MentalHealthDaily

Twin Study Finds No Broad Cytokine Link to Depression or Alcohol Use Disorder

by GLOOM

Photoreal illustration of cytokine molecules and brain imagery, conveying inflammation-depression hypothesis under scrutiny.

The broad cytokine story failed its most direct community test: in 972 adults, depression, alcohol use, and alcohol use disorder (AUD) were not associated with C-reactive protein (CRP) or a pre-registered pro-inflammatory cytokine index. The only multiple-testing-corrected cytokine hits ran opposite the hypothesis — AUD was linked to lower IL-1β, IL-4, IL-10, and IL-12 — …

Drug Addiction Linked to Cortical Thinning in 65 of 68 Brain Regions

by GLOOM

Photoreal illustration of a human brain with cortical regions highlighted across substance categories, representing the cross-substance morphometric pattern in addiction.

Whether alcohol, cocaine, nicotine, and cannabis damage the same brain regions or different brain regions has been hard to settle in the addiction-imaging literature. A 2026 ENIGMA Addiction analysis by Georgiadis et al. — pooling 4,733 brains across 51 sites — now has an answer. Research Highlights Across 2,782 people with substance use disorder (SUD) …

Global Addiction Rates Fell 17%; U.S. Rates Increased 24%

by GLOOM

Stylized world map visualization contrasting global decline in substance use disorder rates with rising drug-use burden in high-income North America between 1990 and 2021.

Global age-standardized substance-use-disorder rates fell 16.9% from 1990–2021. High-income North America rose 24%—the divergence US coverage misses.