The New York Times (3/7, Belluck) reports, “COVID-19 may cause greater loss of gray matter and tissue damage in the brain than naturally occurs in people who have not been infected with the virus, a large…study finds.” This study” found shrinkage and tissue damage primarily in brain areas related to sense of smell; some of those areas are also involved in other brain functions, the researchers said.” The findings were published in Nature.

USA Today (3/7, Weintraub) reports the study “used before-and-after brain images of 785 British people, ages 51 to 81.” USA Today adds, “Analysis of the ‘before’ and ‘after’ images from the UK Biobank showed that people infected with COVID-19 had a greater reduction in their brain volumes overall and performed worse on cognitive tests than those who had not been infected.” The findings also revealed brain changes among people “who had much milder disease.”

Bloomberg (3/7, Gale) also reports on the study.

Related Links:

— “Covid May Cause Changes in the Brain, New Study Finds “Pam Belluck, The New York Times, March 7, 2022

The Washington Post (3/7, Haupt) spotlights “hoarding disorder – a mental health condition in which people have trouble getting rid of possessions because of a perceived need to save them.” The disorder “affects about 2.6 percent of people worldwide, according to the American Psychiatric Association,” with “higher rates” seen “in those over 60 and people who have other psychiatric problems, such as anxiety or depression.” The article provides a list of tips to help friends and family members with hoarding disorder. Click here to see a patient and family resource about hoarding disorder.

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— “The Washington Post (requires login and subscription)

The AP (3/4, Dale) reported, “Black retired football players who were denied payments for dementia in the NFL’s $1 billion concussion settlement can seek to be retested or have their claims rescored to eliminate racial bias in the testing and payout formula, under a revised plan finalized Friday.” The AP added, “Outrage over the use of ‘race-norming’ in the dementia testing…forced the NFL and players’ lawyers back to the negotiating table last year.” These “revisions could allow many retired players to resubmit their claims and add $100 million or more to the NFL’s legal tab.”

Related Links:

— “Judge approves fix to stem race bias in NFL concussion deal “Maryclaire Dale, AP, March 4, 2022

MedPage Today (3/4, D’Ambrosio) reported, “Despite treatment with antidepressant medication, a significant proportion of women still reported symptoms of anxiety and depression during pregnancy, according to a prospective study” published in Psychiatric Research and Clinical Practice. Among the “group of 88 women who took selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), about a third had clinically relevant symptoms of depression during pregnancy and the postpartum period, reported” researchers. Furthermore, “only 18% to 29% of pregnant women who took antidepressants maintained remission, the researchers wrote.”

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— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

Psychiatric News (3/4) reported drug overdose fatalities “among Black people living in the United States rose significantly from 2019 to 2020, outpacing the overdose death rates of White people for the first time in over 20 years, according to a report published this week in JAMA Psychiatry.” The analysis also found “that American Indian or Alaska Native people experienced the highest rate of overdose mortality in 2020 of all the groups examined.”

Related Links:

— “Study Examines Shifting Racial Trends in Drug Overdose Deaths, Psychiatric News, March 4, 2022

The Washington Post (3/6, A1, Bernstein) reports, “It has been difficult to find mental health counseling in much of the United States for years, long before the coronavirus pandemic began.” But now, “after two years of unrelenting stress, turmoil and grief, many people seeking help are confronting a system at or beyond capacity, its inadequacy for this moment plainly exposed.” It “is even more difficult to find specialized care for children or those with lower income.” The Post adds, “People who might never have sought therapy are now more willing to consider it in the wake of the pandemic, led by a younger generation that sees less stigma in acknowledging mental illness, said” American Psychiatric Association CEO and Medical Director Saul Levin, MD, MPA. Dr. Levin said, “People have been accessing mental health care a lot more now because of covid.”

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— “The Washington Post (requires login and subscription)

HealthDay (3/3) reports, “Suicide mortality increased from 2000 to 2018, then decreased from 2018 to 2020,” researchers from the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics concluded. The authors wrote, “Suicide rates were three to four times higher for males compared with females across the period, with both groups having lower rates in 2020 compared with 2018 and 2019.” The findings were published in a NCHS Data Brief No. 433 for March.

Related Links:

— “Suicide Mortality Decreased From 2018 to 2020 After Rising Since 2000, HealthDay , March 3, 2022

Healio (3/3, Herpen) reports, “The prevalence of PTSD in U.S. military veterans is higher than previous estimates,” researchers concluded after examining “information on a nationally representative sample of 4,069 veterans culled from the 2019–20 National Health and Resilience in Veterans Study, an online survey conducted from November 2019 to March 2020.” The study revealed that “prevalence of lifetime PTSD among the survey population (9.4%) was slightly higher than 2016 estimates (6.9% to 8.1%).” The findings of the “cross-sectional, retrospective study” were published online Feb. 22 in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “PTSD prevalence among US military veterans higher than previously estimated “Robert Herpen, Healio, March 3, 2022

Parkinson’s News Today (3/2, Bryson) reports, “A low daily dose of aripiprazole, an antipsychotic therapy, significantly eased hallucinations and delusions in people with Parkinson’s disease and psychosis,” researchers concluded in an open-label study involving 24 patients with Parkinson’s who had psychosis. The findings were published online in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology.

Related Links:

— “Aripiprazole at Low Dose Eases Parkinson’s Psychosis, If Tolerable “Steve Bryson, Parkinson’s News Today, March 2, 2022

Healio (3/2, Miller) reports, “Patients who started oxycodone while taking fluoxetine or paroxetine were at increased risk for opioid overdose compared with those who were taking other selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors [SSRIs],” researchers concluded after reviewing “data from three health insurance databases on 2,037,490 patients who received a prescription for oxycodone while receiving a SSRI.” The findings were published online Feb. 24 in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “Use of oxycodone with fluoxetine or paroxetine increases risk for opioid overdose “Janel Miller, Healio, March 2, 2022