MedPage Today (6/20, Henderson) reports, “Most parents and caregivers said they supported mental health screening for their children in primary care settings, according to” the findings of “a multinational survey” published online June 20 in JAMA Network Open. The study revealed that “among over 900 parents and caregivers from the U.S., U.K., and Canada, as well as 16 other countries, 92.1% said they wanted their child screened for mental health issues at regular intervals.”

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— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

According to the Washington Post (6/20, Bever), primary care professionals may begin asking patients “about feelings of anxiety as part of a routine checkup, based on” a new recommendation statement from the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) published June 20 in JAMA. The USPSTF’s recommendations stem “from concerns about a burgeoning mental health crisis, with growing concerns about depression, anxiety and suicide.” The task force’s “new guidelines state that asymptomatic adults ages 19 through 64, including those who are pregnant and postpartum, should be screened for anxiety disorders, using questionnaires and other screening tools.” While “primary care physicians can prescribe medication,” in those “cases in which the severity of the illness becomes too complex for primary care physicians to manage with medication, a psychiatrist would take over medication management, said” Petros Levounis, MD, MA, President of the American Psychiatric Association.

NBC News (6/20, Edwards) reports, “This is the first time the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force has recommended routine mental health screening in primary care settings.” The task force’s “guidance may influence insurance company reimbursements, but” physicians “are not required to follow the group’s recommendations.” The USPSTF’s “recommendations are considered final,” however, “and mirror draft guidance on the topic was released last fall.”

According to Psychiatric News (6/20), Murray B. Stein, MD, MPH, and Linda L. Hill, MD, MPH, both of the University of California, San Diego, wrote an accompanying editorial in which they observed, “The uptake of these new anxiety screening recommendations should provide an impetus and an opportunity for primary care clinicians to become more comfortable with diagnosing and treating anxiety disorders, which may require additional training.”

Also covering the story are MedPage Today (6/20, DePeau-Wilson), Healio (6/20, Bascom), HealthDay(6/20, Gotkine), and HCPlive (6/20, Walter).

Related Links:

— “All adults under 65 should be screened for anxiety, health panel says,” Erika Edwards, NBC News, June 20, 2023

CNN (6/19, LaMotte) reports a study suggests that “people with alcohol use disorder…were significantly impaired on cognitive and motor tests up to three hours after downing an alcoholic drink designed to mimic their typical habits.” The research appears to dispel the “popular perception that experienced drinkers can handle their liquor.” The findings were published in Alcohol: Clinical and Experimental Research.

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— “Heavy drinkers really don’t ‘handle their liquor,’ study says,” Sandee LaMotte, CNN, June 19, 2023

Psychiatric News (6/16) reported, “The first two years of oral contraceptive use may raise the risk of depression in women and adolescents compared with their peers who have never used oral contraceptives,” investigators concluded after having “analyzed data from 264,557 women from the UK Biobank.” The study revealed that women “who used oral contraceptives had a 79% increased risk of depression during their first two years of oral contraceptive use compared with their peers who had never used oral contraceptives,” while “adolescents – those who began using oral contraceptives at or before the age of 20 years – had a 95% increased risk of depression during their first two years of oral contraceptive use compared with their peers who had never used oral contraceptives.” The findings were published online June 12 in the journal Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences.

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— “Depression Risk May Rise During First Two Years of Oral Contraceptive Use,” Psychiatric News, June 16, 2023

ABC News (6/19, Cahan) reports, “Since its launch in July 2022, the new” nationwide 988 suicide hotline has “fielded over two million calls from people in crisis – 45% more than the 10-digit hotline over the same period in the previous year, according to data from Vibrant Emotional Health, the organization appointed by the federal government to oversee the line.” Now, nearly “one year after the crisis line’s rollout – and after nearly one billion dollars of federal investment – the majority of states are still struggling to ensure that their citizens’ calls get answered locally.” While “unanswered calls roll over to national backup centers…federal officials acknowledge these centers are generally less equipped to provide the local services callers may need.”

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— “New national suicide lifeline struggling to keep up with volume, advocates say,” Eli Cahan, ABC News, June 19 , 2023

The Washington Post (6/15, Roubein) reports, “Nearly 6 in 10 Americans report experiencing at least one problem with their health insurance in the past year, ranging from denied claims to difficulties finding an in-network doctor,” according to a pollfrom KFF. Such “issues appear pervasive for both Americans with private plans and those with Medicare and Medicaid coverage,” and these issues are “most commonly reported among people with greater health care needs, such as those who rate their health as ‘fair’ or ‘poor’ and those who receive mental health treatment.”

The New York Times (6/15, Abelson) reports that the survey “underscored the persistent problem of affordability,” and found that “nearly half of those who encountered a problem with their insurance said they could not satisfactorily resolve it.” People were also unaware “about pursuing appeals of denied coverage and how to go about doing so.”

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— “The Washington Post (requires login and subscription)

Healio (6/15, VanDewater) reports, “Among patients with multiple sclerosis” (MS), “cognitive function was predicted by age, depressive symptoms and anxiety,” researchers concluded after retrospectively reviewing “charts for 802 consecutive adult patients with MS who attended a tertiary neuropsychiatry clinic from 2006 to 2022.” The study revealed that “in younger people with MS, the core depressive symptoms were particularly predictive of cognitive impairment, while in older adults with MS, it’s more so the anxious distress in the context of depression that is predictive of cognitive impairment.” The findings were presented in a poster at the American Psychiatric Association 2023 Annual Meeting.

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— “Cognition in multiple sclerosis depends on patients’ depression, anxiety, age,” Kalie VanDewater, Healio, June 15, 2023

CNN (6/15, Howard) says, “The proportion of US adults who have ever been diagnosed with depression ranges greatly depending on where they live.” Research published online June 16 in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report “finds that in 2020, 18.4% of US adults reported having ever been diagnosed with depression in their lifetimes – but, state by state, that percentage of adults ranged from an estimated 12.7% in Hawaii to 27.5% in West Virginia.” The researchers wrote, “There was considerable geographic variation in the prevalence of depression, with the highest state and county estimates of depression observed along the Appalachian and southern Mississippi Valley regions.” For this research, the team “analyzed data from the CDC’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System.” AAP President Rebecca Brendel, MD, JD, commented, “The fact that Americans are more depressed and struggling after this time of incredible stress and isolation is perhaps not surprising. … There are lingering effects on our health, especially our mental health, from the past three years that disrupted everything we knew.”

HealthDay (6/15, Mundell) reports, “Find out more about the signs of depression at the American Psychiatric Association.”

Related Links:

— “Nearly 1 in 5 US adults have been diagnosed with depression and the prevalence varies dramatically by state, CDC report finds,” Jacqueline Howard, CNN, June 15, 2023

— “Are You Living in One of America’s Most Depressed States?,” Ernie Mundell, HealthDay, June 15, 2023

According to MedPage Today (6/14, George), “prescription stimulants used as cognitive enhancers by people without” attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD)” appear to reduce “performance in complex everyday activities,” investigators concluded in the findings of a 40-participant, “double-blind randomized trial.” The cognitive enhancers studied included methylphenidate (Ritalin), dextroamphetamine (Dexedrine), and modafinil (Provigil).”

HealthDay (6/14, Thompson) reports that subjects of the study “took much longer to complete tasks because they acted in a more erratic, scattershot manner while they worked.” The findings were published online June 14 in the journal Science Advances.

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— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

— “For Folks Without the Condition, Taking ADHD Meds to Get ‘Smarter’ Could Backfire,” Dennis Thompson, HealthDay, June 14, 2023

Psychiatric News (6/14) reports, “Calls to hundreds of child psychiatrists listed as in-network with Blue Cross-Blue Shield (BCBS) in three major U.S. cities led to appointments for children just 11% of the time,” investigators concluded in a study in which researchers “called 322 psychiatrists listed as in-network by Blue Cross-Blue Shield in Chicago, Houston, and Los Angeles and impersonated the parent of a 10-year-old child who had just visited the emergency department for depression.” Taking a “secret shopper” approach, the researchers “asked for an appointment using a standardized script that varied only according to how they intended to pay for the services: BCBS, Medicaid, or self-pay.” The findings were published online June 8 in a brief report in the journal Psychiatric Services, a publication of the American Psychiatric Association.

Related Links:

— “Survey Reveals Stark Difficulty in Obtaining Appointments With Child Psychiatrists,” Psychiatric News, June , 202314