According to Psychiatric News (7/30), on July 29, “the U.S. House of Representatives approved significant funding increases for key mental health and substance use disorder (SUD) programs included in the FY 2022 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies and the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies appropriations bills.” This “legislation increases funding for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) by $3.16 billion, an increase of nearly 50% over FY 2021, to $9.16 billion.” In response, the American Psychiatric Association “issued a statement thanking House Appropriations Committee Chair Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) and the committee for leading the effort to provide the funding in the legislation.” APA CEO and Medical Director Saul Levin, MD, MPA, said, “This week’s action by the House is step one in an appropriations process that needs to go through the legislative process.” Dr. Levin added, “But the best way to position funding for psychiatry and mental health, including substance use, for success is for the APA administration and our members to be aggressive advocates at every step in the process. So spread the word. Our advocacy matters and is making a difference.”

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— “House Passes Bills to Boost Funding for Mental Health, Substance Use Programs, Psychiatric News, July 30, 2021

Healio (7/30, Gramigna) reported, “Approximately 50% of women experiencing homelessness or unstable housing during the COVID-19 pandemic had depression or anxiety symptoms,” researchers concluded after conducting “a cross-sectional study between July 2020 and December 2020 among 128 women (40% Black; median age, 56 years) in San Francisco, whom they recruited from homeless shelters, street encampments, free meal programs and low-income hotels.” The findings were published online July 14 in a research letter in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “Half of women without stable or any housing during pandemic report depression, anxiety “Joe Gramigna, Healio, July 30, 2021

MedPage Today (7/29, Hamza) reports, “The number of alcoholic hepatitis patients getting liver transplant more than tripled during the COVID-19 pandemic,” investigators concluded in a “difference-in-difference analysis from June 2020 to February 2021.” That analysis revealed that “liver transplants for acute alcohol-associated hepatitis more than tripled (268.5% increase) compared with expected trends, while the rate of patients with acute alcohol-associated hepatitis added to the transplant waiting list more than quadrupled (325% increase).” The findings were published online in a research letter in JAMA Network Open.

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Healio (7/29, Gramigna) reports, “Total sugar intake may affect cognitive function over time, with higher amounts potentially increasing risk for Alzheimer’s disease,” researchers concluded after analyzing “data of 837 participants of the Rush Memory and Aging Project to assess the association between sugar intake and cognition.” The study revealed “an inverse relationship between continuous quintile of sugar intake and global cognition, episodic memory, semantic memory, working memory and perceptual speed in adjusted linear random effect models.” The findings were presented at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference.

Related Links:

— “High sugar intake may increase risk for Alzheimer’s disease “Joe Gramigna, Healio, July 29, 2021

HealthDay (7/29, Preidt) reports research indicates that “lonely seniors are much more likely to take opioid” analgesics, “sedatives, anti-anxiety drugs and other medications,” thereby putting them “at increased risk for drug dependency, attention problems, falls, accidents and mental decline,” investigators concluded after surveying some “6,000 U.S. seniors (average age: 73).” The findings were published online July 26 in a research letter in JAMA Internal Medicine.

Related Links:

— “Loneliness Raises Opioid Dangers in Seniors: Study “Robert Preidt, HealthDay, July 29, 2021

Healio (7/28, Gramigna) reports, “Physical activity may reduce age-associated risk for all-cause dementia among older adults,” investigators concluded after analyzing “data of 8,270 participants (55.6% women; mean age, 63.9 years) of the English Longitudinal Study of Aging who had available follow-up data between 2002 and 2019.” The findings of the “population-based cohort study” were presented at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference.

Related Links:

— “Physical activity may reduce older adults’ all-cause dementia risk “Joe Gramigna, Healio, July 28, 2021

HealthDay (7/28) reports, “Depression and suicide concerns increased among adolescents during the pandemic, especially among females, according to a study recently published online in Pediatrics.” Study researchers “compared the percent of primary care visits among adolescents aged 12 to 21 years with screening for depression, screening positive for depression, and screening positive for suicide risk between June and December 2019 and June and December 2020”; they found “that during the pandemic period, there was a decrease in depression screening at primary care visits from 77.6 to 75.8 percent (prevalence ratio, 0.98; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.90 to 1.06).”

Related Links:

— “Depression, Suicide Concerns Up Among Teens During Pandemic “Physician’s Briefing Staff, HealthDay, July 28, 2021

Healio (7/28, Gramigna) reports, “Adults in the U.S. who identify as transgender or gender nonbinary more often reported worsening memory and thinking, functional limitations and depression than cisgender adults,” investigators concluded in two large “studies that assessed cognition among transgender and gender nonbinary adults at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference.”

Related Links:

— “Depression, subjective cognitive decline common among transgender, nonbinary adults “Joe Gramigna, Healio, July 28, 2021

The Washington Post (7/28, Hassan) reports, “Rallying calls of praise for star gymnast Simone Biles poured in from around the world as USA Gymnastics confirmed” on July 28 “that the 24-year-old would be withdrawing from the following day’s gymnastics all-around final in Tokyo to prioritize her mental health.”

Reuters (7/28, Tetrault-Farber, Lies) reports that “Biles said she felt she had been carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders,” a burden that “seems to have been exacerbated by a year a grief, loss and restrictions tied to the COVID-19 pandemic.” According to Reuters, “even prior to arriving in Tokyo, athletes were facing new and unfamiliar pressures,” being forced “to find ways to train during lockdowns and qualify for the world’s biggest sporting event without compromising their health or that of their families and communities.”

The AP (7/28, Fryer) reports that Biles is not the only Olympic athlete who has struggled with mental health. For example, “Michael Phelps, winner of a record 23 gold medals and now retired, has long been open about his own mental health struggles.” The swimmer “has said he contemplated suicide after the 2012 Olympics while wracked with depression.” Phelps said, “We’re human beings. Nobody is perfect. So yes, it is OK not to be OK.”

Related Links:

— “Pandemic takes toll on athlete mental health at Tokyo Games “Gabrielle Tétrault-farberElaine Lies, Reuters, July 28, 2021

MedPage Today (7/27, Walsh) reports, “Individuals with a history of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) had twice the risk of subsequently developing lupus,” investigators concluded after analyzing “data for Medicaid enrollees residing in the 29 most populous states during the years 2007 to 2010.” Investigators “identified 10,942 incident cases of” systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), “who were matched according to age, sex, and race/ethnicity with 109,420 controls.” The findings were published online in Arthritis Care & Research.

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