Medscape (8/7, Yasgur, Subscription Publication) reported, “Emergency department (ED) visits related to mental health conditions increased nearly twofold from 2007–2008 to 2015–2016,” researchers concluded after analyzing “data from the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NHAMCS)” that “showed that over the 10-year study period, the proportion of ED visits for mental health diagnoses increased from 6.6% to 10.9%, with substance use accounting for much of the increase.” The findings were published online July 28 in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— Medscape (requires login and subscription)

CNN (8/6, Thomas) reports the US has the most cases of SARS-CoV-2 and deaths from COVID-19. In addition, “the US population is also suffering more mental health consequences than people in other countries, according to a new report from the Commonwealth Fund released on Thursday.” Dr. David Blumenthal, president of the Commonwealth Fund, said, “As our country struggles with the surging number of cases and the economic havoc that the pandemic is wreaking, people in other countries are living a different, better reality. Americans should realize that our country can do better, too.”

Related Links:

— “Coronavirus stresses Americans more than others, study finds, “Naomi Thomas, CNN, August 6, 2020

Psychiatric News (8/6) reports, “The factors impacting adults’ feelings of loneliness change depending on their phase in life, suggesting there is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ intervention to reduce loneliness,” investigators concluded after analyzing “data from the Adult Health Monitor Limburg 2016, a population-based health survey that monitors the self-reported health of adults in the Netherlands between the ages of 19 and 65.” Researchers “split the 26,342 adult participants into three groups: young (19 to 34 years), early middle-aged (35 to 49 years), and late middle-aged (50 to 65 years).” The findings were published online Aug. 6 in BMC Public Health.

Related Links:

— “Adults May Require Different Interventions for Loneliness Depending on Age, Psychiatric News, August 6, 2020

STAT (8/5, Isselbacher) reports, “As [COVID-19] drives many patients away from in-person care and toward virtual visits, experts warn that the nation’s most vulnerable members may be shut out of … telehealth.” “A pair of new studies published this week show that there are barriers to virtual visits that regulatory changes alone can’t fix.” One “paper, published in JAMA Internal Medicine, found that 1 in 4 Medicare beneficiaries were stranded on the far side of the digital divide in 2018, with neither a home computer with a high-speed internet connection or a smartphone with a wireless plan.” Another study, also published in JAMA Internal Medicine, “looked at [2018] data from more than [4,500] Medicare beneficiaries over 65 who were part of a national dataset,” and “found that 20% of those individuals were ‘unready’ to use telemedicine services due to difficulty hearing, seeing, or communicating, in addition to dementia.”

Related Links:

— “Telemedicine is booming — but many people still face huge barriers to virtual care, “Juliet Isselbacher, STAT, August 5, 2020

Psychiatric News (8/5) reports, “Children or teenagers with depression are more likely to have higher rates of anxiety and worse social functioning as adults than those without a history of depression,” researchers concluded in a study that interviewed “a total of 1,420 participants…up to eight times between the ages nine and 16 to assess for depressive disorders, associated psychiatric comorbidities, and childhood adversities (including low socioeconomic status, family dysfunction, abuse and neglect, and peer victimization) using the structured Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Assessment.” Participants “were interviewed again at ages 19, 21, 25, and 30 using the structured Young Adult Psychiatric Assessment Interview for psychiatric outcomes and functional outcomes.” The findings were published online Aug. 3 in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Adult Anxiety and Poorer Function Linked to Childhood Depression But Can Be Prevented, Psychiatric News, August 5, 2020

CQ Roll Call (8/5, Raman) reports there has been an increase in deaths by suicide in many communities across the US. Prior to the pandemic, “the nation’s suicide rate reached historic highs…with rates at the highest levels since World War II.” Back in April, a viewpoint piece published in JAMA Psychiatry described the prior trend of rising suicide rates and the coronavirus pandemic as a “perfect storm.” APA President Jeffrey Geller said, “We have people now who don’t know how to feed their family who have not had that thought for a very long time. That’s different than the last recession. There are masses of people who are quite worried today because they don’t know what is going to happen to their benefits. That kind of anxiety exacerbates fragility.”

Related Links:

— “Pandemic’s effect on already rising suicide rates heightens worry, “Sandhya Raman, CQ Roll Call, August 5, 2020

Healio (8/4, Gramigna) reports, “Individuals with dementia-related psychosis commonly experience visual hallucinations, auditory hallucinations and distortion of senses,” researchers concluded in a study that examined available data “for 26 participants living with self-reported dementia-related psychosis and 186 care partners who answered on behalf of patients.” The findings were presented at the virtual Alzheimer’s Association International Conference 2020.

Related Links:

— “Hallucinations, distorted senses common symptoms of dementia-related psychosis, “Joe Gramigna, Healio, August 4, 2020

CNN (8/4, Hunt) reports, “Some researchers had thought insufficient levels of vitamin D may play a role in depression but the findings of a large study of more than 18,000 US adults ages 50 years or older published” Aug. 4 in JAMA “has found no evidence of that impact.” For the study, “half of the adults, who had no clinically relevant depressive symptoms at the start of the study, took vitamin D3 (one of two types of Vitamin D supplements) in the amount of 2000IU per day, more than the current recommended amount in the United States,” while the “other half took a placebo.” Investigators tracked participants “for 5.3 years on average.”

Also providing similar coverage are MedPage Today (8/4, Hlavinka), HealthDay (8/4, Reinberg), and Psychiatric News (8/4).

Related Links:

— “Vitamin D doesn’t prevent depression in older adults, large study finds, “Katie Hunt, CNN, August 4, 2020

The New York Times (8/3, Kolata) reports researchers found “the risk for a person to develop dementia over a lifetime is now 13 percent lower than it was in 2010” in the US and Europe. Researchers observed the decrease “despite the lack of effective treatments or preventive strategies.” The findings were published in Neurology.

Related Links:

— “Dementia on the Retreat in the U.S. and Europe, “Gina Kolata, The New York Times, August 3, 2020

Medscape (8/3, Brooks, Subscription Publication) reports researchers found “depression and anxiety in patients with COVID-19 may reflect penetration of the novel coronavirus into the central nervous system (CNS).” The findings were published in The Laryngoscope.

Related Links:

— Medscape (requires login and subscription)