The Washington Post (1/15, Roubein , Ovalle ) reports, “The Biden administration released a proposal Wednesday to dramatically reduce nicotine levels in cigarettes, a move that anti-smoking advocates believe would save millions of lives even as it threatens the powerful tobacco industry.” Under the proposal, “tobacco companies would be required to cut nicotine in cigarettes to no more than 0.7 milligrams per gram of tobacco, which the FDA says is significantly lower than the average concentration in products on the market.” The FDA’s “proposal would also apply to most cigars and pipe tobacco, but not to e-cigarettes or nicotine pouches.”

The New York Times (1/15, Jewett ) reports, “The FDA’s proposal includes projections that by 2100, the nicotine reduction measure would prevent an estimated 48 million young people from starting to smoke.” By 2060, the FDA “also estimates that 1.8 million tobacco-related deaths would be prevented, and that $30 trillion in benefits would accrue over 40 years, mostly from the generation that would not begin smoking.”

NBC News (1/15, Edwards ) reports, “If finalized, the change would mean that cigarettes would lose their ability to hook most people into addiction.”

Related Links:

— “The Washington Post (requires login and subscription)

HCPlive (1/14, Derman) reports, “A recent study suggested that the genetic variants in the opioid use disorder (OUD) risk algorithm do not meet reasonable standards in identifying OUD risk.” The researchers said, “We found no evidence to support the clinical utility of the 15 [single nucleotide variants] purported to predict OUD risk.” The findings were published in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “Genetic Variants in OUD Risk Algorithm Do Not Meet Standards in Identifying Risk,”Chelsie Derman, HCPlive, January 14, 2025

KFF Health News (1/14, Ridderbusch ) reports, “Over 5,000 male construction workers die from suicide annually – five times the number who die from work-related injuries, according to several studies.” That is “considerably more than the suicide rate for men in the general population.” BL Harbert International, a construction company, “has added mental health first-aid training for on-site supervisors and distributed information about suicide prevention to laborers in the field.” According to KFF Health News, “the efforts are part of a larger push led by the industry and supported by unions, research institutions, and federal agencies to address construction workers’ mental health.” However, “initiatives to combat this mental health crisis are tougher to implement than protocols for hard hats, safety vests, and protective goggles.” Additionally, “some of the potential solutions, such as paid sick leave, have drawn pushback from the industry as it eyes costs.”

Related Links:

— “Beyond Hard Hats: Mental Struggles Become the Deadliest Construction Industry Danger,”Katja Ridderbusch, KFF Health News, January 14, 2025

The Washington Post (1/13, Johnson) reports, “New cases of dementia will double by 2060, when 1 million U.S. adults are projected to develop the memory-robbing condition each year, according to a sobering new study published Monday.” The “analysis shows that the risk a person faces over their lifetime is higher than some previous estimates: After age 55, 4 in 10 adults are likely to develop some form of dementia.” That is “in part because the new analysis is based on decades of close follow-up, including regular cognitive assessments, of a racially diverse group of people – a quarter of whom were Black and face an increased risk of dementia.” The findings were published in Nature Medicine.

The New York Times (1/13, Belluck ) reports the study estimates that “the number of new cases per year among Black Americans will triple” by 2060. The rise in cases “will primarily be due to the growing aging population, as many Americans are living longer than previous generations.” The study also “found that the vast majority of dementia risk occurred after age 75, increasing further as people reached age 95.”

NBC News (1/13, Sullivan, Herzberg ) reports, “Older studies estimated that about 14% of men and 23% of women would develop dementia in their lifetimes.” However, “the new study puts that estimate higher, at around 42% for both men and women.”

The AP (1/13, Neergaard ) reports “there are steps people can take to reduce” their risk of developing dementia, “such as controlling high blood pressure and other bad-for-the-brain health problems. And it’s not too late to try even in middle age.”

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— “The Washington Post (requires login and subscription)

HealthDay (1/10, Thompson ) reported that according to research published in the Journal of American Geriatrics Society, volunteering in their community can “help seniors avoid depression related to social isolation. Volunteering reduces the risk of depression by 43% among seniors.” The article quoted senior researcher Guohua Li, MD, a professor of epidemiology at Columbia University, saying, “Those engaged in volunteering activities had a significantly lower prevalence of depression.”

HCP Live (1/10, Derman) reported the study also found that “the point prevalence of depression in a multisite sample of community-dwelli ng older adults aged 65-79 years was 6.2%.”

Related Links:

— “Avoiding Isolation By Volunteering Offers Mental Health Benefits to Seniors,”Dennis Thompson, , January 10, 2025

The Hill (1/9, Irwin ) says, “The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative warned there’s a risk of ineffective or dangerous drugs from online pharmacies that are being illegally run.” In a report (PDF) that was “released Wednesday, the office singled out 19 countries that raised concerns of possible movement of counterfeit or pirated drugs.” Additionally, the office “released its Notorious Market List that focused on the growth in illicit online pharmacies.” The office “called on trading partners to improve criminal and border enforcement to combat counterfeit medicines.”

The AP (1/9, Kurtenbach ) says, “Nearly all of the world’s 35,000 online pharmacies are being run illegally and consumers who use them risk getting ineffective or dangerous drugs, according to the” report. It “named about three dozen online retailers, many of them in China or elsewhere in Asia that it said are allegedly engaged in selling counterfeit products or other illegal activities.” The new “report says 96% of online pharmacies were found to be violating the law, many operating without a license and selling medicines without prescriptions and safety warnings.”

Related Links:

— “US warns of risk from most of world’s online pharmacies,” Lauren Irwin, The Hill, January 9, 2025

HealthDay (1/9, Thompson ) reports, “Some of the most effective public policies for suicide prevention aren’t crafted with suicide or mental health in mind, a new study says.” According to one researcher, “efforts to increase the minimum wage, prohibit gender discrimination, or reduce alcohol consumption ‘have spillover benefits in that they also prevent suicides.’” Those policies may “be more effective at preventing suicides than efforts to increase access to health care or limit firearms, researchers argue.” The findings were published in the Annual Review of Public Health.

Related Links:

— “The Public Policies That Really Help Prevent Suicide,” Dennis Thompson, HealthDay, January 9, 2025

The Hill (1/9, O’Connell-Domenech ) reports that the US “has the highest rate of drug overdose deaths out of 30 countries, according to a new report from the health nonprofit the Commonwealth Fund.” While “overdose deaths in the U.S. dipped slightly around 2018 after a years-long” increase, “those deaths began to rise again in 2019 and shot up during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to data from the” CDC. Meanwhile, “overdose deaths decreased slightly again in 2023 by 3 percent but still more than 100,000 people across the country died from an overdose, according to provisional CDC data.”

Related Links:

— “US overdose deaths far outpace other countries: Report,” Alejandra O’Connell-Domenech, The Hill, January 9, 2025

Psychiatric News (1/8) reports, “Individuals involved with the criminal justice system or recently released from incarceration are among those at greatest risk of suicide mortality, according to an ‘umbrella analysis.’” The “analysis of how social determinants of health affect suicidality also found that exposure to parental suicide, experiencing divorce or unemployment in mid-life, and accessibility to firearms were strongly associated with suicide mortality.” The findings were published in JAMA Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Study Highlights Social Determinants Most Highly Associated With Suicide,” Psychiatric News, January 8, 2025

Psychiatric News (1/7) reports, “Symptoms of social anxiety or depression may serve as a barrier to seeking or maintaining employment, according to a study.” But, “working more hours may not by itself reduce depression or social anxiety symptoms.” The findings were published in Psychiatric Research and Clinical Practice.

Related Links:

— “Addressing Adults’ Social Anxiety, Depression May Boost Employment Success,” Psychiatric News, January 7, 2025