Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42385937›Full record

ArticleJournal of substance use and addiction treatment2026

Methodological innovations to advance substance use disorder research: Proceedings of a NIDA workshop on target trial emulation and translational testing of digital health tools.

Luke C Hall, Julie M Donohue, Marc LaRochelle, Rebecca C Rossom, Xiaoming Wang, Majid Afshar, Walid F Gellad, Rolf H H Groenwold, Beth Han, Christopher M Jones and 7 more

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of substance use and addiction treatment, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

17 authors.

Luke C HallThe Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy & Clinical Practice, One Medical Center Drive, WTRB Level 5, Lebanon, NH, 03756, USA. Electronic address: Luke.C.Hall.Gr@dartmouth.edu.
Julie M DonohueUniversity of Pittsburgh School of Public Health, 130 DeSoto Street, A635 Crabtree Hall, Pittsburgh, PA, 15261, USA. Electronic address: jdonohue@pitt.edu.
Marc LaRochelleBoston Medical Center and Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, 801 Massachusetts Avenue, 2nd Floor, Boston, MA, 02118, USA. Electronic address: Marc.LaRochelle@bmc.org.
Rebecca C RossomHealthPartners Institute, University of Minnesota Medical School, 8170 33rd Ave S, Bloomington, MN, 55425, USA. Electronic address: rebecca.c.rossom@healthpartners.com.
Xiaoming WangNational Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health, Three White Flint North, 11601 Landsdown Street, North Bethesda, MD, 20852, USA. Electronic address: xiaoming.wang@nih.gov.
Majid AfsharDepartment of Medicine, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Warf Office Building, 610 Walnut St Suite 500, Madison, WI, 53726, USA. Electronic address: mafshar@medicine.wisc.edu.
Walid F GelladUniversity of Pittsburgh School of Public Health, 130 DeSoto Street, A635 Crabtree Hall, Pittsburgh, PA, 15261, USA. Electronic address: walid.gellad@pitt.edu.
Rolf H H GroenwoldLeiden University Medical Center, Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Albinusdreef 2, Leiden, 2333 ZA, the Netherlands. Electronic address: r.h.h.groenwold@lumc.nl.
Beth HanNational Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health, 301 North Stonestreet Ave, 3WFN Room 09C09, MSC 6024, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA. Electronic address: beth.han@nih.gov.
Christopher M JonesNational Center for Injury Prevention and Control at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Center, 4770 Buford Hwy, Atlanta, GA, 30341, USA. Electronic address: christopher.jones@samhsa.hhs.gov.
Wei-Hsuan Lo-CiganicUniversity of Florida, College of Pharmacy, P.O. Box 100496, 1225 Center Drive, Gainesville, FL, 32610, USA. Electronic address: jenny.lociganic@pitt.edu.
Sara LodiBoston University School of Public Health, 715 Albany St 580-Suite 3W, Boston, MA, 02118, USA. Electronic address: slodi@bu.edu.
Brandon D L MarshallDepartment of Epidemiology, Brown University School of Public Health, 121 South Main Street, Box G-S-121-2, Providence, RI, 02912, USA. Electronic address: brandon_marshall@brown.edu.
Bethany M McLemanNortheast Node of the National Institute on Drug Abuse Clinical Trials Network, USA; Center for Technology and Behavioral Health, Geisel School of Medicine, Dartmouth College, USA. Electronic address: Bethany.M.McLeman@Dartmouth.edu.
Chantal A Lambert-HarrisNortheast Node of the National Institute on Drug Abuse Clinical Trials Network, USA; Center for Technology and Behavioral Health, Geisel School of Medicine, Dartmouth College, USA. Electronic address: Chantal.A.Lambert-Harris@Dartmouth.edu.
Elizabeth C SaundersNortheast Node of the National Institute on Drug Abuse Clinical Trials Network, USA; Center for Technology and Behavioral Health, Geisel School of Medicine, Dartmouth College, USA. Electronic address: Elizabeth.C.Saunders@Dartmouth.edu.
Lisa A MarschNortheast Node of the National Institute on Drug Abuse Clinical Trials Network, USA; Center for Technology and Behavioral Health, Geisel School of Medicine, Dartmouth College, USA.

Funding

Project-002UG1DA040309 · NIDA · DARTMOUTH COLLEGE · PI Lisa A. Marsch · 2015 to 2026
$37.9M
NIDA NIH HHS UG1 DA040309
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Substance use disorder (SUD) is a complex chronic condition requiring a multi-disciplinary approach to both research and treatment. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are gold standard methodologies for inferring causal relationships between an intervention and treatment outcomes but often face challenges in generalizability, scalability and real-world implementation. Target trial emulation (TTE) is a powerful methodological framework that uses observational or real-world data sources to emulate the methodology of these gold standard target trials to complement the learning from RCTs and enhance translation to real world evidence. An additional methodological innovation is the translational testing of clinical- and community-based digital health systems to provide new insights into SUD in the real world and provide scalable access to therapeutic resources. To explore these methodological innovations in SUD research, the National Institute on Drug Abuse Center for the Clinical Trials Network convened a variety of experts for a virtual workshop titled "Target Trial Emulation in Observational Research and Translational Testing of Advanced Digital Health Tools for Substance Use Disorder Prevention and Treatment." This article summarizes the discourse of the workshop, focused on three thematic areas: TTE using real-world healthcare data, SUD evidence from nationwide data sources that may be useful in TTE analyses, and translational testing of clinical- and community-based digital health systems. The workshop also highlighted various exemplars of digital health systems that demonstrate success in translational research addressing SUDs, key methodological and translational challenges, importance of rigorous study design, robust data linkages and expanding use of common data elements, and the integration of digital health tools to enhance causal inference and clinical impact. Future research directions are outlined to refine these approaches, address barriers, and maximize the utility of real-world data in shaping effective SUD prevention and treatment strategies.

Indexed as

Research DesignSubstance-Related DisordersTranslational Research, BiomedicalDigital HealthHumansNational Institute on Drug Abuse (U.S.)Randomized Controlled Trials as TopicUnited StatesCausalityDigital health interventionDigital therapeuticsObservational studies as topicSubstance-related disordersTarget trial emulation

Identifiers

PMID42385937
PMCPMC13480102

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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 Socratic graph.