People who identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual are more likely to misuse prescription opioids than those who identify as heterosexual — and bisexual women face a particularly high risk, said a new nationwide study. The study from the New York University School of Medicine is the first to use a nationally representative sample of U.S. adults to examine sexual orientation as a risk factor for prescription opioid misuse, its authors said. The researchers found that women who identified as bisexual were twice as likely to misuse opioids when compared with heterosexual people. Lead author Dustin Duncan attributed it to the "minority stress model," the theory that members of minority groups tend to experience greater degrees of stress.
Malaria fight has stalled around world
Progress against malaria has stalled, and the disease remains a significant threat to millions of people, the World Health Organization reported. The WHO said there were about 219 million cases of malaria in 2017, up 2 million from the previous year. Nigeria, which has a quarter of all cases, reported 1.3 million more last year than in 2016, the report said. Latin America sees only a few hundred malaria deaths each year, but they increased last year, especially in Venezuela, where the economy has collapsed. Madagascar, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique, Mali, Niger, Indonesia and Burkina Faso are also losing ground.
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