The Hill (1/9, Irwin ) says, “The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative warned there’s a risk of ineffective or dangerous drugs from online pharmacies that are being illegally run.” In a report (PDF) that was “released Wednesday, the office singled out 19 countries that raised concerns of possible movement of counterfeit or pirated drugs.” Additionally, the office “released its Notorious Market List that focused on the growth in illicit online pharmacies.” The office “called on trading partners to improve criminal and border enforcement to combat counterfeit medicines.”

The AP (1/9, Kurtenbach ) says, “Nearly all of the world’s 35,000 online pharmacies are being run illegally and consumers who use them risk getting ineffective or dangerous drugs, according to the” report. It “named about three dozen online retailers, many of them in China or elsewhere in Asia that it said are allegedly engaged in selling counterfeit products or other illegal activities.” The new “report says 96% of online pharmacies were found to be violating the law, many operating without a license and selling medicines without prescriptions and safety warnings.”

Related Links:

— “US warns of risk from most of world’s online pharmacies,” Lauren Irwin, The Hill, January 9, 2025

HealthDay (1/9, Thompson ) reports, “Some of the most effective public policies for suicide prevention aren’t crafted with suicide or mental health in mind, a new study says.” According to one researcher, “efforts to increase the minimum wage, prohibit gender discrimination, or reduce alcohol consumption ‘have spillover benefits in that they also prevent suicides.’” Those policies may “be more effective at preventing suicides than efforts to increase access to health care or limit firearms, researchers argue.” The findings were published in the Annual Review of Public Health.

Related Links:

— “The Public Policies That Really Help Prevent Suicide,” Dennis Thompson, HealthDay, January 9, 2025

The Hill (1/9, O’Connell-Domenech ) reports that the US “has the highest rate of drug overdose deaths out of 30 countries, according to a new report from the health nonprofit the Commonwealth Fund.” While “overdose deaths in the U.S. dipped slightly around 2018 after a years-long” increase, “those deaths began to rise again in 2019 and shot up during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to data from the” CDC. Meanwhile, “overdose deaths decreased slightly again in 2023 by 3 percent but still more than 100,000 people across the country died from an overdose, according to provisional CDC data.”

Related Links:

— “US overdose deaths far outpace other countries: Report,” Alejandra O’Connell-Domenech, The Hill, January 9, 2025

Psychiatric News (1/8) reports, “Individuals involved with the criminal justice system or recently released from incarceration are among those at greatest risk of suicide mortality, according to an ‘umbrella analysis.’” The “analysis of how social determinants of health affect suicidality also found that exposure to parental suicide, experiencing divorce or unemployment in mid-life, and accessibility to firearms were strongly associated with suicide mortality.” The findings were published in JAMA Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Study Highlights Social Determinants Most Highly Associated With Suicide,” Psychiatric News, January 8, 2025

Psychiatric News (1/7) reports, “Symptoms of social anxiety or depression may serve as a barrier to seeking or maintaining employment, according to a study.” But, “working more hours may not by itself reduce depression or social anxiety symptoms.” The findings were published in Psychiatric Research and Clinical Practice.

Related Links:

— “Addressing Adults’ Social Anxiety, Depression May Boost Employment Success,” Psychiatric News, January 7, 2025

HealthDay (1/7, Thompson ) reports research found that children “with autism who speak more than one language tend to have fewer symptoms from their disorder.” Study results indicate that “being multilingual not only enhances their general cognitive abilities, but also helps them better control their daily thoughts and actions.” The findings were published in Autism Research.

Related Links:

— “Multilingual Children with Autism Show Improved Cognitive Function,” Dennis Thompson, HealthDay, January 7, 2025

The AP (1/6, Johnson) reports, “As U.S. lawmakers debate issues around health care for transgender youth, it’s been difficult to determine the number of young people receiving gender-affirming medications, leaving room for exaggerated and false claims.” Now, the AP says, “a medical journal has published the most reliable estimate yet and the numbers are low, reflecting more clearly on medical practices now being weighed by the U.S. Supreme Court.” The study found that “fewer than 1 in 1,000 U.S. adolescents with commercial insurance received gender-affirming medications – puberty blockers or hormones – during a recent five-year period.” The findings were published in JAMA Pediatrics.

NBC News (1/6, Lavietes ) reports the research, “which analyzed the private insurance claims for more than 5.1 million young patients ages 8 to 17 from 2018 to 2022, also found that no transgender patients under 12 were prescribed gender-affirming hormones.” Investigators “found that the use of puberty blockers and hormones was more common among trans minors who were assigned female sex at birth versus those assigned male at birth.”

Related Links:

— “Fewer than 1 in 1,000 US adolescents receive gender-affirming medications, researchers find,” Carla K. Johnson, Associated Press, January 7, 2025

Healio (1/6, Rhoades) reports, “Genetic predisposition for schizophrenia and frequent use of cannabis both independently corresponded with an increased likelihood of developing psychosis, results of a case-control study showed.” But, “researchers found no evidence of an interaction between genetic predisposition and cannabis use.” The findings were published in Psychological Medicine.

Related Links:

— “Cannabis use, schizophrenia genetic predisposition both independently raise psychosis risk,” Andrew Rhoades, Healio, January 7, 2025

CNN (12/30, Christensen ) reports, “Tiny packets of nicotine have quickly become a big problem for parents and schools.” Sold “under names like Zyn, O! Rogue, Juice Head and VELO,” such “products are supposed to be sold only to people over 21,” but “a growing number of children have reported using these types of smokeless oral nicotine packets.” The packets “have quickly become one of the most-used nicotine products among kids and young adults, according to the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention, second only to vaping.”

Related Links:

— “For young users, tobacco packets like Zyn are a nicotine trend that just won’t quit,” Jen Christensen, CNN, December 30, 2025

ProPublica (12/30, Eldeib , Miller , Berg ) reports, “Many Americans have faced the denial of mental health treatment by their insurance companies – at times despite vivid evidence of the risk such decisions pose.” And while “in most cases patients don’t appeal,” a small percentage of “patients and their families decide to fight the denials in federal court, setting up a David-versus-Goliath battle where insurers frequently have the upper hand.” Such cases, “ProPublica found, expose in blunt terms how insurance companies can put their clients’ health in jeopardy, in ways that some judges have ruled ‘arbitrary and capricious.’” In order “to do so, court records reveal, the insurers have turned to a coterie of psychiatrists and have continued relying on them even after one or more of their decisions have been criticized or overturned in court.”

Related Links:

— “Insurers Continue to Rely on Doctors Whose Judgments Have Been Criticized by Courts,” Duaa Eldeib and Maya Miller, with research by Kirsten Berg, ProPublica, December 30, 2024