Licit and illicit substance use is one of the major public health issues with severe negative health consequences for individuals and society. Health literacy is essential for improving one’s health and navigation in the healthcare system. However, the evidence of health literacy in people with substance use disorders is limited. This study aims to examine health literacy and its socio-demographic, health-related, and substance use-related correlates in young people with alcohol (AUD) and substance use disorders (SUD). In this study, cross-sectional data of young people undergoing addiction treatment for AUD (N = 201, mean age 37.6) and SUD (N = 165, mean age 31.1) were used. Health literacy was assessed using the HLS-EU-Q47. Simple and multiple linear regression was performed to estimate the correlates of health literacy. In total, 37.8% of participants with AUD and 41.8% of SUD had limited health literacy. In participants with AUD, living condition factors, self-perceived health indicators, and frequency of alcohol use showed a significant effect on health literacy. In participants with SUD, financial factors, self-perceived health indicators, and injection sharing showed a significant effect. Increasing health literacy might contribute to improved health outcomes and decreased high-risk substance use-related behavior in people undergoing addiction treatment.

This mixed methods research paper explores health literacy (HL) in individuals with alcohol addiction by using the 47-item version of the European Health Literacy Survey Questionnaire (HLS-EU-Q47) and semi-structured interviews concerning health-related competencies (access, understand, appraise, and apply health information), and determines the limitations of the HLS-EU-Q47 when used under specific conditions of clinical practice. The questionnaire survey and the interviews were conducted with individuals of different health literacy levels who were undergoing inpatient alcohol addiction treatment. The findings indicate that individuals with alcohol addiction might require different types of health information according to their health literacy level in terms of quantity and quality of information to recover from alcohol addiction and improve their overall health. The implications for the clinical practice of addiction treatment as well as recommendations for national and regional policy are also discussed.

Aims: Monitoring opioid prescribing across different healthcare systems is essential to understanding population‐level exposure and informing global health policies. This study examined opioid utilization in Scandinavian countries between 2010 and 2023 using multiple complementary metrics, addressing the limitations of single‐metric comparisons. Methods: A repeated cross‐sectional study utilizing publicly available drug use statistics on opioid analgesics (ATC group N02A) dispensed in pharmacies from Denmark, Norway and Sweden. We assessed annual changes in utilization based on four metrics: 1‐year prevalence (users/1000 inhabitants/year), defined daily doses (DDD)/1000 inhabitants/day (TID), morphine milligram equivalents (MMEs)/TID, and MMEs/user/year. Results: Opioid use declined in Denmark and Sweden—in both 1‐year user prevalence and volumes of MMEs—while stabilizing in Norway. Norway consistently had a higher and stable prevalence of opioid users. Denmark led in total amounts of MMEs dispensed, likely due to more frequent morphine and oxycodone use, whereas Norway ranked highest in DDDs. Denmark and Sweden showed increasing preference for “strong opioids”, while codeine‐paracetamol and tramadol remained predominant in Norway. The prevalence of oxycodone users increased in Norway and Sweden, with Sweden having the highest prevalence of users but the lowest annual average volumes per user. Conclusions: This study found major differences in total opioid use and substance‐specific prescribing patterns, reflecting diverse pain management strategies across Scandinavia. Changing use patterns suggest evolving prescribing strategies and possible shifts in the target group for opioid pain therapy. In addition, metric‐dependent variation underscores the need for using multiple complementary metrics to accurately interpret opioid utilization trends.

Background: Physical diseases represent a significant burden for opioid agonist treatment (OAT) patients. This study described physical morbidity in two national cohorts of OAT patients focusing on gender differences.Methods: This population-based cohort study linking multiple health registers investigated physical diseases (ICD-10) in patients receiving OAT in the Czech Republic (N = 4,280) and Norway (N = 11,389) during 2010–2019. Gender-stratified analysis was performed.Results: Overall, we found a large burden of physical morbidity across gender groups in OAT patients. In the Czech Republic and Norway, women in OAT had a significantly higher prevalence of physical diseases across most diagnostic chapters, notably genitourinary diseases and neoplasms. Injuries/external causes and infectious/parasitic diseases were among the most common diseases in both women and men. Viral hepatitis accounted for over half of infectious morbidity in women and men in both cohorts.Conclusions: Our findings support the need for early screening, detection, and treatment of diseases and conditions across organ systems and the integration of health promotion activities to reduce physical morbidity in OAT patients. The gender differences underline the need for a tailored approach to address specific medical conditions.