Medscape (6/13, Davenport, Subscription Publication) reports research indicates that “women without a history of psychiatric illness who take combined hormonal contraceptives do not have an increased risk for attempted suicide but may have a reduced risk with extended use.” In the “study of more than 800 women younger than age 50 who attempted suicide and more than 3000 aged-matched peers, results showed those who took hormonal contraceptives had a 27% reduced risk for attempted suicide.” The findings were presented at the virtual European Psychiatric Association 2022 Congress.

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— Medscape (requires login and subscription)

According to Healio (6/10, Herpen), in a June 8 press release, “HHS has announced nearly $15 million in funding will be granted for rural communities to address psychostimulant misuse and related overdose deaths.” The press release acknowledged that “the overdose crisis is now largely characterized by deaths involving illicitly manufactured synthetic opioids, including fentanyl, and psychostimulants such as methamphetamine, cocaine, ecstasy, as well as prescription stimulants for conditions such as” attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

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— “HHS earmarks $15 million for treatment, prevention of stimulant use in rural areas “Robert Herpen, Healio, June 10, 2022

Healio (6/12, Monostra) reports, “People who spend more time per day using wireless mobile devices are more likely to have a higher BMI, lower-quality sleep and other adverse health outcomes, according to” a medical literature review, the findings of which were presented at ENDO 2022. The review revealed that “each hour per day increase in mobile screen time was associated with an increase in BMI, and excessive device use was linked to insufficient sleep, greater daytime tiredness, sleepiness and depression.”

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— “Excessive mobile device use linked to higher BMI, other adverse health outcomes “Michael Monostra, Healio, June 12, 2022

Psychiatric News (6/10) reported, “The majority of boys and men who die by suicide have no known mental health conditions,” researchers concluded after having “analyzed data from the CDC’s National Violent Death Reporting System…for 70,376 males aged 10 years and older who died by suicide between 2016 and 2018.” The findings were published online June 7 in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

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— “Most Males Who Die by Suicide Have No Known Mental Health Conditions, Psychiatric News, June 10, 2022

Healio (2/22, Gramigna) reported, “Among patients with first-episode psychosis [FEP], the effectiveness of antipsychotics for relapse prevention decreased significantly after the second occurrence,” researchers concluded after using “the nationwide Hospital Discharge register in Finland” to identify 5,367 “inpatients with first-episode schizophrenia aged 45 years or younger who were followed for five years of illness or until a fifth relapse episode.” The findings were published online Feb. 16 in The Lancet Psychiatry.

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— “Antipsychotics for relapse prevention less effective a second time “Joe Gramigna, Healio, February 22, 2022

MedPage Today (5/25, Monaco) reported, “The COVID-19 pandemic spurred” clinicians “to get creative in their shift to telepsychiatry for patients with schizophrenia, a subanalysis of the OASIS study” revealed. In fact, “across all types of visits – from routine to crisis visits – the percentage conducted via telepsychiatry increased more than threefold during the pandemic among 35 sites across the country,” researchers concluded.

Healio (5/25, Hemphill) reported, “According to the study, 94% of the investigators said telepsychiatry maintained the standard of care for patients with schizophrenia who are being treated with” long-acting injectables (LAIs). The findings were presented at the American Psychiatric Association 2022 Annual Meeting.

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— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

Healio (6/9, Herpen) reports, “Specific phenotypes of autism spectrum disorder [ASD], including issues with visual processing, found in older siblings are likely predictors of ASD in younger siblings,” researchers concluded in a study involving magnetic resonance imaging and including “384 pairs of siblings, the oldest of which had been diagnosed with ASD.” The findings were published online May 26 in the American Journal of Psychiatry, a publication of the American Psychiatric Association.

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— “Phenotypic indicators predict ASD in siblings “Robert Herpen, MA, Healio, June 9, 2022

According to HealthDay (6/9, Preidt), herpes zoster, commonly known as shingles, appears not to be tied to an increased risk of dementia. Investigators arrived at this conclusion after they “analyzed data from more than 247,000 people in Denmark who visited a hospital or were prescribed antiviral medication for shingles over the course of 20 years, and 1.2 million age- and sex-matched people without the illness.” After adjustment for confounding factors, the study revealed that “people with shingles actually had a 7% lower risk of dementia than people who did not have shingles.” The findings were published online in the journal Neurology.

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— “Shingles Won’t Raise Risk for Dementia: Study “Robert Preidt, HealthDay, June 9, 2022

mHealth Intelligence (6/9, Melchionna) reports “telehealth utilization rates correspond with how clinicians perceive the effectiveness level, ease of use, and quality of virtual care services” amid the COVID-19 pandemic, according to survey study findings published in JAMA Network Open. The survey including “866 participants, who worked in clinics that specialized in either mental health (MH), primary care (PC), or specialty care (SC),” found “that MH respondents were more likely than their PC and SC counterparts to rate video care as having the highest quality, and they preferred this modality to the phone.”

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— “Clinician Perception of Quality Linked to Telehealth Modality Use Rates “Mark Melchionna, mHealth Intelligence, June 9, 2022

Medscape (6/8, Burton, Subscription Publication) reports, “Social isolation is associated with a significantly increased risk of dementia in older people,” investigators concluded after examining “data from the UK Biobank from 462,619 people from across the” UK. The study revealed that “individuals who reported feeling socially isolated had worse cognitive function at baseline than those who did not report social isolation and were 26% more likely to have dementia at follow-up.” What’s more, magnetic resonance imaging “scans conducted nearly nine years after study enrollment also showed that those who reported feeling socially isolated had lower gray matter volume…in areas of the brain linked to learning and memory.” The findingswere published online in the journal Neurology.

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— Medscape (requires login and subscription)