Homepage Round-up: Early-Onset Marijuana Use Affects Driving; Nine Truths about Weight and Eating Disorders; and More

In this week’s edition of DocWire’s Homepage round-up: recreational marijuana use affects driving when users are sober; the Academy for Eating Disorders published nine truths about weight and eating disorders; adults living in households stricken by food insecurity have a higher chance of dying; and a athletic-coach led program for middle-school male athletes can reduce relationship abuse and sexual violence among adolescents.

Marijuana Affects Driving Ability When Not Using: Study

Recreational marijuana use affects driving ability even when users are not high on marijuana, according to the findings of a study published in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence. To conduct this study, researchers from McLean Hospital (psychiatric affiliate of Harvard Medical School) used a customized driving simulator to appraise the potential impact of marijuana use on driving performance. At baseline, all marijuana users had not used for at least 12 hours and were not intoxicated. The results showed that marijuana use has a detrimental effect on driving as users demonstrated poorer driving performance vs. non-users. In the simulation, marijuana users hit more pedestrians, exceeded the speed limit more often, made fewer stops at red lights, and made more center line crossings. The researchers concluded that earlier onset marijuana use, defined as regular use before the age of 16, was associated with poorer driving performance.

9 Truths About Weight and Eating Disorders

Recently, the Academy for Eating Disorders (AED) released a list of nine truths about weight and eating disorders to generate increased awareness among people of all body sizes. The AED wrote that “despite the stereotype of patients being extremely underweight, eating disorders can occur at any weight.” This list served as a companion piece to the previously published “Nine Truths about Eating Disorders,” and aims to “eradicate the stereotypes and educate both medical professionals and the public about these deadly disorders.”

Adults in Households with Food Insecurity More Likely to Die Prematurely

Adults living in households suffering from food insecurity who lack access to food due to financial constraints are more likely to die prematurely compared to their food-secure counterparts, according to a new study published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). According to the results of the study, 25,460 died prematurely by 2017 and the death rates of food-secure adults and their counterparts experiencing marginal, moderate and severe food insecurity were 736, 752, 834 and 1124 per 100 000 person-years. The researchers observed that adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) of all-cause premature mortality for marginal, moderate and severe food insecurity were 1.10 (95% CI, 1.03 to 1.18), 1.11 (95% CI, 1.05 to 1.18) and 1.37 (95% CI, 1.27 to 1.47).

Coach-Delivered Program Aimed at Reducing Sexual Violence Among Adolescents

The findings of a study published in JAMA Pediatrics show that an athletic coach-delivered program for middle school male athletes is an effective strategy for reducing relationship abuse and sexual violence among adolescents. In this unblinded cluster randomized clinical trial, researchers recruited 973 male middle athletes between the ages of 11 and 14 at 41 middle schools from spring 2015 to fall 2017.  “Gender attitudes and intentions to intervene did not differ between study arms,” the researchers wrote. “In exploratory intensity-adjusted and per protocol analyses, athletes on teams receiving CBIM were more likely to report positive bystander behaviors and to endorse equitable gender attitudes and less likely to report ARA and sexual harassment perpetration 1 year later.”