Healio (1/25, Gramigna) reports, “Internet searches related to suicide decreased during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic,” investigators concluded after using “the Google Trends application programming interface to monitor weekly Google search rates for the term ‘suicide’ between January 2010 and July 5, 2020,” then monitoring “the top 20 unique queries related to suicide after excluding unrelated terms.” Finally, researchers “compared search rate changes before and after the U.S. declared the COVID-19 pandemic a national emergency during the second week of March 2020.” The findings of the “cross-sectional study” were published online Jan. 21 in a research letter in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “Suicide-related Google searches decreased significantly since onset of COVID-19 pandemic “Joe Gramigna, Healio, January 25, 2021

The Washington Post (1/25, Searing) reports a record 81,230 people died from drug overdoses in the US “in the 12 months ending last May,” according to a CDC report. Drug overdose deaths increased 18% “from the previous year, with increases recorded in 46 states (by more than 20 percent in 25 of those states) and just four states recording a decrease.”

Related Links:

— “The Washington Post (requires login and subscription)

Healio (1/21, Schaffer) reports, “Low thyroid-stimulating hormone [TSH] levels are positively associated with incident depression, particularly among women, and even among euthyroid adults,” investigators concluded after analyzing “baseline TSH and free thyroxine levels from 11,986 participants in the Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Adult Health.” The findings were published online Jan. 1 in the journal Clinical Endocrinology.

Related Links:

— “Low TSH levels associated with incident depression among women “Regina Schaffer, Healio, January 21, 2021

Psychiatric News (1/21) reports, “There was a fivefold increase in methamphetamine overdose deaths from 2011 to 2018 among U.S. adults aged 25 to 54, with American Indians and Alaska Natives experiencing the highest death rates,” investigators concluded after gathering “deidentified public health surveillance data on methamphetamine-related deaths from 2011 to 2018 from the National Vital Statistics System,” then limiting “their analysis to individuals between 25 and 54 years old, as national data show that four-fifths of people who use methamphetamines are within this age group.” The findings were published online Jan. 20 in JAMA Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Study Points to Methamphetamine Crisis Among American Indians, Alaska Natives, Psychiatric News, January 21, 2021

CNN (1/20, LaMotte) reports, “Heavy use of marijuana by teens and young adults with mood disorders – such as depression and bipolar disorder – is linked to an increased risk of self-harm, suicide attempts and death,” investigators concluded in a study that used “Ohio Medicare data to identify both cannabis use disorder and self-harm attempts and outcomes in youth between the ages of 10 and 24 years old.” The findings were published online Jan. 19 in JAMA Pediatrics.

HealthDay (1/20, Preidt) also covers the study.

Related Links:

— “Marijuana abuse by youth with mood disorders linked to suicide attempts, self-harm and death, study finds “Sandee LaMotte, CNN, January 20, 2021

Modern Healthcare (1/20, Brady, Subscription Publication) reports that “President Joe Biden on Wednesday signed several executive orders that would impact the healthcare industry.” The President, “in addition to several actions to address the COVID-19 pandemic…ordered federal agencies to review and possibly revise policies to advance racial equity and prevent and combat discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation.

Related Links:

— “Modern Healthcare (Requires Subscription), January 20, 2021

Healio (1/19, Miller) reports the USPSTF “recommended that clinicians ask all adults about tobacco use and provide them with behavioral interventions and even FDA-approved pharmacotherapy to help them quit smoking.” The USPSTF wrote in JAMA that the A-level recommendation is consistent with the agency’s 2015 recommendation, but incorporated “newer evidence and language in the field of tobacco cessation, including new evidence on the harms of e-cigarettes.”

MedPage Today (1/19, Boyles) also covers the story.

Related Links:

— “USPSTF: Ask adults about tobacco use “Janel Miller, Healio, January 19, 2021

HealthDay (1/19, Mundell) reports that while the overall suicide rate in the US has been increasing, researchers at the American Cancer Society found that the suicide rate among people with cancer is decreasing. The researchers “tracked national data on causes of death among Americans for the years 1999 through 2018” and found “a decreasing trend of cancer-related suicide during the past two decades.” The researchers also found that the most common types of cancer among people with cancer who died by suicide were lung cancer, prostate cancer, and colon cancer. The findings were published in JNCI: The Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

MedPage Today (1/19, Lawrence) also covers the study.

Related Links:

— “Fewer U.S. Cancer Patients Are Dying From Suicide, Study Finds “Ernie Mundell, HealthDay, January 19, 2021

HealthDay (1/19) reports research indicates that children “who see their parents bicker during a separation or divorce are more likely to develop a fear of abandonment.” After analyzing interview data from “roughly 560 kids between nine and 18 years of age” and also from teachers and parents, the study also revealed that even when children feel “close to one or both parents, that fear can still undermine… mental health down the road.” The findings were published online in the journal Child Development.

Healio (1/19, Gramigna) also covers the study.

Related Links:

— “How Divorce Harms Kids, and How to Lessen That Harm “Alan Mozes, HealthDay, January 19, 2021

According to Psychiatric News (1/18), on Jan. 18, the American Psychiatric Association’s Board of Trustees “issued an apology for APA’s history of racism and for ‘enabling discriminatory and prejudicial actions within APA and racist practices in psychiatric treatment for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color.’” In a statement to the press, APA President Jeffrey Geller, MD, MPH, said, “The Board is issuing this document on Martin Luther King Jr. Day because we hope that it honors his life’s work of reconciliation and equality.” For his part, APA CEO and Medical Director Saul Levin, MD, MPA, stated, “The Board of Trustees of APA has taken an important step in issuing this apology.” Dr. Levin added, “The APA administration is committed to working toward achieving inclusion, health equity, and fairness that everyone deserves.”

Related Links:

— “APA Issues Apology for History of Racism Contributing to Discrimination, MH Care Inequities, Psychiatric News, January 18, 2021