Marcus Munafo

Marcus Munafo
Marcus Munafò is Professor of Biological Psychology at the University of Bristol, United Kingdom. His research interests are primarily in the area of behavioural and neurobiological mechanisms of tobacco and alcohol use. He completed his PhD in 2000 at the University of Southampton, and worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Oxford and the University Pennsylvania before taking up a permanent position at Bristol in 2005. You can follow him on Twitter @MarcusMunafo and his research group @BristolTARG

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Does tobacco use cause psychosis?

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Marcus Munafo
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Marcus Munafo appraises a recent systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective, case-control and cross-sectional studies, which finds that daily tobacco use is associated with an increased risk of psychosis and an earlier age at onset of psychotic illness.

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Smoking and risk of schizophrenia: new study finds a dose-response relationship

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Marcus Munafo
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Marcus Munafò looks at the mounting evidence about smoking and risk of schizophrenia, including a new case-control study that provides clear evidence of a prospective association between cigarette smoking and a subsequent diagnosis of schizophrenia.

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E-cigarettes and teenagers: cause for concern?

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Marcus Munafo
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Marcus Munafò appraises a recent cross-sectional survey, which looks at associations between e-cigarette access and smoking and drinking behaviours in teenagers.

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Is moderate alcohol consumption good for you?

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Marcus Munafo
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Beware underpowered observational studies! Marcus Munafò helps us understand why a recent BMJ study on all cause mortality and age specific alcohol consumption is not as simple as the newspapers would have us believe.

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Schizophrenia and genetics: a new landmark study

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Marcus Munafo
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Genome-wide association studies have proved extremely successful in identifying reliable genetic associations with a number of disease outcomes, but until now studies of psychiatric outcomes have lagged behind. This latest schizophrenia study is therefore an important advance.

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Tobacco industry evidence submitted to government on plain packaging found to be either lacking in quality or irrelevant

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Marcus Munafo
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CIGARETTE PLAIN PACKAGING STOCK

Standardised (or ‘plain’) packaging of cigarettes requires all branding to be removed, leaving the brand name to be placed in a standard location and font on a standard colour cigarette pack. Apart from the small brand name, the packs would still feature a prominent health warning as well as counterfeiting marks. The aim of standardised [read the full story…]

Adapting smoking cessation interventions to meet the needs of black and minority ethnic populations

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Marcus Munafo
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Tobacco use is the single most important preventable cause of mortality and morbidity in developed countries. However, what is less widely appreciated is that as the overall prevalence of smoking has declined, tobacco use has become an increasingly important driver of health inequalities. For example, the prevalence of smoking in the United Kingdom has declined [read the full story…]

Cochrane review finds that haloperidol is an effective antipsychotic, but its side effects can be problematic

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Marcus Munafo
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Schizophrenia is a serious disorder characterised by delusions (including paranoid beliefs and hallucinations) and other symptoms such as blunted affect and reduced motivation. While relatively uncommon (lifetime prevalence is less than 1%), it is associated with serious social impairment (e.g., unemployment, homelessness), which in turn can result in physical health problems. As a result, the [read the full story…]

Cochrane review finds no clear evidence for psychosocial interventions to help people with both severe mental illness and substance misuse

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Marcus Munafo
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Substance use is common in people with mental health problems, and this can have important negative consequences for health and social function. The high comorbidity of mental health problems and substance use is a major contributor to the shorter life expectancy of this population – a person with a severe mental disorder can expect to [read the full story…]

Cochrane review says there’s insufficient evidence to tell whether fluoxetine is better or worse than other treatments for depression

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Marcus Munafo
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Depression is common in primary care and associated with a substantial personal, social and societal burden. There is considerable ongoing controversy regarding whether antidepressant pharmacotherapy works and, in particular, for whom. One widely-prescribed antidepressant is fluoxetine (Prozac), an antidepressant of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI) class. Although a number of more recent antidepressants are [read the full story…]