CNN (4/20, Christensen) reports, “The rate of suspected suicides and suicide attempts by poisoning among young people rose sharply during the Covid-19 pandemic,” with the rate increasing 73% “from 2019 to 2021” in “children 10 to 12 years old,” according to an analysis published online April 21 in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. The study examined “what the National Poison Data System categorized as ‘suspected suicides’ by self-poisoning for 2021 among people ages 10 to 19; the records included both suicide attempts and deaths by suicide.” The data revealed that “attempted suicides and suicides by poisoning increased 30% in 2021 compared with 2019, before the pandemic began.”

Related Links:

— “Suicides and suicide attempts by poisoning rose sharply among children and teens during the pandemic “Jen Christensen, CNN , April 20, 2023

Healio (4/20, Southall) reports, “A depression diagnosis before and after a breast cancer diagnosis appeared associated with worse survival outcomes, according to study results.” The research indicates “that early detection and continued management of depression are imperative to improve patient survival, researchers concluded.” The findings were published in Cancer.

Related Links:

— “Depression before, after diagnosis linked to higher risk for breast cancer death “Jennifer Southall, Healio , April 20, 2023

HealthDay (4/20, Thompson) reports, “Suspected suicide attempts linked to marijuana overdoses have been steadily increasing over the past decade,” investigators concluded.

HCPlive (4/20, Walter) reports researchers “described suicidal cannabis exposures reported to US poison centers between 2009-2021 and compared case characteristics before and during the pandemic.” They then examined some “18,698 intentional, suspected suicidal cannabis exposures between 2009-2021.” The findings were published online April 19 in a research letter in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “Could Better Access to Marijuana Be Linked to Rising Suicide Rates? “Dennis Thompson, HealthDay, April 20, 2023

Healio (4/19, VanDewater) reports, “People who directly experienced sexual trauma had lower reward responsiveness compared with those who experienced other types of trauma,” researchers concluded in a study that “enrolled 223 undergraduate students with a history of trauma.” The findings were presented in a poster at the Anxiety and Depression Association of America Conference.

Related Links:

— “Direct sexual trauma associated with impaired reward response “Kalie VanDewater, Healio, April 19, 2023

According to HCPlive (4/19, Walter), “research suggests interpersonal psychotherapy is a better option for reducing depressive symptoms than enhanced usual care for pregnant individuals.” Investigators “evaluated depression improvement among” 234 “pregnant individuals from diverse backgrounds randomized to brief interpersonal psychotherapy compared to enhanced usual care.” The findings were published online April 19 in JAMA Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Interpersonal Psychotherapy Reduces Depression Symptoms of Pregnant Women “Kenny Walter, HCPlive, April 19, 2023

The AP (4/19, Sherman) reports, “As autism diagnoses become increasingly common, health officials have wondered how many” children in the US “have relatively mild symptoms and how many have more serious symptoms, such as very low IQ and inability to speak.” Now, “a first-of-its-kind study…shows the rate of such ‘profound’ autism is rising, though far slower than milder autism cases.” The study revealed that “the rate of profound diagnoses grew from about three cases per 1,000 children in 2000 to about five cases per 1,000 in 2016,” whereas “the rate of kids diagnosed with milder forms of autism grew from 4 per 1,000 to 14 per 1,000 over those years.”

According to HealthDay (4/19, Murez), “For the new report, the CDC analyzed 2000-2016 data from the Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network for more than 20,000 children aged eight with autism,” also finding that “children with profound autism were more likely to be female, from racial and ethnic minority groups, of low socioeconomic status, born preterm or with low birth weight, and have self-injurious behaviors and seizure disorders.” The findings were published online April 19 in the journal Public Health Reports.

Related Links:

— “Study: Milder autism far outpacing ‘profound’ diagnoses “Mike Stobbe, AP , April 19, 2023

NBC News (4/18, Lovelace) reports, “More students from middle school to high school are misusing” medications prescribed for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD), “amid an increasing number of children being diagnosed with the condition in the” US, research indicates. In fact, “at some schools, as many as one in four students reported misusing” AD/HD medications “in the previous year – meaning they used the medications without a” physician’s “prescription or for nonmedical reasons, according to the” findings published online April 18 in JAMA Network Open.

CNN (4/18, LaMotte) reports, “The study analyzed data collected between 2005 and 2020 by Monitoring the Future, a federal survey that has measured drug and alcohol use among secondary school students nationwide each year since 1975.” In this study’s data set, “questionnaires were given to more than 230,000 teens in eighth, 10th and 12th grades in a nationally representative sample of 3,284 secondary schools.” Study lead author Sean Esteban McCabe, director of the Center for the Study of Drugs, Alcohol, Smoking and Health at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, stated, “This study is a major wake-up call.”

Related Links:

— “Up to 1 in 4 students misuse ADHD drugs, study finds “Berkeley Lovelace Jr., NBC News, April 18, 2023

MedPage Today (4/17, Monaco) reports, “Based on over a quarter of a million patients, those who kept more than half of their hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) measures under 9% saw a significantly lower risk for dementia compared with those who had the majority of measurements over this threshold,” investigators concluded in findings published online in JAMA Neurology. The study revealed that “patients who had more than half of HbA1c measures between 9% to just under 10% saw a 31% increased risk for dementia than those with less than half of their measures in this range.” Meanwhile, patients “who had more than half of their HbA1c readings over 10% had a 74% higher risk for dementia than those with less than half of their measures in this category.”

Related Links:

— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

HCPlive (4/17, Walter) reports, “By expanding the eligibility of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), states have reduced the rates of food insecurity, which ultimately may further decrease the rates of mental illness and suicidality among adults,” according to an “ecological cross-sectional study” that “used data on adults in the US from the National Vital Statistics Systems between 2014-2017 and data on adults in the US from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health…State-Level Small Area Estimates between 2015-2019.” The study, published online April 14 in JAMA Network Open, revealed that “state adoption of…SNAP eligibility policies” in which “the state eliminates the asset test and increases the income limit resulted in decreases in the rates of past-year major depressive episodes, mental illness, serious mental illness, and suicidal ideation.”

Related Links:

— “SNAP Program Leads to Less Food Insecurity, Mental Illness Rates “Kenny Walter, HCPlive , April 17, 2023

HealthDay (4/17, Murez) reports, “Consistently good sleep is…particularly important for patients with schizophrenia,” researchers concluded in a study that “used wrist monitors to measure activity and rest in 250 people, including 150 patients with schizophrenia, in both outpatient settings and in psychiatric hospitals.” The study revealed that patients with schizophrenia “had erratic sleep patterns, dysregulated transitions between sleep and wake cycles, and excessively rigid daily routines that were predictive of worse symptoms.” Researchers also found that “both inpatient and outpatient” patients with schizophrenia “tended to have fewer active hours during the day and spent more time sleeping or passively resting than the study’s healthy controls.” The findings were published online April 14 in the journal Molecular Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Regular Sleep May Be Crucial for People Living With Schizophrenia “Cara Murez, HealthDay, April 17, 2023