Kaiser Health News (8/12, Huetteman) reports public health officials have said that people who test positive for SARS-CoV-2 should stay home and not go to work, but healthcare workers who test positive for the virus are often pressured to return to work. According to Kaiser Health News, “hospitals, clinics and other health care facilities have flouted that simple guidance, pressuring workers who contract COVID-19 to return to work sooner than public health standards suggest it’s safe for them, their colleagues or their patients.”

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— “Nurses and doctors sick with COVID feel pressured to get back to work, “Emmarie Huetteman , Kaiser Health News, August 12, 2020

STAT (8/12, Cooney) reports that some individuals who have recovered from COVID-19 “say they can’t think.” Even those “who were never sick enough to go to a hospital, much less lie in an ICU bed with a ventilator, report feeling something as ill-defined as ‘Covid fog’ or as frightening as numbed limbs.” Experts told STAT that “as many as 1 in 3 patients recovering from [COVID-19] could experience neurological or psychological after-effects of their infections…reflecting a growing consensus that the disease can have lasting impact on the brain.”

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— “Long after the fire of a Covid-19 infection, mental and neurological effects can still smolder, “Elizabeth Cooney, STAT, August , 2020

TCTMD (8/11, McKeown) reports researchers conducted a review study and found “despite evidence that prescription stimulants used to treat attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) raise blood pressure and resting heart rate, the literature is unclear with regard to the long-term CV risks of using them.” The researchers also found that “prescribing rates of the medications have been climbing in the United States while global rates of ADHD remain relatively stable.” The review study was published in JACC.

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— “ADHD Drug Overprescribing Raises Concerns Over Future CV Events, “L.A. McKeown, TCTMD, August 11, 2020

Healio (8/11, Gramigna) reports researchers conducted a survey study and found “LGBTQ youth appeared to experience negative mental health outcomes associated with frequent social media use.” The findings were published in Journal of Gay & Lesbian Mental Health.

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— “LGBTQ youth experience mental health benefits from social media break, “Joe Gramigna, Healio, August 11, 2020

Medscape (8/11, Greb, Subscription Publication) reports, “Concussion is associated with increased risk for subsequent development of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), as well as dementia and Parkinson’s disease, new research suggests.” The findings indicate that “after experiencing a concussion, the risk of developing ADHD was 28% higher and the risk of developing mood and anxiety disorder was 7% higher among women than men,” although “gender was not associated with risk for dementia or Parkinson’s disease after concussion.” The research was published in Family Medicine and Community Health, a BMJ journal.

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— Medscape (requires login and subscription)

MedPage Today (8/11, Hlavinka) reports researchers found “fewer than half of youth admitted to a psychiatric hospital received follow-up care within a week of discharge, despite such care being associated with better outcomes.” The findings were published in JAMA Network Open.

Psychiatric News (8/11) reports the researchers also found that those youth who had a follow-up visit within a week “appear to be at lower risk of suicide in the six months following hospitalization compared with those who do not receive such timely care.”

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— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

Medscape (8/10, Yasgur, Subscription Publication) reports, “Chloroquine may be associated with serious psychiatric side effects, even in patients with no family or personal history of psychiatric disorders, a new review suggests.” The researchers “summarize data from several studies published as far back as 1993 and as recently as May 2020” in a letter to the editor published in The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. The lead author told Medscape Medical News, “In addition to previously reported side effects, chloroquine could also induce psychiatric side effects which are polymorphic and can persist even after stopping the drug.”

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— Medscape (requires login and subscription)

The Wall Street Journal (8/10, Petersen, Subscription Publication) reports the pandemic and the resulting economic impact are negatively impacting the mental health of many Americans, particularly young adults. For example, past president of the American Psychiatric Association Maria A. Oquendo says the development and maturation of teenagers may be derailed by social isolation.

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— “Coronavirus Turmoil Raises Depression Risks in Young Adults, “Andrea Petersen, Andrea Petersen, August 10, 2020

CNN (8/10, Lamotte) reports, “In what they call the largest study ever done, researchers found using marijuana while pregnant may increase the risk that a child will develop autism.” The findings were published in Nature Medicine. One study author said, “Women who used cannabis during pregnancy were 1.5 times more likely to have a child with autism. … These are not reassuring findings. We highly discourage use of cannabis during pregnancy and breastfeeding.”

NBC News (8/10) reports that in the “analysis of data from more than 500,000 Canadian mothers and their children, researchers found a 50 percent increase in the risk of autism spectrum disorder in kids whose mothers had used cannabis while pregnant, according to the report.” Researchers “reviewed data from all Ontario births that occurred from 2007 to 2012, which was before the drug was legalized in Canada.”

MedPage Today (8/10, D’Ambrosio) reports that “hints of increased risk of intellectual and learning disabilities and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) were also seen, according to” the report.

Psychiatric News (8/10) reports, “During the study period, 2.2% of children with prenatal cannabis exposure were diagnosed with ASD, compared with a rate of 1.4% among all children.”

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— “Marijuana use during pregnancy linked to autism in babies, study says, “Sandee LaMotte, CNN, August 10, 2020

MedPage Today (8/7, George) reported, “Hearing impairment was linked to neuropathological hallmarks of dementia,” investigators concluded after assessing data from “2,755 autopsied participants age 55 and older from the National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center…database.” The study revealed that “in older adults who were cognitively normal, impaired hearing was associated with tau neurofibrillary degeneration,” while “in people with dementia, hearing loss was tied to microinfarcts but not to tau tangles.” The findings were published online in Neurology.

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— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)