HealthDay (4/9, Murez) reported research indicates that physical activity may benefit children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). A small study published “in the April issue of the Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise journal reported that 10 minutes of low-intensity exercise reduced verbal repetition of phases or words and hand-flapping, two common behaviors associated with autism.”
Related Links:
— “Kids With Autism Can Really Benefit From Exercise “Cara Murez, HealthDay, April 9, 2021
Psychiatric News (4/9) reported, “Opioid use disorder (OUD) and overdose among young people who fill an initial opioid prescription are rare but more likely to occur in those who have other substance use disorders or who have mood or anxiety disorders,” investigators concluded after analyzing “data from the health insurance claims of more than 3.2 million youth aged 11 to 25 years who filled an initial opioid prescription between 2006 and 2016.” The findings were published online March 19 in the journal Addiction.
Related Links:
— “Study Identifies Risk Factors for Opioid Use Disorder, Overdose in Youth, Psychiatric News, April 9, 2021
Healio (4/9, Gramigna) reported, “Hospitalized individuals who had mood disorder history were at increased risk for greater COVID-19 morbidity and mortality,” investigators concluded in a study that sought “to assess the link between prior mood disorder diagnosis and hospital outcomes among 2,988 individuals, of whom 717 had a prior mood disorder diagnosis, who were admitted with COVID-19 to two academic medical centers and four community hospitals in Eastern Massachusetts between Feb. 15, 2020, and May 24, 2020.” The findings of the “retrospective cohort study” were published online April 6 in the American Journal of Psychiatry, a publication of the American Psychiatric Association.
Related Links:
— “Mood disorder diagnosis increases risk for COVID-19 mortality among hospitalized patients “Joe Gramigna, Healio, April 9, 2021
HealthDay (4/8) reports that when investigators “used standardized scales to measure” attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD) “symptoms, stress levels and resilience in 558 college students, they found that those who reported more symptoms also had more stress,” but “four benchmarks of resilience – social support, social skills, the perception of one’s ability to reach a goal, and planning and prioritizing – made a big difference.” The study revealed that “resilient students had less stress than their AD/HD symptoms would have otherwise predicted.” The findings were published online ahead of print April 6 in the Journal of College Counseling.
Related Links:
— “College Can Really Ramp Up Stress for People With ADHD ” Denise Mann, HealthDay, April 8, 2021
Healio (4/8, Gramigna) reports, “More than 40% of U.S. military veterans reported moderate or greater levels of posttraumatic growth linked to the COVID-19 pandemic,” with “most common areas of growth” including “greater appreciation of life, improved social relationships and increased personal strength.” The findings of the 3,078-veteran survey study were published online April 8 in a research letter in JAMA Network Open.
Related Links:
— “43% of veterans report increased posttraumatic growth linked to COVID-19 pandemic “Joe Gramigna, Healio , April 8, 2021
The AP (4/8, Stobbe) reports that “the number of U.S. suicides fell nearly 6% last year amid the coronavirus pandemic – the largest annual decline in at least four decades, according to preliminary government data.” The AP adds, “Death certificates are still coming in and the count could rise.” However, “officials expect a substantial decline will endure, despite worries that COVID-19 could lead to more suicides.”
Related Links:
— “US suicides dropped last year, defying pandemic expectations ” Mike Stobbe, AP, April 8, 2021
HealthDay (4/7, Preidt, Mundell) reports, “A combination of hearing and vision loss is tied to an increased risk of mental decline and dementia, but having just one of those impairments isn’t connected with a higher risk,” researchers concluded in a study that “included 6,520 people, aged 58 to 101, whose visual and hearing impairments were assessed by asking them about their use of glasses or hearing aids.” After adjustment for confounding factors, the study team “concluded that people with both hearing and vision impairment were twice as likely to develop dementia as those with one or neither of the impairments.” The findings were published online in the journal Neurology.
Related Links:
— “Diminished Hearing, Vision Together Could Be Risk Factor for Dementia ” Robert Preidt, HealthDay, April 7, 2021
PatientEngagementHIT (4/6, Heath) reports 10% of “Black patients reported feeling discrimination during a healthcare encounter, a rate that is three times that of White people and twice that of Hispanic people,” according to a report published by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Urban Institute. PatientEngagementHIT adds, “Of the Black non-elderly adults who reported institutional racism or implicit bias during a medical encounter, 13.1 percent were women and 14.6 percent were low-income, the data furthered.”
Related Links:
— “10% of Black Patients Report Implicit Bias in Medicine “Sara Heath, PatientEngagementHIT, April 6, 2021
The Washington Post (4/6, Clement) reports that a Washington Post-Kaiser Family Foundation poll found that a majority of healthcare workers say “worry, exhaustion, constantly changing safety rules and long hours of wearing PPE” are among the most difficult aspects of their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Post continues, “Their work has saved countless lives but also taken a personal toll: 62 percent say worry or stress related to [COVID-19] has had a negative effect on their mental health. A 55 percent majority feel ‘burned out’ going to work. Nearly half of all health-care workers say worry or stress has caused them to have trouble sleeping or to sleep too much.” At the top of the list of reported difficulties “were fears of infection for themselves, their family members or patients, mentioned by 21 percent of health-care workers.”
Related Links:
— “The Washington Post (requires login and subscription)
STAT (4/6, Cooney) reports that a study found that “six months after being diagnosed with Covid-19, 1 in 3 patients also had experienced a psychiatric or neurological illness.” While “anxiety, mood, and substance use disorders were most common,” investigators “also found worrying, if lower, rates of serious neurological complications, especially in patients who had been severely ill with Covid-19.” The data also indicated that “compared to control groups of people who had the flu or other non-Covid respiratory infections, first-ever neuropsychiatric diagnoses were almost twice as high.” The study was published in Lancet Psychiatry,
Reuters (4/6, Kelland) reports that the study, which analyzed health records of more than 236,000 patients with COVID-19, “was not able to determine the biological or psychological mechanisms involved…said” Max Taquet, who co-led the research.
Related Links:
— “1 in 3 Covid-19 patients are diagnosed with a neuropsychiatric condition in the next six months, large study finds “Elizabeth Cooney, STAT, April 6, 2021