CNN (12/14, Christensen) reports that a study from the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found that “more than 55% of people involved in serious or fatal road accidents tested positive for drugs or alcohol.” Researchers “found that a quarter of serious or fatal accidents involved someone who tested positive for some form of weed, and nearly a quarter more had alcohol in their system.” Approximately “11% of people tested positive for some form of stimulant, like cocaine or methamphetamines, and 9% had opioids in their system.”

Related Links:

— “More than half of people involved in road accidents had drugs or alcohol in their system, study says “Jen Christensen, CNN, December 14, 2022

HCPlive (12/14, Walter) reports, “Hospitalizations for psychiatric conditions, including anxiety, depression, and suicidality increased since the beginning of the COVID-19 for adolescent patients,” investigators concluded in a study that included “9,696 adolescents hospitalized with a mental health condition during the prepandemic period and 11,101 during the pandemic period.” The findings were published online Dec. 13 in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “COVID-19 Pandemic Increased Risk of Hospitalization for Mental Health Reasons “Kenny Walter, HCPlive, December 14, 2022

MedPage Today (12/14, DePeau-Wilson) reports, “Annual overdose deaths among Black women increased by 393% from 2015 to 2021 – from 1,725 to 5,060 deaths,” investigators concluded in findings published online Dec. 14 in a research letter in JAMA Psychiatry. The study revealed that “the number of years of life lost jumped from 58,170 to 178,822, a 407% increase,” and “on average, an overdose death resulted in 34.8 years of life lost.”

Related Links:

— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

CNN (12/14, McPhillips) reports, “Drug overdose deaths in the United States have slowed in recent months after reaching record levels earlier this year,” according to data from the CDC showing “that 107,735 people died of a drug overdose in the 12-month period ending in July.” That is nearly “2,500 fewer deaths than the record high that was reached in March, marking a 2% drop over four months.” But despite this “improvement, annual drug overdose deaths in July were still 25% higher than they were two years earlier and more than 50% higher than they were five years earlier.”

The AP (12/14, Mattise, Stobbe) also reports.

Related Links:

— “Drug overdose deaths slowing in the US after reaching record levels during the Covid-19 pandemic “Deidre McPhillips, CNN, December 14, 2022

Healio (12/13, Downey) reports, “A higher locus of control at work and home was associated with reduced psychosocial stress and lower odds of acute stroke, researchers reported” in a study that also explored “factors that may modify the association of stress and risk for stroke.” The researchers wrote, “This association is consistent for ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke types.” The study findings were published in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “Higher locus of control linked to lower risk for stroke “Ken Downey Jr., Healio, December 13, 2022

The New York Times (12/13, Richtel, Trofort) reports, “The shortage of child and adolescent psychiatrists is most acute in low-income communities of color, according to a study published in” November in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. This “lack of specialized and long-term care has contributed to poor teens of color being underdiagnosed or misdiagnosed.” For these teens, “such a misdiagnosis can be a fork in the road, leading to the wrong care, improper medication, school detention or misperception by a justice system that is inclined to view adolescents labeled hostile as inherently threatening.” The article focuses on Sarah Vinson, MD, Interim Chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, who, three years ago, “assumed leadership of a weekly clinic that provides psychiatric care for teenagers of color.”

Related Links:

— “‘Disruptive,’ or Depressed? Psychiatrists Reach Out to Teens of Color “Matt Richtel, The New York Times, December 13, 2022

CNN (12/12, Holcombe) reports a new study has shown “soothing with digital devices may lead to more problems with emotional reactivity down the road” with small children. Researchers “looked at 422 parent and caregiver responses to assess how likely they were to utilize devices for distraction and how dysregulated their 3- to 5-year-old child’s behavior was over a six-month period, according to the study published Monday in the JAMA Pediatrics.” The act of frequently “using digital devices to distract from unpleasant and disruptive behavior like tantrums was associated with more emotional dysregulation in kids – particularly boys and children who were already struggling with emotional regulation, according to the study.”

Related Links:

— “Giving your child a screen may hinder emotional regulation, study says. Here’s what to do instead “Madeline Holcombe, CNN, December 12, 2022

MedPage Today (12/12, Firth) reports, “Patients with cocaine or opioid use disorder…had a higher risk of endocarditis if they also contracted COVID-19, a retrospective study showed.” Investigators found that “COVID-19 infection was associated with an increased risk of newly diagnosed cases of endocarditis among patients with opioid use disorder…and with cocaine use disorder…compared with matched controls who didn’t have COVID.” The findings were published in Molecular Psychiatry. For the study, the researchers “used the nationwide TriNet Analytics Network database to analyze 109 million electronic health records…from a range of healthcare organizations across all 50 states, including 736,502 people with opioid use disorder and 379,623 people with cocaine use disorder.”

Related Links:

— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

Bloomberg Law (12/12, Pugh, Subscription Publication) reports, “A Biden administration proposal released Monday aims to increase access to health services, simplify and improve the selection process for marketplace health plans, and make it easier to enroll in marketplace coverage in 2024.” In addition, the 2024 Notice of Benefit and Payment Parameters Proposed Rule seeks “to increase access to behavioral health-care options.”

Modern Healthcare (12/12, Tepper, Subscription Publication) also covers the story.

Related Links:

— “HHS Proposal Aims to Expand Access to Behavioral Health Care (1) “Tony Pugh, Bloomberg Law, December 12, 2022

Healio (12/12, Herpen) reports, “Among healthcare workers in England, prevalence estimates of PTSD and common mental disorders were markedly lower when assessed using diagnostic interviews compared with screening tools,” investigators concluded after conducting “a two-phase, cross-sectional study comprised of diagnostic interviews within a larger multisite longitudinal cohort of healthcare workers (n = 23,462) during the COVID-19 pandemic.” The findings were published online Dec. 8 in The Lancet Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Prevalence of PTSD, other mental disorders higher with screening tools than interviews “Robert Herpen, Healio, December 12, 2022