MedPage Today (8/26, Gever) reports that even though “absolute numbers of fatal benzodiazepine-involved overdoses remained small (less than 3,000 in 2020)…the percentage increase from April to June 2019 to the same period in 2020 was not: 42.9%.” In addition, “total overdoses treated in emergency departments (EDs) with benzodiazepines detected also increased sharply.” In fact, “the proportion of all ED visits involving such cases rose 23.7% in 2020 over the previous year, and for those also involving opioids, it increased 34.4%,” CDC researchers concluded. The findings were published Aug. 26 in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Related Links:

— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

Kaiser Health News (8/25, Pattani) reports, “A recent report from the Legal Action Center and the Bloomberg American Health Initiative found that despite widespread consensus on the importance of addiction treatment in the” emergency department (ED) “and an unprecedented rise in overdose deaths, many hospitals fail to screen for substance use, offer medications to treat opioid use disorder or connect patients to follow-up care.” The report also found that “many patients who don’t receive those services die shortly after discharge or within a year of their” visit to the ED. Now, “a growing number of emergency” departments and “health professionals are trying to change that by developing new approaches to address the missed treatment opportunity in” EDs. The article details programs in California, Tennessee, New York and North Carolina.

Related Links:

— “From Uber Rides to Patient Advocates: What It Takes to Increase ER Addiction Treatment “Aneri Pattani, Kaiser Health News, August 25, 2021

The New York Times (8/25, Blum) interviews “experts about ways to potentially ease anxiety as some workers” who have been working from home for months due to the COVID-19 pandemic now “head back to their desks.” The Times adds that “the Americans With Disabilities Act offers protections for workers with physical and mental impairments, and grants” people “the right to ask for a reasonable accommodation if” they “have a mental health condition.” Still, “the word ‘reasonable’ is key, and it can be tricky to identify, said Darcy Gruttadaro, director of the Center for Workplace Mental Health at the American Psychiatric Association Foundation,” but “the more employers can be flexible and really think about reassuring people coming back to the workplace, and being open and communicative and really checking in, they may be able to reduce the high levels of anxiety that many people are experiencing.”

Related Links:

— “Feeling Anxious About Returning to the Office? Here’s What You Can Do. “Dani Blum, The New York Times, August 25, 2021

According to Healio (8/25), in an Aug. 25 press release, “the American Psychiatric Association has underscored the importance of providing mental health access and support for individuals involved in the ongoing evacuation efforts in Afghanistan.” Not just “U.S. service members, individuals in the foreign service and their families,” but also “their Afghan co-workers and families who were evacuated should all receive support, the APA noted in” the release. Because “U.S. asylum seekers and refugees” are “at increased risk for developing mental disorders, such as PTSD and depression, the association highlighted the critical importance of providing mental health resource access for all.”

Psychiatric News (8/25) quotes APA President Vivian Pender, MD, who said, “The APA wants to extend its knowledge and resources around trauma-based care, grounded in years of research, to assist all those coming from Afghanistan.” For his part, “APA CEO and Medical Director Saul Levin, MD, MPA, agreed.” Dr. Levin stated, “We should ensure that our country provides the needed mental health resources to address this traumatic situation for all who need them.”

Related Links:

— “APA pledges mental health support in wake of Afghanistan evacuation, Healio, August 25, 2021

Healio (8/24, Laday) reports, “Patients with PTSD demonstrated a two-fold higher likelihood of being diagnosed with systemic lupus erythematosus [SLE], compared to those without PTSD,” researchers concluded in a study that “included 10,942 patients with SLE and matched them 1:10 with 109,420 control participants.” The findings were published online in the journal Arthritis Care & Research.

Related Links:

— “Patients with prior PTSD twice as likely to develop lupus “Jason Laday, Healio , August 24, 2021

Healio (8/24, Gramigna) reports, “Vulnerable subgroups of veterans had increased risk for cannabis use disorder and nonmedical use,” investigators concluded after analyzing data from “3,119 U.S. veterans who responded to the 2012 to 2013 National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions-III.” The findings of the survey study were published online Aug. 19 in the American Journal of Psychiatry, a publication of the American Psychiatric Association.

Among veterans, the odds of nonmedical cannabis use and use disorder were elevated among vulnerable subgroups, including those with lower income or psychiatric disorders and among survey participants residing in states with medical marijuana laws.

Related Links:

— “Sociodemographic factors impact veterans’ risk for cannabis use disorder “Joe Gramigna, Healio , August , 2021

The AP (8/23, Dazio) reports that according to experts and some mental health advocates, short video clips “posted on official law enforcement social media accounts, part of a longstanding practice by police agencies to showcase their lifesaving efforts online,” should be looked at “with an eye toward whether they exploit the very victims law enforcement just saved.” For example, “the American Association of Suicidology specifically suggests that any reporting on suicide or suicide attempts not include the method or location,” and even “recommends that photos and videos from the scene also be excluded, even if the person’s identity is concealed.” Meanwhile, “Daniel Reidenberg, executive director of the Minnesota-based Suicide Awareness Voices of Education, said such social media posts may actually deter viewers from calling 911, for fear they might also get handcuffed or arrested.”

Related Links:

— “Mental health online: Police posts of crises may traumatize “Stefanie Dazio, AP, August 23, 2021

In “The New Old Age,” the New York Times (8/23, Span) reports that certain behaviors, such as “overlooking a couple of credit card payments or habitually braking while driving,” may indicate “pathologies underlying brain decline” that “can begin years before symptoms” of dementia emerge. For example, one study published online June 14 in Alzheimer’s Research & Therapy that “enrolled 64 older adults with preclinical Alzheimer’s, as determined by spinal taps (the results were not shared with participants), and 75 who were deemed cognitively normal,” revealed that “driving behavior and age could predict preclinical Alzheimer’s 88 percent of the time.” Likewise, a study published last November in JAMA Internal Medicine that analyzed “medical records and consumer credit reports for more than 80,000 Medicare beneficiaries showed that seniors who eventually received a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease were significantly more likely to have delinquent credit card payments than those who were demographically similar but never received such diagnoses,” and were also “more likely to have subprime credit scores.”

Related Links:

— “Seeking Early Signals of Dementia in Driving and Credit Scores ” Paula Span, The New York Times, August 23, 2021

Kaiser Health News (8/23, Pattani) reports, “Interviews with a dozen suicide researchers, data collected from states across the country and a review of decades of research revealed that suicide is a growing crisis for communities of color – one that plagued them well before the” COVID-19 pandemic “and has only been exacerbated since.” In fact, “research shows Black kids younger than 13 die by suicide at nearly twice the rate of white kids and, over time, their suicide rates have grown even as rates have decreased for white children.” Among adolescents and “young adults, suicide deaths have increased more than 45% for Black Americans and about 40% for Asian Americans in the seven years ending in 2019.” The pandemic has only “intensified” societal “hardships among communities of color, with disproportionate numbers of lost loved ones, lost jobs and lost housing.” Investigators “say the promise of a good future is often overlooked in suicide prevention, perhaps because achieving it” does require “economic and social growth and breaking systemic barriers.”

Related Links:

— “Pandemic Unveils Growing Suicide Crisis for Communities of Color “Aneri Pattani, aiser Health News, August 23, 2021

Psychiatric News (8/20) reported, “Patients with substance use disorders (SUDs) who have used telehealth services during the COVID-19 pandemic are largely satisfied with the quality of care they receive,” investigators concluded in a 58-patient survey study, the findings of which were published online Aug. 17 in the American Journal on Addictions.

Related Links:

— “Telehealth Finds Favor Among Patients With Substance Use Disorders, Psychiatric News, August 20, 2021