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Using social media and online search to better track individual alcohol use and corroborate state-level data

Screen shot of a Google search field with the search term "liquore"

Elissa Weitzman, ScD, is principal investigator of a study published in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine that demonstrates how personally generated data — captured and tracked using such online tools as Google searches and social media outlets — mirrored more formal public health surveillance data. “Our results give confidence in our public health tools and in using novel data approaches to measure health behaviors and policy effects — a…

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Alcohol use disorders are on the rise and compounding dangers of opioid misuse among U.S. adolescents and young adults

Head shot of Weitzman

Harvard Pop Center faculty member Elissa R. Weitzman, ScD, is author of a study published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine that calls for additional research about this alarming trend in order to develop and deploy interventions aimed at protecting this vulnerable population. Mei-Sing Ong is also an author on the study.

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A look at alcohol use among youth taking alcohol-interactive medications

 Elissa Weitzman, ScD, Harvard Pop Center faculty member and associate professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, is an author on a study that found that youth with chronic medical conditions who take medications that can interact negatively with alcohol (AI medications) were less likely to consume alcohol than their peers not taking AI medications. The study suggests that interventions aimed at increasing awareness of the risks of consuming alcohol…

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