Psychiatric News (1/28) reports, “Students in China reported high rates of psychological distress during the early weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic, but wearing a face mask frequently and exercising had some protective benefits,” investigators concluded after analyzing “data from nearly 1.2 million school-aged children and adolescents living in the Guangdong province in China.” Next, the students “completed online questionnaires from March 8 to 30, 2020, which assessed mental health status using the Chinese version of the 12-item General Heath Questionnaire.” The findings were published online Jan. 26 in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “High Psychological Distress Found Among Chinese Students During Early Weeks of Pandemic, Psychiatric News, January 28, 2021

Healio (1/28, Gramigna) reports, “Frequently used neuroimaging measures did not show a discrete brain signature associated with suicidal thoughts and behaviors among youths,” researchers concluded after analyzing “data of a U.S. population-based sample of 7,994 unrelated children aged nine to 10 years who were included in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive study.” Investigators also “implemented quality control procedures and examined structural MRI data of 6,238 participants, resting state functional MRI data of 4,134 participants and task-based functional MRI data of between 4,075 and 4,608 participants.” The findings were published online Jan. 21 in the American Journal of Psychiatry, a publication of the American Psychiatric Association.

Related Links:

— “Common neuroimaging measures do not detect youths’ risk for suicidal thoughts, behaviors “Joe Gramigna, Healio, January 28, 2021

Healio (1/27, Laday) reports, “Physical inactivity confers a ‘greater than threefold increased risk’ for developing depression within the next two years among patients with systemic lupus erythematosus [SLE],” investigators concluded after analyzing data from 225 people with SLE “without baseline depression and who completed an in-person baseline assessment and at least one follow-up.” The findings were published online in the journal Arthritis Care & Research.

Related Links:

— “Physical inactivity triples risk for depression in patients with lupus “Jason Laday, Healio, January 27, 2021

CNN (1/27, LaMotte) reports, “The effects of alcohol on your heart can be immediate, triggering an irregular rhythm called atrial fibrillation or AFib,” investigators concluded in a 100-patient, “randomized, double-blinded clinical study,” the findings of which were published online in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology: Clinical Electrophysiology.

Related Links:

— “Alcohol and your heart: Just getting a buzz can trigger an irregular rhythm “Sandee LaMotte, CNN, January 27, 2021

STAT (1/27, Silverman) reports, “As state and local governments consider how to spend proceeds from settlements with opioid makers, a coalition of medical societies and advocacy groups is urging public officials to create dedicated funds to help people with substance use disorders, rather than fix holes in their budgets.” The article adds that states, counties, municipalities, and tribal nations have filed 2,600 lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies, distributors, pharmacies, and others over opioids.

Related Links:

— “‘Use that money wisely’: Coalition urges governments to spend opioid settlement funds on evidence-based efforts “Ed Silverman, STAT, January 27, 2021

MedPage Today (1/27, Monaco) reports, “People with schizophrenia may face a higher risk for severe COVID-19,” research indicates. When “compared with COVID-19 patients without a psychiatric disorder, those previously diagnosed with schizophrenia spectrum disorder had more than a two times higher risk for mortality within 45 days of a confirmed case,” the study revealed. The association still remained “significant even after adjusting for medical risk factors including smoking status, hypertension, heart failure (HF), myocardial infarction, diabetes, chronic kidney disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and cancer.” The findings were published online Jan. 27 in JAMA Psychiatry.

Psychiatric News (1/27) reports investigators arrived at these conclusions after analyzing “data from the electronic health records of 7,348 adults, aged 18 years or older, who tested positive for coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) between March 3 and May 31, 2020, in the NYU Langone Health System.” The study also revealed that “people with mood and anxiety disorders were not at a greater risk of mortality from COVID-19 compared with people without these disorders.”

Related Links:

— “Patients With Schizophrenia Have More Than Twice the Risk of Death Related to COVID-19, Psychiatric News, January 27, 2021

The New York Times (1/26, Ellin) reports, “Physician burnout has long been a serious concern in the medical community, with roughly 400 doctors dying by suicide each year in the United States,” but the pandemic has only exacerbated this trend. Results “from an October poll of 862 emergency physicians nationwide…found that 87 percent felt more stressed since the onset of Covid-19, with 72 percent experiencing a greater degree of professional burnout.” The poll also found that, “consistent with a longstanding stigma surrounding physician mental health, 45 percent weren’t comfortable seeking mental health treatment, citing concerns about workplace stigma and fear of professional reprisal.” The Times adds, “The American Psychiatric Association, the American Medical Association and other professional groups, have formal statements against punishing doctors who seek mental health treatment.

Related Links:

— “Doctors, Facing Burnout, Turn to Self-Care “Abby Ellin, The New York Times, January 26, 2021

Healio (1/26, Weller) reports, “Depression rates were lower in patients treated with apremilast monotherapy for psoriasis or psoriatic arthritis [PsA] and higher in those treated with biologics, corticosteroids and non-apremilast combinations,” investigators concluded after analyzing “data from 67,189 patients (women, 43.9%; median age, 50.4 years) who had a diagnosis of psoriasis (77%) or psoriatic arthritis with or without psoriasis (23%) and at least one prescription claim for apremilast, conventional disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (cDMARDs), biologics and/or systemic corticosteroids.” The findings were presented in a poster at the Maui Derm for Dermatologists meeting.

Related Links:

— “Depression rate lower with apremilast treatment for psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis “Madison Weller, Healio, January 26, 2021

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)