HealthDay (7/28) reports, “Obesity, depression, high blood pressure, asthma: These are just a few of the chronic health conditions that are now affecting almost 40 million Americans between the ages 18 and 34,” investigators concluded. Federal data from 2019 “found that more than half of young adults (nearly 54%) now deal with at least one chronic health issue,” with “the most prevalent conditions” being “obesity (25.5%), depression (21.3%), and high blood pressure (10.7%).” The findings were published online in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Related Links:

— “More Than Half of Young U.S. Adults Have a Chronic Health Condition “Ernie Mundell, HealthDay, July 28, 2022

Healio (7/28, Downey) reports, “Following the 2021 record-setting report of opioid overdose deaths in the United States, experts are predicting higher rates of overdose deaths,” researchers concluded in findings published online July 28 in a research letter in JAMA Network Open. For the study, investigators “used data from CDC’s WONDER database for 3,147 United States counties and county equivalents and categorized them on a six-point urbanicity scale.” The study also revealed that “counties of urbanicity experienced statistically significant annual overdose death rate growth.”

Related Links:

— “Overdose rate will continue to grow: ‘It’s going to mean mass death’ “Ken Downey Jr., Healio, July 28, 2022

Kaiser Health News (7/28, Louis) reports, “The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline’s 988 phone number, which launched July 16, was designed as a universal mental health support tool for callers at any time anywhere,” but “the level of support that 988 callers receive depends on their ZIP code.” For example, “rural Americans, who die by suicide at a far higher rate than residents of urban areas, often have trouble accessing mental health services,” and even though “988 can connect them to a call center close to home, they could end up being directed to far-away resources.”

Related Links:

— “The US Mental Health Hotline Network Is Expanding, but Rural Areas Still Face Care Shortages “Christina Saint Louis, Kaiser Health News, July 28, 2022

HealthDay (7/28) reports, “Researchers examined care given to” veterans “before and after a transition to telehealth visits in early 2020 for treatment of their opioid use disorder,” finding that “the rapid switch to virtual visits for most patients kept people from dropping out of care, and telephone visits [also] played a key role.” The findings were published online July 28 ahead of print in the American Journal of Psychiatry, a publication of the American Psychiatric Association.

Related Links:

— “Telehealth, Phone Visits a Lifesaver for Veterans Addicted to Opioids “Sydney Murphy, HealthDay, July 28, 2022

Healio (7/26, Monostra) reports, “Nearly 30% of adults with obesity gained 5% or more body weight during the COVID-19 pandemic, and those who gained weight were more likely to have depression and engage in unhealthy eating,” investigators concluded in a study that “recruited 404 adults aged 18 years and older with a BMI of 30 kg/m2 or higher (82.6% women; mean age, 52.5 years) to complete a 15-minute online survey on the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on health and lifestyle behaviors from March to November 2021.” The findings were published online June 30 in the journal Obesity. HealthDay (7/27) also covers the study.

Related Links:

— “Depression, unhealthy eating linked to weight gain during COVID-19 in adults with obesity “Michael Monostra, Healio, July 26, 2022

Healio (7/27, Downey) reports, “Increased levels of discrimination were associated with higher odds of depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation, especially among Hispanic or Latino individuals,” investigators concluded in a 62,651-participant study, the findings of which were published online July 27 in JAMA Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Discrimination associated with higher odds of experiencing depression, suicidal ideation “Ken Downey Jr., Healio, July 27, 2022

HCPlive (7/27, Walter) reports, “Young patients with autism are similarly at risk of self-harm as patients with depression or” attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD), investigators concluded in a 410,372-participant study, “9,070 of which had a diagnosis of autism.” The findings were published online July 22 in the journal Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica.

Related Links:

— “Self-Harm Common for Young Patients With Autism “Kenny Walter, HCPlive, July 27, 2022

The Hill (7/26, Barnes) reports, “Patients who reported smoking or vaping prior to COVID-19 hospitalization were more likely to experience severe complications, including death, than nonsmokers, according to a… study” published in PLOS One. Moreover, “smoking was linked to greater risk factor for death in people between 18 to 59 years of age and those who were white or” had obesity.

Related Links:

— “Smoking linked to severe COVID-19 complications, study finds “Adam Barnes, The Hill, July 26, 2022

HealthDay (7/26, Mozes) reports an analysis published in the American Journal of Medicine Open “finds that American youth became 30% more likely to die as a result of gun violence over the past decade.” This “jump in risk appears to have been largely driven by big spikes in gun-related suicides, as well as increases in all manner of gun-related deaths among both girls and non-Hispanic white kids, investigators found.” The analysis focused on CDC data “among boys and girls aged 19 and younger” between 2010 to 2019.

Related Links:

— “Gun Deaths Rose 30% Among U.S. Kids in a Decade “Alan Mozes, HealthDay, July 26, 2022

The New York Times (7/26, Weiland) reports Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) Director Dr. Rahul Gupta is “overseeing what experts describe as the most progressive federal drug strategy since” the ONDCP was first launched. That “strategy largely rests on the concept of harm reduction, focused not on helping drug users achieve abstinence but on lowering their risk of dying or acquiring infectious diseases.” The strategy comes as “some lawmakers still express discomfort with harm reduction tools, not least fentanyl strips, which are gaining acceptance even in some conservative states but remain illegal in others.”

Related Links:

— “Biden’s Drug Czar Is Leading the Charge for a ‘Harm Reduction’ Approach “Noah Weiland, The New York Times, July 26, 2022