The New York Times (8/8, Glover-Smith ) says “a report published last week by an international commission focused on dementia prevention” found that “adults over age 65 who experience vision loss have a nearly 50 percent increased risk of developing dementia.” However, if the “vision problems are corrected, that risk drops dramatically.” The commission also “found that people with hearing loss have a 37 percent increased risk for developing dementia,” with more severe hearing loss leading to a higher risk. The findings led the commission to add “vision impairment to its list of 14 total modifiable risk factors for dementia,” which also includes “smoking, diabetes, social isolation and hypertension.” The report was published in The Lancet.

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— “The New York Times (requires login and subscription)

HCP Live (8/8, Derman) reports, “Nearly 1 in 10 patients with chronic pain treated with opioid analgesics experience dependence and opioid use disorder, a recent study found.” Investigators also observed “significant differences in the prevalence of dependence and opioid use disorder when examining the study setting,” with the greatest prevalence rates being seen in pain clinics and mixed settings. The findings were published in Addiction.

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— “Opioid Pain Treatment Raises Dependence and Use Disorder Rates,”Chelsie Derman, HCP Live , August 8, 2024

MedPage Today (8/7, George ) says, “Dementia in Parkinson’s disease occurred less frequently or later in the disease course than previously reported, data from two ongoing prospective cohorts showed.” The study “assessed longitudinal information from the international Parkinson’s Progression Markers Initiative (PPMI) cohort and a long-standing Parkinson’s research cohort at Penn,” which combined to reveal “the estimated risk of dementia by duration of Parkinson’s disease was” 3-12% at year five, rising to 74% at year 20. The findings were published in Neurology.

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— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

NBC News (8/7, Rosenblatt ) reports, “Women who spend time on TikTok are at a greater risk of disliking their own bodies and feeling worse about their appearance — especially if they’ve been exposed to pro-anorexia content, a study published Wednesday suggests.” After surveying “273 women ages 18 to 28 from July 2021 to October 2021 about their TikTok use” and showing them “what was referred to as ‘pro-anorexia,’ also known as ‘pro-ana,’ images,” researchers observed “a negative body reaction after as little as 10 minutes viewing content on TikTok.” The findings were published in PLOS One.

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— “Women who spend time on TikTok feel less satisfied with their bodies, study suggests,”Kalhan Rosenblatt , NBC News , August 7, 2024

Healio (8/7, Rhoades) reports, “Approximately one-third of imprisoned individuals with a mental health condition received no treatment, according to a study.” Researchers also observed that “61.7% of prisoners reported one or more chronic physical conditions,” 13.8% of which “had received no medical visit since their incarceration.” Further, “co-payments charged by many prisons decreased odds of receiving treatment among the incarcerated.” The findings were published in JAMA Internal Medicine.

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— “Care for mental, physical health severely lacking among incarcerated,”Andrew (Drew) Rhoades, Healio, August 7, 2024

Healio (8/6, Monostra) reports a study found “older adults with diabetes who spend less time within their individualized HbA1c target range have a higher risk for developing Alzheimer’s disease and dementias.” In the analysis, “veterans aged 65 years and older with diabetes were assigned an HbA1c target range based on measurements during a 3-year baseline period.” Researchers found that “during follow-up, adults who spent less than 20% of the time within their HbA1c target range had a 19% higher risk for Alzheimer’s disease and other related dementias than adults who spent 80% or more time in their target HbA1c range.” The findings were published in JAMA Network Open.

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— “Spending less time in HbA1c target range may increase dementia risk for older adults,”Michael Monostra, Healio, August 6, 2024

The AP (8/6, Johnson ) reports, “There are small signs of improvement in the mental health of U.S. teenagers, a government survey released Tuesday said, but the share of students – particularly girls – feeling sad and hopeless remained high.” From 2021 to 2023, the percentage “of high school students who reported feelings of persistent sadness or hopelessness declined from 42% to 40%, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report” (PDF). Among girls, the CDC found “the percentage reporting persistent sadness or hopelessness fell from 57% to 53%.”

The New York Times (8/6, Ghorayshi ) reports the survey found “just 28 percent of teenage boys felt persistent sadness, about the same as in 2021.” Meanwhile, “suicide risk among girls stayed roughly the same as the last survey.” However, “Black students, who reported troubling increases in suicide attempts in 2021, reported significantly fewer attempts in 2023.”

ABC News (8/6, Kekatos ) reports the survey found “youth who identify as LGBTQ+ reported higher rates of poor mental health and experiencing suicidal thoughts and behaviors than their cisgender and heterosexual peers.” Last year, “more than three in five LGBTQ+…high school students said they experienced persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness, and more than half reported having poor mental health, according to” the findings.

Also reporting is CNN (8/6, Goodman ).

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— “High schoolers’ mental health shows small improvement in a US government survey,”Carla K. Johnson, AP, August , 2024

Endocrinology Advisor (8/5, Kurek) reports, “The addition of a weight stigma intervention to a behavioral weight loss program is associated with greater weight loss regardless of physical activity, according to the results of a study.” After conducting “a secondary analysis of a randomized controlled trial,” investigators discovered that decreases in internalized weight stigma “at week 20 were associated with greater weight loss at week 20.” The findings were published in Obesity Science and Practice

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— “Internalized Weight Stigma Intervention Lowers Weight Despite Physical Activity,”Ellen Kurek, Endocrinology Advisor, August 5, 2024

The Washington Post (8/5, Nix ) reports, “A minor from New York on Monday filed a lawsuit seeking class-action status against Meta, alleging that the social media giant sought to keep teens hooked on Instagram while knowingly exposing them to harmful content.” Filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of California, the lawsuit “argues that Meta implemented features its leaders knew would make Instagram addicting for teens, such as displaying counts of how many ‘likes’ posts receive, even as internal evidence grew that the service could harm their mental health.” The plaintiff “is seeking $5 billion in damages, to be shared among eligible Instagram users if the suit is certified as a class action.” The filing “adds to a growing swarm of suits against the company from state attorneys general and school districts aiming to tie America’s teen mental health crisis to social media.”

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— “The Washington Post (requires login and subscription)

HCP Live (8/5, Derman) reports, “A recent study revealed Medicaid enrollees struggle to receive psychiatric care.” Investigators came to this conclusion after conducting “a ‘secret shopper’ audit study to evaluate availability and wait times for adult appointments with psychiatrists or mental health professionals across 4 of the largest US cities: New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Phoenix,” all of which had “expanded Medicaid eligibility under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.” The researchers found that “among the sampled clinicians, only 17.7% had availability, and 9.4% of the alternate clinicians at the same practice had availability.” The findings were published in JAMA.

Related Links:

— “Medicaid Enrollees Struggle to Receive Psychiatric Care,”Chelsie Derman, HCP Live, August 5, 2024