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.

Related Links:

— “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

CNN (6/15, McPhillips) reports, “In 2021, suicide and homicide rates for children and young adults ages 10 to 24 in the US were the highest they’ve been in decades, according to a new report from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.” The report found that “suicide and homicide were the second and third leading causes of death for this age group,” while “the homicide rate for this age group in 2021 was the highest it’s been since 1997, and the suicide rate was the highest on record, since 1968.”

Related Links:

— “Youth, young adults are dying from suicide and homicide at highest rates in decades, CDC report says,” Deidre McPhillips, CNN, June 15, 2023

Psychiatric News (6/13) reports, “Individuals exposed to a greater number of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) – for example, violence, abuse, and neglect early in life – may age more rapidly than those with fewer of these experiences early in life,” researchers concluded in a study that examined “data collected from more than 850 middle-aged adults at two time points.” The study revealed that “participants who reported four or more ACEs were likely to have molecular biomarkers that suggested they were older than their chronological ages.” The findings were published online June 12 in JAMA Network Open.

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— “Adverse Childhood Experiences Found to Accelerate Aging,” Psychiatric News, June 13, 2023

CNN (6/13, Christensen) reports that “adults who identify as gay, lesbian or bisexual are more likely than those who identify as straight to have serious thoughts of suicide and mental health conditions including major depressive episodes, and they are more likely to misuse substances like alcohol or drugs, according to a new US government report.” According to CNN, “The data in the report, which focuses on LGB adults,” come “from 2021 and 2022.”

Related Links:

— “People who are gay, lesbian or bi have more mental health and substance use problems, survey finds,” Jen Christensen, CNN, June 13, 2023

Healio (6/13, VanDewater) reports, “From 2017 to 2021, people seeking treatment for opioid use disorder” (OUD) “increasingly tested positive for fentanyl, methamphetamine and cocaine at presentation,” but “over one year of methadone treatment for” OUD, “heroin and fentanyl positivity decreased,” investigators concluded in a study that analyzed 194,333 urine “specimens from 16,386 patients in 10 states.” The findings were published online May 9 in the journal Addiction.

Related Links:

— “Patients seeking opioid use treatment increasingly test positive for illicit drug co-use,” Kalie VanDewater, Healio, June 13, 2023

HealthDay (6/13, Mundell) reports, “About one in every seven American kids aged five to 17 underwent some form of mental health treatment in 2021, the latest year for which statistics are available,” according to CDC research that “pegs the percentage of kids who got mental health care in 2021 at 14.9%.” The data also revealed that “rates of mental health care were higher among older kids (aged 12 to 17), nearly 19% of whom received treatment over the prior year, than they were for children aged 5 to 11 (just over 11%).” The findings were published online June 13 in the CDC’s NCHS Data Brief 472.

Related Links:

— “Nearly 15% of School-Age Children in U.S. Have Received Mental Health Treatment,” Ernie Mundell, HealthDay, June 13, 2023