MedPage Today (2/23, Grant) reports, “The hottest days on record over the last decade were linked with increased mental health-related emergency department (ED) visits among U.S. adults,” investigators concluded. After using “medical claims data from 2010 to 2019, extreme heat days – the 95th percentile for warm-season temperature distribution,” researchers found they “were associated with a modestly higher rate of ED visits for any mental health condition.” The findings were published online Feb. 23 in JAMA Psychiatry.

Healio (2/23, Gramigna) also covers the study.

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— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

HealthDay (2/23, Preidt) reports, “Millions of American adults take a potentially deadly duo of prescription opioid painkillers and sedatives at the same time, researchers warn.” The researchers “analyzed Medical Expenditure Panel Survey data” and “estimated that 2.6 million American adults…are prescribed an opioid, a benzodiazepine and another type of sedative at the same time.” Furthermore, the study published in Regional Anesthesia & Pain Medicine “found that the highest rates of dual sedative prescriptions were among opioid users with severe pain, anxiety, depression, stress and sleep disorders.”

Related Links:

— “Millions of Americans Are Taking Risky Opioid/Sedative Combo ” Robert Preidt, HealthDay , February 23, 2022

CNN (2/22, LaMotte) reports “women who experience sexual violence, workplace sexual harassment or both have a higher long-term risk of developing high blood pressure than women with no such trauma, according to” a study that “analyzed data from a 2008 report from the ongoing Nurses’ Health Study II.” The study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association found that “women who reported having experienced both sexual assault and workplace sexual harassment had a 21% increased risk of hypertension.”

Moreover, HealthDay (2/22, Preidt) reports, “Compared to those with no history of sexual assault or harassment, the risk of high blood pressure was…15% higher among those who experienced workplace sexual harassment; and 11% higher among sexual assault victims.” Separately, the investigators “found no increased risk of high blood pressure among women who had a history of other types of trauma and not sexual violence.”

Related Links:

— “https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/22/health/sexual-trauma-high-blood-pressure-wellness/index.html “Sandee LaMotte, CNN, February 22, 2022

Fox News (2/22, Musto) reports, “Family members of patients hospitalized in the intensive care unit (ICU) for COVID-19 were more likely to have symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) than those of patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) from another illness, according to researchers.” The research team “found PTSD in 35% of family members related to patients with COVID-19 ARDS, compared with 19% for any other cases of respiratory issues.” The findings of the prospective cohort study were published in JAMA.

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— “Relatives of patients with severe COVID-19 more likely to experience PTSD: study ” Julia Musto, Fox News, February 22, 2022

Psychiatric News (2/22) reports, “Among youth at risk for suicide, a text messaging intervention may help reduce suicidal thoughts and behaviors after discharge from an emergency department [ED],” researchers concluded in a small study that “recruited patients aged 12 to 17 who were seen in the Johns Hopkins Pediatric Emergency Department (PED) for suicidal thoughts or behaviors, or who screened positive for acute suicide risk on the Ask Suicide-Screening Questions tool to participate in a program evaluating the effectiveness of a text message intervention.” After receiving four messages, 27 of the 37 patients in the study completed a survey in which “78%…reported that the text messages had a positive impact on their mental health, 67% reported reduced suicidal ideation, and 74% reported that the messages helped prevent them from engaging in suicidal behavior.” The findings were published online Feb. 17 in Psychiatric Services, a publication of the American Psychiatric Association.

Related Links:

— “Text Messaging Intervention May Reduce Suicidal Thoughts Among At-Risk Youth, Psychiatric News, February 22, 2022

Healio (2/22, Gramigna) reports, “Among patients with first-episode psychosis [FEP], the effectiveness of antipsychotics for relapse prevention decreased significantly after the second occurrence,” researchers concluded after using “the nationwide Hospital Discharge register in Finland” to identify 5,367 “inpatients with first-episode schizophrenia aged 45 years or younger who were followed for five years of illness or until a fifth relapse episode.” The findings were published online Feb. 16 in The Lancet Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Antipsychotics for relapse prevention less effective a second time “Joe Gramigna, Healio , February 22, 2022

Healio (2/18, Marabito) reported, “Most physicians and trainees who were surveyed agreed that racism has an impact on health; however, less than half of respondents reported speaking out against a racist encounter or policy,” according to results of “an anonymous, cross-sectional survey of interns, residents, fellows and faculty.” The survey also found that “adults aged 50 years and older were more likely to report speaking out against racism compared with younger physicians.” The results were published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.

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— “Survey suggests many health care workers are not speaking out against racism “Maria Marabito, Healio, February 18, 2022

Healio (2/21, Gramigna) reports, “Researchers found moderate rates of exclusion and refusal in” 36 “youth suicide prevention randomized controlled trials” that included some 13,264 participants. The findings of the meta-analysis were published online Feb. 15 in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Exclusion, refusal rates moderate in youth suicide prevention RCTs “Joe Gramigna, Healio, February 21, 2022

According to MedPage Today (2/18, Firth), a Feb. 17 “subcommittee hearing of the House Committee on Energy & Commerce…focused on the rising toll of youth mental health challenges during the pandemic.” In 2020 alone, “mental health-related emergency department visits for children rose by 24% for children ages five to 11 and by 31% for those ages 12 to 17, according to the CDC.” What’s more, “every week, 119 young people die by suicide.” While the pandemic has undoubtedly adversely affected youth mental health, some witnesses before the subcommittee, however, “stressed that no single factor is responsible for the rise in children’s mental health issues.”

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— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

HealthDay (2/21, Preidt) reports investigators “have discovered differences between the brains of girls and boys with autism that they say may improve diagnosis of the developmental disorder in girls.” After utilizing “artificial intelligence to analyze MRI brain scans from 637 boys and 136 girls with autism worldwide,” researchers concluded that “girls had different patterns of connectivity from the boys in several brain centers, including motor, language and visuospatial attention systems,” with “the largest differences between the sexes…in a group of motor areas.” The findings were published online Feb. 15 in the British Journal of Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Signs of Autism Differ in Brains of Boys, Girls “Robert Preidt, HealthDay, February 21, 2022