH should be urgently engaged in psychiatric care in the event of SI or severe depressive symptoms.

A Cost-Effectiveness Model for Adjunctive Smoked Cannabis in the Treatment of Chronic Neuropathic Pain.

Background: A recent meta-analysis affirmed the benefit of medicinal cannabis for chronic neuropathic pain, a disabling and difficult-to-treat condition. As medicinal cannabis use is becoming increasingly prevalent among Americans, an exploration of its economic feasibility is warranted. We present this cost-effectiveness analysis of adjunctive cannabis pharmacotherapy for chronic peripheral neuropathy. Materials and Methods: A published Markov model comparing conventional therapies for painful diabetic neuropathy was modified to include arms for augmenting first-line, second-line (if first-line failed), or third-line (if first- and second-line failed) therapies with smoked cannabis. Microsimulation of 1,000,000 patients compared the cost (2017 U.S. dollars) and effectiveness (quality-adjusted life years [QALYs]) of usual care with and without adjunctive cannabis using a composite of third-party and out-of-pocket costs. Model efficacy inputs for cannabis were adapted from clinical trial data. Adverse event rates were derived from a prospective study of cannabis for chronic noncancer pain and applied to probability inputs for conventional therapies. Cannabis cost was derived from retail market pricing. Parameter uncertainty was addressed with one-way and probabilistic sensitivity analysis. Results: Adding cannabis to first-line therapy was incrementally less effective and costlier than adding cannabis to second-line and third-line therapies. Third-line adjunctive cannabis was subject to extended dominance, that is, the second-line strategy was more effective with a more favorable incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of $48,594 per QALY gained, and therefore, third-line adjunctive cannabis was not as cost-effective. At a modest willingness-to-pay threshold of $100,000/QALY gained, second-line adjunctive cannabis was the strategy most likely to be cost-effective. Conclusion: As recently proposed willingness-to-pay thresholds for the United States health marketplace range from $110,000 to $300,000 per QALY, cannabis appears cost-effective when augmenting second-line treatment for painful neuropathy. Further research is warranted to explore the long-term benefit of smoked cannabis and standardization of its dosing for chronic neuropathic pain.

Effects of a Surgical Receipt Program on the Supply Costs of Five General Surgery Procedures.

BACKGROUND: Surgical supplies occupy a large portion of health care expenditures but is often under the surgeon's control. We sought to assess whether an automated, surgeon-directed, cost feedback system can decrease supply expenditures for five common general surgery procedures. MATERIALS AND METHODS: An automated "surgical receipt" detailing intraoperative supply costs was generated and emailed to surgeons after each case. We compared the median cost per case for 18 mo before and after implementation of the surgical receipt. We controlled for price fluctuations by applying common per-unit prices in both periods. We also compared the incision time, case length booking accuracy, length of stay, and postoperative occurrences. RESULTS: Median costs decreased significantly for open inguinal hernia ($433.45 to $385.49, P < 0.001), laparoscopic cholecystectomy ($886.77 to $816.13, P = 0.002), and thyroidectomy ($861.21 to $825.90, P = 0.034). Median costs were unchanged for laparoscopic appendectomy and increased significantly for lumpectomy ($325.67 to $420.53, P < 0.001). There was an increase in incision-to-closure minutes for open inguinal hernia (71 to 75 min, P < 0.001) and laparoscopic cholecystectomy (75 to 96 min, P < 0.001), but a decrease in thyroidectomy (79 to 73 min, P < 0.001). There was an increase in booking accuracy for laparoscopic appendectomy (38.6% to 55.0%, P = 0.001) and thyroidectomy (32.5% to 48.1%, P = 0.001). There were no differences in postoperative occurrence rates and length of stay duration. CONCLUSIONS: An automated surgeon-directed surgical receipt may be a useful tool to decrease supply costs for certain procedures. However, curtailing surgical supply costs with surgeon-directed cost feedback alone is challenging and a multimodal approach may be necessary.