Healio (4/15, Herpen) reported, “Treatment with medications for opioid use disorder [OUD] is associated with significant reductions in multiple modes of mortality for American veterans,” investigators concluded in a “retrospective cohort study” that “included more than 60,000 patients (92.8% male; mean age 46.5 years) from the Department of Veterans Affairs between 2003 and 2017.” The findings were published online April 1 in the American Journal of Psychiatry, a publication of the American Psychiatric Association.

Related Links:

— “Medication treatment for opioid use disorder linked with lowered mortality in veterans “Robert Herpen, Healio, April 15, 2022

mHealth Intelligence (4/15, Melchionna) reported that in comparison to White people, African Americans and Hispanics “were 35 percent and 51 percent less likely to use telehealth, respectively,” according to researchers who evaluated “data from 67,733 patients and 233,302 visits in the study” and found that a “digital divide” and “other factors such as age and distance from the clinic contributed to the likelihood of telehealth use.” The study was published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.

Related Links:

— “Black, Hispanic Patients Less Likely to Use Telehealth, New Study Shows “Mark Melchionna, mHealth Intelligence, April 15, 2022

According to Medscape (4/14, Ault, Subscription Publication), “mental health professionals and organizations in the United States and Europe are donating time, money, counseling, and training to help colleagues still in Ukraine and the millions of Ukrainians who have fled their home country or have been displaced internally.” For example, “the American Psychiatric Association (APA) Foundation has reported that it will donate up to $25,000 for Ukrainian relief, and the APA has compiled a resource page on trauma and refugee assistance.” In a March 2 statement, the APA said, “The American Psychiatric Association sends our support to all who are experiencing pain and suffering from these deeply troubling events, including those directly exposed to armed conflict, those displaced from their homes and country, those providing care and protection to civilians, friends and family of Ukrainian citizens, and the Ukrainian diaspora around the globe.”

Related Links:

— Medscape (requires login and subscription)

CNN (4/14, Holcombe) reports that for many people in the US with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), “the Covid-19 pandemic has posed huge challenges.” But now, “even as the world transitions to a sense of normalcy, challenges lie ahead for many people.”

Related Links:

— “OCD isn’t just about being a neat freak. And for those with it, this next stage of the pandemic may be hard “Madeline Holcombe, CNN, April 14, 2022

Healio (4/13, Herpen) reports, “Older adults with late-onset major depressive disorder [MDD] and anxiety or substance use disorders were more likely to experience treatment-resistant depression,” investigators concluded in a study that assessed “27,189 eligible participants, who were aged 65 years or older and diagnosed with first-episode MDD, taken from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Database between Jan. 1, 2001, and Dec. 31, 2010.” Next, “one year follow-up was” evaluated “for incidence of resistance to treatment, defined as failure to respond to at least two antidepressants, with treatment-resistant tendency…defined as unresponsiveness to the first antidepressant.” The findings were published online March 23 in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Comorbidities linked to treatment-resistant depression in older adults with MDD “Robert Herpen, Healio, April 13, 2022

MedPage Today (4/13, George) reports, “A healthy lifestyle was tied to a longer life but the extra years did not mean more time living with Alzheimer’s dementia,” investigators concluded after evaluating “data from 2,449 older adults with a mean age of 76 in the Chicago Health and Aging Project…who were recruited from 1993 to 2009.” The study revealed that “people who had four or five healthy lifestyle factors – spanning diet, cognitive activity, physical exercise, smoking, and alcohol patterns – at age 65 lived longer than their counterparts with zero or one healthy factors.” The findings were published online in the BMJ.

Related Links:

— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

According to the New York Times (4/13, Caron), mental health apps “claim to help with issues as varied as addiction, sleeplessness, anxiety and schizophrenia, often by using tools like games, therapy chatbots or mood-tracking diaries.” Most of these apps are “unregulated,” however, and while “some are considered useful and safe, others may have shaky (or nonexistent) privacy policies and a lack of high-quality research demonstrating that the apps live up to their marketing claims.” In fact, “Stephen Schueller, the executive director of One Mind PsyberGuide, a nonprofit project that reviews mental health apps, said the lack of regulation has created a ‘Wild West,’ that was exacerbated when the Food and Drug Administration loosened its requirements [PDF] for digital psychiatry products in 2020.”

Related Links:

— “How to Find a Mental Health App That Works for You “Christina Caron, The New York Times, April 13, 2022

According to HealthDay (4/13, Munez), a 15-study systematic review and meta-analysis encompassing some 191,000 participants indicates that exercise may “make a difference in major depressive disorder [MDD].” The review found “an association between physical activity and depression risk,” with researchers positing that “almost 12% of cases of depression could have been prevented with a certain amount of exercise.” The findings were published online April 13 in JAMA Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Exercise Is Powerful Medicine for Depression “Cara Murez, HealthDay, April 13, 2022

The Los Angeles Times (4/12, Reyes) reports “deadly drug overdoses among U.S. teenagers have more than doubled in frequency in recent years, even as those in the age group became less likely to use illegal drugs,” according to an analysis of “overdose deaths among 14- to 18-year-olds.” The results published in a research letter in JAMA revealed “the death rate for drug overdoses in that age group had been generally stable for a decade, then nearly doubled between 2019 and 2020 and continued to rise early in 2021, reaching a rate of 5.49 deaths per 100,000 adolescents.”

CNN (4/12, Holcombe) reports the analysis revealed that “in 2021, fentanyl was involved in more than 77% of adolescent overdose deaths.”

NPR (4/12, Chatterjee) reports, “The highest rates were among Native American and Alaskan Native teens, followed by Latino teens.”

The Hill (4/12, Ali) also reports on the findings.

Related Links:

— “Deadly overdoses have spiked among teens, even as drug use dropped, UCLA researchers find “Emily Alpert Reyes, The Los Angeles Times, April 12, 2022

Reuters (4/12) reports, “The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration have jointly issued warning letters to two websites for illegally selling Adderall, a treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder [AD/HD].” These “warning letters were issued on March 30,” and now the two companies “have 15 business days to respond to the agencies and inform them of the steps being taken to address any violations and prevent their recurrence”.

Related Links:

— “FDA warns websites illegally selling ADHD drug Adderall, Reuters, April 12, 2022