HealthDay (5/6, Preidt) reports, “Adults who had rough childhoods have higher odds for heart disease,” investigators concluded after looking at data from “more than 3,600 people who were followed from the mid-1980s through 2018.” Investigators found that people “who experienced the most trauma, abuse, neglect and family dysfunction in childhood were 50% more likely to have had a heart attack, stroke or other heart problem in their 50s and 60s.” The findings were published online in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

Related Links:

— “Tough Childhoods Are Tough on Adult Hearts: Study, “Robert Preidt, HealthDay, May 6, 2020

Healio (5/6, Gramigna) reports, “Nondiscrimination policies appeared associated with a decrease or no change in suicidality among gender minority individuals living in states with these policies,” investigators concluded after conducting “a difference-in-differences analysis to compare changes in mental health outcomes among gender minority enrollees before and after nondiscrimination policy implementation between 2009 and 2017.” Next, “using gender minority-related diagnosis codes obtained from private health insurance claims, they identified” and examined the “data of 28,980 unique gender minority enrollees from 2009 to 2017.” The findings were published online May 6 in JAMA Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “State-level nondiscrimination policies may decrease suicidality among gender minority individuals, “Joe Gramigna, Healio, May 6, 2020

The Hill (5/6, Weixel) reports a bipartisan group of 90 lawmakers in the House along with several medical groups, including the APA, “are pushing for the inclusion of enhanced mental health resources for health workers in the next coronavirus aid package.” The bipartisan group “called for the establishment of a grant program within the Department of Health and Human Services to allow healthcare employers or facilities to confidentially assess and treat the mental health of healthcare workers on the front lines of treating COVID-19 patients.”

Related Links:

— “Lawmakers push for mental health funding for providers in next aid package, “Nathaniel Weixel, The Hill, May 6, 2020

The New York Times (5/5, Mandavilli) reports, “Two new studies offer compelling evidence that children can transmit the” coronavirus. In one study published in Science last week, researchers “found that children were about a third as susceptible to coronavirus infection as adults,” but that when schools were open, “children had about three times as many contacts as adults, and three times as many opportunities to become infected, essentially evening out their risk.” In a second study, awaiting peer review but posted on the lab’s website, German researchers “tested children and adults and found that children who test positive harbor just as much virus as adults do – sometimes more – and so, presumably, are just as infectious.”

Related Links:

— “New Studies Add to Evidence that Children May Transmit the Coronavirus, “Apoorva Mandavilli, The New York Times, May 6, 2020

Psychiatric News (5/5) reports that “in an article” published online April 30 as a special communication “in JAMA Psychiatry, leaders from the Departments of Mental Health and Addiction in Lombardy describe several lessons learned during the COVID-19 crisis and unknowns about the long-term mental health of the population.”

Related Links:

— “Lessons Learned From Italy: COVID-19 and Mental Health Services, Psychiatric News, May 5, 2020

Healio (5/4, Gramigna) reports, “Intimate partner violence remained prevalent among middle-aged and older women and was associated with morbidity in these populations,” investigators concluded in a study that included “4,481 women aged 45 years and older who were screened for past-year intimate partner violence in 13 Veterans Health Administration [VHA] outpatient clinics in 11 states between April 2014 and April 2016.” Researchers “used positive screening result for past-year intimate partner violence as the exposure,” while “mental and physical health conditions” were “identified using ICD-9 and ICD-10 codes from VHA medical record data, as well as VHA health services utilization identified using inpatient and outpatient VHA encounter data.” The findings were published online April 21 in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “Intimate partner violence prevalent among older women beyond guideline-recommended screening age, “Joe Gramigna, Healio, May 4, 2020

HealthDay (5/4, Preidt) reports LGBTQ people in the US military “are at higher risk for sexual harassment, sexual assault and stalking,” according to a study published in the Journal of Traumatic Stress. HealthDay adds “that sexual victimization can trigger mental health problems such as depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, substance use and suicidal behavior, researchers say.”

Related Links:

— “Sexual Victimization Persists in U.S. Military for LGBTQs: Study, “Robert Preidt, HealthDay, May 4, 2020

Psychiatric News (5/4) reports that “recent traumatic events such as the 9/11 terrorist attacks can provide a blueprint to help people cope with stress and prevent psychiatric problems such as chronic depression or posttraumatic stress disorder,” investigators posited in an article published online in the journal Clinical Neuropsychiatry. In the article, the authors emphasized the importance of “control,” “coherence,” and “connectedness” in promoting resilience in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Related Links:

— “Control, Coherence, Connectedness May Promote Resilience, Psychiatric News, May 4, 2020

The Washington Post (5/4, Wan) reports, “Three months into the coronavirus pandemic, America is on the verge of another health crisis, with daily doses of death, isolation and fear generating widespread psychological trauma.” The Washington Post adds, “Federal agencies and experts warn that a historic wave of mental health problems is approaching: depression, substance abuse, post-traumatic stress disorder and suicide.” On Wednesday, the American Psychiatric Association and other groups signed a joint letter urging the Trump Administration to help address the situation by saving community mental health centers that are facing financial collapse and lifting restrictions on reimbursements so therapists can talk with patients over the phone.

Related Links:

— “The coronavirus pandemic is pushing America into a mental health crisis, “William Wan, The Washington Post, May 4, 2020

According to Healio (5/1, Burba), “premature menopause and current use of hormone therapy [HT] were associated with self-reported depression,” investigators concluded after analyzing “data on menopausal status, use of HT and other sociodemographic and lifestyle variables from 13,216 women aged 45 to 64 years who participated in the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging between 2010 and 2015.” The findings were published online in the journal Menopause.

Related Links:

— “More depression reported by women with premature menopause, current HT use, “Kate Burba, Healio, May 1, 2020