Medscape (4/1, Brauser) reports that research presented March 28 at the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry’s annual meeting suggests that “receiving a diagnosis of a life-threatening illness may be a significant determinant of suicidal ideation in older adults.” The study, which included “more than 3000 adults aged 55 years or older, showed that those who had a traumatic accident/illness were three times more likely to also have suicidal ideation than those who did not experience that type of trauma.” But, “within this trauma category, only life-threatening illness was significantly associated with late-life suicidal ideation; a life-threatening accident or toxic chemical/substance exposure did not have significant associations.”

Related Links:

— Medscape (requires login and subscription)

In a blog post for Reuters (3/31), suicide prevention experts Christopher Gandin Le and Jennifer Gandin Le outlined the two steps they believe will help avoid another aviation incident like Germanwings flight 9525. First of all, increased mental health screening is a good idea, they argue, as FAA currently requires that pilots self-report suicidal tendencies, but privacy must also be taken into consideration, lest employees harbor a fear of reprisal for reporting medical conditions. At the same time, the conversation about mental health should not stigmatize anyone with a disorder, and the authors praise the Air Force Suicide Prevention Program as a successful program in this respect.

Related Links:

— “Two-step approach to preventing the next Germanwings disaster,” Christopher and Jennifer Gandin Le, Reuters, March 31, 2015.

The investigation into the March 24 Germanwings flight 9525 crash and new revelations about the mental health of 27-year-old co-pilot Andreas Lubitz continue to feature prominently in national outlets. Coverage of the story led evening television news broadcasts and appeared on the front page of several leading newspapers. Yesterday, Germanwings’ parent company Lufthansa revealed that Lubitz had emailed the company’s flight training school in 2009 about his clinical history with depression.

ABC World News (3/31, lead story, 2:25, Muir) broadcast that Lufthansa “knew of that young co-pilot’s troubling medical history,” that “he suffered a severe bout of depression, even before they hired him.”

The CBS Evening News (3/31, lead story, 2:15, Pelley) reported that “Lubitz had been treated for suicidal tendencies,” as evidenced by his medical history, but Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr maintains that “Lubitz was 100 percent air-worthy, without any restrictions.” The CBS Evening News added that, in Germany, physicians “are not obliged to tell airlines if pilots have problems that would preclude them from flying.”

HealthDay (3/31, Mozes) reports that research presented at the American Society for Nutrition’s annual meeting and funded by the National Institutes of Health suggests that “a single serving of leafy green vegetables each day may help keep dementia away.” After assessing “the eating habits and mental ability of more than 950 older adults for an average of five years,” researchers found that seniors “who consumed one or two servings of foods such as spinach, kale, mustard greens and/or collards daily experienced slower mental deterioration than those who ate no leafy greens at all.”

Related Links:

— “Lots of Leafy Greens Might Shield Aging Brains, Study Finds,” Alan Mozes, HealthDay, March 30, 2015.

In The Hill (3/30) “Congress Blog,” Andrew Sperling, director of Federal legislative advocacy for the National Alliance on Mental Illness, voiced his concern “about a proposal that would force sudden pharmaceutical changes on low-income Americans already struggling to maintain their health and well-being.” Under a proposed rule change to Medicare Part D benefits, for “beneficiaries whose very limited financial resources make them qualified for federal low-income subsidies or are dually eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid, their copayments for brand name drugs would double.”

This could be disastrous for some patients living with a mental illness, Sperling argued, because “the mere switch of a drug from the name brand to generic versions can trigger episodes that represent a huge setback on that patient’s path toward better health and a productive life.” In some cases, there is no suitable substitute generic medication. Sperling urges Congress not to “impose artificial barriers between low-income Americans and the medicines they need.”

Related Links:

— “Mental health matters and consistency counts,” Andrew Sperling, The Hill, March 30, 2015.

USA Today (3/30, Frank) reports according to an NTSB crash report, “at least 44 private pilots in the US have committed suicide in the past 30 years by deliberately crashing their small airplanes.” The NTSB report found that “all of the suicidal pilots were men, and many had recently faced break-ups with wives or girlfriends, or had confronted legal troubles.”

Related Links:

— “Dozens of amateur pilots used airplanes for suicide,” Thomas Frank, USA Today, April 2, 2015.

The Boston Globe (3/27, Schworm, Rocheleau) reports that a statement “by authorities that the copilot of a Germanwings flight deliberately crashed the airliner into the French Alps on Tuesday is renewing questions about whether the aviation industry does enough to screen for mental illness.” Some experts now “argue for a more rigorous system,” given “the enormous stress of the job and the hundreds of lives at stake.”

Most airlines “conduct psychological testing during the hiring process, experts said, and applicants that show signs of instability are quickly weeded out,” but once pilots have been hired, they “undergo yearly medical exams that do not include psychological tests.”

Related Links:

— “US system has scant mental health scrutiny,” Peter Schworm and Matt Rocheleau, Boston Globe, March 26, 2015.

Coverage of the investigation of the Germanwings Flight 9525 crash was once again the dominant international story on the network news broadcasts, with CBS News and NBC News both leading with the story. In all, the networks spent more than eight minutes on coverage that focused primarily on reports that co-pilot Andreas Lubitz, who deliberately crashed the jet in the French Alps, had been treated as a suicide risk and had been under the care of psychiatrists.

Allen Pizzey reported in the lead story for the CBS Evening News (3/30, lead story, 2:50, Pelley) that according to German prosecutors, Lubitz “had been treated as a suicide risk for an extended period of time before he received a pilot’s license,” but “hid his condition from his employers.”

Alex Marquardt reported on ABC World News (3/30, story 2, 2:15, Muir) that according to German authorities, Lubitz “never exhibited aggression, and his motive is still a mystery.”

Bill Neely reported in the lead story for NBC Nightly News (3/30, lead story, 3:15, Holt) that “there is now pressure in Germany to look again at exactly what pilots can keep confidential, their right to privacy about their medical and mental history against the public’s right to know if lives could be endangered.”

Related Links:

— “Germanwings co-pilot reportedly had other health problems,” Allen Pizzey, CBS News, March 28, 2015.

Alex Marquardt reported on ABC World News (4/1, story 3, 1:55, Muir) that in the wake of revelations that Lufthansa executives are “under fire after admitting Lufthansa hired Andreas Lubitz even after he told them he had suffered a serious depressive episode.” Allen Pizzey reported on the CBS Evening News (4/1, story 6, 1:50, Pelley) that on Wednesday, CEO Carsten Spohr “ducked all questions about the co-pilot.” NBC Nightly News (4/1, story 6, 2:00, Holt) also covered the story.