Psychiatric News (7/14) reports, “Telehealth visits accounted for nearly two-thirds of all mental health visits by patients enrolled in private insurance plans in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic,” investigators concluded after analyzing data from “roughly 25 million separate mental health claims submitted between January and June 2020 in a national data set of commercial enrollees from FAIR Health, a nonprofit organization managing a database of more than 33 billion privately billed health insurance claims.” The study also revealed, however, that “telehealth use for mental health services from April to June 2020 was lower in rural areas compared with urban areas, and lower among those over 65 years of age compared with those 24 to 35 years of age.” The findings were published online July 13 in Psychiatric Services, a publication of the American Psychiatric Association.

Related Links:

— “Telehealth Services Increased During Pandemic, but Age and Regional Disparities Exist, Psychiatric News, July 14, 2021

Psychiatric News (7/13) reports, “Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) does not appear to significantly increase the risk of serious medical events in adults who are hospitalized for depression,” investigators concluded in a study that “compared more than 10,000 hospitalization records for adults with depression who received treatment at psychiatric inpatient facilities in Ontario, Canada, for more than three days between April 1, 2007, and February 28, 2017.” The findings were published online July 12 in The Lancet Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Benefits of ECT May Outweigh Risks for Patients Hospitalized for Depression, Psychiatric News, July 13, 2021

HealthDay (7/13, Murez) reports, “Marriages can remain stable after something as challenging as a brain injury for one of the spouses,” investigators concluded even though “past reports have suggested that divorce rates were high among those who experienced traumatic brain injury (TBI).” In the study, researchers examined “more than 1,400 patients from a database of people hospitalized with TBI” and found that “66% of the patients with TBI remained married to the same person 10 years after the injury.” Approximately “68% of the marriages that did end did so within five years of the injury, including 39% within that first year.” The findings were published online in the Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation.

Related Links:

— “Most Marriages Survive a Spouse’s Brain Injury “Cara Murez, HealthDay, July 13, 2021

MedPage Today (7/13, Grant) reports, “Opioid use disorder (OUD) treatment increased in Medicaid recipients from 2014 to 2018,” investigators concluded in an “analysis of Medicaid data from the 11 states that participated in the Medicaid Outcomes Distributed Research Network (MODRN) – Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, Maine, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.” That analysis “included six of the 10 states that ranked highest in the nation for overdose deaths.” The study revealed that “the proportion of people with opioid use disorder who received buprenorphine (Buprenex), methadone, or naltrexone (Revia) increased from 47.8% to 57.1% across that period.” The findings of the “exploratory serial cross-sectional study” were published June 13 in JAMA.

Related Links:

— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

HealthDay (7/13, Preidt) reports that during the first 12 months of the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S., “more than twice as many young people as is normal were hospitalized with eating disorders,” with the “highest rates of admissions per month” occurring “between nine and 12 months after the start of the pandemic,” according to data published in Pediatrics. Study researchers wrote, “These findings emphasize how profoundly the pandemic has affected young people, who experienced school closures, canceled extracurricular activities, and social isolation. Their entire worlds were turned upside down overnight.”

Related Links:

— “Hospitalizations for Teens With Eating Disorders Rose Sharply During Pandemic ” Robert Preidt, HealthDay, July 13, 2021

HealthDay (7/12, Murez) reports researchers have “identified higher risks in nervous system, respiratory, musculoskeletal and metabolic diseases among individuals who have” attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD). For the study, investigators “identified more than four million full-sibling and maternal half-sibling pairs born between 1932 and 1995 through Swedish registers,” and these “participants were followed between 1973 and 2013.” The study revealed that “most strongly associated with” AD/HD “were alcohol-related liver disease, sleep disorders, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), epilepsy, fatty liver disease and obesity.” In addition, AD/HD was also associated with “a slightly increased risk of cardiovascular disease, Parkinson’s disease and dementia.” The findings were published online July 6 in The Lancet Psychiatry. HealthDay adds, “The American Psychiatric Association has more on” AD/HD.

Related Links:

— “Adults With ADHD May Face Higher Odds for Physical Illnesses: Study “Cara Murez, HealthDay, July 12, 2021

Healio (7/9, Gramigna) reported, “Several factors increased risk for stimulant treatment discontinuation and switch to nonstimulants among people with” attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD), researchers concluded after analyzing “analyzing genetic and national register data of 9,133 individuals with” AD/HD. These factors “included having higher polygenic liability for mood and/or psychotic disorders, delayed ADHD diagnosis and psychiatric comorbidities.” The findings were published online June 22 in the American Journal of Psychiatry, a publication for the American Psychiatric Association.

Related Links:

— “Researchers identify factors that influence stimulant discontinuation, switch in ADHD “Joe Gramigna, Healio, July 9, 2021

Healthcare IT News (7/8, Jercich) reports research published online in the Journal of Medical Internet Research reveals that “virtual visits facilitate healthcare access and relationship-building, contributing to satisfying relationship-centered care, a crucial aspect of contemporary patient experiences.” Investigators arrived at that conclusion after surveying “426 adult patients with a virtual visit between June and July 2017 – notably, before the COVID-19 pandemic more broadly normalized telemedicine.” The study revealed that “the average overall satisfaction score was 4.4 out of 5, with about 82% of respondents saying their virtual visit was as good as an in-person visit with a clinician,” and “more than half of the respondents agreed that their virtual visit was better than an in-person one.”

Related Links:

— “Patients are just as satisfied with virtual visits, Cleveland Clinic study finds “Kat Jercich, Healthcare IT News, July 8, 2021

The New York Times (7/8, Abelson) reports research from Harvard, Northeastern, Northwestern, and Rutgers universities shows that levels of social isolation increased sharply last summer “even as the public health crisis in the United States began to abate,” suggesting “recovery from the pandemic may take a long time and could affect people’s view of their relationships over time.” The researchers found feelings of social isolation increased “even though they were seeing more people,” perhaps because “people may have felt they had fewer people to lean on because they remained physically distant from a broad network of acquaintances and friends,” according to sociology professor Mario Small. According to the Times, “The researchers also point to a strong association between social isolation, particularly for those people who said they lacked people they could turn to for emotional support, and moderate or severe depression.”

Related Links:

— “Social isolation in the U.S. rose even as the Covid crisis began to subside, new research shows “Reed Abelson, The New York Times, July 8, 2021

HealthDay (7/8, Mann) reports, “Teens and adults with autism may be less likely than others to use drugs and alcohol, but new research finds those who do are nearly nine times more likely to use these substances to mask symptoms, including those related to autism,” investigators concluded after asking some “1,200 people with autism and about 1,200 without autism how often they used drugs or alcohol via an anonymous online survey.” Of this group, “more than 900 participants gave more detailed responses about why they turned to drugs and alcohol.” The findings were published online in The Lancet Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Autism & Drinking, Drug Abuse Can Be Dangerous Mix “Denise Mann, HealthDay, July 8, 2021