Delighted to have Tim Bingham from HSE share his expertise on harm reduction with our RCSI 4th Pharmacy students… great learning experience for our students

Huge thanks to UISCE for an amazing learning experience with our 4th Pharmacy students today on how to stop the stigma associated with drug use

New protocol from a multi-institution team led by Gráinne Cousins published in BMJ_Open, investigating prescription drugs with potential for misuse.

These 3 interrelated national studies will provide a comprehensive analysis from a decade of data.

bmjopen.bmj.com/content/13/3/e…

(1/6) Our HealthResearchBoard SDAP funded project published a study in #BMCPsychiatry

We examined prescribing trends for drugs with potential for misuse in Irish prisons and whether trends vary by gender and history of opioid use disorder (OUD), 2012 to 2020: rdcu.be/dobYw

After a week off for St. Patrick's Day we are back with Researcher Spotlight jumping into Population Health & Health Services with Gráinne Cousins and her work in alcohol epidemiology & substance misuse.

rcsi.com/people/profile…

(6/6) Gender-specific analyses found that men with OUD, relative to men without, were more likely to be prescribed benzodiazepines, Z-drugs & gabapentinoids. For women, history of OUD was associated with reduced gabapentinoid prescribing. [y-axis scale differs between genders]

(5/6) Women in prison also more likely to be prescribed benzodiazepines, Z-drugs and gabapentinoids (mostly pregabalin) relative to men. However, prescription opioids close to zero among women after 2015

(3/6) * note the decline for all drug classes in 2020. Prescribing of opioid agonist treatment (mostly methadone) for OUD also declined in prisons in 2020 (-22% vs. 2019)

We can’t be certain of the reasons for this decline but we think it may be influenced by COVID-19 pandemic:

(2/6) What did we find?

Prescribing trends*, adjusted for gender, showed prescribing rates decreased over time for prescription opioids (decreasing since 2015), benzodiazepines & Z-drugs, but increased for gabapentinoids (pregabalin mostly)

Hugely important debate and discussions at #HRBGHCONF23 on advancing Irelands capability in healthcare research #partnerships #collaborations #teamwork . Big University Of Limerick contingent! Well done to HealthResearchBoard 👏 👏University Of LimerickHospitals HRI Gráinne Cousins Catherine Woods UL School of Medicine HSE Ireland

Sebastian John Kyle Burns 1776 Dindo rangga Gizem Yenilmez Enes Başar jabulani mathebula Pinguini Person ✴️ Dr. MAURICIO BERNAL. iknav シュウ 77stroll Definitely._.Derrik Gráinne Cousins KCOrb Bridget Supple 60 61 66 82 87 flakitaaries🐾🐾🐾🐾🇨🇴

Canken Niall.In.Japan0 me llaman toni bill trick メタボウ Vanessa López RUBEN MENDEZ RIOS lucía não é a duda Mutsheli Héctor R Cordero フィルリー（低浮上ぎみ） Gráinne Cousins Saskatoon Public Schools @jamesmillett12 Josefina Martínez のぞみ＠LiSAッ子→🍸大阪名古屋福井 dqween🧊🧪💊👑 Rob Kelley معاذ المسعودي

Great insights from Gráinne Cousins PI on the SDAP 2021 scheme sharing the challenges for secondary data analysis projects in 🇮🇪from the researcher’s perspective
Collaboration is key! A great way to close out a thought provoking day with lots to build on 👏🏻

Niamh Humphries

Delighted to be delivering workshops to enthusiastic and knowledgeable students at the RCSI

This HealthResearchBoard funded study from Gráinne Cousins & Team examined prescribing trends for drugs w/ potential for misuse in Irish prisons & whether trends vary by gender & history of opioid use disorder.

Published in #BMCPsychiatry , see thread for a great summary & link⬇️

Gráinne Cousins Steve Kerrigan Congratulations Steve great news

Drugs Library Tony Duffin HSE Drugs.ie Gráinne Cousins How can I get the journal

Interesting findings from Gráinne Cousins and team's HRB-funded secondary data analysis project - looking at prescribing trends for drugs with potential for misuse in Irish prison.

Nice overview in the thread below, and full article available via the link ⬇️