CNN (4/25, Holcombe) reports family members of patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) with COVID-19 often “come away from the experience with symptoms of anxiety, depression and PTSD [posttraumatic stress disorder], according to a” survey study. The findings – published in JAMA Internal Medicine – “found that of the families that responded to the survey, 201 out of 316 (about 63%) had significant symptoms of PTSD.”

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— “Family members of Covid-19 ICU patients may emerge with a different condition, study says “Madeline Holcombe, CNN, April 25, 2022

CNN (4/25, Rogers) reports, “The number of suicides among adolescents between the ages of 10 and 19 increased in five states during the pandemic, according to research looking at 14 states.” In addition, “data from Georgia, Indiana, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Virginia and California…showed an increase in the proportion of adolescent deaths by suicide relative to suicides by people of all ages.”

MedPage Today (4/25, Walker) reports, “Adolescent suicides made up a larger share of suicides at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic compared to prepandemic years, according to data from 14 states,” data which “comprised 32% of all U.S. residents and about a third of all adolescents.” The study revealed that “in 2020, individuals ages 10-19 comprised a significantly higher proportion of total suicides versus the prepandemic period of 2015-2019 (6.5% vs 5.9%, respectively), a relative 10% increase,” but even though “there was also an increase in the absolute number of adolescent suicides in 2020, at 903 versus 835.6 on average in the prepandemic years, it was not statistically significant, the authors stated.” The findings were published online in an April 25 research letter in JAMA Pediatrics.

Related Links:

— “Adolescent suicides increased in 5 US states during the pandemic. Why parents should be concerned “Kristen Rogers, CNN, April 25, 2022

The Washington Post (4/24, Searing) reports, “Already known to help ease depression, regular exercise may also help prevent it, with people who exercised just half the recommended weekly amount lowering their risk for depression by 18 percent,” investigators concluded after analyzing “data from 15 studies, involving 191,130 adults who were tracked for at least three years.” Researchers also found that people “who were more active, meeting at least the minimum recommended physical activity level, reduced their risk for depression by 25 percent, compared with inactive people.” The findings of the systematic review and meta-analysis were published online April 13 in JAMA Psychiatry.

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— “The Washington Post (requires login and subscription)

In a front-page feature story, the New York Times (4/24, A1, Richtel, Flanagan) reports that American adolescents are facing a new public health threat, that is, “soaring rates of mental health disorders.” For example, in 2019, 13 percent of adolescent Americans “reported having a major depressive episode, a 60 percent increase from 2007.” Additionally, “emergency room visits by children and adolescents in that period also rose sharply for anxiety, mood disorders and self-harm.” Further, suicide rates for people ages 10 to 24, “stable from 2000 to 2007, leaped nearly 60 percent by 2018,” according to the CDC.

NPR (4/24, Rascoe, Narro) interviews Kathleen Ethier, PhD, who “leads the Division of Adolescent and School Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which this month published a survey” indicating “the extent to which the pandemic has been incredibly disruptive for young people and their families.”

Related Links:

— “‘It’s Life or Death’: The Mental Health Crisis Among U.S. Teens ” Matt Richtel, The New York Times, April 24, 2022

A Washington Post (4/21, Bump) analysis says research “from the Peterson Center on Healthcare and Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) quantifies the effects of [COVID-19] vaccination.” The Post adds, “Since June 2021, the point at which every American adult had access to coronavirus vaccines, they estimate that just over 234,000 unvaccinated Americans died who could have lived had they been immunized against the virus,” which is “nearly a quarter of the total death toll from the pandemic.”

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— “The Washington Post (requires login and subscription)

Healio (4/21, Downey) reports, “The COVID-19 pandemic, in combination with systemic racism in the U.S., is associated with elevated levels of postpartum anxiety and depression among Black mothers,” investigators concluded in a study that “followed up with a total of 151 Black participants after their pregnancies between April 17, 2020, and July 8, 2020.” The findings were published online April 13 in JAMA Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Pandemic, racism linked to postpartum anxiety, depression in Black mothers “Ken Downey Jr., Healio, April 21, 2022

MedPage Today (4/20, D’Ambrosio) reports, “Gun-related deaths increased significantly among children and adolescents in 2020, becoming the leading cause of mortality among youth, researchers said.” According to the researchers, “the crude rate of firearm-related deaths among individuals ages 1 to 19 years increased by 13.5% from 2019 to 2020, surpassing motor vehicle-related deaths for the first time since 1999.” The findings published in The New England Journal of Medicine also revealed “drug overdoses and poisonings increased by 83.6% among children and adolescents, making it the third leading cause of death for this group.”

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— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

Healio (4/20, Marabito) reports, “Adults with a history of abuse contacted their general practitioner 1.5 times more often than those without a history of abuse,” researchers concluded in a survey study that analyzed responses from “11,140 patients…among whom 1,271 indicated a history of abuse.” The findings were published online April 5 in the European Journal of General Practice.

Related Links:

— “Adults with a history of abuse more likely to seek care from general practitioner “Maria Marabito, Healio, April 20, 2022

Healio (4/20, Herpen) reports, “Communities with greater social vulnerability did not have greater geographic access to medication for opioid use disorder [OUD],” researchers concluded in a “cross-sectional geospatial analysis of more than 198 million individuals between the ages 18 and 64 years, within 32,432 U.S. ZIP code tabulation areas.” The findings were published online April 19 in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “Communities with greater social vulnerability lack geographic access to opioid medication “Robert Herpen, Healio, April 20, 2022

Psychiatric News (4/20) reports, “Nearly a third of patients with first-episode psychosis (FEP) had recovered at 10-year follow-up based on a standard clinical definition of recovery,” researchers concluded in a study using “a standard clinical definition of recovery focusing on remission of psychotic symptoms and adequate functioning to evaluate 142 patients” who “were recruited for the Thematically Organized Psychosis” study, as well as 117 healthy controls. Investigators also found that “recovery rates were higher still among FEP patients who had been diagnosed with bipolar spectrum disorder, with 50% meeting the criteria for recovery.” The findings were published online April 14 in the journal Schizophrenia Bulletin.

Related Links:

— “Study Examines Patient Recovery 10 Years After First-Episode Psychosis, Psychiatric News, April 20, 2022