NBC News (1/5, Bellamy) reported, “According to a study…Black children and teens who experience racial discrimination online may develop symptoms related to post-traumatic stress disorder.” Investigators “found that children and teens who experienced racism online were more likely to report PTSD symptoms, and that those who developed PTSD symptoms were more likely to report suicidal thoughts,” but “they didn’t find that experiencing online racism directly led to an increased likelihood of suicidal thoughts.” The findings were published in JAMA Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Online racism is linked to PTSD symptoms in Black youth, study finds,” Claretta Bellamy, NBC News, January 5, 2024

HCP Live (1/4, Derman) reports, “Hearing loss is associated with an increased risk of dementia, but hearing aids are linked with reducing the risk, according to a new study.” The findings were published in JAMA Otolaryngology–Head & Neck Surgery.

Related Links:

— “Hearing Loss Linked with Increased Risk of Dementia,” Chelsie Derman, HCP Live, January 4, 2024

Neurology Advisor (1/4) reports, “Excessive television watching is associated with an increased risk for dementia, Parkinson disease, and depression,” although “non-worked-related moderate computer use is tied to a lower risk for dementia,” according to a study. The findings were published in the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity.

Related Links:

— “TV Watching Duration May Impact Risk for Dementia, PD, and Depression,” Jessica Nye, PhD, Neurology Advisor, January 4, 2024

The Washington Post (1/23, Johnson ) reports that for some patients with a variant of Alzheimer’s disease “called posterior cortical atrophy, the disease begins with problems affecting vision rather than memory. The unusual early symptoms mean that thousands of people may go years before receiving the correct diagnosis, experts said.” However, “that may change with the first large-scale international study of the condition, published Monday in the journal Lancet Neurology.”

The researchers “found that, on average, the syndrome begins affecting patients at age 59 – about five to six years earlier than most patients with the more common form of Alzheimer’s.” They “say that the variant may account for as many as 10 percent of all Alzheimer’s cases; that would put the number of Americans with the condition close to 700,000.”

Related Links:

— “The Washington Post (requires login and subscription)

CNN (1/3, Dillinger) reports the FDA “is evaluating reports of side effects such as hair loss and suicidal thoughts in people taking” weight loss drugs like Ozempic, Mounjaro and Wegovy. The agency “is ‘evaluating the need for regulatory action’ after its FDA Adverse Event Reporting System or FAERS received reports of alopecia, or hair loss; aspiration, or accidentally breathing in things like food or liquid; and suicidal ideation in people using these medications.”

The article notes that “some research has linked GLP-1 agonists to serious digestive problems such as stomach paralysis, pancreatitis and bowel obstructions, although the risks of these events appear to be rare.”

Related Links:

— “FDA looking into reports of hair loss, suicidal thoughts in people using popular drugs for diabetes and weight loss,” Katherine Dillinger, CNN, January 4, 2024

CNN (1/3, McPhillips ) reports, “People who have more interrupted sleep in their 30s and 40s are more than twice as likely to have memory and thinking problems a decade later, according to a…study.” Investigators found that “overall, people experiencing more sleep fragmentation, or with greater share of their sleeping hours spent moving, were more likely to receive poor cognitive scores on all of the tests more than a decade later.”

The study indicated that “of the 175 people with the most disrupted sleep, 44 had poor cognitive performance 10 years later, compared with 10 of the 176 people with the least disrupted sleep.” The findingswere published in Neurology.

Related Links:

— “Sleep disruptions in 30s and 40s linked to cognitive decline a decade later, study finds,” Deidre McPhillips, CNN, January 4, 2024

Kaiser Health News (1/3, Peace , Prator) reports that media coverage of a national Adderall shortage “has focused primarily on the harms to people with ADHD,” however “for those with sleep disorders … the effects may be even more consequential.” That’s because “basic tasks – like driving – become dangerous or impossible without medication,” while “job and school performances are threatened by the onset of sudden sleep and sometimes even paralysis.”

Related Links:

— “Patients with narcolepsy face a dual nightmare of medication shortages and stigma,” Lauren Peace and Jack Prator, Kaiser Health News, January 3, 2024

MedPage Today (1/3, DePeau-Wilson ) reports, “Unsupervised, at-home use of transcranial direct current stimulation was no better than a sham control for treating a major depressive episode, a randomized trial showed.” The findings were published in JAMA Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

The New York Times (1/2, Belluck) reports, “Tens of thousands of women who are not pregnant are ordering abortion pills just in case they might need them someday, especially in states where access is threatened, according to a study published on Tuesday.” The practice, which is known as advance provision, “has increased significantly since the Supreme Court’s decision in 2022 to overturn the national right to abortion.” The findingswere published in JAMA Internal Medicine.

The AP (1/2, Ungar) reports that researchers looked at requests for mifepristone and misoprostol “from people who weren’t pregnant and sought them through Aid Access, a European online telemedicine service that prescribes them for future and immediate use.” Notably, “requests were highest right after news leaked in May 2022 that the Supreme Court would overturn Roe v. Wade – but before the formal announcement that June.”

Related Links:

— “US women are stocking up on abortion pills, especially when there is news about restrictions,” Laura Ungar, Associated Press, January 2, 2024

Healio (1/2, Welsh) says, “Maternal cannabis use was associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes, including small for gestational age, preterm birth, stillbirth and hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, linked to placental function, researchers reported.” The findingswere reported in JAMA.

Related Links:

— “Maternal cannabis use linked to adverse pregnancy outcomes related to placental function,” , Healio, January 2, 2024