The New York Times (10/5, Mueller) reports, “The arrival of vaccines and declining Covid-19 cases in the first half of 2021 coincided with an easing of symptoms of anxiety and depression across the” US, but “symptoms remained much more common in June 2021, the end of the survey period, than before the pandemic, and could be on the rise again because of the summer surge in cases of the Delta variant, C.D.C. scientists said.” The findings were published online Oct. 5 in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

The Hill (10/5, Coleman) reports, “The frequency of anxiety and depression symptoms among American adults amplified during the winter COVID-19 surge, according to a” CDC “study showing the pandemic’s impacts on the country’s mental health.” The study, “spanning from August 2020 to June 2021, found anxiety and depression frequency peaked between December 2020 and January 2021, as COVID-19 cases skyrocketed to new heights during the holiday season.” Despite a drop of 26.8% by June 2021, researchers also found that “the frequency of anxiety and depression still remained ‘substantially’ higher than compared to before the pandemic.”

Healio (10/5, Gramigna) reports investigators came to these conclusions after examining “data from adults aged 18 years or older via 19 biweekly surveys, with a total sample size of 1,526,154 participants.”

Depression Rates Rose Three-Fold Among US Adults During First Year Of Pandemic, Data Indicate. HealthDay (10/5, Preidt) reports, “Depression rates rose three-fold among U.S. adults during the first year of the COVID pandemic,” investigators concluded. In fact, “surveys of more than 6,500 adults found that about 33% have had more intense symptoms of depression this year, compared to 28% in the pandemic’s early months in spring of 2020 and 9% before it began.” The findings were published online Oct. 4 in The Lancet Regional Health.

Psychiatric News (10/5) reports the study revealed that people “most likely to report elevated depressive symptoms tended to have less income and a greater number of COVID-related stressors, including the death of someone close [due] to COVID-19, loss of employment, and/or challenges securing childcare.”

Related Links:

— “Depression and anxiety declined in the first half of 2021 but remained high, the C.D.C. reports “Benjamin Mueller, The New York Times, October 5, 2021

MedPage Today (10/4, Wu) reports on research finding that “childhood adversity – encompassing…abuse, neglect, and violence, among other hazards – was associated with over 430,000 deaths in the U.S. in 2019.” Based on “seven meta-analyses,” the researchers “found that deaths with the strongest ties to childhood adversity were from suicide and sexually transmitted infections.” It was also “implicated in various other unhealthy behaviors and disease markers, such as alcohol use, illicit drug use, and smoking.” The analyses “included 20,654,832 participants…from the last 10 years that measured the impact of childhood adversity on at least one cause of death or other health outcome.” The findings were published in JAMA Pediatrics.

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— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

The New York Times (10/4, Brody) focuses on the bidirectionality of anxiety, depression, and “serious physical disease,” including the “the ability to withstand or recover from one.” The Times adds, “What happens inside a person’s head can have damaging effects throughout the body, as well as the other way around” in that “an untreated mental illness can significantly increase the risk of becoming physically ill, and physical disorders may result in behaviors that make mental conditions worse.”

Related Links:

— “The Devastating Ways Depression and Anxiety Impact the Body “Jane E. Brody, The New York Times, October 4, 2021

The Washington Post (10/3, Kornfield) reports two counties in Ohio “are set to face off against four of the nation’s largest chain pharmacies in a federal” opioid litigation trial. The trial, scheduled to start today, “could serve as a litmus test for thousands of cities and counties looking to hold” drug companies accountable for allegedly fueling the U.S. opioid crisis.
The AP (10/2, Gillispie) reported that for the first time, pharmacy companies – in this case CVS, Walgreens, Giant Eagle, and Walmart – will go “to trial to defend themselves in the nation’s ongoing legal reckoning over the opioid crisis.” During the “bellwether federal trial,” attorneys for Ohio’s Lake and Trumbull counties “will try to convince a jury that the retail pharmacy companies played an outsized role in creating a public nuisance in the way they dispensed pain medication into their communities.” The AP explained that pharmacies operating in the counties allegedly dispensed so “many prescription [pain medications]…between 2012 and 2016 that the amount equaled 265 pills for every resident.” The trial “is expected to last around six weeks” and “could set the tone for similar lawsuits against retail pharmacy chains by government entities across the U.S.”

Related Links:

— “Pharmacies face 1st trial over role in opioid crisis “Mark Gillispie, AP, October 2, 2021

NPR (10/2, Noguchi) reported, “Many health care workers surveyed say they feel burnt out,” and this has “a direct impact on patient care.” The pandemic “has left many doctors, nurses, medical assistants, respiratory therapists and others on the front lines of care exhausted and overwhelmed, fueling greater levels of burnout that were already high.” The availability “of vaccines against the coronavirus sparked hope of a return to normal – only to be dashed by the latest surge of cases, driven primarily by people who aren’t vaccinated.”

Related Links:

— “Health workers know what good care is. Pandemic burnout is getting in the way “Yuki Noguchi, NPR , October 2, 2021

Psychiatric News (10/1) reported, “Patients with bipolar disorder who have a high genetic risk for the condition or for schizophrenia may have a higher risk of hospitalization compared with those who have a lower genetic risk for either of these conditions,” researchers concluded after analyzing “the polygenic risk scores of 954 patients who had bipolar disorder for at least five years to determine if the patients’ genetic risk of bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder, or schizophrenia was associated with severe bipolar disorder.” The findings were published online Sept. 28 in the Journal of Affective Disorders.

Related Links:

— “Genetic Risk of Some Mental Illnesses Tied to Increased Hospitalizations in Bipolar Disorder, Psychiatric News, October 1, 2021

HealthDay (10/1) reported, “Besides the long-established benefits of breastfeeding for baby and mom, a new study reports one more: Nursing could help chase the blues away.” Breastfeeding “is linked to a lower risk for postpartum depression…and nursing for a longer time may further ease depression symptoms, according to the findings,” which were published in the journal Public Health Nursing.

Related Links:

— “Breastfeeding Longer May Lower Postpartum Depression Risk “Cara Murez, HealthDay, October 1, 2021

HealthDay (9/30, Reinberg) reports, “For those who smoke or drink, it’s only a small step to marijuana, researchers” concluded in a study suggesting that “legal consumption of alcohol and tobacco may directly increase the level of illicit drug use.” The findings were published online Sept. 29 in the journal Addiction. HealthDay does not disclose the number of participants in the study.

Related Links:

— “Smoking, Drinking Gateway to Pot, Study Finds “Steven Reinberg, HealthDay, September 30, 2021

The New York Times (9/30, Caron) reports, “For about one in 20 people in the northern half of the United States, cooling temperatures and shorter, darker days may signal the onset of seasonal affective disorder, or SAD,” which “is believed to run in families and is more common among women.” The article explains measures people can take to control SAD, such as bright-light therapy and walking outdoors for about 20 minutes to half an hour each day.

Related Links:

— “How to Fend Off Winter Depression “Christina Caron, The New York Times, September 30, 2021

Healio (9/30, VanDewater) reports, “In randomized clinical trials, participants with treatment-resistant major depression [TRD] experienced a large placebo effect across all treatment modalities,” investigators concluded after analyzing data from “50 studies of 3,228 participants (mean age, 45.8 years; 54.8% women) with TRD.” The findings of the systematic review and meta-analysis were published online Sept. 24 in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “Placebo effect large in treatment-resistant depression “Kalie VanDewater, Healio, September 30, 2021