For how we live.
A Global Burden of Disease analysis puts substance use disorder prevalence at 0.78% across the Arab League in 2023, about 63% below the global figure — yet women's opioid prevalence topped men's in 19 of 22 countries.
A controlled study tied Scotland's minimum unit price to a 13.4% fall in deaths wholly caused by alcohol, largest in the most deprived areas. The effect on hospital admissions was smaller and not significant.
Two popular stories — alcohol as a cause of low mood, and drinking as self-medication for it — both get less support from recent genetic and within-person data than the confident telling suggests.
Four separate trial emulations, each with a different comparator, all pointed the same direction. The strongest effect appeared among people being treated for alcohol use disorder.
A meta-analysis of 118 trials found acamprosate and naltrexone reduce drinking, with numbers needed to treat comparable to common heart drugs. They remain widely underused.
Clinicians rated empathy at 4.6 out of 5 and quality of information at 2.7. Every chatbot produced at least one piece of guidance judged inappropriate, overstated or inaccurate.
Brown University researchers pooled 16 studies covering more than 150,000 people. The consistent finding is not detox — it is that most participants are still drinking less months later.