The AP (3/4, Aleccia) reports that “GLP-1 drugs…may help prevent multiple substance use disorders – and reduce the tragic outcomes they cause, a large new study finds.” Investigators “looked at electronic health records from more than 600,000 U.S. Veterans Affairs patients with diabetes.” The researchers “found that those treated with” GLP-1 “medications…were less likely to develop addictions to alcohol, nicotine, cocaine, opioids and other substances than those treated with a different class of drugs.” Among “those already addicted, the GLP-1 drugs were linked to lower risks of hospitalization, overdose and death, according to the study.” The findings were published in The BMJ.

Among other sources covering the story are Reuters (3/4, Lapid) and NBC News (3/4, Sullivan).

Related Links:

— “What to know about how GLP-1 medications might fight addiction,” Jonel Aleccia , AP , March 4, 2026

NBC News (3/3, Ozcan) reports a study found that OpenAI’s ChatGPT Health “frequently underestimated the severity of medical emergencies.” For the study, “researchers tested ChatGPT Health’s ability to triage, or assess the severity of, medical cases based on real-life scenarios.” The researchers “fed 60 medical scenarios to ChatGPT Health. The chatbot’s responses were compared with the responses of three physicians who also reviewed the scenarios and triaged each one based on medical guidelines and clinical expertise.” They observed that “ChatGPT Health ‘under-triaged’ 51.6% of emergency cases. That is, instead of recommending the patient go to the emergency room, the bot recommended seeing a doctor within 24 to 48 hours.” In addition, “compared with the doctors in the study, the bot also over-triaged 64.8% of nonurgent cases, recommending a doctor’s appointment when it wasn’t necessary.” The study was published in Nature Medicine.

Related Links:

— “ChatGPT Health ‘under-triaged’ half of medical emergencies in a new study,”Kaan Ozcan, NBC News, March 3, 2026

The Washington Post (3/3, Sun) reports, “A group of prominent scientists launched an independent autism advisory panel Tuesday over fears that Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has politicized the key federal autism advisory board he oversees.” The panel, to be called the Independent Autism Coordinating Committee, will “focus on developing a coordinated scientific agenda for autism research and will function as a counterweight to the advisory board Kennedy reshaped in January by appointing new members.” The group is expected to “create a research agenda that reflects the progress and promise of autism science and report annually on key research advances, including basic research on genes and cells, environmental causes, early detection, therapeutics and services.” According to the Post, “medical and public health experts are increasingly setting up shadow structures as they lose confidence in federal panels reshaped under Kennedy’s leadership.”

Reuters (3/3, Respaut) reports Kennedy in January remade a “federal panel that guides national autism policy, called the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee. Its newly appointed 21 members include some with ties to groups that promote claims linking vaccines to autism, contrary to scientific evidence, as Kennedy himself has for years.” The independent panel “includes former federal committee members, National Institutes of Health directors, and autism scientists and advocates. A similar group of medical organizations and respected vaccine experts have been working to combat what they see as misinformation on inoculations coming from the…administration.”

Related Links:

— “The Washington Post (requires login and subscription)

The New York Times (3/3, Bajaj) reports One of Us, an initiative run by the Danish government, “works with people who have mental health challenges – the program calls them ambassadors – to share their stories in schools, hospitals and police stations, with a focus on their recovery.” The goal is to “change how the public sees mental illness.” The Times highlights how “stigma is one of the stubborn realities of mental illness: In a European Union survey in 2023, three-quarters of respondents said that people with mental illness are treated as less capable and as contributing less to society than others are.” Although no research has “examined whether One of Us has changed the public’s attitudes or societal stigma against mental illness,” some evaluations “have suggested that the program has shifted attitudes among key gatekeepers.”

Related Links:

— The New York Times (requires login and subscription)

Psychiatric News (3/2) reports a study found that “former football players have worse cognitive and behavioral outcomes later in life compared with peers not exposed to repeated head impacts.” Researchers observed that “compared with 282 matched male controls with no exposure to head impacts, 661 former football players (ages 40+, average age 58) performed worse on a computerized cognitive test, reported more subjective cognitive concerns, and had more depressive symptoms.” A second analysis demonstrated that “both more years playing football and reaching higher levels of play were associated with greater neuropsychiatric problems.” Researchers found that “compared with players who stopped at the youth or high school level, former professional players had 1.36 times the odds of having clinically meaningful cognitive concerns, 1.61 times the odds of having impaired behavioral regulation, and 2.21 times the odds of clinically meaningful depressive symptoms.” The study was published in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “Longer Football Career May Lead to Worse Cognitive Outcomes, Psychiatric News , March 2, 2026

HealthDay (3/2, Thompson) reports a study found that “benzodiazepine prescriptions have decreased in the United States, mainly among middle-aged adults and seniors.” According to federal health survey data taken between 2018 to 2022, “benzodiazepine use among adults dropped from 4.7% in 2018 to 3.4% in 2022.” The data show the decline “was steeper among those 56 and older – from 7.2% to 4.7% – compared to younger adults 36 to 55 (from 4.4% to 3.4%) and those 18 to 35 (2.1% to 1.8%). Researchers also found that nearly 42% of people using benzodiazepines also took another drug during the same year that can depress the central nervous system, increasing overdose risk.” Data further indicate that “between 2000 to 2019, benzodiazepine-related OD deaths leapt sixfold, rising from just under 0.5 deaths per 100,000 adults to nearly 3 per 100,000, researchers noted.” The study was published in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Benzodiazepine Use Down In U.S., But OD Risk Remains, Study Says,”Dennis Thompson, HealthDay, March 2, 2026

The AP (3/1, Lieb) reports that in order to receive Medicaid health coverage, “some adults will soon have to show they are working, volunteering or taking classes. But to gather that proof, many states first will have to spend millions of dollars improving their computer systems.” Across the nation, states “face an immense task and high costs to prepare for the Jan. 1 kickoff of new Medicaid eligibility mandates affecting millions of lower-income adults in the government-funded health care program.” The first half of “a $200 million federal allotment has already begun flowing to states to help implement the new requirements.” But according to an AP analysis, the “tab for the needed technology improvements and additional staff is likely to exceed $1 billion. … That extra cost will be borne by a mixture of federal and state tax dollars.”

Related Links:

— “Trump’s Medicaid work mandates are meant to save money. But first states will have to spend millions,”David A. Lieb , AP, March 1, 2026

Psychiatric News (2/27) reported a study found that “transgender youth who initiated testosterone therapy didn’t experience increased anger or irritability a year later – in fact, some demonstrated reduced aggression.” The study included “178 gender-diverse adolescents and young adults…in the United States who initiated testosterone therapy. All the youth had completed puberty and had no exposure to puberty blockers.” Researchers observed that “on average, self-reported levels of anger, aggression, irritability, externalizing problems, and oppositional defiant problems were within normal ranges at baseline…and they remained about the same 12 months after initiating testosterone therapy.” However, “45.5% of youth reported slightly elevated anger and/or externalizing behaviors at baseline, and their average levels of these behaviors dropped to the normal range at 12 months.” The study was published in the Journal of Adolescent Health.

Related Links:

— “Testosterone Doesn’t Increase Irritability in Transgender Youth, Psychiatric News , February 27, 2026

HealthDay (2/26, Thompson) reports a systematic review and meta-analysis of 71 studies found that “disasters and violent events echo in the minds of people for years afterward, contributing to mental illness that can surface as much as a decade later.” According to researchers, “more than 1 in 5 survivors (22%) will develop a mental health problem after living through their ordeal.” The illnesses “tend to occur in two peaks – one within the first few months of a disaster and another about a decade later, researchers found. The results contradict the general view that survivors can be expected to leave the past behind as they grow older.” Researchers noted that “depression was the most common mental health problem linked to disasters, affecting about 30% of survivors.” The review was published in the Harvard Review of Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Disasters Can Affect Mental Health A Decade Later, Review Finds,”HealthDay, Dennis Thompson, February 26, 2026

HealthDay (2/25, Thompson) reports, “Middle-aged people who eat healthy have a lower risk of brain decline in old age, researchers” found. Investigators found that “the heart-healthy Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet provided the best protection for brain health, but results showed that eating patterns aimed at lowering blood sugar or inflammation also lowered risk of cognitive decline.” The findingswere published in JAMA Neurology.

Related Links:

— “Eating Healthy In Middle Age Can Lower Risk of Brain Decline, Study Finds,”Dennis Thompson, HealthDay, February 25, 2026