A Study of Drug Addiction Between the Genders Drug Abuse Vs Addiction

Despite relatively consistent and replicable sex differences in animal models (Becker & Koob, 2016), these effects are much less robust in human models and may even conflict with preclinical findings, suggesting that both biological and social determinants play a significant role in substance use behaviors and effects. Indeed, the narrowing gender gap in SUD prevalence may reflect shifting environmental and cultural factors, characterized by cultural shifts away from more traditional gender roles (Seedat et al., 2009b). Treatment-seeking and entry is limited among pregnant women with SUDs, with only 8.7% receiving specialized treatment (Terplan, McNamara, & Chisolm, 2012). Despite the efficacy of medications such as buprenorphine and methadone in preventing relapse, treatment attrition, and neonatal abstinence syndrome (H. E. Jones et al., 2010; Klaman et al., 2017), a minority of pregnant women with opioid dependence gain access to such treatment (Martin, Longinaker, & Terplan, 2015; K. Smith & Lipari, 2013). Women with children also face unique barriers to SUD treatment due to limited availability of childcare in SUD treatment settings (i.e., 6.8% provide childcare services) (SAMHSA, 2017). Notably, most of these studies have identified reductions in substance use (or abstinence) and treatment retention as primary outcomes of interest.

• In the past, drug addiction was studied in both males and females from a male perspective.
• Abuse of opioids has taken center stage in the United States due to the opioid epidemic.
• While men use alcohol more often than women, the gap between male and female alcohol abuse has been slowly closing over the years since it has become more socially acceptable for females to drink alcohol, especially in public.
• However, females who use heroin are more likely to begin their use of the drug at a younger age, are less likely to inject it, and are more likely to be influenced by romantic or sexual partners to use heroin.
• Furthermore, translational research bridging human and animal models has potential to rapidly advance our understanding of SUDs in women, and to disentangle the contributions of gender and sex (Chartoff & McHugh, 2016).

Treatment Retention

Among psychotherapies for AUD, there is support for the efficacy of providing female-specific treatment, and for female-only treatment settings but only when female-specific treatment is included. However, despite mandates from the National Institutes of Health to do so, there is little work thus far that directly compares genders on outcomes of specific psychotherapies or pharmacotherapies for AUD. Although existing research has mixed findings on sex and gender differences in overall outcomes, there are more consistent findings suggesting different mechanisms of behavior change among men and women in AUD treatment and long-term recovery. Thus, more work is needed that attends to gender and sex differences, including planning studies that are structured to examine not only gender-differentiated outcomes in treatment response, but equally important, differences in treatment access and attendance as well as differences in mechanisms of change in drinking behavior. Despite growing evidence demonstrating important sex and gender differences in course and sequelae of CUD, of the nineteen randomized, outpatient trials for CUD conducted to date only six reported any sex-disaggregated outcomes. However, half of the trials that did include sex-specific analyses found an impact of sex either on medication effect or treatment outcome generally.

• The prevalence of stimulant use disorders (amphetamine-type) in women between ages 12 and 17 is slightly higher than it is for men (0.3 percent for females compared to 0.1 percent for males).
• Instead, women and men appear to be moving toward one another in terms of drinking patterns and harms.
• Treatment access is difficult for patients with addictive disorders due to systemic, structural, and a personal-level barrier to a different system, including staff regards and user barriers [79, 95].

Accessibility

Additionally, men are more likely to suffer reduced blood flow to the frontal regions of the brain as a result of cocaine use. Get professional help from an online addiction and mental health counselor from BetterHelp. For more information on our progressive approach to drug addiction treatment, call our intake counselors today. In addition, https://ecosoberhouse.com/article/consequences-of-drinking-and-driving-dui/ certain individuals should avoid alcohol completely, particularly those who experience facial flushing and dizziness when drinking alcohol. Also in this category are older adults, anyone planning to drive a vehicle or operate machinery, and individuals who participate in activities that require skill, coordination, and alertness.

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Despite the NIH mandate to include females in biomedical research,1,2 relatively few AUD treatment outcome studies have reported on gender as a moderator of treatment outcome. The more recent NIH policy mandating analysis and reporting of gender differences in treatment outcomes3 should result in deepened knowledge of gender differences in response to treatment and in gender-specific mechanisms that help explain treatment effects. In this section we offer two recommendations to improve clinician and researcher access to gender-informed treatment recommendations and to sex-stratified data. The first recommendation concerns clinical care guidelines which have not well considered sex and gender differences. For example, the current clinical care guidelines for tobacco dependence, written in 2008, [226], state that “There is evidence that NRT can be effective with both sexes; however, evidence is mixed as to whether NRT is less effective in women than men. This may encourage the clinician to consider use of another type of medication with women, such as bupropion SR or varenicline”.

• When families can better support the person in recovery, there is less chance of relapse, and the whole family unit will learn healthy habits that make it possible to sustain recovery.
• The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends that tobacco use should be assessed in all pregnant women, with behavioral interventions identified as the first line of care (Siu, 2015).
• First, men have higher brain concentrations of glutamate in the prefrontal cortex [46], but in the cerebellum and the striatum, the concentrations are higher in women [47].
• When available, the rates regarding gender differences in the diagnosis of substance use disorders come from the American Psychiatric Association’s (APA) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders – Fifth Edition.
• Women more often than men reported harm related to aggression on the part of an alcohol-consuming spouse, partner, ex-partner, or family member.

Men vs. Women Alcohol and Drug Abuse

Ondansetron is a selective serotonin 5-HT3 receptor antagonist demonstrating some positive findings in clinical trials for AUD. Initial studies found that moderating effects of early vs. late onset AUD on medication responses [125], and many subsequent trials have focused on moderating effects of genetic polymorphisms potentially related to the timing of AUD onset. In one such study, Kenna et al. [126] found that genetic polymorphisms interacted with sex on medication response. Women, but not men, who had LL genotype and equal or greater than 7 exon III repeats on dopamine receptor D4 gene, had significantly reduced alcohol intake when taking ondansetron. Alcohol consumption is the third leading cause of preventable morbidity and mortality in the U.S. [82] and losses to the economy exceed $249 billion dollars per year [83].

These experiences can have a large impact on the types of services they require during their recovery. This includes clinically sound, trauma-informed programming that treats addiction alongside other mental health conditions. Trauma-specific intervention programs generally recognize the interrelation between trauma and symptoms of trauma, such as substance use, eating disorders, depression and anxiety. A meta-analytic study examined acamprosate for AUD treatment separately for men and women from a total of 22 studies,65 some of which included women and some of which did not.

• Across the 42 studies, there were no available data by sex on medication compliance, adverse events, withdrawal, or craving.
• Adults in lower income levels will often feel stressed and anxious about life and, therefore, use drugs or alcohol to ease those feelings.
• However, among 12 to 17-year-olds, the prevalence is higher for females (0.4 percent for females compared to 0.2 percent for males).
• “Substance use severely harms individual health, increasing the risk of chronic diseases, mental health conditions, and tragically resulting in millions of preventable deaths every year,” said WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
• Thus, this effect might be present only among women who are vulnerable to more severe SUDs, with mitigation of this effect when simultaneously examining women who represent the wide range of substance use severity.
• This figure is consistent over males and females; however, males tend to have higher rates of other co-occurring substance use disorders than females who are diagnosed with cannabis use disorder as an adult.

Women also report more frequent use of substances to reduce negative affect (Lehavot, Stappenbeck, Luterek, Kaysen, & Simpson, 2014; McHugh et al., 2013). Co-occurring psychiatric disorders can complicate SUD treatment outcomes especially with respect to treatment entry and post-treatment clinical outcomes (Greenfield et al., 2009). Because co-occurring psychiatric disorders are more prevalent among women with SUDs than their male counterparts, psychiatric comorbidity may be an especially critical treatment target for women with SUDs (Greenfield, Brooks, et al., 2007). A number of biological differences exist between males and females in the acute and long-term effects of alcohol and other drugs.