The New York Times (5/16, Rabin) reports that an “online survey of nearly 1,800 American women found that in the early days of the pandemic, fear of childbirth, “may have affected the majority of American women: 62% of pregnant respondents reported high levels of fear and worry about childbirth.” The survey indicated that “more than 80% of the women said that because of the pandemic, they were worried that they would not have the support person they wanted in the hospital with them while in labor, that their baby might be taken away if they were diagnosed with COVID or that they might infect their baby if they had the virus.” Meanwhile, “Black mothers, who face almost three times the risk of dying from pregnancy-related complications, were” nearly “twice as likely to have a strong fear of childbirth as white mothers.” The findings were published in Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health.

Related Links:

— “Many Women Have an Intense Fear of Childbirth, Survey Suggests “Roni Caryn Rabin, The New York Times, May 16, 2023

Psychiatric News (5/16) reports, “Older adults who use the internet regularly have nearly half the risk of dementia as adults with limited internet use,” according to findingspublished online May 3 in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. The study, which “included 18,154 adults aged 50 to 64 who did not have dementia at baseline and who responded to at least one survey between 2002 and 2016,” also indicated that “the more years of regular internet use, the more pronounced the anti dementia benefits become.”

Related Links:

— “Regular Internet Use May Lower Dementia Risk in Older Adults, Psychiatric News, May 16, 2023

Healio (5/16, VanDewater) reports, “Among people with depression, the most common reasons for hospitalization were physical conditions rather than psychiatric ones,” investigators concluded in findingspublished online May 3 in JAMA Psychiatry. After analyzing “data from the U.K. Biobank, the Finnish Health and Social Support Study” and “the Finnish Public Sector Study…to identify associations between self-reported or physician-diagnosed depression and reason for hospitalization,” the study team found not only that “people with depression were most likely to be hospitalized for an endocrine, musculoskeletal or vascular disease,” but also that depression was associated “to the progression of heart disease and diabetes.”

Related Links:

— “People with depression commonly hospitalized for physical medical conditions “Kalie VanDewater, Healio, May 16, 2023

Reuters (5/16, Heavey) reports, “The Biden administration is seeking to meet with the makers of the life-saving medication naloxone used to reverse opioid overdoses in an effort to increase access and reduce cost, a spokesperson for the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy” (ONDCP) announced. ONDCP Director Dr. Rahul Gupta “‘plans to have conversations with manufacturers to share his key principle moving forward: the easier it is for people to access naloxone, the more lives we can save,’ the spokesperson said.”

Related Links:

— “White House wants to improve access to opioid overdose reversal medication “Susan Heavey, Reuters, May 16, 2023

The New York Times (5/15, Kolata) reports that researchers have discovered a genetic mutation in one patient that appears to delay Alzheimer’s disease from entering the patient’s entorhinal cortex, even though brain scans “revealed severe atrophying and…rough, hard, amyloid plaques and spaghetti-like tangles of tau proteins.” This particular “mutation results in a potent version of a protein, Reelin, in the entorhinal cortex,” and this “super-potent Reelin ultimately prevents tangled strands of tau proteins from sticking together and forming the structures that are a characteristic of Alzheimer’s.” The discovery has prompted researchers to investigate this as a potential target in developing the next generation of Alzheimer’s therapeutics. The findings of the research were published in Nature Medicine.

The Washington Post (5/15, A1, Johnson) reports that “this man is only the second patient identified with the miraculous ability to defy the devastating Alzheimer’s gene.” A previously known patient with a different mutation also had a brain “clogged with the characteristic amyloid plaques of Alzheimer’s, [but] it was relatively free of the tangles of tau that are also associated with the disease.” Investigators “did find an overlap between the two different gene mutations that helped protect these individuals: Both mutations affect proteins that bind to the same receptors on the surfaces of brain cells.”

Related Links:

— “Mutation Protected Man From Alzheimer’s Disease, Hinting at Treatment “Gina Kolata, The New York Times, May 15, 2023

Healio (5/15, VanDewater) reports, “Most self-harm diagnoses occurred within 24 months of a dementia diagnosis, and vice versa, with a greater risk for self-harm within six to 12 months after dementia diagnosis,” researchers concluded in a study that “linked data from” Australia’s “Admitted Patient Data Collection, the ED Data Collection, the Mental Health Ambulatory Data Collection, the New South Wales (NSW) Registry of Births, Death and Marriages and the NSW Cause of Death Unit Record File” to “identify 154,811 people who had no history of self-harm who were diagnosed with dementia between July 2001 and December 2014 – termed the dementia cohort – and 28,972 people who had no history of dementia who were diagnosed with self-harm between January 2005 and December 2014 – termed the self-harm cohort.” The findings were published online May 1 in the journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia.

Related Links:

— “Dementia diagnosis increases self-harm risk in first year “Kalie VanDewater, Healio, May 15, 2023

HealthDay (5/15, Murez) reports, “While people might assume suicide is more common in the darker months of winter, it actually peaks in spring and early summer,” according to findings published online May 12 in the journal Translational Psychiatry. After examining questionnaire data from some “10,000 people in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom…about their moods and thoughts around suicide and self-harm over a six-year period,” investigators also found that “suicidal thoughts peak in December but then take a few months to reach a ‘tipping point,’” and people appear to be “most vulnerable to ending their lives between 4 and 5 a.m.”

Related Links:

— “Study Shows Season, Time of Day When Suicidal Thoughts Most Likely “Cara Murez, HealthDay, May 15, 2023

Psychiatric News (5/15) reports, “Seven in ten American adults reported that they felt anxious or extremely anxious about keeping themselves or their families safe, according to a recent APA Healthy Minds Poll” that sampled 2,201 adults. Even though “this is an improvement over the 80% of adults who expressed anxiety over their safety and that of their loved ones in 2020 (during the early days of the pandemic), the percentage reporting anxiety about keeping safe has increased since 2022.” APA President Rebecca Brendel, MD, JD, said, “Ongoing stress about our basic needs can lead to other negative mental health effects.” Dr. Brendel added, “The impact of this stress means that psychiatrists will need to continue work with the communities they serve, the larger mental health field, and policymakers to ensure those who need care can access it.”

Related Links:

— “Americans Feel Worried About Their Safety, APA Poll Finds, Psychiatric News , May 15, 2023

KFF Health News (5/15) reports, “Over the past two years, rural Greene County in northeastern Tennessee has collected more than $2.7 million from regional and national settlements with opioid manufacturers and distributors,” but rather than “helping people harmed by addiction, county officials are finding other ways to spend it.” This issue “is reverberating nationwide as state and local governments receive billions of dollars from companies that made, distributed, or sold opioid” analgesics. Monies received from these companies “is meant to remediate that harm.” So far, “about $3 billion has already landed in state, county, and city coffers, and about $50 billion more is expected in the coming decade and beyond.”

Related Links:

— “County with high rate of overdose deaths doesn’t use opioid settlement funds for addiction program “Aneri Pattani, KFF Health News, May 15, 2023

Parkinson’s News Today (5/12, Shapiro) reported, “People with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) were found to be at a higher risk of Parkinson’s disease or related neurodegenerative conditions,” researchers concluded in the findings of a six-study, 1,747,378-individual systematic review and meta-analysis published online ahead of print in the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “PTSD linked to increased risk of Parkinson’s in meta-analysis “Lindsey Shapiro, Parkinson’s News Today, May 12, 2023