HealthDay (1/19, Mozes) reports, “Homelessness is difficult enough, but when it’s compounded by serious mental health issues,” sometimes “a state-appointed psychiatric conservator can take over, making critical healthcare decisions for a person deemed mentally unstable.” Now, in a study involving “nearly 800 Los Angeles residents, aged 18 to 56, who were involuntarily hospitalized within a non-profit ‘safety net’ psychiatric facility sometime between 2016 and 2018,” investigators found that “nearly half of admittees to psychiatric care were homeless,” and “among that group, about one in every seven were placed under a mental health conservatorship.” Often, these particular patients “faced ‘very lengthy hospital stays,’ averaging about five months, although some went even longer.” The findings were published online Oct. 27 in Psychiatric Services, a publication of the American Psychiatric Association.

Related Links:

— “Conservatorships Keep the Homeless in Psychiatric Wards Too Long: Study ” Alan Mozes, HealthDay, January 19, 2022

The New York Times (1/19, Barry) reports, “Suicide attempts in the United States showed a ‘substantial and alarming increase’ over the last decade, but one number remained the same, a new study has found: Year in and year out, about 40 percent of people who had recently tried suicide said they were not receiving mental health services.” The study’s “researchers drew on data from 484,732 responses to the federal government’s annual National Survey on Drug Use and Health.” The findings were published January 19 in JAMA Psychiatry.

HCPlive (1/19, Kunzmann) reports, “The annual rate of suicide attempts among US adults increased 17% from 2008 to 2019,” investigators concluded in the analysis, “which also showed that the rate of surveyed suicidal persons who did not know from where to seek treatment more than doubled in the same time.”

MedPage Today (1/19, Grant) also reports.

Related Links:

— “Survey of Americans Who Attempted Suicide Finds Many Aren’t Getting Care “Ellen Barry, The New York Times, January 19, 2022

MedPage Today (1/18, Walker) reports, “While more adverse events (AEs) were reported among those who received the COVID-19 vaccine during clinical trials versus placebo, the number of AEs reported in the placebo group was disproportionately high, a systematic review and meta-analysis found.” According to the review, “about a third of placebo recipients reported at least one systemic AE following both doses,” and these “so-called ‘nocebo responses’ in the active arms likely accounted for 76% of the reported systemic AEs after the first vaccine dose and 52% of AEs after the second vaccine dose.” The findings were published in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

HealthDay (1/18, Thompson) reports that patients with prostate cancer “treated with the latest forms of hormone blockers were twice as likely to develop depression compared with men treated with older forms of hormone therapy or those who received no such medication at all, results from a new study show.” The findings were published in JAMA.

Related Links:

— “Newer Hormone Treatments for Prostate Cancer May Raise Risk of Depression ” Dennis Thompson, HealthDay, January 18, 2022

According to HealthDay (1/17, Thompson), some people who have become vaccinated and boosted against COVID, who wear their masks, maintain social distance and adhere to hand washing protocols are now joining “a contingent of people who consider themselves ‘vaxxed and done’ with the COVID-19 pandemic.” Many “public health and mental health officials agree that ‘vaxxed and done’ is a real phenomenon, in that some vaccinated Americans are becoming exasperated with COVID-19 safety mandates that many fear will never” be lifted. American Psychiatric Association President Vivian Pender, MD, stated that “the new normal keeps changing. Just when it started to feel like things were going to go back to the way it used to be, along comes Omicron.” Nevertheless, “thoughtful and responsible people who’ve reached their ‘vaxxed and done’ limit should consider that wearing a mask and maintaining social distancing will help healthcare workers who are being slammed by the Omicron surge,” Dr. Pender said, as well as people who are immunocompromised or cannot be vaccinated.

Related Links:

— “COVID Fatigue: Are You Among the ‘Vaxxed & Done’? “Dennis Thompson, HealthDay, January 17, 2022

Healio (1/18, Herpen) reports, “The prevalence of mental disorders has been on the rise and remains a significant leading cause of disease burden worldwide,” investigators concluded in a study that “estimates for prevalence and burden from both men and women within 23 different age groups across 204 countries and territories worldwide.” The findings of the “30-year global systematic analysis” were published online Jan. 10 in The Lancet Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Mental disorders remain significant global burden on health “Robert Herpen, Healio, January 18, 2022

MedPage Today (1/14, George) reported “hospitalized patients with COVID-19 and no prior history of dementia had elevated levels of brain injury biomarkers,” according to an observational study published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia. Investigators examined “data from 251 hospitalized COVID-19 patients without a history of dementia, assessing seven serum markers of neurodegeneration: t-tau, p-tau181, GFAP, NfL, UCHL1, amyloid beta 40, and amyloid beta 42,” and then compared the biomarker levels “with 161 controls without COVID-19, including 54 people with no cognitive impairment, 54 people with mild cognitive impairment, and 53 people with Alzheimer’s disease dementia.”

Related Links:

— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

According to Psychiatric News (1/14), the FDA “has issued a Drug Safety Communication [PDF] about dental problems associated with the use of buprenorphine products that dissolve in the mouth (transmucosal) and is requiring that a new warning about the risk of dental problems be added to the prescribing information and patient medication guides for these products.” Among these dental problems are “tooth decay, cavities, dental abscesses/infection, tooth erosion, or tooth loss.”

Related Links:

— “FDA Issues Warning About Dental Risk With Transmucosal Buprenorphine, Psychiatric News, January 14, 2022

Reuters (1/14, Goldberg) reported, “In just six months, 988 goes live as the shortcut to call or text the U.S. suicide hotline at a time when the pandemic is ramping up the need for mental health services,” however, “many states are lagging on the rollout, and some were struggling to cope with pleas for help even before the three-digit number was envisioned.”

Related Links:

— “U.S. suicide hotline 988 is set to go live, but many states may not be ready “Barbara Goldberg, Reuters, January 14, 2022

The New York Times (1/13, Ghorayshi) reports, “Clinicians are divided over new” draft guidelines saying that transgender “teens should undergo mental health screenings before receiving hormones or gender surgeries.” This comes as “an upsurge in teenagers requesting hormones or surgeries to better align their bodies with their gender identities has ignited a debate among” physicians and other healthcare professionals “over when to provide these treatments.” In the new 350-page guidelines, a “chapter dedicated to adolescents says that they must undergo mental health assessments and must have questioned their gender identity for ‘several years’ before receiving” surgeries or medications, a stance that has divided “experts in transgender health” and reflects “a fraught debate over how to weigh conflicting risks for young people, who typically can’t give full legal consent until they are 18 and who may be in emotional distress or more vulnerable to peer influence than adults are.”

Related Links:

— “Doctors Debate Whether Trans Teens Need Therapy Before Hormones “Azeen Ghorayshi, The New York Times, January 13, 2022