HealthDay (12/31, Preidt) reported that on its own, “opioid addiction is tough enough to beat, but new research shows that having an accompanying methamphetamine habit may make quitting” much harder. After looking at “799 people receiving opioid addiction treatment at three sites in Washington State,” investigators “found that methamphetamine use was associated with a more than twofold higher risk of dropping out of treatment for opioid addiction.” The findings were published online ahead of print in the February issue of the Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment.

Related Links:

— “Opioid-Meth Habit Particularly Hard to Break, “Robert Preidt, HealthDay, December 31, 2019

The New York Times (12/30, Chokshi) reports researchers “found that opioid deaths were about 85 percent higher among people of prime working age – 16 to 65 – in counties where automotive assembly plants had closed five years earlier, compared with counties where such factories remained open.” The study, which was published in JAMA Internal Medicine, suggests that the closure of automotive factories “may have contributed to a rise in local opioid overdose deaths in recent years.”

Newsweek (12/30, Gander) reports researchers examined data between 1999 and 2016 from 112 industrial counties largely in the Midwest and the South. During the study period, “29 counties were affected by a plant closure, while 83 counties weren’t.” The researchers found that “plant closures were followed by a statistically significant increase in deaths due to opioids overdoses. After five years, mortality rates increased by 8.6 deaths…per 100,000 in such regions, compared with areas not hit by a factory shutting down,” which “amounted to an 85 percent increase.”

Related Links:

— “Opioid Deaths Rise When Auto Plants Close, Study Shows, ” Niraj Chokshi, The New York Times, December 30, 2019

The Atlantic (12/30, Rizga) reports on a program called ASD Nest, which places students with autism “alongside neurotypical students in classrooms led by specially trained teachers.” The program, which “launched in 2003 with four teachers and has since expanded to 54 elementary, middle, and high schools in New York City,” is a “collaboration between the New York City Department of Education and NYU.” Furthermore, the program “places two certified and specially trained teachers in each participating classroom, which allows one of them to provide one-on-one social, emotional, or academic support whenever the need arises, without disrupting the lesson or pulling a student out of the classroom.”

Related Links:

— “What School Could Be If It Were Designed for Kids With Autism, “Kristina Rizga, The Atlantic, December 30, 2019

The Boston Globe (12/30, Martin) reports on a program aiming “to curb problematic pot use” among teenagers. The “Charlestown program – funded by Massachusetts General Hospital’s center for community health improvement – is part of a growing effort around the state to help high schoolers make sound choices about cannabis in an era of marijuana legalization,” focusing more so on “treatment rather than on abstinence and punishment.” The article adds, “The program teaches students to try healthy stress relievers like exercise or meditation, before encouraging them to cut back on pot in a realistic way,” however, it “stops short of one step: demanding they quit altogether.”

Related Links:

— “New approach to curbing marijuana use among teens: ‘just say no’ gives way to ‘just smoke less’, ” Naomi Martin, The Boston Globe, December 30, 2019

In the New York Times (12/30) “Personal Health” column, Jane E. Brody writes that hearing loss “is the largest modifiable risk factor for developing dementia, exceeding that of smoking, high blood pressure, lack of exercise and social isolation.” Brody writes that “new findings on cognitive losses linked to subclinical hearing loss, gleaned from among 6,451 people age 50 or older, suggest that any degree of hearing loss can take a toll.”

Related Links:

— “For Better Brain Health, Preserve Your Hearing, “Jane E. Brody, The New York Times, December 30, 2019

Healio (12/27, Gramigna) reported, “Grandparents who are active in the lives of their grandchildren may have a decreased risk for loneliness and social isolation,” researchers concluded after obtaining and analyzing “cross-sectional survey data from a population-based sample of 3,849 community-dwelling adults in Germany aged 40 years or older.” The findings were published online in BMJ Open.

Related Links:

— “Grandparents who care for grandchildren less likely to feel isolated, lonely, “Joe Gramigna, Healio, December 27, 2019

The San Francisco Chronicle (12/28, Fagone, Cassidey) reported, “The suicide rate among California prisoners has climbed five years in a row and rose in 2019 to the highest level in at least three decades…according to experts, advocates for prisoners and the state’s top corrections official.” As of Tuesday, 36 people this year had died by suicide inside the state’s prisons, amounting to “a rate of 28.7 suicides per 100,000 prisoners – an increase over last year’s rate of 26.3.” Public officials, judges, and experts “say California’s deaths are the result of a system that for decades has failed to provide proper help to the state’s mentally ill prisoners, a population estimated at more than 30,000.”

Related Links:

— “Exclusive: Suicides rise again in California prisons — 36 this year, despite scrutiny, “Jason Fagone and Megan Cassidy, The San Francisco Chronicle, December 30, 2019

Psychiatric News (12/27) reported, “Though the total number of child psychiatrists in the United States increased between 2007 and 2016, a shortage remains in large swaths of the country, particularly in lower-income areas,” researchers concluded after examining “data from the Area Health Resource Files of the Department of Health and Human Services to compare the numbers of child psychiatrists by county between 2007 and 2016.” The findings were published online in Pediatrics.

Related Links:

— “Many U.S. Counties Have No Child Psychiatrists, Study Finds, “Joe Gramigna, Psychiatric News , December 27, 2019

Cancer Network (12/26, Slater) reports a study “indicated that about a third of patients newly diagnosed with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) have moderate to severe symptoms of depression.” The studypublished in Lung Cancer showed among 186 patients, “8.1% with newly diagnosed NSCLC scored at the severe depressive symptom level. Of those patients, 100% reported depressed mood and 80% reported anhedonia more days than not.” Meanwhile, “more than 70% of patients with newly diagnosed NSCLC and severe depressive symptoms also had moderate to severe/severe generalized anxiety disorder (GAD),” while only 11.5 percent of patients with moderate depression had GAD.

Related Links:

— “Moderate to Severe Depression Affects One-Third of Patients with NSCLC, “Hannah Slater, Cancer Network, December 26, 2019

HealthDay (12/26, Reinberg) reports that a study has found that “people who regularly drink to excess are also likely to use benzodiazepines.” The “researchers collected data on more than 2 million patients listed in the Kaiser Permanente database,” for the study. The study “found that people who abused alcohol were 15% more likely to take benzodiazepines than moderate drinkers or teetotalers.” Meanwhile, “when problem drinkers were prescribed benzodiazepines, the average dose was 40% lower and 16% shorter than that for moderate drinkers or teetotalers,” which may be “due to the prescribing doctors or the patients limiting themselves.” The findings were published in the American Journal of Managed Care.

Related Links:

— “Heavy Drinking Plus Xanax, Valium: A Dangerous Mix, “Steven Reinberg, HealthDay, December 26, 2019