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

PatientEngagementHIT (4/11, Heath) reports, “Black patient trust in the medical field is growing after nearly two years of a pandemic that has stressed public health and public perceptions of health and exposed the glaring inequities Black people experience in health care,” according to data from Pew Research. The survey data found 28% “of respondents said they have great confidence in medical scientists to act in the public’s interest; 50% said they have a fair amount of trust.” Also, “Black patients are…reporting good patient experiences.”

Related Links:

— “Black Patient Trust in Medical Pros, Patient Experience Improving “Sara Heath, PatientEngagementHIT, April 11, 2022

Modern Healthcare (4/5, Gillespie, Subscription Publication) reports the proliferation in “investor-owned or independently owned stand-alone clinics” offering ketamine, an off-label treatment for depression, “is concerning to many in the drug safety and mental health fields.” Off-label use of ketamine offers “no regulatory oversight of doctors’ prescribing patterns, safety protocols or adverse events in patients.” In addition, ketamine “is sometimes marketed for a host of other chronic diseases and behavioral diagnoses that have little scientific backing.”

Related Links:

— “Modern Healthcare (Requires Subscription)

Healio (4/11, Herpen) reports, “A treatment mode specifically targeting prevention of addiction-related suicide is superior to customary care for improving knowledge, behaviors and help-seeking,” investigators concluded in a 906-patient study that “sought to evaluate the effectiveness of Preventing Addiction Related Suicide (PARS) treatment module on a wide range of suicide-related outcomes compared with customary care for those dealing with substance use disorders (SUD).” The findings were published online April 6 in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “Suicide prevention module superior to usual care for adults with substance use disorder “Robert Herpen, MA, Healio, April 11, 2022

Medscape (4/11, Chris Jaklevic, Subscription Publication) reports, “An analysis at a large academic health system suggests that universal screening might help to reduce…disparities in depression treatment.” Researchers “analyzed electronic health record data following a rollout of a universal depression screening program at” the health system and “found that the overall rate of depression screening doubled at six primary care practices over a little more than 2 years, reaching nearly 90%.” The findings presented at the SGIM 2022 Annual Meeting revealed “screening disparities diminished for men, older individuals, racial and ethnic minorities, and people with language barriers.”

Related Links:

— Medscape (requires login and subscription)

HealthDay (4/8, Roberts Murez) reported “a clinical trial that monitored” sleep in patients with Alzheimer’s disease and progressive supranuclear palsy who struggle with drowsiness “and then studied their brains after death discovered an entirely different reason for such sleepiness – they suffer a loss of neurons that help keep a person awake.” Investigators measured the proteins beta amyloid and tau and concluded, “These findings confirm with direct evidence that tau is a critical driver of sleep disturbances.” The trial results were published in JAMA Neurology.

Related Links:

— “New Insights Into Why Alzheimer’s Can Bring Drowsiness “Cara Murez, HealthDay, April 8, 2022

The AP (4/9, Mulvihill, Lauer) reported, “On top of the stigma surrounding addiction, people who are in medical treatment for substance abuse can face additional discrimination – including in medical and legal settings that are supposed to help.” In response, “the U.S. Department of Justice published new guidelines aimed at dealing with the problem” and stated “that it’s illegal under the Americans with Disabilities Act to discriminate against people because they are using prescribed methadone or other medications to treat opioid use disorder.”

Related Links:

— “Treatment for opioid addiction often brings discrimination “Geoff Mulvihill and Claudia Lauer, AP, April 9, 2022

Endocrinology Advisor (4/7, Nye) reports, “Psychiatric symptoms and impaired health-related quality of life (HRQOL) have been reported among adolescents and young adults with youth-onset type 2 diabetes (T2D),” researchers concluded in a 514-patient study, the findings of which were published online in Diabetes Care.

Related Links:

— “Depression and HRQOL Influence Disease Trajectory Among Patients With Youth-Onset Type 2 Diabetes “Jessica Nye, Endocrinology Advisor, April 7, 2022

Psychiatric News (4/7) reports, “Screening cancer patients for anxiety, depression, and other symptoms of distress may help identify those at heightened risk of nonfatal self-injury,” investigators concluded in a study involving “a total of 806,910 patients.” The study revealed that patients with cancer “who scored higher on the Edmonton Symptom Assessment System (ESAS) – a tool that asks patients to score the severity of their symptoms of nausea, pain, depression, well-being, and more – were more likely to experience nonfatal self-injury within six months than those who scored lower on the ESAS.” The findings were published online March 31 in JAMA Oncology.

Related Links:

— “Screening Cancer Patients for Distress May Identify Patients at Higher Risk of Self-Injury, Psychiatric News, April 7, 2022

HealthDay (4/6, Munez) reports, “A record number of American adults are now dying with a dementia diagnosis,” but the “increase of 36% from two decades ago may have more to do with better record-keeping than an actual rise in dementia cases,” investigators concluded in a study that “used data from 3.5 million people over the age of 67 who died between 2004 and 2017, including bills submitted to the Medicare system in the last two years of their lives.” The findings were published online in JAMA Health Forum.

Related Links:

— “Half of Americans Now Die With Dementia Diagnosis, Better Record-Keeping May Be Why “Cara Murez, HealthDay, April 6, 2022