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Preventive Medicine Special Issues


Since 2014, the Vermont Center on Behavior and Health has partnered with Preventive Medicine to produce a special issue every November focused on behavior change, health, and health disparities. VCBH Director Stephen T. Higgins, PhD serves as editor for these issues and the scientific papers are from researchers that have been hand-selected based on their exemplary contributions to the fields of opioids, tobacco, and treatment and have most recently participated in the Vermont Center on Behavior and Health's annual conference.

November 2021: Eighth Special Issue Released

 

Preventive Medicine Special Issue 2020We are pleased to announce that the November 2021 Special Issue of Preventive Medicine, edited by VCBH Director Stephen T. Higgins, PhD, is now available. This year's issue is focused on Rural Addiction and Health, an extension of our 8th Annual VCBH Conference that was held in October 2020.

In his editorial, Dr. Higgins notes that this is the third time in our series we have given substantial attention to the opioid epidemic. Despite having made progress in certain areas of addressing the epidemic, it "has continued to evolve over time in ways that introduce new and serious clinical challenges and complexities." 

This year's issue begins by examining the U.S. opioid epidemic through both state and federal lenses and efforts underway to curtail the epidemic in rural states. Additional topics include individuals with OUD and PTSD; polysubstance use in rural and urban settings; expanding treatment access with new medications; and the impact of COVID-19 on treatment in rural settings via telehealth. We also give space to additional rural health disparities such as smoking prevalence; cancer incidence and outcomes; cardiovascular disease and stroke; smoking rates in pregnant women; and weight-loss in those with an affective disorder.

 

 

Some of the commentaries, reviews, and studies included are:

The fourth wave of the US opioid epidemic and its implications for the rural US: A federal perspective
Richard A. Jenkins

Polysubstance use trends and variability among individuals with opioid use disorder in rural versus urban settings
Matthew S. Ellis, Zachary A. Kasper, Theodore J. Cicero

Long-acting buprenorphine injectables: Opportunity to improve opioid use disorder treatment among rural populations
Michelle R. Lofwall, Laura C. Fanucchi

Rural-urban differences in stroke risk
George Howard

Use of electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) among U.S. women of reproductive age: Prevalence, reported reasons for use, and toxin exposure
Sulamunn R.M. Coleman, Janice Y. Bunn, Tyler D. Nighbor, Allison N. Kurti, Hypatia A. Bolivar, Rachel F. Tyndale, Stephen T. Higgins

Preventive Medicine Seventh Special Issue

VCBH is pleased to announce that the November 2020 Special Issue of Preventive Medicine, edited by Stephen T. Higgins, PhD, is now available. This year's issue highlights some current challenges in tobacco control and regulatory science and features researchers that participated in the VCBH 7th Annual Conference held in October 2019.

Dr. Higgins notes in his editorial, "This 7th issue includes 17 commentaries, reviews, and original empirical studies, 16 of which are devoted to current tobacco control and regulatory science research and policy, topics critically important to protecting the public health from the longstanding and devastating harms of tobacco use. The challenge of balancing efforts to protect youth from e-cigarettes while allowing for evidence-based evaluation of their potential to reduce the harms of cigarette smoking among adults features prominently in many of these contributions, complemented by original studies on rural-urban disparities, tobacco harm perceptions, use patterns and toxin exposure, modeling of tobacco-related mortality, novel tobacco research methods, and reducing cigarette smoking through regulatory policies, including nicotine reduction in cigarettes, and novel clinical interventions."

 

 

Preventive Medicine Sixth Special Issue

The November 2019 Special Issue of Preventive Medicine is the sixth in a series that focuses on behavior change, health, and health disparities. 

Select researchers that participated in the 2018 Vermont Center on Behavior and Health 6th Annual Conference were invited to contribute to the Special Issue based on their exemplary scholarship and research on opioids, tobacco, and treatment adherence. VCBH Director, Dr. Stephen Higgins, once again acted as guest editor for the special issue and organized the selection of papers.

Considerable attention is given to the ongoing U.S. opioid epidemic and the critical need to develop clinical infrastructure to meet the growing demand for opioid-related clinical services. Selected papers also address tobacco use and adherence to medical regimens.

 

Past Special Issues

2018: Special Issue: Behavior Change, Health, and Health Disparities
November 2017, Volume 117, Pages 1-114
Edited by Stephen T. Higgins

2017: Special Issue: Behavior Change, Health, and Health Disparities
November 2017, Volume 104, Pages 1-136
Edited by Stephen T. Higgins

2016: Special Issue: Behavior Change, Health, and Health Disparities
November 2016, Volume 89, Pages 1-182
Edited by Stephen T. Higgins

2015: Special Issue: Behavior Change, Health, and Health Disparities
November 2015, Volume 80, Pages 1-106 
Edited by Stephen T. Higgins

2014: Special Issue: Behavior Change, Health, and Health Disparities
November 2014, Volume 68, Pages 1-80
Edited by Stephen T. Higgins

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2012: Supplemental Issue on Incentives and Health
November 2012, Volume 55, Supplement, Pages S1-S124 (1 November 2012) Incentives on Health
Edited by Stephen T. Higgins, Kenneth Silverman, Stacey C. Sigmon and Neal A. Naito