Psychiatric News (4/19) reports, “Older adults who exhibit significant changes in blood pressure over a year may have a higher risk of depressive symptoms than those whose blood pressure remains consistent,” researchers concluded in a study that “analyzed data from 505 older adults aged 55 to 91 who participated in the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative.” The findings were published online April 2 ahead of print in the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Blood Pressure Variability Linked With Depressive Symptoms in Older Adults, Psychiatric News, April 19, 2022

Behind a paywall, Bloomberg Law (4/19, Lopez, Subscription Publication) reports, “The HHS is pumping out $105 million in grant funding for states and territories transitioning to a three-digit national suicide hotline in an effort to beef up staffing ahead of the targeted summer rollout.” The new 988 “dialing code is slated to replace the current 10-digit number for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline in July.”

Related Links:

— “Suicide Call Centers to Get $105 Million Ahead of New Hotline “Ian Lopez, Bloomberg Law , April 19, 2022

HealthDay (4/18, Norton) reports research indicates that “in school districts with greater segregation, Black students tended to have more behavioral issues and were more likely to drink alcohol, versus their peers in more integrated districts.” Investigators arrived at this conclusion after examining “data on more than 1,200 Black children and teenagers in school districts that, in 1991, were still under court-ordered desegregation.” The youngsters “lived in those districts between 1991 and 2014, allowing researchers to examine the effects of a ‘natural experiment,’ in which school district segregation increased over time.” The findings were published online April 18 in the journal Pediatrics.

Related Links:

— “School Segregation Tied to Problem Drinking Among Black Youth “Amy Norton, HealthDay, April 18, 2022

HealthDay (4/18, Mann) reports, “People with substance abuse disorders [SUD], depression and other mental health conditions may be at higher risk for COVID-19 – even when they are fully vaccinated,” researchers concluded after examining “records of more than 263,000 patients of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (average age: 66).”

Healio (4/18) reports the study found that “135,481 (51.4%) of participants presented with at least one psychiatric disorder diagnosis, with 39,109 (14.8%) developing a breakthrough infection,” with “most specific psychiatric disorder diagnoses…associated with an increased incidence of breakthrough infection.” The findings were published online April 14 in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “Mental Health Issues Linked to Higher Risk of Breakthrough COVID Infections ” Denise Man, HealthDay , April 18, 2022

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)