HealthDay (2/28, Norton) reports, “First-time moms and new mothers of twins may be among those at greatest risk of postpartum depression symptoms,” researchers concluded in a survey study “based on responses from more than one million women in 138 countries who took an ‘after childbirth’ survey via smartphone app.” Of those women, “roughly 10% reported suffering depression symptoms since giving birth about 90 days prior to the survey.” The findings were published online ahead of print in the March issue of the Journal of Affective Disorders.

Related Links:

— “Which New Moms Are at Highest Risk for Postpartum Depression? “Amy Norton, HealthDay, February 28, 2022

The Washington Post (2/26) reported, “Systemic racism, lack of access to mental health” clinicians and “financial challenges are factors that may make the postpartum experiences of Black women all the more challenging.” What’s more, “challenges facing Black parents have been compounded by the pandemic and the uncertainty of raising a Black baby.” Recently, “the House of Representatives Black Maternal Health Caucus…introduced legislation to provide training for about 30,000 doulas and expand postpartum Medicaid coverage from 60 days to 12 months, as part of its Momnibus Act.” While “portions of this legislation passed as part of the Build Back Better Act in the House in late November,” they “have yet to pass in the Senate.”

Related Links:

— “The Washington Post (requires login and subscription)

Healio (2/25, Buzby) reported, “High depressive symptoms were associated with risk for incident HF among Black women, but not Black men,” investigators concluded after evaluating “2,651 Black participants in the Jackson Heart Study…with no HF at baseline.” The study revealed that “within the overall cohort, 20.3% of participants reported high depressive symptoms, 71% of whom were women,” and that “high depressive symptoms were associated with a 43% greater risk for incident HF compared with low depressive symptoms.” The findings were published online Feb. 22 ahead of print in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

Related Links:

— “High levels of depressive symptoms tied to incident HF in Black women, not men “Scott Buzby, Healio, February 25, 2022

Healio (2/25, Weldon) reported, “Depression was common among adolescents even before the COVID-19 pandemic struck, affecting around one in every five,” investigators concluded in a study examining “six years of surveillance data” from 2013 to 2019. The study also revealed that “one in 11 U.S. children aged three to 17 were diagnosed with anxiety or” attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder “in the years before the pandemic.” The findings were published Feb. 25 in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Related Links:

— “Depression common among adolescents even before pandemic, report finds “Rose Weldon, Healio, February 25, 2022

The Washington Post (2/27, Searing) reports, “Depression affects about 280 million people worldwide, including about five percent of all adults, according to data from the World Health Organization and a report from the World Psychiatric Association Commission,” which “describes depression as ‘one of the leading causes of avoidable suffering and premature mortality in the world’ and labels it a neglected global health crisis.” In the US alone, “an estimated 21 million adults, or about 8 percent of those 18 and older, are living with depression, according to the National Institute of Mental Health.”

Related Links:

— “The Washington Post (requires login and subscription)

Drug Topics (2/24, Shryock) reports recent Ipsos data show “that health care workers are resilient after two years of working through a pandemic, but there are numerous warning signs about the long-term future of the workforce.” Nearly half of healthcare employees “surveyed said they are burned out, and almost a quarter are considering leaving the field in the future. Optimism declined compared to Spring 2021, as health care workers widely disapprove of how the rest of the country has handled the pandemic.”

Related Links:

— “Half of Health Care Workers Burned Out, Says Survey “Todd Shryock, Drug Topics, February 24, 2022

Modern Healthcare (2/24, Hellmann, Subscription Publication) reports healthcare professionals, “patient advocates and key lawmakers are taking aim at health insurers as Congress drafts legislation to tackle the behavioral health crisis, arguing that low reimbursement rates and restrictions on coverage are limiting access to care.” Lawmakers “are looking to toughen enforcement of mental health parity laws and address a reimbursement paradigm that” healthcare professionals “say undervalues behavioral healthcare.” The article adds that healthcare professionals and health insurance companies “agree on one key problem: Increasingly fewer behavioral health professional accept private or public insurance, so their patients must pay out of pocket.” American Psychiatric Association CEO and medical director Dr. Saul Levin said, “I need to make sure that all of my psychiatrists come back into the system if they’ve opted out of it, and ensuring parity of payment is really important to that.”

Related Links:

— “Providers push for higher reimbursement as Congress debates mental health legislation “Jessie Hellmann, Modern Healthcare, February 24, 2022

Healio (2/24, Holden) reports, “Older adults, children, men and certain racial and ethnic groups were found to be underrepresented in U.S.-based clinical trials on eating disorders,” investigators concluded after reviewing data from “21 interventional trials conducted within the U.S.” and then collecting “data on age, sex, race, ethnicity and primary diagnosis, which was classified as anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder or other.” The findings were published online Feb. 21 in a research letter in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “Men, some ethnic groups underrepresented in US eating disorder clinical trials “Lisa Holden, Healio, February 24, 2022

HealthDay (2/23, Mozes) reports, “The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has issued another pointed warning about the dangers posed by tianeptine, an antidepressant that is not approved for any type of medical treatment in the United States.” Topping this “list of possible risks from taking the drug: accidental poisoning and addiction.” The FDA stated in the warning, “In the U.S., reports of bad reactions and unwanted effects involving tianeptine are increasing. … Poison control center cases involving tianeptine exposure have increased nationwide, from 11 total cases between 2000 and 2013 to 151 cases in 2020 alone.

Related Links:

— “FDA Warns of Rising Dangers of Unapproved Drug Tianeptine “Alan Mozes, CNN, February 23, 2022

CNN (2/23, Ahmed, Elamroussi) reports “firearm deaths have overtaken car crashes” as “the leading cause of death by trauma in the U.S., according to a…study” that found “in 2017, there were 1.44 million years of potential life lost due to firearm deaths, edging out that of motor vehicle crashes (1.37 million years).” The trend “continued in 2018,” the findings published in Trauma Surgery and Acute Care Open revealed.

Also, The Hill (2/23, Choi) reports that according to the findings, “the majority of the nearly 40,000 firearms deaths – 85.4% – occurred among men.” For the study, researchers reviewed data from the CDC’s National Vital Statistics Reports between 2009 and 2018.

Related Links:

— “Guns overtake car crashes as leading cause of US trauma-related deaths, study says “Tasnim Ahmed and Aya Elamroussi, CNN, February 23, 2022