More Than A Quarter Of All Opioid Overdoses In The US Involve Teens, Researchers Say

HealthDay (2/17, Mozes) reports, “More than a quarter of all opioid overdoses in the United States involve teenagers, and a full fifth of those cases were likely suicide attempts,” researchers concluded after performing “an in-depth analysis of nearly 754,000 American opioid poisoning cases that occurred between 2005 and 2018,” all of which “had been reported to the U.S. National Poison Data System.” Nearly “208,000 of those cases involved children 18 years old or younger.”

MedPage Today (2/17, Boyles) reports that one “particularly troubling finding in the adolescent data was the high percentage of teens who were using opioids to attempt suicide.” The findings are scheduled for presentation this week at a meeting of the Society of Critical Care Medicine.

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— “1 in 4 Opioid ODs Involves Kids and Teens, “Alan Mozes, HealthDay, February 17, 2020

Soldiers Who Suffer TBI May Be More Likely To Suffer From Mental Illness Than Those With Other Serious Injuries, Researchers Say

HealthDay (2/14, Preidt) reported, “U.S. soldiers who suffer a moderate or severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) are more likely to suffer” from a mental illness “than those with other serious injuries,” researchers concluded after analyzing “the records of nearly 5,000 U.S. military members – mostly from the Army or Marines – who were severely injured during combat in Iraq and Afghanistan between 2002 and 2011.” The study revealed that “71% of the severely injured soldiers in the study were later diagnosed with at least one of five mental [illnesses]: post-traumatic stress disorder…anxiety and mood disorders, adjustment reactions, schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders, and cognitive disorders.” Investigators also found that “the rate of mental [illnesses] among seriously injured soldiers is much higher than previously reported.” The findings were published online Dec. 31 in the journal Military Medicine.

Related Links:

— “Traumatic Brain Injuries Raise Risk of Psychiatric Ills in Soldiers, ” Robert Preidt, HealthDay, February 14, 2020

Ketamine Use Among Electronic Dance Music Party-Goers Much Higher Than Previously Thought, Study Indicates

HealthDay (2/13) reports, “Ketamine use among electronic dance music party-goers is much higher than previously thought,” with “unintentional use” appearing “to play a role,” investigators concluded after surveying “hundreds of adults entering electronic dance music parties in New York City about their past-year drug use.” Some 200 people “provided hair samples that were analyzed to detect drug use in the past 12 months.” These hair analyses showed that even though nearly “15 percent of the party-goers said they’d used ketamine in the past year, the hair analyses showed that about 37% tested positive for ketamine,” indicating that “when both self-reported use and hair testing are taken into consideration, actual ketamine use among these party-goers is closer to 41%.” The findings were published online Jan. 29 in a research letter in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.

Related Links:

— “Use of Club Drug ‘Special K’ Could Be Underreported, “Robert Preidt, HealthDay, February 13, 2020

Individuals With Depression, Particularly Men, May Be At Increased Risk For All-Cause And CVD Mortality, Study Suggests

Healio (2/13, Gramigna) reports, “Individuals with depression, especially men, may be at increased risk for all-cause and” cardiovascular disease (CVD) “mortality,” investigators concluded after following 512,712 “adults aged 30 to 79 years who were included in the China Kadoorie Bank (CKB) study, as well as” 26,298 “adults aged 32 to 104 years who were included in the Dongfeng-Tongji (DFTJ) study.” The findings were published online Feb. 12 in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “Researchers find more evidence for link between depression and all-cause, CVD mortality, “Joe Gramigna, Healio, February 13, 2020

Psychiatric Medications Appear Not To Interfere With Weight Loss In Patients With Obesity Who Undergo Bariatric Surgery, Researchers Say

Psychiatric News (2/13) reports, “Psychiatric medications do not appear to interfere with weight loss in” patients with obesity “who have had bariatric surgery,” investigators concluded after analyzing “data on 190 patients who had bariatric surgery,” 61 of whom “were taking psychiatric medications before surgery, and 50” who “continued taking psychiatric medications one year after surgery.” The findings were published in the January/February issue of Psychosomatics, the journal of the Academy of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Psychiatric Medications Not Associated With Poorer Weight Loss Following Bariatric Surgery, Psychiatric News, February 13, 2020

More Organizations Training Employees In First Aid For Mental Health

TIME (2/12, Oaklander) reports on “Mental Health First Aid at Work, a training that the National Council for Behavioral Health provides, for a cost, to a growing number of corporations.” The article follows the experiences of some employees of Delta Air Lines who took the training in order to learn how to “spot symptoms and warning signs of possible mental health concerns in a colleague, reach out and offer initial help, then guide them to professional help and the resources the company offers, like short-term counseling through the free employee assistance program (EAP) and a confidential app that lets you chat immediately with behavioral health coaches.” Such mental health training is growing among organizations. For example, “the Center for Workplace Mental Health at the American Psychiatric Association Foundation is developing a digital training for managers called ‘Notice. Talk. Act. at Work,’ which teaches the early warning signs of mental health issues and how to have empathetic, compassionate conversations.”

Related Links:

— “How Companies Teach Their Employees First Aid for Mental Health, “Mandy Oaklander, TIME, February 12, 2020

Men Who Closely Align With Masculinity Norms May Be More Than Twice As Likely To Die By Suicide As Men Who Do Not, Researchers Say

MedPage Today (2/12, Hlavinka) reports, “Men who closely aligned with masculinity norms were more than twice as likely to die by suicide as men who did not,” research indicated. For the study, investigators identified “20,745 adolescents recruited in 1995 as part of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health),” then “matched with death records in 2014.” The study revealed that “‘high-traditional masculinity’ men – or those with at least a 73% probability of being male based on their responses to questions about things like not crying, physical fitness, and fighting – were more likely to die by suicide than men who did not identify as strongly with such norms.” At the same time, “so-called high-traditional masculinity men were also 1.45 times less likely to report suicidal ideation.” The findings were published online Feb. 12 in a research letter in JAMA Psychiatry. Healio (2/12, Gramigna) also covers the study.

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MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

RRFT Among Teens May Result In Within-Group Improvements In Substance Use Problems, PTSD Symptoms, Compared With Usual Treatment, Small Study Suggests

Healio (2/11, Gramigna) reports, “Risk reduction through family therapy, or RRFT, among adolescents resulted in within-group improvements in substance use problems and PTSD symptoms compared with treatment as usual,” researchers concluded in a study that randomized a “total of 61 participants…to RRFT and 63 to treatment as usual.” The findings were published online Feb. 5 in JAMA Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Adolescent exposure-based treatment safe, feasible for co-occurring substance abuse, PTSD symptoms, “Joe Gramigna, Healio, February 11, 2020

Shorter Sleep Duration Among Children May Be Tied To Increased Risk For Depression, Anxiety, Impulsive Behavior, And Poor Cognitive Performance, Scan Study Indicates

Healio (2/11, Gramigna) reports, “Shorter sleep duration among children was associated with increased risk for depression, anxiety, impulsive behavior and poor cognitive performance,” investigators concluded after examining “data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study, which included structural MRI data from 11,067 individuals aged 9 to 11 years.” The findings were published online Feb. 3 in the journal Molecular Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Children with less sleep experience increased depression, anxiety, decreased cognitive performance, “Joe Gramigna, Healio, February 11, 2020

Light Exercise May Reduce Children’s Risk Of Developing Depression Later On, Research Suggests

CNN (2/11, Lamotte) reports that a study published in Lancet Psychiatry suggests that “even light exercise may help protect children against developing depression.” The study “found that 60 minutes of simple movement each day at age 12 was linked to an average 10% reduction in depression at age 18,” with the types of movement ranging “from running and biking to walking, doing chores, painting or playing an instrument.”

HealthDay (2/11, Preidt) reports in the study, “more than 4,200 participants in England wore devices that tracked their movement for at least 10 hours over at least three days when they were ages 12, 14 and 16.”

Related Links:

— “Keep your teen moving to reduce risk of depression, study says, “Sandee LaMotte, CNN, February 11, 2020