Use Of Antipsychotic Medications Appears Substantially More Common Among People With Parkinson’s Disease Than In The General Population, Data Suggest

Parkinson’s News Today (9/9, Wexler) reported, “The use of antipsychotic medications is substantially more common among people with Parkinson’s disease than in the general population,” investigators concluded in a study that “included data for 20,994 people diagnosed with Parkinson’s between 1996 and 2015 as well as data for 142,944 people without Parkinson’s who were not on antipsychotics in the year before the follow-up period started.” The study also revealed that “antipsychotic use among Parkinson’s patients is evident several years before the disease is diagnosed.” The findings were published online in the journal Parkinsonism and Related Disorders.

Related Links:

— “Antipsychotics Use Climbs in Years Before Parkinson’s Diagnosis: Study “Marisa Wexler, Parkinson’s News Today, September 9, 2022

After Summer Launch Of 988 Suicide And Crisis Lifeline Number, Calls To The Lifeline Increased 45% Compared With The Same Time Last Year, HHS Data Reveal

CNN (9/9, Howard) reported, “After the summer launch of the new 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline number, calls to the lifeline increased 45% compared with the same time last year, and the majority of those calls were connected to a counselor, according to the” HHS. On Sept. 9, the department “released performance data detailing the number of calls, chats and texts made to the 988 lifeline in the month of August, as well as the portion of those contacts that were answered.” The article added, “Suicide is the second leading cause of death in the United States for people ages 10 to 34, according to the American Psychiatric Association, and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention describes it as a ‘serious public health problem.’”

Related Links:

— “Calls to suicide prevention lifeline rose 45% after changeover to 988 number “Jacqueline Howard, CNN, September 9, 2022

Clozapine Or Antipsychotic Polytherapy Appear To Be Best Approach In Reducing Risk For SUD In Adults With Schizophrenia And For Preventing Relapse In Patients With Both Diagnoses, Data Indicate

Medscape (9/8, Brooks, Subscription Publication) reports, “Clozapine or antipsychotic polytherapy appear to be the best approach in reducing the risk for a substance use disorder (SUD) in adults with schizophrenia and for preventing relapse in patients with both diagnoses,” investigators concluded after analyzing “data on more than 45,000 patients with schizophrenia from Finnish and Swedish national registries, with follow-up lasting 22 years in Finland and 11 years in Sweden.” The findings were published online Aug. 25 in the British Journal of Psychiatry.

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Family Therapy Not Necessarily More Beneficial Than Other Comparison Therapies In Treating Pediatric Patients With Depression, Suicidal Ideation, Researchers Say

HCPlive (9/8, Walter) reports, “Family therapy was not necessarily more beneficial than other comparison therapies in treating pediatric patients with depression or suicidal ideation,” according to researchers who “screened 5940 records and identified 10 randomized controlled studies of family therapy for depressive disorder or suicidal ideation in adolescents with an active treatment comparison group.” The researchers “found no significant difference between family therapy and active comparison treatment for end-of-treatment levels of depression.” The research was published online in Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Family Therapy Not Superior to Other Therapies for Adolescents With Depression “Kenny Walter, HCPlive, September 8, 2022

Feelings Of Detachment Following Trauma A Marker Of More Severe Psychiatric Outcomes, Findings Show

Medscape (9/8, Anderson, Subscription Publication) reports, “Feelings of detachment following a traumatic event are a marker of more severe psychiatric outcomes, including depression and anxiety,” according to findings that “highlight the importance of screening for dissociation in patients who have experienced trauma.” Researchers “used data from the larger Advancing Understanding of Recovery After Trauma (AURORA) study and included 1464 adults” and “found persistent derealization was associated with increased ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) activity while viewing fearful faces.” The study was published online in the American Journal of Psychiatry, a publication of the American Psychiatric Association.

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Study Finds High Levels Of Diagnostic Concordance Between Telehealth, In-Person Visits Overall

mHealth Intelligence (9/7, Melchionna) reports, “While comparing diagnostic consistency between different methods of care, a…study found high levels of diagnostic concordance between telehealth and in-person visits overall.” Among “the 2,393 cases, 2,080 (86.9 percent) displayed diagnostic concordance between virtual and in-person visits.” Furthermore, “medical specialties also displayed a wide range of concordance levels,” according to the findings published online in JAMA Network Open, showing that “diagnostic concordance was 77.3 percent for otorhinolaryngology and 96 percent for psychiatry.”

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— “Clinical Diagnoses Similar During Telehealth, In-Person Visits “Mark Melchionna, mHealth Intelligence, September 8, 2022

People Who Report Psychological Distress Before Infection At Greater Risk Of Long COVID, Survey Study Finds

NBC News (9/7, Bendix) reports “people who felt stressed, anxious, lonely, depressed or worried about COVID before getting infected were at higher risk of developing long-term symptoms from their illness,” according to results from a survey study of “nearly 55,000 people in the United States and Canada.” The study published online in JAMA Psychiatry “showed that people who reported psychological distress before they got infected had a 32% to 46% increased risk of long COVID,” and people “who reported high levels of two or more types of psychological distress…had a 50% increased risk.”

STAT (9/7, Trang) reports the researchers “found that psychological stressors…were more predictive of…patients’ likelihood of experiencing long COVID than classically associated physical factors.”

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— “Stress, anxiety and depression may increase the risk of long Covid, study finds “Aria Bendix, NBC News, September 7, 2022

Percentage Of Young Adults In US Receiving Mental Health Treatment Increased By Nearly 5% From 2019 To 2021, Data Reveal

MedPage Today (9/7, Monaco) reports, “The percentage of young U.S. adults receiving mental health treatment increased by nearly 5% from 2019 to 2021, according to National Health Interview Survey data.” In total, “the proportion of adults receiving mental health treatment – defined as receiving counseling, therapy, taking a medication, or any combination of the three – increased from 19.2% in 2019 to 21.6% by 2021,” but “this appeared to be driven by an uptick in mental health treatment for younger adults between the ages of 18 and 44, whose rates of mental health treatment jumped from 18.5% in 2019 to 23.2% in 2021.” These data were published online in an NCHS Data Brief.

HealthDay (9/7, Mundell) reports, “Young white American adults had the highest use of mental health care in 2021 (30.4%), while rates were much lower among young Black adults (14.8%), Hispanics (12.8%) and Asians (10.8%)

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Research Suggests 3,800-9,800 Steps Per Day Are Needed To Reduce Dementia Risk

CNN (9/6, LaMotte) reports that to reduce the risk for dementia, people “need between 3,800 and 9,800 [steps] each day,” according to findings published online in a brief report in JAMA Neurology. The study found that people aged 40-79 “who took 9,826 steps per day were 50% less likely to develop dementia within seven years.” In addition, people with a pace of over 40 steps a minute “were able to cut their risk of dementia by 57% with just 6,315 steps a day.”

Related Links:

— “Walk this number of steps each day to cut your risk of dementia “Sandee LaMotte, CNN, September 6, 2022

More People Increasingly Reporting Difficulty In Halting Melatonin Use

The New York Times (9/6, Blum) reports, “As increasing numbers of people turn to melatonin, and more report taking high doses of the supplement, those who try to give up the supplement might find the process harder than they anticipated.” For instance, on social media platforms, people are “swapping stories about craving the supplement, or being unable to sleep without it,” and stressing “over how to stop taking melatonin after years of nightly use.” The Times adds, “Taking the supplement for years likely poses minimal risk for the average person, experts said, but there isn’t enough evidence to say for sure.”

Related Links:

— “Can You Get Hooked on Melatonin? “Dani Blum, The New York Times, September 6, 2022