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Alcohol use has complex effects on cardiovascular (CV) health. The associations between drinking and CV diseases such as hypertension, coronary heart disease, stroke, peripheral arterial disease, and cardiomyopathy have been studied extensively and are outlined in this review. Although many behavioral, genetic, and biologic variants influence the interconnection between alcohol use and CV disease...

Alcohol can permeate virtually every organ and tissue in the body, resulting in tissue injury and organ dysfunction. Considerable evidence indicates that alcohol abuse results in clinical abnormalities of one of the body’s most important systems, the endocrine system. This system ensures proper communication between various organs, also interfacing with the immune and nervous systems, and is...

Although stress is known to be an important contributing factor to alcohol abuse and alcoholism, the interaction between stress and alcohol drinking behavior, as well as the mechanisms underlying this interaction in the context of dependence are complex and not well understood. On the one hand, alcohol is an effective anxiety-reducing agent (i.e., anxiolytic). Hence, motivation for drinking may be...

Alcohol is frequently used in association with cannabis, with co-use now perceived as normative with expanding cannabis legalization. Cannabinoid products are increasingly used for a number of medical and recreational purposes, including to enhance alcohol-reinforcing properties or in some cases to substitute for alcohol. Rates of alcohol use disorder (AUD) are higher among cannabis users relative...

Introduction

Endogenous cannabinoids, or endocannabinoids (eCBs), are bioactive lipid molecules that modulate signaling activity of several physiological processes involved in pain, appetite, energy balance, stress/anxiety, immune signaling, and learning and memory. Although understanding of the eCB system has grown in complexity since its discovery by Raphael Mechoulam, it is now widely known...

Alcohol use and misuse is increasing among women. Although the prevalence of drinking remains higher in men than women, the gender gap is narrowing. This narrative review focuses on the cognitive sequelae of alcohol consumption in women. Studies of acute alcohol effects on cognition indicate that women typically perform worse than men on tasks requiring divided attention, memory, and decision...

Introduction

Use of alcohol and related problems cause significant global and individual health-related harms, and alcohol use is currently the third-leading cause of preventable death in the United States.^1,2 Alcohol and cannabis are among the most commonly used psychoactive substances in the United States.³ Although concurrent use of alcohol and cannabis (i.e., co-use: defined as using both...