VA researchers report findings on opioid overdose risk, atherosclerosis and lung cancer surgery

Veterans on long-term opioid therapy who showed signs of cognitive impairment had nearly six times higher risk of an opioid overdose, according to a study highlighted by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs' Office of Research and Development.

The VA said the study by VA Connecticut and Bedford, Massachusetts, researchers included more than 55,000 Veterans prescribed opioids for pain, 3% of whom had documented neurocognitive symptoms such as difficulties with attention and memory. The average time from symptom onset to overdose was five months. The VA said the findings show a need to include cognitive screening in opioid safety assessments.

In a second study, VA researchers in Columbia, Missouri, found in a mouse model that a protein called olfactomedin 2 is critical to the development of atherosclerosis, and that blocking it led to fewer arterial plaques, the department said. The VA said the results suggest drugs targeting the protein could be used to prevent or treat the condition.

A third study by VA St. Louis researchers examined 2,234 Veterans with stage 1 non-small cell lung cancer. Among those whose cancer had spread through air spaces, patients who had a full lobe of the lung removed had a five-year survival rate above 90%, compared with 73% to 80% for those having smaller sections removed, according to the VA. Adding chemotherapy after surgery did not significantly improve survival, the department said.

Source: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Originally published by True News: https://truenews.bagleyenterprises.net/stories/380