Healio (2/7, Monostra) reports, “Transgender and nonbinary youths had greater appearance congruence – the experience that physical appearance aligns with gender – and less depression and anxiety after two years of gender-affirming hormone therapy,” investigators concluded in a study that “recruited 315 transgender or gender nonbinary adolescents and young adults aged 12 to 20 years who initiated gender-affirming HT at four gender clinics in the” US. The findings were published online in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Related Links:

— “Gender-affirming HT improves appearance congruence for transgender adolescents “Michael Monostra, Healio, February 7, 2023

Psychiatric News (2/7) reports, “Infants who cry excessively (more than three hours at least one day/week) may be more likely to experience behavioral problems in childhood and adolescence than infants who cry less,” investigators concluded after analyzing “data from the Generation R Study cohort, which included 4,751 children born in the Netherlands between 2002 and 2006.” Brain scans taken “of these children at age 10 also revealed that the amygdala…was smaller in those who cried excessively and/or were irritable as infants.” The findings were published online Feb. 6 ahead of print in the Journal of the Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Excessive Crying, Irritability in Infancy Associated With Later Behavioral Problems, Psychiatric News, February 7, 2023

MedPage Today (2/6, Henderson) reports, “Physicians had substantially lower excess mortality compared with the general population during the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers found.” Among “physicians, there were 43…excess deaths per 100,000 person-years, while the excess mortality rate in the general population was 294…noted” researchers. The findings published in a research letter in JAMA Internal Medicine also revealed that “nonactive physicians had the highest excess deaths per 100,000 person-years, at 140, versus active physicians who provided direct patient care (27) and active physicians who did not provide direct patient care (22).”

Medscape (2/6, Banks, Subscription Publication) reports, “Older physicians (aged 75–84) were much more likely to die than younger colleagues (45–64), mirroring trends in the overall population.” For the study, researchers “examined death rates for U.S. physicians using the American Medical Association’s (AMA’s) Deceased Physician File.” Medscape adds, “From March 2020 to December 2021, of approximately 800,000 physicians who practiced monthly, 4511 physicians died, per the AMA.”

Related Links:

— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

CNN (2/6, LaMotte) reports, “Keeping alcohol consumption to one or two drinks a day lessened the odds of developing dementia, according to a study of nearly 4 million South Koreans.” However, the study published online in JAMA Network Open found that “drinking more than two drinks a day increased that risk.” The study’s first author said, “We found that maintaining mild to moderate alcohol consumption as well as reducing alcohol consumption from a heavy to moderate level were associated with a decreased risk of dementia.”

Related Links:

— “Study presents unexpected — and complicated — findings on link between alcohol and dementia “Sandee LaMotte, CNN, February 6, 2023

Healio (2/6, Hornick) reports, “During the COVID-19 pandemic, loneliness, family conflict and difficultly accessing health care raised the risk for first-time and recurrent depression among older adults with asthma, according to a study” of data “of 2,017 older adults…with asthma from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging.” The “researchers found that 13.5% of patients who did not have prior depression developed it during the pandemic, whereas depression recurred among 48.6% patients with a history of depression in autumn 2020.” The findings were published online in Respiratory Medicine.

Related Links:

— “COVID-19 pandemic linked to depression among older adults with asthma “Isabella Hornick, Healio, February 6, 2023

Psychiatric News (2/6) reports, “Genetics play a strong role in the development of avoidant restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID),” investigators concluded in a twin “study population” that “consisted of 33,902 children born between 1992 and 2010,” some 682 of whom “met the criteria for ARFID based on the DSM-5.” The study suggested that “ARFID is more heritable than other eating disorders.” The findings were published online Feb. 1 in JAMA Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “One Eating Disorder Found to Be More Heritable Than Others, Psychiatric News, February 6, 2023

Healio (2/4, Liptak) reported, “Depression and high quantity of poor mental health days are independently associated with premature CVD and suboptimal CV health in young people,” researchers concluded in the findings of a 593,616-young adult study published online ahead of print in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

Related Links:

— “Young adults with depression, poor mental health at greater CVD risk “Holly Liptak, Healio, February 4, 2023

The American Journal of Managed Care (2/3, Gavidia) reported, “Prevalence of psychiatric comorbidity, emergency care usage, and inpatient psychiatric admissions were shown to be substantial among veterans with drug-resistant epilepsy (DRE), with women especially affected,” according to “a comprehensive retrospective analysis of a Veterans Health Administration (VHA)–wide sample” comprising 52,579 patients. Also, these results published online in Epilepsy & Behavior showed that “of the psychiatric comorbidities reported, depression (51.7%) was the most common diagnostic category, followed by posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD; 38.8%) and anxiety (38.0%).”

Related Links:

— “Veterans With Drug-Resistant Epilepsy Show High Prevalence of Psychiatric Burden “Matthew Gavidia, AJMC, February 3, 2023

According to the Wall Street Journal (2/5, Frosch, Subscription Publication), across the US, both legislators and governors from many states and from both political parties are calling for increases in mental health funding to deal with shortages in services and staffing.

Related Links:

— “More Money for Mental-Health Programs Gets Bipartisan Support in Many States “Dan Frosch, Wall Street Journal, February 5, 2023

Healio (2/2, Herpen) reports, “For older adults with dementia and comorbid depression, receiving electroconvulsive therapy” (ECT) “does not worsen the trajectory of functional outcomes,” investigators concluded in a study that included “147 participants aged 65 years and older with continuous coverage in the study interval, a diagnosis of major depressive disorder along with Alzheimer’s disease or related dementias and who were hospitalized between January 2014 and September 2015,” along with “a separate cohort of 415 controls” that “were not given ECT.” The findings were published online Jan. 25 in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “ECT does not worsen functional outcomes in those with depression, dementia “Robert Herpen, Healio, February 2, 2023