Drug abuse is a serious problem, which is capable of not only causing death to the one using it, but create a havoc in the lives of those who are associated with that person too. There have been plenty cases, whether it is Matthew Perry or the recent death of Liam Payne, which is in trial currently.

It is also a problem in the US and is emerging as one of the health concerns that could destroy families and society. One of the most alarming aspects of drug abuse is also its impact on public safety as well as increased crime rates. Drugs also take a heavy toll on healthcare systems as emergency departments frequently encounter cases of drug overdoses, which puts the burden on medical professional who have the strain the limited resources available.

There are also long-term health impact due to drug abuse, which includes organ damage, infectious disease, mental health disorders and rise in healthcare cost.

Are there any specific drugs which are most abused in US?

Yes. There are commonly used drugs, which also includes prescribed painkillers like oxycodone, hydrocodone, and fentanyl, as well as illicit substances like heroin. As per recent data, opioid abuse has also reached alarming levels which has affected millions of Americans.

Here are the most abused drugs in the US:

Stimulants

They are used to increase alertness, attention, and energy. They also have a high potential for abuse due to the euphoric and performance enhancing effects. Cocaine and methamphetamine are notable stimulants frequently abused in the US. As per 2019 data, 10.3 million people reported to misuse stimulants in the previous year.

Depressants

These substances are used to slow down brain activity and induce relaxation. Benzodiazepines is one of the commonly prescribed medicine. Around 4.8 million individuals in the US have misused this drug.

Other misused drugs and its affects on the health:

Opioids:

It could lead to slow breathing and heart rate. It can also increase the risk of overdose and respiratory failure, constipation and a weakened immune system.

Stimulants:

It can elevate heart rate and blood pressure. It could also increase body temperate and lead to an irregular heartbeat. Furthermore, one can experience loss of appetite and weight loss.

Cannabis:

This can alter perception and coordination. People who consume it often have red eyes and a dry mouth. This can increase appetite, sometimes the "munchies" can reach to a point of no return and it could impair memory and cognitive function.

Benzodiazepines:

It could lead to sedation and drowsiness and an impaired coordination and balance. There also could be memory problems and confusion, along with respiratory depression, when combined with other depressant substance.

Alcohol:

This could lead to slurred speech, impaired condition, poor judgment and decision-making, liver damage and cirrhosis and an increased risk of accidents and injuries, which is the 3rd most leading cause of death in the US.

Additional Negative Impact: Social and psychological

Substance abuse impairs job performance and reliability, leading to frequent absenteeism, reduced productivity, and even job loss. This further leads to financial instability, strained relationships, and a cycle of dependency.

Once widely known as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), the common and dangerous fatty liver condition was rephrased as Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatotic Liver Disease (MASLD) due to its strong link to metabolic health issues like obesity and diabetes.

MASLD now includes patients with fatty liver disease linked to metabolic risk factors such as obesity, diabetes, and hypertension.

MASLD: So What Prompted The Change?

Globally, it was observed that all patients who have non-alcoholic fatty liver disease also have some associated form of metabolic dysfunction. The patients reported having either obesity, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, hypertension, or cholesterol problems.

And all these problems eventually lead to significant comorbidities later, like some people developed heart disease, while others developed complications of diabetes.

In view of these, a global consensus process in 2023 involving hundreds of experts from different countries adopted MASLD as it better reflected these underlying causes of the condition.

What Does MASLD Mean?

Also read: Lancet Study Shows Metabolic Liver Disease To Rise Over 38% By 2050: What’s Behind The Surge

MASLD is an umbrella term for liver conditions that develop in the presence of 1 or more cardiometabolic risk factors—including high blood sugar, elevated body mass index (BMI), and hypertension—but in the absence of other causes of liver fat accumulation.

The condition can be defined by excess liver fat accumulation (more than 5 per cent of liver weight) in the presence of metabolic dysfunction, independent of alcohol intake.

It encompasses a spectrum from simple steatosis to steatohepatitis, fibrosis, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma.

“Initially, it was thought that having fatty liver disease without alcohol was a benign condition, but now it is recognized that, since it is associated with lots of metabolic comorbidities, it's no longer benign,” Dr. Ashish Kumar, Professor of gastroenterology and hepatology at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in New Delhi, told HealthandMe.

He stated that whenever a diagnosis of fatty liver is present, "we should actually include other comorbidities, like obesity, dyslipidemia, which means cholesterol problem, diabetes, sugar problem, pre-diabetes, and hypertension. At least 50–70–80 percent of these patients will have one or more of these comorbidities".

Why Alcohol Is Not The Only Culprit For Fatty Liver

Although alcohol has remained the number one risk for liver disease, MASLD seems to be rising globally, including among people who do not drink. Why?

The reasons include:

a sedentary lifestyle,

increased consumption of fast and processed food,

lack of exercise,

lack of sleep,

stressful life.

Also read: Why Regular Scans Are Crucial for Liver Cancer Patients: Doctors Explain

The experts noted that food, especially the increasingly accessible junk food or processed food, is a major culprit.

“So even if the person is not drinking alcohol, people are developing addiction to processed food, and this is causing an epidemic level of obesity and diabetes. Consequently, MASLD is also increasing, and now it is becoming the number one cause of liver disease,” Dr Kumar said.

How To Prevent MASLD?

According to Dr. Sanjay Goja, Director, Liver Transplant & HPB Surgery, Narayana Hospital, Gurugram, prevention must focus on following a healthy lifestyle like maintaining a healthy BMI, engaging in regular physical activity, and eating a balanced diet.

Controlling diabetes, cholesterol, and blood pressure is also important to prevent the risk of MASLD.

Dr Siddharth Badola, Manipal Hospital, Ghaziabad, suggested sustainable lifestyle changes such as:

Maintaining an adequate body weight: Even slight weight loss (5–10 percent) has been shown to significantly reduce liver fat and inflammation.

Follow a balanced and nutrient-rich diet: People should focus on consuming whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables, lean proteins, and healthy fats, while limiting refined carbohydrates and processed foods.

Avoid foods with added sugar: Excess consumption of fructose, commonly found in packaged foods and sugary beverages, is a key contributor to fat accumulation in the liver.

Engage in regular physical activity: At least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise per week is recommended to improve insulin sensitivity and liver health.

Manage associated metabolic conditions: Effective control of diabetes, hypertension, and dyslipidemia is essential in reducing the risk of MASLD progression.

Ensure adequate sleep and stress management: Poor sleep quality and chronic stress can negatively impact metabolic balance and liver function.

Keep your body hydrated with ample water intake and follow structured meal timings.

Although a heart attack is generally considered a disease of the elderly, its incidence in young individuals is unfortunately on the rise. The reasons behind this are multifactorial. A heart attack is a condition where one of the arteries (blood vessels) suddenly becomes partially or completely occluded by a thrombus. Although the thrombus generally occurs suddenly, the underlying reason is a chronic process of lipid deposition in the vessel walls called atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis can begin even in the first decade of life, but events like heart attacks conventionally occurred beyond 45 years in men and 55 years in women. On average, heart attacks occur in Indians about 10 years earlier than in their Western counterparts.

Dr Shyam Sasidharan, Consultant, Department of Cardiology, KIMSHEALTH Thiruvananthapuram, spoke about the early onset of heart attacks. From a population perspective, the rising number of heart diseases due to coronary artery disease (CAD) is significant not only because of its overall negative impact on the healthy population but also due to the potential for preventive interventions.

Heart attacks among younger people

Acute coronary syndromes, or heart attacks, are on the rise among younger individuals, particularly in our country. Studies of the Asian-Indian migrant population have revealed a probable racial predisposition for premature CAD. However, the majority of the risk can still be attributed to the increased incidence of conventional CAD risk factors in young people, such as obesity, inactivity, diabetes, hypertension, and dyslipidaemia.

Smoking and substance abuse are resulting in more heart disease among the young. Lesser-discussed, unconventional risk factors, such as mental stress, lack of healthy employment practices, environmental pollution, and lack of proper food safety regulations, are in fact contributing significantly to this silent epidemic. COVID-19 infection as well as vaccination were widely attributed as causes of heart attacks in young people, but without adequate scientific evidence.

How to reduce heart disease risk in your 30s?

1. Creating awareness: The most important step towards prevention is creating awareness. Awareness regarding heart disease risk factors, healthy lifestyle choices, early symptoms of heart attack, and the need for timely medical attention is crucial.
2. Diet and physical activity: With rapid urbanisation and industrialisation, a nutritional transition is occurring in India. An increase in refined sugars, fats, and processed foods sets the stage for premature heart disease. Efforts to increase physical activity to at least 30 minutes of moderate activity per day, for five days a week, need to be promoted.
3. Prevention programmes: Programmes targeting the prevention of early development of lifestyle diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, and dyslipidemia need to be extended to younger individuals. Improving access to medical services across all social strata can enhance prevention, early detection, treatment, and reduction in morbidity and mortality from heart diseases.
4. Political will: Efforts to curb pollution, promote a better work culture, and enforce strong legislation for food safety will go a long way in not only preventing early heart disease but also promoting the overall health of the population.
5. Preventive health check-ups: At an individual level, promoting healthy habits and undergoing regular health check-ups can contribute significantly towards early detection of risk factors as well as early diagnosis of heart disease itself.
6. Improving mental health: There should be more discussions and interventions focused on overall mental health, work–life balance, and happiness, as these are known to impact heart health.

Women can play a major role in preventing as well as eliminating Chagas Disease, a potentially life-threatening neglected tropical disease that affects 8 million people globally and causes 10,000 deaths every year, according to UN agencies.

World Chagas Disease Day is observed every year on April 14 to raise awareness around the disease, and the impact it has on lives.

In a statement, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and the Global Chagas Coalition urged health authorities to make women central to the fight against the disease and to empower them to make early detection, prevention, and care.

“Eliminating Chagas disease as a public health problem requires placing women at the center of diagnosis, treatment, and care strategies,” said Dr. Jarbas Barbosa, PAHO Director.

“Ensuring timely access to quality health services, particularly for women of reproductive age, is essential to prevent new infections and advance toward the elimination of congenital Chagas disease in the Region of the Americas,” he added.

What Is Chagas Disease?

Chagas disease, also known as American trypanosomiasis, is a illness caused by the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi, and is primarily transmitted by triatomine insect vectors.

It gets spread through

• oral transmission,
• blood transfusion,
• mother-to-child.
• through transplants of some organs (such as heart or kidney)
• through laboratory accidents.

If left untreated, one third of infected people—including women and the children they carry—will develop life-altering heart, digestive, and even neurological conditions, and may even become fatal.

Once endemic to 21 countries in Latin America, the disease has now spread globally due to migration. It is now a global health concern with cases found in 44 countries including the US, Canada, Europe, Australia, and Japan.

World Chagas Disease Day 2026: Theme

World Chagas Disease Day was celebrated for the first time in 2020.

The theme this year is “Women at the heart of care, protecting the next generation” and underscores the key role women play in family and community caregiving, as well as their greater interaction with health services, particularly during pregnancy.

Chagas Disease: Role Of Women

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), about 2 million women aged 15-44 years are living with Trypanosoma cruzi infection worldwide.

Congenital transmission or mother-to-child transmission remains a major challenge, occurring in about 3–5 percent of pregnancies. However, it also provides a key opportunity for effective intervention.

The transmission cycle of the disease can be effectively broken by

• Treating infected girls and women before pregnancy
• Strengthening screening in maternal and child health services
• Eaccess to diagnosis and treatment.
• Newborn screening can help diagnose and treat, with a cure rate exceeding 90 percent.
• Increase awareness at community and family levels.
• Avoid foodborne transmission

“On the contrary, it represents a strategic opportunity to strengthen more equitable, accessible, and responsive health systems that recognize and respect women’s needs.”