Modern Healthcare (3/13, Devereaux, Subscription Publication) reports, “Pediatric mental health, violence against clinicians and uncertainty around reproductive care are among the most pressing issues for health system leadership to address this year, according to ECRI’s 2023 list of top 10 patient safety concerns” that “stems from recent studies, patient safety databases and in-depth conversations with industry stakeholders.” In addition, the report (PDF) “advises systems on how to solve industrywide problems such as delayed sepsis treatment, medication errors and preventable harm due to missed care.”

Related Links:

— “Modern Healthcare, Requires subscription

Psychiatric News (3/13) reports a study published online March 7 “in the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry has found that children who together with their families participated in a bereavement program within 2.5 years of the death were less likely to experience depression up to 15 years later.” The researchers “enrolled 244 youth aged 8 to 16 who had experienced the death of a parent 3 to 30 months prior to the study and their caregivers for a randomized, controlled trial.”

Related Links:

— “Family Bereavement Program Offers Long-Term Protection Against Depression, Psychiatric News, March 13, 2023

Kaiser Health News (3/10, Sausser) reported, “Originally focused on the costliest types of care, such as cancer treatment, insurers now commonly require prior authorization for many mundane medical encounters, including basic imaging and prescription refills.” In a 2021 survey (PDF) from the “American Medical Association, 40% of physicians said they have staffers who work exclusively on prior authorization.” Moreover, “instead of providing a guardrail against useless, expensive treatment, pre-authorization prevents patients from getting the vital care they need, researchers and doctors say.” The federal government in December “proposed several changes that would force health plans…to speed up prior authorization decisions and provide more information about the reasons for denials,” and several states “have passed their own laws governing the process.” While groups including AMA “have expressed support for the proposed changes, some doctors feel they don’t go far enough.”

Related Links:

— “Insurance requirements for prior authorization may prompt ‘devastating’ delays “Lauren Sausser, Kaiser Health News, March 10, 2023

Healio (3/10, Bascom) reported “screening for e-cigarette use is much lower than screening for other substances in primary care, according to” a study that “evaluated data from 134,931 adults.” The researchers “reported that ‘screening rates for e-cigarette usage were almost two-thirds lower than those of combustible tobacco, alcohol and illicit substances.’” Furthermore, “being younger or using illicit substances or combustible tobacco was linked to a higher likelihood of being screened,” according to the findings published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

Related Links:

— “Screening rates for e-cigarette use in primary care lower than for other substances “Emma Bascom, Healio, March 10, 2023

Medscape (3/10, Larkin, Subscription Publication) reported, “Pregnant and postpartum patients with schizophrenia are three times more likely to experience interpersonal violence, compared with those without schizophrenia,” according to a “population-based cohort study that included almost 2 million participants.” In the study, “3.1% of patients with schizophrenia had an emergency department visit for interpersonal violence during pregnancy or the first postpartum year, compared with 0.4% of those without schizophrenia.” The findings were published online March 6 in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

Related Links:

— Medscape (requires login and subscription)

Bloomberg (3/9, Meghjani, Peng) reports, “Signs of early-stage dementia are more common among some US minority groups, highlighting the need for monitoring and screening among Americans with less access to health care.” Nearly “17% of American Indians or Alaska Natives 45 years and older reported worsening memory loss, compared to nearly 10% among all Americans in the same age group, according to results of a telephone survey from the” CDC published in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Also, “Hispanic and Latino adults had the second-highest rate at just over 11%.” Moreover, these “populations were less likely to speak with health-care professionals about concerns regarding memory loss or confusion than the US adult population overall, according to the” results.

Related Links:

— “Dementia Signs Among Some US Minority Groups Highlight Screening Need “Tanaz Meghjani and Ilena Peng, Bloomberg, March 9, 2023

HealthDay (3/9, Norton) reports a study, “of medical records from more than 415,000 new mothers, found that those living in urban areas with more tree coverage had a lower risk of being diagnosed with postpartum depression, versus women from less-green neighborhoods.” The study found that “for every 10% increase in ‘street-level’ green space, the risk of postpartum depression declined by about 4%.” Furthermore, increased physical activity accounted “for a small portion of the link between green space and lower depression risk,” according to the findings published in The Lancet Regional Health – Americas.

Related Links:

— “Could Walks in the Park Ward Off Postpartum Depression? “Amy Norton, HealthDay, March 9, 2023

HealthDay (3/9, Murez) reports a 137-study systematic review and meta-analysis “has found that…the psychological fallout from the pandemic has been less intense than thought.” Nearly “75% of study participants in the studies reviewed were adults and 25% were children and adolescents between the ages of 10 and 19.” According to the researchers, “the mental health changes were minimal…whether the studies covered the mental health of the population as a whole or that of specific groups.” However, the results, published online March 8 in the BMJ, did find that the pandemic has “had a disproportionate effect on women.”

Related Links:

— “COVID’s Toll on Mental Health May Have Been Exaggerated: Study “Cara Murez, HealthDay, March 9, 2023

The New York Times (3/8, Chung) reports that “opioids were the leading cause of fatal poisonings among children age 5 years old and younger in recent years, a study has found.” The study “analyzed 731 poisoning-related deaths that occurred from 2005 to 2018 across 40 states” and “found that opioids…contributed to nearly half, or 47%, of those deaths.” According to the findings published in Pediatrics, “about 41% of these poisoning deaths resulted from accidental overdoses,” while 18% were described as “‘deliberate’ poisonings.”

CNN (3/8, Christensen) reports the trend worsened over time. The findings also showed that “more than 65% of the deaths happened at home.”

Related Links:

— “Opioids Are Leading Cause of Child Poisoning Deaths, Study Finds “Christine Chung, The New York Times, March 8, 2023

CNN (3/8, LaMotte) reports, “People who consumed foods from the plant-based Mediterranean and brain-focused MIND diets had fewer of the hallmark signs of Alzheimer’s…when autopsied, a…study found.” Those “who most closely followed either of the diets had ‘almost 40% lower odds’ of having enough plaques and tangles in brain tissue to be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, according to the study.” The findings, published in the journal Neurology, also showed that “adding just one food category from either diet…reduced amyloid buildup in the brain to a level similar to being about four years younger.”

MedPage Today (3/8, George) reports the diets “were linked with less postmortem Alzheimer’s disease pathology, primarily beta-amyloid load, in older adults.”
“ The MIND diet is a brain-healthy diet that stands for Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay. It’s a hybrid of the DASH diet (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) and the Mediterranean diet, and it focuses on food groups in each diet that can boost your brainpower and protect it from age-related problems like Alzheimer’s disease.”

Related Links:

— “Mediterranean and MIND diets reduced signs of Alzheimer’s in brain tissue, study finds “Sandee LaMotte, CNN, March 8, 2023