Aim: To determine whether alcohol consumption in England had returned to pre-pandemic levels by December 2024, after the initial rise in 2020 across the total population and subgroups.
Design: Monthly representative surveys were conducted through face-to-face interviews until February 2020, and then by telephone.
Setting: England, March 2014 to December 2024.
Participants: 208 010 adults aged 18+ living in private households.
Measurements: Mean weekly alcohol consumption (in UK units), prevalence of risky drinking (Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test for Consumption [AUDIT-C] score≥5), and possible dependence (AUDIT-C ≥ 11). Further measures included age, gender, and social grade.
Findings: All outcomes increased in April 2020: prevalence of risky drinking by 30.3% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 26.8, 33.8, from 26.2% in February 2020 to 34.0% in April 2020), prevalence of possible dependence by 90.2% (95% CI: 62.2, 122.9, from 0.9% to 1.7%) and mean weekly alcohol consumption by 34.5% (95% CI: 31.0, 38.0, from 5.0 units to 6.6 units). When adjusting for the survey mode change from face-to-face to telephone interviews, the step changes between February and April 2020 remained but were substantially attenuated. The post-pandemic trend declined more quickly than the pre-pandemic trend for the prevalence of risky drinking (difference: -1.5%/year, 95% CI: -2.4, -0.6) and mean weekly alcohol consumption (difference: -2.4%/year, 95% CI: -3.3, -1.6), indicating a slow but incomplete return to pre-pandemic levels. The trend in prevalence of possible dependence was similarly stable before and after the pandemic (difference: -1.3%/year, 95% CI: -6.2, 3.8). Alcohol consumption declined more slowly among people from less advantaged than from more advantaged social grades.
Conclusions: The prevalence of risky drinking and mean weekly alcohol consumption in England appear to be trending towards pre-pandemic levels but the prevalence of dependent drinking in England appears to have increased since the start of the pandemic and remains elevated compared with pre-pandemic levels. Alcohol-related inequalities may be worsening due to slower declines in consumption following the pandemic among less advantaged drinkers.
Background and aims: People who use drugs are overrepresented in the criminal justice system. We aimed to provide a broad synthesis of the epidemiology, harms and interventions related to drug use and drug use disorders among incarcerated adults worldwide, and highlight gaps in evidence and practice.
Methods: In this structured review, we searched PubMed and Web of Science for articles published between 2015 and August 2025. Systematic reviews, meta-analyses and large primary studies with unselected samples were given preference for inclusion.
Results: Four in ten adults who enter prison meet diagnostic criteria for a drug use disorder, a treatable psychiatric condition often underlying the offences that led to their incarceration. Drug use disorders are approximately ten times more prevalent among people in prison compared with the general population, with a higher excess in women. Comorbid mental disorders are common. Around a third of incarcerated individuals report using drugs during imprisonment, which poses a health and safety risk for people both living and working in prisons. Injecting drug use in prison contributes to blood-borne virus transmission. In addition to its strong link with recidivism, drug use is associated with a markedly increased risk of premature mortality after release from prison, particularly from drug-related causes within the first two weeks post-release. Despite robust evidence supporting the effectiveness of prison-based pharmacological (e.g. opioid agonist treatment) and psychosocial (e.g. therapeutic communities) interventions in reducing drug-related harms, there remains a significant treatment gap within prison settings worldwide. Further research is needed to assess the health benefits of harm reduction services in prisons, including needle and syringe programmes. Strategies to facilitate linkage to and retention in post-release services are key to ensure continuity of care and achieve sustainable treatment outcomes.
Conclusion: The high prevalence of drug use and its multiple adverse outcomes among people in prison underscore the need for provision of evidence-based interventions. Expanding and integrating prison-based and post-release interventions to address drug use has the potential to yield both public health and criminal justice benefits.
Background and aims: The emergence of fentanyl in the street market for opioids has limited the benefits of some interventions to manage opioid overdose; thus, preventing the occurrence of opioid overdose is essential. We tested a behavioral intervention shown to prevent heroin overdose in a pilot study, in two United States cities with prevalent fentanyl.
Design: Phase III two-site single-blinded randomized controlled trial of a repeated dose motivational interviewing intervention to reduce overdose (REBOOT) versus attention control, over 16 months from 2019 to 2023.
Setting: San Francisco, California, and Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Participants: 18-65 years of age, with opioid use disorder (OUD), active non-prescribed opioid use, opioid overdose within 3 years and prior receipt of take-home naloxone. A total of 268 participants were randomized (50% intervention, 50% control), 62% of whom were male, 15% Latine, 65% White and 14% Black/African American; 95% had used fentanyl.
Intervention: Motivational interviewing review of experienced and witnessed overdose and development of personal prevention plan, administered at months 0, 4, 8 and 12.
Measurements: TimeLine FollowBack of interval overdose events and covariates, administered prior to the intervention at months 0, 4, 8, 12 and 16. Primary outcome was occurrence of any nonfatal or fatal overdose event.
Findings: There were no significant effects of REBOOT compared with control on the primary outcome of occurrence of any overdose [relative risk (RR) = 0.94, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.79-1.11, P = 0.45] or secondary outcome of the number of overdose events (RR = 0.80, 95% CI = 0.6-1.06, P = 0.12). Results did not differ when excluding data collected during the first 12 months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Compared with control, REBOOT was not associated with days in OUD treatment and not using opioids (RR = 0.94, 95% CI = 0.88-1.00, P = 0.06). In post-hoc analysis, REBOOT was associated with fewer overdose events among participants with no past 4-month overdose at baseline (RR = 0.70, 95% CI = 0.51-0.97, P = 0.03).
Conclusion: A repeated dose motivational interviewing intervention to reduce overdose had no statistically significant effect on opioid overdose in two US cities where fentanyl was the dominant street opioid.
Background and aims: Affordability of alcohol is a key driver of consumption. The cost-of-living crisis in Great Britain has been putting pressure on household budgets since late 2021. In addition, the UK Government implemented substantial reforms to the alcohol duty system and increased alcohol taxes in 2023. This study aimed to estimate changes in the monthly prevalence of cost-motivated alcohol reduction attempts among risky drinkers over this period.
Design: Data were drawn from the Alcohol Toolkit Study, a nationally representative monthly cross-sectional household survey.
Setting: Great Britain.
Participants: 26 212 risky drinkers [alcohol use disorders identification test - consumption (AUDIT-C) score ≥5] aged ≥18y surveyed between January 2021 and December 2024 [mean (SD) age = 45.9 (17.1); 61.4% men].
Measurements: The primary outcome was having tried to reduce alcohol consumption in the past year due to a decision that drinking was too expensive ('cost-motivated alcohol reduction attempt'). This included participants who also reported other motives (e.g. health concerns) for trying to reduce their consumption.
Findings: Overall, 1355 participants reported making a cost-motivated alcohol reduction attempt. The monthly weighted prevalence of cost-motivated alcohol reduction attempts among risky drinkers increased from 4.6% in January 2021 to 7.0% in December 2024 [prevalence ratio (PR) = 1.54, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.34-1.74]; equating to ~1.1 million people attempting to reduce their drinking among risky drinkers in 2024. This was primarily driven by a rise in the proportion of all alcohol reduction attempts that were motivated by cost, from 12.4% to 19.7% (PR = 1.58, 95% CI = 1.39-1.77), rather than an overall increase in the prevalence of alcohol reduction attempts (which remained relatively stable across the period at an average of 36.0%). The pattern of results was similar when the outcome was restricted to alcohol reduction attempts only motivated by cost [17.3% (95% CI = 15.0-19.7%) of all cost-motivated alcohol reduction attempts].
Conclusions: During a period of increasing financial pressures in Great Britain, alcohol reduction attempts were increasingly motivated by cost but the overall prevalence of reduction attempts did not increase.
Background and aims: Heated tobacco products (HTPs) are increasingly used by individuals attempting to quit smoking, particularly in Japan where HTP use is prevalent; however, the effectiveness of HTPs in achieving complete tobacco abstinence remains unclear. This study aimed to estimate the likelihood of complete tobacco abstinence and combustible cigarette abstinence among exclusive HTP users and dual users compared with exclusive combustible cigarette users.
Design: A prospective cohort design using sequential annual follow-ups (2019-2023) from the Japan 'Society and New Tobacco' Internet Survey (JASTIS). Inverse probability-weighted Poisson generalized estimating equation models were used to estimate rate ratios for abstinence outcomes.
Setting: Nationwide internet-based survey conducted in Japan.
Participants: A total of 8969 Japanese adults aged 20 years and older who were current tobacco users at baseline were included. Participants were categorized as exclusive combustible cigarette users (55.6%), exclusive HTP users (16.3%) or dual users (28.0%). Exclusive HTP users were further categorized as established (daily use, ≥100 HTPs used, or >12 months of lifetime use) or non-established users.
Measurements: Primary outcomes were (1) complete tobacco abstinence-defined as no current use of any tobacco products used at baseline-and (2) combustible cigarette abstinence after one year. Abstinence required selecting "used regularly in the past but quit" for each relevant product.
Findings: Compared with exclusive combustible cigarette users (as classified at baseline), the rate ratio (RR) for complete tobacco abstinence was 0.85 [95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.71-1.02] among exclusive HTP users and 0.49 (95% CI = 0.42-0.58) among dual users. When stratified, established HTP users had a statistically significantly lower likelihood of complete tobacco abstinence (RR = 0.57, 95% CI = 0.47-0.70), while non-established users showed a higher likelihood (RR = 2.41, 95% CI = 1.83-3.17). Compared with exclusive combustible cigarette users, the RR for combustible cigarette abstinence after one year was 0.93 (95% CI = 0.83-1.04) among dual users.
Conclusions: In this one-year follow-up, dual use of cigarettes and heated tobacco products (HTP) and established exclusive HTP use were associated with lower rates of complete tobacco abstinence compared with exclusive cigarette use, while non-established exclusive HTP use showed higher abstinence rates. Overall, HTP use was not associated with higher tobacco abstinence rates.
Background and aims: Korsakoff's syndrome is an alcohol-related neurocognitive disorder characterized by episodic memory impairments, apathy, confabulations and poor illness-insight. This meta-analysis aimed to estimate mean effect sizes of performance in social cognition in people with Korsakoff's syndrome (KS) compared with controls.
Method: A systematic literature search was conducted in May 2024 to identify research articles that examined social cognition in patients with KS and control groups. Weighted effect sizes (Hedges' g) were calculated for the three levels of social cognition: emotion perception, social interpretation and socio-cognitive integration. There was no restriction on setting. Instruments examining emotion perception (facial emotion recognition and prosody), interpretation (mentalizing, self-awareness and empathy) and socio-cognitive integration (moral reasoning and social knowledge) were used in the included studies.
Results: Thirteen studies (n = 622; 292 KS, 330 controls) showed that individuals with KS performed statistically significantly worse across all domains of social cognition compared with controls. Large effect sizes were found in emotion perception [g = -1.14, 95% confidence interval (CI) = -1.46 to -0.81), P < 0.001, I2 = 58.5%, 8 studies, n = 372], with comparable effect sizes for facial emotion recognition and prosody. In social interpretation (g = -0.77, 95% CI = -1.34 to -0.21, P = 0.007, I2 = 96.6%, 4 studies, n = 188), a large effect was found for mentalizing (g = -1.05, 95% CI = -1.61 to -0.50, P < 0.001, I2 = 74.1%; 3 studies, n = 120). In socio-cognitive integration (g = -0.74, 95% CI = -1.11 to -0.37, P < 0.001, I2 = 0%, 3 studies, n = 184), social knowledge showed a large effect size (g = -0.81, 95% CI = -1.24 to -0.38, P < 0.001, 1 study, n = 104). Results for empathy (g = -0.43, 95% CI = -1.05 to 0.20, P = 0.18, 1 study, n = 40), self-awareness (g = -0.21, 95% CI = -0.47 to 0.05, P = 0.12, 1 study, n = 68) and moral reasoning (k = 2, g = -0.54, 95% CI = -1.28 to 0.19, P = 0.15, I2 = 0%; 2 studies, n = 80) were uncertain, with possible important differences in both directions.
Conclusions: This meta-analysis shows that people with Korsakoff's syndrome perform statistically significantly worse than controls on socio-cognitive measures, with the largest effect sizes in the perception and interpretation of social information.