Screening, Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment or SBIRT has been shown to be a quick and effective means of identifying and intervening with patients whose patterns of use put them at risk for, or who already have, substance-related health problems.
At the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association (presented virtually this year), Dr. Kimberly Yonkers from the Center for Wellbeing of Women and Mothers at Yale University presented on the prevalence of substance [...]
Prenatal cocaine exposure or PCE occurs when a child is exposed in utero to cocaine taken by the pregnant mother. We know that cocaine exposure during pregnancy can negatively affect the pregnancy; women who use [...]
It has been suggested in prior literature that the effects of cocaine are partially modulated by the gonadal hormones, estradiol and progesterone, which may account for sex differences in the use and abuse of cocaine (Evans et al. 2002 & Jackson et al. 2006). Because previous studies have shown that women who use cocaine tend to use less of this drug during periods of high endogenous progesterone levels, as in pregnancy or during the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle, a recent study explored whether progesterone replacement could be effective in reducing cocaine use in postpartum women with a cocaine use disorder. In this recent double-blinded study performed by researchers at Yale School of Medicine, women were eligible for the study if they met DSM IV criteria for cocaine abuse or dependence in the 6 months prior to conception or during pregnancy and were within 12 weeks of delivery.
