HealthDay (5/23) reports, “During the first pandemic year, there were increases in the proportion of pediatric patients presenting to hospital with suicidal ideation/suicidal attempts, depression, anxiety, eating disorders, substance use disorders, and obsessive compulsive and related disorders,” investigators concluded in a study that described “psychiatric diagnoses and boarding among pediatric patients presenting to the hospital after the pandemic onset in a retrospective chart review at a large Northeastern U.S. pediatric hospital.” The findings were published online May 17 in the journal Hospital Pediatrics.

Related Links:

— “Pediatric Mental Health Crises Up During First Year of Pandemic, HealthDay, May 23, 2022

MedPage Today (5/23, Monaco) reports, “Fewer Americans are anxious about the COVID-19 pandemic,” data from “the annual Healthy Minds Poll” indicate. In fact, “about half of adults in the U.S. reported pandemic-related anxiety – down from 65% in 2021 and 75% in 2020, the poll, which was released at the” American Psychiatric Association 2022 Annual Meeting, showed. Nevertheless, “‘while the overall level of concern has dropped, still four in 10 parents are worried about how their children are doing, and a third are having issues with access to care,’ said Saul Levin, MD, MPA, CEO and medical director of the APA, in a statement” released May 22.

According to Medscape (5/23, Brooks, Subscription Publication), meanwhile, “‘it’s not surprising that recent events, such as the war in Ukraine, racially motivated mass shootings, or the impacts of climate change, are weighing heavily on Americans’ minds,’ APA President Vivian Pender, MD, said in a news release.” Dr. Pender added, “COVID-19 in a way has taken a backseat, but the pandemic and its mental health effects are very much still with us.” For that reason, “it’s important that we are cognizant of that and continue to work to ensure people who need psychiatric care, whether the causes are tied to the pandemic or to other issues, can access it.”

Healio (5/23) reports, “Sixty percent of working adults reported knowing how to access mental health services through their employer in 2022, down from 71% in 2021, the 2022 Healthy Minds poll” also revealed. A separate but related Healio (5/23, Downey) article also covers other aspects of the poll.

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— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

HCPlive (5/22, Kunzmann) interviewed Linda Chokroverty, MD, “child psychiatrist and assistant professor in the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine,” at the American Psychiatric Association 2022 Annual Meeting. Dr. Chokroverty “discussed the importance of timely and coordinated psychiatric care in children impacted by disasters and trauma.” In the interview, Dr. Chokroverty “stressed the severe reactions children may have to disasters – increased fear and anxiety, and a desire to avoid social gatherings or school are among the more common effects.”

Related Links:

— “The Pediatric Disaster Psychiatry Care Team “Kevin Kunzmann, HCPLive, May 22, 2022

The New York Times (5/20, Kovaleski) “examined the listing of survivors in nearly 3,600 obituaries for people all across the United States who have died of Covid since March 2020,” finding that “each left behind an average of 15 loved ones.” American Psychiatric Association President-Elect Rebecca W. Brendel, MD, JD, “noted that grief from a death affects a wide range of people beyond those who might be mentioned in an obituary.” By way of example, many patients with coronavirus “have died without family by their side because of social distancing, she said, so already overburdened health workers have often stepped in almost as surrogates in their last moments.”

Related Links:

— “A sister reflects on the cruel separation that Covid imposed on grieving relatives. “Serge F. Kovaleski, The New York Times, May 20, 2022

HCPlive (5/19, Grossi) reports researchers have conducted a 23,033-participant “retrospective cohort study” that “evaluated opioid-naive patients who were prescribed at least one opioid during an inpatient hospital visit to determine baseline factors associated with a new diagnosis of opioid use disorder (OUD).” The study revealed that “2.1% were diagnosed with the disorder within a year of receiving their first opioid in the hospital,” and “within that population…a substantial number of those individuals were young and white, residing in high opioid geo-rank regions and had a history of nonopioid related drug disorder, tobacco use, and gabapentin use.” The findings were published in the May issue of the Journal of Hospital Medicine.

Related Links:

— “Study Provides Novel Insight on OUD Diagnosis Factors in Opioid-Naive Patients “Giuliana Grossi, HCPlive, May 19, 2022

The Washington Post (5/19, Hensley-Clancy) reports on the recent suicides of five NCAA athletes. Some “current and former college athletes and advocates told The Washington Post they see the moment as a mental health crisis for college athletes,” and “the factors that have exacerbated it – the pandemic, social media, the rising pressures on young people – are shared by many college students, experts say.” For many athletes, “concern has sharpened into anger at a system they say is inherently harmful to college athletes’ mental health.” In addition to challenges faced by other young people, college athletes also face “relentless hours, physical injury, limits on social circles that are confined to teams and can disappear with injury or poor performance.”

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— “The Washington Post (requires login and subscription)

Psychiatric News (5/19) reports, “Adolescents who prefer going to sleep later in the evening, are sleepy during the day, and sleep for shorter periods of time are more likely to participate in severe binge drinking the following year,” researchers concluded after using “data from six annual assessments from 801 participants enrolled in the National Consortium on Alcohol and Neurodevelopment in Adolescence (NCANDA) study.” The findings were published online May 17 in the journal Alcoholism.

Related Links:

— “Poor Sleep Habits Linked to Binge Drinking Among Adolescents, Psychiatric News, May 19, 2022

ABC News (5/18, Livingston, Green) reported, “May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and two years into a global pandemic that has highlighted the need for increased access to mental health care, 570 counties across the United States” are mental healthcare deserts that “have no psychologists, psychiatrists or counselors.” Saul Levin, MD, MPA, FRCP-E, FRC, “chief executive officer and medical director for the American Psychiatric Association,” stated, “While this country has given resources for healthcare over the decades, it has never been enough.” Dr. Levin added that “rural areas, in particular…’have not gotten the resources to keep up.’” In fact, 75% “of rural counties across the country have no mental health” clinicians “or fewer than 50 per 100,000 people, according to an ABC News analysis of Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services data.”

Related Links:

— “America’s mental health care deserts: Where is it hard to access care? “Kelly Livingston and Maggie Green, ABC News, May 18, 2022

MedPage Today (5/18, DePeau-Wilson) reports, “People diagnosed with schizophrenia showed early signs of cognitive decline as well as rapid declines later in life,” researchers concluded in a study revealing that “on average, individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia experienced a 16-point drop in IQ from early adolescence through adulthood, as compared with a nine-point decline for people with other psychotic disorders.” Included in the study were “428 individuals (212 with schizophrenia and 216 with other psychotic disorders).” The findings were published online May 18 in JAMA Psychiatry.

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— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

HealthPayerIntelligence (5/17, Bailey) reports, “Nearly a quarter of individuals receiving coverage from employer-sponsored health plans accessed mental health support in 2020,” a report from AHIP reveals. That report “reflects medical and pharmacy claims data related to mental health support from the IBM MarketScan Commercial Database between January 1, 2016, and December 31, 2020.”

Related Links:

— “Employer-Sponsored Health Plans Facilitated Mental Health Access “Victoria Bailey, HealthPayerIntelligence, May 17, 2022