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

Healio (2/2, Weldon) reports, “Universal screening helped identify high school students at risk for suicide and made them more likely to engage in mental health treatment,” researchers concluded in a study that “included 12,909 students in 14 high schools in Pennsylvania.” The findings were published in the December 2022 issue of the Journal of Pediatrics.

Related Links:

— “Universal screening helps identify adolescents at risk for suicide “Rose Weldon, Healio, February 2, 2023

HealthDay (2/1, Mozes) reports, “Seniors who frequently take sleeping medications may be raising their risk for developing” dementia, investigators concluded in a study that “enlisted roughly 3,000 seniors to share their sleep medication routines starting in 1997.” The study also revealed that “among white and Black participants, frequent usage was highest among women, those struggling with depression and the more highly educated.” Even though “white seniors who used sleeping pills frequently faced a 79% higher risk for dementia, that was not the case among Black seniors.” The findings were published online in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.

Related Links:

— “Sleeping Pills Linked to Higher Risk for Dementia “Alan Mozes, HealthDay, February 1, 2023

According to Psychiatric News (2/1), on Jan. 30, “the Biden administration announced” (PDF) that “the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE), first issued in March 2020, will end on May 11.” The PHE “waived a host of restrictions on the use of telehealth to help patients receive services, including mental health services, without leaving their homes,” but “with the end of the emergency, those waivers will be lifted, and several pre-pandemic regulations will be back in effect.” However, “some states and health care plans…may continue certain flexibilities and coverage; commercial and Medicaid payers may vary widely in their telehealth policies.”

Related Links:

— “Biden Announces End of COVID Public Health Emergency in May, Psychiatric News, February 1, 2023

“The fear and lack of understanding of mental illness can lead to stigma. The stigma of mental illness affects not only individuals who suffer from it, but also the caregivers. Stigma among caregivers can lead to delay in seeking care, poor adherence to treatment and a high risk of relapse. Caregivers of patients with mental illness are at an increased risk of distress due to the burden to stigma and caregiving burden. An increase in caregivers’ burden can lead to a reduction in caregivers’ involvement. There is a relationship between caregivers’ involvement, burden, and affiliated stigma. The present study examined the mediating role of affiliated stigma in the relationship between caregivers’ burden and involvement among informal caregivers of hospital-admitted patients with mental illness in Uganda.” In a “cross-sectional study…conducted among 428 adult caregivers” of “individuals diagnosed with mental illness and admitted to the Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital’s psychiatry unit between July 2020 and November 2020.” The findings were published online Jan. 26 in BMC Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Involvement and burden of informal caregivers of patients with mental illness: the mediating role of affiliated stigma, BMC Psychiatry, January 26, 2023