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The Carlat Addiction Treatment Report

Addiction in Older Adults (October) | 2018

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CME Post-Test - Addiction in Older Adults, CATR, October 2018

October 1, 2018

The post-test for this issue is available for one year after the publication date to subscribers only. By successfully completing the test you will be awarded a certificate for 1 CME credit. Read More

Alcohol Use Disorder Meds in Older Adults

October 1, 2018

Rehan Aziz, MD, FAPA

How should we employ pharmacotherapies for alcohol use disorder (AUD) in older adult patients? There are three FDA-approved medications (acamprosate, disulfiram, and naltrexone) and two other commonly used off-label agents (gabapentin and topiramate). Read More

Substance Use Disorder in Older Adults

October 1, 2018

David Oslin, MD

As we age, we are more vulnerable to a lot of things—the same amount of alcohol or the same amount of any of these substances is going to cause more impairment in an older person vs a younger one. As an example, our stability and gait can worsen as we get older, so any substance that affects gait or balance will have a larger effect. Read More

Low-Risk Drinking Limits: What Should We Tell Older Adult Patients?

October 1, 2018

Thomas Jordan, MD, MPH

How much can our older patients safely drink? And what does “safe” or “low-risk” drinking actually mean? The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), which is the branch of the NIH that focuses on problems related to alcohol, has released guidelines for low-risk drinking limits in older patients. Read More

Opioids Not Superior to Other Medicines for Some Chronic Pain

October 1, 2018

Rehan Aziz, MD

Rising rates of opioid overdose deaths have sounded alarm bells over opioid prescribing practices for chronic pain. Unfortunately, and despite the absence of quality data on their risks vs benefits, long-term opioid management has remained a common approach to managing chronic musculoskeletal pain. Read More

Effects of Cannabis Use on Smoking Cessation

October 1, 2018

Donna Lisi, PharmD

When counseling your patients to quit smoking, you may also want to consider asking them about their past marijuana use. Results from a recent study suggest that there may be a correlation between cannabis and tobacco smoking. Read More

Note From the Editor-in-Chief

October 1, 2018

Bachaar Arnaout, MD

Addiction spares no age group, but it often goes undetected in older adults age 65 or older, and its treatment poses age-specific challenges. Read More