Psychiatric News (3/8) reported, “A meta-analysis…suggests that biperiden, mirtazapine, and vitamin B6 are the three most effective treatment options for” patients with “antipsychotic-induced akathisia.” Investigators analyzed “data from 15 randomized clinical trials testing potential pharmacotherapies for akathisia in people taking antipsychotics.” Altogether, “the combined data included 492 patients, 324 of whom received an active drug and 168 received placebo.” The findings were published in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “Mirtazapine and Vitamin B6 May Be Best Options for Antipsychotic-Induced Akathisia, Psychiatric News, March 8, 2024

Healthcare Finance News (3/8, Lagasse ) reported, “Through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), the Biden administration has earmarked nearly $50 million for HRSA’s Rural Opioid Treatment and Recovery Initiative.” The investment “will support establishing and expanding comprehensive substance use disorder treatment and recovery services in rural areas, including by increasing access to medications for opioid use disorder such as buprenorphine.”

Related Links:

— “Feds launch $50M rural opioid treatment initiative,”Jeff Lagasse, Healthcare Finance News, March 8, 2024

Healio (3/7, Welsh) reports, “Opioid and teratogenic medication prescriptions decreased and prescriptions for medications for diabetes and mental health conditions increased among pregnant women after 2010 in the U.S., researchers reported” in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. According to the study, “the most prescribed medications in MarketScan data were ondansetron (16.8%), amoxicillin (13.5%) and azithromycin (12.4%), and the most prescribed medications in MAX/TAF data were nitrofurantoin (22.2%), acetaminophen (21.3%) and ondansetron (19.5%).” Additionally, “the most prescribed medications in NHANES were levothyroxine (5%), sertraline (2.9%) and insulin (2.9%).”

Related Links:

— “Changes in prescription medication use by pregnant women after 2010 in US,”Erin T. Welsh, Healio, March 7, 2024

STAT (3/7, Lee, Subscription Publication) reports, “Girls across the globe are hitting puberty earlier than ever before,” and “researchers aren’t sure why.” According to STAT, “Girls who undergo precocious puberty are also more likely to be victims of bullying during childhood, and they have a higher risk of depression, social anxiety, eating disorders, and substance misuse.” Additionally, “recent research has also demonstrated that precocious puberty has mental health effects that persist into adulthood, with young adults who went through early puberty more likely to experience depressive symptoms than those who matured at an average age.”

Related Links:

— “Girls are starting puberty earlier than ever. For some, that comes with major mental health risks,” Alexa Lee, STAT, March 7, 2024

The New York Times (3/7, Richtel ) reports, “Increasingly, doctor visits by adolescents and young adults involve mental health diagnoses, along with the prescription of psychiatric medications.” A new study published in JAMA Network Open “found that in 2019, 17 percent of outpatient doctor visits for patients ages 13 to 24 in the United States involved a behavioral or mental health condition, including anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation, self-harm or other issues.” That result was up “sharply from 2006, when just 9 percent of doctor’s visits involved psychiatric illnesses.” Additionally, “in 2019, 22.4 percent of outpatient visits by the 13-24 age group involved the prescription of at least one psychiatric drug, up from 13 percent in 2006.”

Related Links:

— “The New York Times (requires login and subscription)

NBC News (3/6, Silva , Bendix ) reports, “Desperate patients around the country have been forced to choose between paying out of pocket for essential medications or forgoing them entirely as the aftermath of a cyberattack on a major health care company stretches into its third week.” Since Change Healthcare “detected the attack on” February 21, “pharmacies, doctors offices and patients say their lives and work have been upended due to widespread outages in systems commonly used for medical billing and insurance claims.” American Medical Association President Jesse M. Ehrenfeld, MD, MPH, said, “Anything that requires interaction between health plans, a pharmacy, a facility, an office has been disrupted. … That has far-reaching implications, whether you’re on routine, standard medications, whether you rely on a rebate program from a pharmaceutical company, whether you’re just trying to get clearance to have routine elective surgery.”

Related Links:

— “Patients struggle to get lifesaving medication after cyberattack on a major health care company,”Daniella Silva and Aria Bendix, NBC News, March 6, 2024

MedPage Today (3/6, Kneisel) reports, “Pediatric atopic dermatitis was associated with increased risks of learning and memory difficulties, especially in kids with comorbid neurodevelopmental disorders, a cross-sectional study suggested.” According to “a weighted sample of over 69 million children, those with atopic dermatitis were more likely to experience learning difficulties compared with kids without the condition (10.8% vs 5.9%, P<0.001), along with memory difficulties (11.1% vs 5.8%, P<0.001), reported” researchers in JAMA Dermatology. Related Links:

— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

MedPage Today (3/6, George ) reports, “Dementia was more common in people with essential tremor than in the general population, a prospective cohort study found.” Investigators found that “over 5 years, the cumulative prevalence of dementia was 18.5% and the average annual conversion rate of mild cognitive impairment to dementia was 12.2%.” Those “rates were three times higher than those in the general population and approximately one-half the magnitude of those reported in Parkinson’s disease.” The findings are scheduled to be presented at the American Academy of Neurology annual meeting.

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— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

MedPage Today (3/6, DePeau-Wilson ) reports, “Intravenous esketamine given during and after C-section diminished postpartum depression (PPD) symptoms early after birth, a randomized controlled trial in China showed.” Investigators found that “women who received IV esketamine had a significantly lower prevalence of PPD symptoms 7 days after birth compared with those who didn’t get the drug.” But, “there were no differences in PPD symptoms between groups at days 14, 28, or 42 after birth.” The findings were published in JAMA Network Open.

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— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

HealthDay (3/6, Thompson ) reports that “a new study says some women are at more risk than others for menopause-linked mental health issues, and many escape them altogether.” Researchers found that “there’s no evidence that menopause causes a universal rise in risk for mental health conditions like depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder or psychosis.” Rather, “certain groups of women are more likely to have mental health problems during menopause – those with previous depression or depressive symptoms, those whose sleep is disturbed by nighttime hot flashes, and those who had a stressful life event around the time of menopause.” The findings were published in The Lancet.

Psychiatric News (3/6) also covers the story.

Related Links:

— “Some Women Escape the Mental Health Effects of Menopause: Study,”Dennis Thompson, HealthDay, March 6, 2024