Health Exec (3/8) reports “telehealth claim lines rose 2,817% from December 2019 to December 2020,” according to a study by Fair Health. The analysis “excluded Medicare and Medicaid” and aligns “with other studies and surveys showing a huge demand for telehealth during the pandemic, as patients and [health care] professionals alike aim to reduce exposure and spread of the virus.” The study also “measured the five most common diagnoses made via telehealth” and found mental health topped the list at 47%, followed by communicable disease exposure at 3.6%, respiratory infections at 3.4%, joint/soft tissue diseases at 3.4%, and COVID-19 at 3%. The findings were published in AJMC.

Related Links:

— “Telehealth claims surged in 2020 “Amy Baxter, Health Exec, March 8, 2021

Healio (3/8, Gramigna) reports, “Compassion cultivation training effectively decreased psychological distress among caregivers of individuals with mental illness,” researchers concluded in a study that included 161 participants. The findings of the “randomized clinical trial” were published online March 8 in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “Compassion cultivation training may decrease caregivers’ psychological distress “Joe Gramigna, Healio, March 8, 2021

CIDRAP (3/8, Van Beusekom) reports researchers analyzed “the medical records of 558,672” Americans with COVID-19, and found that “intellectual disability is second only to old age as a risk factor for” death from COVID-19, according to a commentary published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Meanwhile, a study published in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report found that “obesity is linked to coronavirus-related hospitalization and death.

Related Links:

— “Intellectual disability, obesity tied to COVID-19 hospitalization, death “Mary Van Beusekom, CIDRAP News, March 8, 2021

Healio (3/5, Downey) reported, “Current and past prescription opioid misuse were associated with increases in the risk for suicide-related behaviors and experiences among U.S. high schoolers,” researchers concluded after calculating “prevalence estimates of prescription opioid misuse and suicide risk behaviors in the past 12 months among high school students” by obtaining “data on 13,677 U.S. high school students who participated in the 2019 National Youth Risk Behavior Survey.” The findings were published online ahead of print in Pediatrics.

Related Links:

— “Opioid misuse among high schoolers associated with increased risk for suicidal behaviors “Ken Downey Jr., Healio, March 5, 2021

Psychiatric News (3/5) reported, “More than half of college students meet the criteria for one or more mental health conditions,” investigators concluded after analyzing “2016-2019 data from the Healthy Minds Study, an annual web-based survey.” Survey “data were drawn from 10,089 students from 23 community colleges and 95,711 students from 133 four-year institutions.” The findings were published online March 4 in Psychiatric Services, a publication of the American Psychiatric Association.

Related Links:

— “, Psychiatric News, March 5, 2021

NBC News (3/8) reports on how TV news stories about the coronavirus vaccination effort “are all illustrated with footage of needles sinking into exposed upper arms,” and “more than causing squeamish people to look away or change the channel, researchers say such illustrations could hamper efforts to get a broad swath of U.S. residents vaccinated.” APA President Jeffrey Geller said, “Some people avoid needles because of fear of pain, some from fear of fainting. And some people do faint.” Meanwhile, “Public health messaging should avoid drawings that exaggerate the size of needles or syringes, ‘which are not helpful,’ said Geller, noting that the covid vaccinations involve ‘a small syringe and needle.’”

Related Links:

— “Fear of needles may keep many people away from Covid vaccines “Julie Appleby, NBC News, March 8, 2021

HealthDay (3/4, Preidt) reports researchers followed “1,670 students at 11 public high schools in central and northeastern Ohio…for two years” and found that “overall, the students’ motivation to learn improved during the study period.” During the study period, “the percentage of students who had no motivation to do well in school fell from nearly 3% in the first year to about 2% in the second year,” and “the percentage of students who were self-motivated to learn rose from 8% in the first year to over 11% in the second year.” The findings were published in the Journal of Educational Psychology.

Related Links:

— “Is Your Teen Unmotivated at School? That Might Change “Robert Preidt, HealthDay, March 4, 2021

HCPlive (3/4, Alicea) reports, “A cohort study of” 502 “patients with psoriasis found that discordance in physician and patient disease severity assessments was associated with poorer mental health status.” The study revealed that patients “who were considered positive for depression or anxiety were more likely to overestimate their psoriasis severity compared with their physician.” The findings were published online in JAMA Dermatology.

Related Links:

— “Anxiety, Depression Linked to Patient Overestimation of Psoriasis Severity “Jonathan Alicea, HCPlive, March 4, 2021

HealthDay (3/4, Preidt) reports, “A new study that followed 1,100 recovering opioid users reveals that their risks are different” when it comes to relapse after treatment for opioid addiction. After following “the men and women for one year after treatment at more than 100 substance-use treatment facilities across the United States,” investigators found that “for women, the greatest risk factors for opioid relapse were depression, more severe withdrawal and post-traumatic stress disorder.” In contrast, “the strongest risk factors” for men “included use of multiple substances and a history of conduct disorder.” For both genders, “younger age was also a relapse risk, the findings showed.” The findings were published online Jan. 6 in the journal Addiction.

Related Links:

— “Opioid Addiction Relapse May Be Different for Men, Women “Robert Preidt, HealthDay, March 4, 2021

Healio (3/3, Gramigna) reports researchers found that “alcohol withdrawal rates have increased among hospitalized patients during the COVID-19 pandemic.” The findings were published in a research letter in JAMA Network Open.

MedPage Today (3/3, Grant) reports the researchers found that “compared with 2019, rates of alcohol withdrawal increased by nearly 34% during March-September 2020.” In addition, “the rate of alcohol withdrawal was consistently higher in 2020 compared with both 2019 and the average of 2018 and 2019, although the difference was larger in the period after the stay-at-home order.”

Related Links:

— “COVID-19 pandemic linked to increase in alcohol withdrawal rates for hospitalized patients “Joe Gramigna, Healio , March 3, 2021