ReviewDrug and alcohol dependence2018
The importance of considering polysubstance use: lessons from cocaine research.
Review in Drug and alcohol dependence, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 97 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
97 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 155 citations in OpenAlex.
- Enhanced and Prolonged Euphoria during Co-Use of Alcohol and Cocaine: A Narrative and Integrative Review.European addiction research · 2026Pooled it
- Polysubstance use patterns and risk behaviors among people with cocaine use disorder.Experimental and clinical psychopharmacology · 2025Trial
- Smoked cannabis reduces peak cocaine plasma levels and subjective effects in a controlled drug administration study of polysubstance use in men.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2023Trial
- Effects of Acute Exercise on Affect, Anxiety, and Self-Esteem in Poly-Substance Dependent Inpatients.European addiction research · 2023Trial
- Changes in alcohol use during hepatitis C treatment in persons who inject drugs.Journal of viral hepatitis · 2022Trial
- Sleep time differs among people who co-use cocaine and cannabis compared to people who only use cocaine.Pharmacology, biochemistry, and behavior · 2021Trial
- Impact of Harm Reduction Treatment with or without Pharmacotherapy on Polysubstance Use among People Experiencing Homelessness and Alcohol Use Disorder.Journal of addiction medicineTrial
- Anomaly detection as a tool for identifying cases of interest in postmortem toxicology.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- The mediating role of anxiety and depression symptoms in the relationship between ADHD symptoms and polysubstance use among French university students: the i-share study.Addictive behaviors reports · 2026Article
- Cocaine Use, Unhealthy Alcohol Use, and Pain Interference Among People with HIV.AIDS and behavior · 2026Article
- Changes in cannabis potency and cannabis-related psychiatric harms: a 23-year ecological study in Denmark.Psychological medicine · 2026Article
- Factors Associated With Cocaine Use Disorder: Results From the French Nationwide Repeated Cross-Sectional OPPIDUM Study (2019-2023).Fundamental & clinical pharmacology · 2026Article
- Trends in polysubstance use in the Croatian general population: evidence from 2011-2023 national surveys.Croatian medical journal · 2026Article
- Effects of nicotinic receptor antagonism on nicotine and THC self-administration in a model of polysubstance use.The international journal of neuropsychopharmacology · 2026Article
- The role of polysubstance use in the development, maintenance, and treatment of stimulant use disorders.Pharmacological reviews · 2026Review
- The role of the prelimbic cortex to nucleus accumbens core projection in the reinstatement of cocaine-seeking after cocaine-alcohol polysubstance use.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2026Article
- The need to incorporate polysubstance use in neuropsychopharmacology research: Biological lessons and new opportunities.Addiction neuroscience · 2026Article
- Insights from the development of an online toolkit to promote community-engaged substance use research in the Southwest Borderlands Region.Journal of clinical and translational science · 2026Article
- Translational Evidence of Immunomodulation by Addictive Drugs: Mechanisms and Therapeutic Targets.Journal of neuroimmunology · 2025Article
- Ethanol self-administration reduced the efficacy of a behavioral intervention to decrease cocaine choice in socially housed male and female monkeys.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2025Article
37 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundPolysubstance use (PSU) is prevalent among individuals with substance use disorders, but the vast majority of preclinical substance use research has focused on individual substances in isolation. Cocaine has been prevalent in the repertoire of persons who use more than one illicit substance.
methodsWe conducted a meta-analysis combining results from literature searches and secondary data analyses to estimate the prevalence of simultaneous and concurrent cocaine + alcohol and cocaine + cannabis use among cocaine users. We next summarized the small body of literature on behavioral, cognitive and neurobiological consequences of cocaine PSU across species, with a focus on alcohol and cannabis. Finally, we used systematic literature searches to assess the extent to which human and animal studies on the neurobiological consequences of cocaine include PSU subjects.
resultsThe estimated prevalence of simultaneous and concurrent alcohol use among human cocaine users was 74% and 77%, respectively. The estimated prevalence of simultaneous and concurrent cannabis use among cocaine users was 38% and 64%, respectively. Consumption of alcohol or cannabis with cocaine enhances subjective responses to cocaine, concomitant with changes in cocaine metabolism that increase blood cocaine levels, and, in the case of alcohol, produce the psychoactive metabolite cocaethylene. There is also consistent evidence for neurobiological effects of cocaine + alcohol combinations. However, animal PSU research with cocaine lags behind human research.
conclusionBased on the prevalence and known consequences of PSU, consideration of PSU in both human and animal research is vital for understanding patterns of substance use.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.