The Washington Post (4/25, Amenabar) reports that research shows that “the chewy melatonin gummies that many people take before bedtime to promote sleep may contain far more of the hormone than what’s printed on the label.”

The New York Times (4/25, Blum) reports that investigators “analyzed 25 melatonin gummy products from different brands and found that 22 contained different amounts of melatonin than what was listed on their labels; one contained only 74 percent of the advertised amount of melatonin, while another had 347 percent more.” Meanwhile, “another product contained no detectable melatonin at all.” The findings were published online April 25 in a research letter in JAMA.

Also covering the story are MedPage Today (4/25, George) and HealthDay (4/25, Norton).

Related Links:

— “The Washington Post (requires login and subscription)

Healio (4/22, Young) reported, “People who experienced lifetime and everyday discrimination had elevated risk for cardiovascular and all-cause mortality compared with those who did not,” investigators concluded in findings published online ahead of print in the journal Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes. For the study, “researchers followed participants from the MESA cohort aged 45 to 84 years without a history of CVD (1,633 Black, 1,403 Hispanic/Latino and 2,473 white) across five exams from 2002 to 2018.”

Related Links:

— “Experience with discrimination may increase cardiovascular, all-cause mortality “Kate Young, Healio , April 22, 2023

According to HCPlive (4/21, Walter), research indicates that “patients with cystic fibrosis or primary ciliary dyskinesia, as well as their caregivers, were at an increased risk of developing mental illnesses like depression or anxiety during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.” Included in the 110-patient study were “110 patients, 10 with cystic fibrosis, 31 with primary ciliary dyskinesia, 52 cystic fibrosis caregivers, and 17 primary ciliary dyskinesia caregivers.” The findings were published online April 21 in the journal Pediatric Pulmonology.

Related Links:

— “Caregivers, Patients With Cystic Fibrosis, Primary Ciliary Dyskinesia at Elevated Risk of Mental Illness “Kenny Walter, HCPlive, April 21, 2023

Healio (4/20, Firment) reported, “Young people with schizophrenia had elevated risk for sudden cardiac death, and biopsychosocial factors related to social isolation impacted the cardiac risk factor burden in individuals with schizophrenia, researchers” concluded in a study also revealing that “among young people with sudden cardiac death who were referred for autopsy, individuals with schizophrenia were more likely to have nonischemic cardiomyopathy compared with individuals without schizophrenia.” The findings of the 579-individual postmortem study were published online in the journal JACC: Clinical Electrophysiology.

Related Links:

— “Schizophrenic individuals have increased risk for sudden cardiac death “Hunter Firment, Healio, April 20, 2023

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