Topics: Addiction | Practice Tools and Tips

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

Topics: Addiction | Substance Abuse

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).

Topics: Addiction | Practice Tools and Tips | Substance Abuse

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.

Topics: Addiction | Substance Abuse

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.

Topics: Addiction | Free Articles | Research Update | Substance Abuse

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.

Topics: Research Update | Smoking Cessation | Substance Abuse

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.

Topics: CME Post-Test

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.