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Adolescent drug use does not affect future life success when stopped early

Young people who use drugs but quit by early adulthood are, on average, not harming their future life chances, according to Australian research which tracked thousands of people over a 16‐year period. Published in Addiction Research and Theory, the study examined the extent to which cannabis and amphetamine use up to 21 years of age predicts life success at 30 years of age. The study took into account a wide range of prior life experiences and behaviour. The authors used data on 2350 children born to mothers in the Mater–University of Queensland Study of Pregnancy which began 40 years ago and has followed up participants at key life stages. The participants were tested at 14 years of age for IQ, mental health, and aggression/delinquency. Information from mothers was also analysed, including number of partners and the child’s contact with police. Cannabis and amphetamine use was self‐reported at specific age points (21 and 30 years). The authors also interviewed participants at age 21 years about behaviours linked to past drug‐taking (eg, drug‐related disorder). Life success was measured at age 30 years and defined according to three categories: socio‐economic, quality of life, and quality of intimate relationships. The results showed that more than one in five (22%) had ever had a cannabis use disorder and 4% had had problematic amphetamines use. Age of onset ranged from 15 to 19 years and the participants reported high levels of drug use. The proportion of participants at age 21 years who reported problematic drug use was 19% for cannabis, 0.7% for amphetamines, and 3% for those using both drugs. Of these, the issues persisted at 30 years of age for more than one‐third (36%) using cannabis, and 60% of those using cannabis and amphetamines. A majority of those who had ever met the criteria for problematic drug use were no longer using at clinically significant levels by age 21 years, according to the findings. However, the use of cannabis at age 30 years was strongly related to achievement. This was also dose related; high use in adulthood was associated with the highest rates of poor life success.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/16066359.2022.2032679

Serious allergic reactions to food among children stabilise since guideline changes

The rate of increase in serious allergic reactions to food among children has flattened since changes to Australian infant feeding guidelines, a study from the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, has found. The Australasian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy (ASCIA) infant feeding and food allergy prevention guidelines changed in response to published studies over the past 15 years, from a recommendation to “delay” allergenic foods (1999 to 2007) to “not delay” (2008) and then later to “introduce early and often” (since 2016). The study examined national emergency department data for food anaphylaxis during three different time periods: 1998–1999 to 2006–2007; 2007–2008 to 2014–2015; and 2015–2016 to 2018–2019. A total of 37 132 anaphylaxis admissions were recorded over the timespan. “In children, aged 1 to 4 years, the yearly rate of increase dropped from 17.6% a year between 1999 and 2007, to 6.2% a year between 2008 and 2015 and then 3.9% a year since 2016,” the authors wrote. “A slowing in the rates of increase in food anaphylaxis admissions also occurred in those aged 5–14 years, born after the 2008 changes. These changes were not seen in older teens aged 15 and over who were born before 2008, who could not have benefited from the changing guidelines. While we did see a spike in children aged less than one year, this is most likely due to earlier hospital presentations of pre‐existing food allergy following introduction of allergenic solids in the first year of life.” The researchers cautioned that it was important not to be complacent, as overall food anaphylaxis hospital admission rates had still increased and there was an unmet need for effective treatments that could induce remission.

https://www.jacionline.org/article/S0091-6749(22)00081-1/pdf