MedPage Today (3/9, Walsh) reports, “The presence of depression or anxiety among patients with psoriatic arthritis [PsA] was associated with a diminished likelihood of achieving a state of minimal disease activity, regardless of the method used to diagnose depression/anxiety,” investigators concluded. The findings of the 743-patient study were published online in Arthritis Care & Research.
Related Links:
— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)
Healio (3/9, Marabito) reports, “Gait variability – or the stride-to-stride fluctuations in distance and time when moving – served as a marker of cognitive-cortical dysfunction,” investigators concluded after examining “gait and cognitive performance in 500 older adults with different neurodegenerative and cognitive conditions, including subjective cognitive impairment, Parkinson’s disease,” mild cognitive impairment, Parkinson’s with mild cognitive impairment, Parkinson’s with dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, “Lewy body dementia and frontotemporal dementia, in addition to a control group of adults with normal cognitive function.” The findingswere published online in the journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia.
Related Links:
— “Gait variability serves as indicator of cognitive dysfunction in AD, other diseases “Maria Marabito, Healio, March 9, 2021
MedPage Today (3/9, George) reports, “Of nearly 1.2 million Medicare beneficiaries with dementia, 13.9% were prescribed CNS-active polypharmacy, defined as more than 30 days of overlap for at least three drugs that were antidepressants, antipsychotics, anti-epileptics, benzodiazepines, non-benzodiazepine receptor agonist hypnotics, or opioids,” investigators concluded. What’s more, “gabapentin (Neurontin) – a drug approved for seizures, nerve pain, and restless legs syndrome that’s frequently used for off-label indications – was the most common medication and was associated with 33% of polypharmacy-days,” the study revealed. Nearly “all (92%) polypharmacy-days included an antidepressant. About half (47.1%) included an antipsychotic, 40.7% included a benzodiazepine, and 32.3% included an opioid,” with “the most common medication class combination…an antidepressant, an anti-epileptic, and an antipsychotic, which represented 12.9% of polypharmacy-days.” The findings The findings were published in the March 9 issue of JAMA.
Psychiatric News (3/9) reports investigators arrived at these conclusions after analyzing “data on Medicare beneficiaries with dementia who had Part D prescription drug coverage on January 1, 2018.” Not included in the study were people “living in long-stay nursing homes.”
Related Links:
— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)
Health Exec (3/8) reports “telehealth claim lines rose 2,817% from December 2019 to December 2020,” according to a study by Fair Health. The analysis “excluded Medicare and Medicaid” and aligns “with other studies and surveys showing a huge demand for telehealth during the pandemic, as patients and [health care] professionals alike aim to reduce exposure and spread of the virus.” The study also “measured the five most common diagnoses made via telehealth” and found mental health topped the list at 47%, followed by communicable disease exposure at 3.6%, respiratory infections at 3.4%, joint/soft tissue diseases at 3.4%, and COVID-19 at 3%. The findings were published in AJMC.
Related Links:
— “Telehealth claims surged in 2020 “Amy Baxter, Health Exec, March 8, 2021
Healio (3/8, Gramigna) reports, “Compassion cultivation training effectively decreased psychological distress among caregivers of individuals with mental illness,” researchers concluded in a study that included 161 participants. The findings of the “randomized clinical trial” were published online March 8 in JAMA Network Open.
Related Links:
— “Compassion cultivation training may decrease caregivers’ psychological distress “Joe Gramigna, Healio, March 8, 2021
CIDRAP (3/8, Van Beusekom) reports researchers analyzed “the medical records of 558,672” Americans with COVID-19, and found that “intellectual disability is second only to old age as a risk factor for” death from COVID-19, according to a commentary published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Meanwhile, a study published in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report found that “obesity is linked to coronavirus-related hospitalization and death.
Related Links:
— “Intellectual disability, obesity tied to COVID-19 hospitalization, death “Mary Van Beusekom, CIDRAP News, March 8, 2021
Healio (3/5, Downey) reported, “Current and past prescription opioid misuse were associated with increases in the risk for suicide-related behaviors and experiences among U.S. high schoolers,” researchers concluded after calculating “prevalence estimates of prescription opioid misuse and suicide risk behaviors in the past 12 months among high school students” by obtaining “data on 13,677 U.S. high school students who participated in the 2019 National Youth Risk Behavior Survey.” The findings were published online ahead of print in Pediatrics.
Related Links:
— “Opioid misuse among high schoolers associated with increased risk for suicidal behaviors “Ken Downey Jr., Healio, March 5, 2021
Psychiatric News (3/5) reported, “More than half of college students meet the criteria for one or more mental health conditions,” investigators concluded after analyzing “2016-2019 data from the Healthy Minds Study, an annual web-based survey.” Survey “data were drawn from 10,089 students from 23 community colleges and 95,711 students from 133 four-year institutions.” The findings were published online March 4 in Psychiatric Services, a publication of the American Psychiatric Association.
Related Links:
NBC News (3/8) reports on how TV news stories about the coronavirus vaccination effort “are all illustrated with footage of needles sinking into exposed upper arms,” and “more than causing squeamish people to look away or change the channel, researchers say such illustrations could hamper efforts to get a broad swath of U.S. residents vaccinated.” APA President Jeffrey Geller said, “Some people avoid needles because of fear of pain, some from fear of fainting. And some people do faint.” Meanwhile, “Public health messaging should avoid drawings that exaggerate the size of needles or syringes, ‘which are not helpful,’ said Geller, noting that the covid vaccinations involve ‘a small syringe and needle.’”
Related Links:
— “Fear of needles may keep many people away from Covid vaccines “Julie Appleby, NBC News, March 8, 2021
HealthDay (3/4, Preidt) reports researchers followed “1,670 students at 11 public high schools in central and northeastern Ohio…for two years” and found that “overall, the students’ motivation to learn improved during the study period.” During the study period, “the percentage of students who had no motivation to do well in school fell from nearly 3% in the first year to about 2% in the second year,” and “the percentage of students who were self-motivated to learn rose from 8% in the first year to over 11% in the second year.” The findings were published in the Journal of Educational Psychology.
Related Links:
— “Is Your Teen Unmotivated at School? That Might Change “Robert Preidt, HealthDay, March 4, 2021