The AP (8/15, Stobbe) reports, “As many as 50 people in at least six states have come down with breathing illnesses that may be linked to e-cigarettes or other vaping products.” So far, “no deaths have been reported, but at least a few have come close.” Physicians “say the illnesses resemble an inhalation injury, with the body apparently reacting to a caustic substance that someone breathed in.”

The NBC News (8/15, Edwards) website reports that physicians who spoke with NBC News explained that “most patients are otherwise healthy teenagers or young adults who come to the hospital with symptoms of a bad respiratory infection: shortness of breath, chest pain, fatigue and coughing.” Symptoms rapidly worsen, and many of these patients “need to go on ventilators.” So far, no one has been able to “pinpoint any specific device, brand or ingredient tying the cases together.”

Related Links:

— “Doctors suspect vaping behind dozens of lung illnesses in US, “Mike Stobbe, AP, August 15, 2019

Healio (8/15, Demko) reports research indicates that “combined use of opioids and cannabis was linked to greater symptoms of anxiety, depression and substance use problems compared with opioid use alone in adults with chronic pain.” The findings of the 450-patient study were published in the July/August issue of the Journal of Addiction Medicine.

Related Links:

— “Mixing opioids, cannabis tied to greater anxiety, depression symptoms, “Savannah Demko, Healio, August 15, 2019

HealthDay (8/15, Preidt) reports, “Nearly half of U.S. patients don’t tell their physicians about potentially life-threatening risks such as domestic violence, sexual assault, depression or thoughts of suicide,” researchers concluded after analyzing “the responses of more than 4,500 people who took part in two national online surveys.” The study revealed that “40%-47.5% of the respondents did not tell their” healthcare professional “about one of the four health threats.” What’s more, “more than 70% said the reason for withholding the information was embarrassment or fear of being judged or lectured.” The findings were published online Aug. 14 in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “Nearly Half of U.S. Patients Keep Vital Secrets From Their Doctors, “Robert Preidt, HealthDay, August 15, 2019

USA Today (8/14, Thornton, O’Donnell) reports despite mounting evidence that marijuana consumption during pregnancy is harmful, many women continue to use marijuana. For example, a study recently published in JAMA found a “sharp increase in the number of pregnant women smoking marijuana and an alarming link between cannabis use and preterm births, defined as 37 weeks or earlier.” Another JAMA study “concluded marijuana is ‘likely unsafe’ because pre-term births were twice as common in marijuana users vs. non users. (12% vs 6.1%).” Meanwhile, women may be subject to misinformation, as an NIH study of “over 400 Colorado dispensaries found nearly 70% recommended treatment of morning sickness with cannabis.” Furthermore, some women may be fearful of discussing marijuana use with their clinicians. Moreover, “with mixed messaging on marijuana in the U.S., pregnant women in need of relief are not able to make fully-informed decisions, physicians say.”

Related Links:

— “Weed while pregnant: Far more common and concerning than many realize, “Claire Thornton and Jayne O’Donnell, USA Today, August 14, 2019

HealthDay (8/14, Norton) reports, “School kids who get to bed early rather than staring at their devices at night may be better equipped to control their behavior,” research indicates. Investigators “found that 8- to 11-year-olds who got adequate sleep and had limits on ‘screen time’ were less likely than their peers to report problems with impulsive behavior.” The findings, which are “based on over 4,500 Canadian kids aged 8 to 11,” were published online in Pediatrics.

Related Links:

— “Less ‘Screen Time,’ More Sleep = Better-Behaved Kids, “Amy Norton, HealthDay, August 14, 2019

CNN (8/14, Williams) reports California high school and middle school students “will have some lifesaving information at their fingertips as they go back to school this year.” A law that went into effect in July “requires schools to print the number for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on student ID cards for seventh- through 12th-graders in public, private and charter schools.” The law “also says that student IDs may have information on the Crisis Text Line – which can be reached by texting HOME to 741741 – as well as local suicide prevention resources.”

Related Links:

— “California law puts a suicide hotline number on school ID cards, “David Williams, CNN, August 14, 2019

Nina Feldman writes in the NPR (8/13) “Shots” blog about buprenorphine “that curbs cravings and treats the symptoms of withdrawal from opioid addiction.” Feldman highlights one “mobile medical clinic parked on a corner of Philadelphia’s Kensington neighborhood” that facilitates the prescribing of buprenorphine to people addicted to opioids. The clinic “is a project of Prevention Point, Philadelphia’s only syringe-exchange program, and is part of the city’s efforts to expand access to this particular form of medication-assisted treatment for opioid addiction.” The piece adds that “doctors must apply for a special waiver from the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to prescribe buprenorphine,” which is a barrier “to buprenorphine access.”

Related Links:

— “It’s The Go-To Drug To Treat Opioid Addiction. Why Won’t More Pharmacies Stock It?, “Nina Feldman, NPR, August 13, 2019

CNN (8/13, Asmelash) reports that while “social media use has been linked to depression, especially in teenage girls,” research interviews with nearly “10,000 children between the ages of 13 and 16 in England” contends “that the issue may be more complex than experts think.”

TIME (8/13, Ducharme) reports, “Social media is associated with mental health issues, the research says – but only under certain circumstances, and only for certain people.” The study found that “in girls, frequent social-media use seemed to harm health when it led to either cyberbullying and/or inadequate sleep and exercise.” However, “these factors did not seem to have the same effect on boys, and the study didn’t pick up on specific ways that social networks could be harming them.” The findings were published in the Lancet Child & Adolescent Health.

TODAY (8/13, Pawlowski) reports, “Still, heavy social media use predicted later poor mental health and well-being in both sexes.”

Related Links:

— “Social media use may harm teens’ mental health by disrupting positive activities, study says, “Leah Asmelash, CNN, August 13, 2019

Healio Cardiology Today (8/13, Dobkowski) reports, “Patients who had sustained hypertension in midlife to late life and those with midlife hypertension and late-life hypotension had an increased risk for dementia later in life compared with patients with normal BP in midlife and late life,” researchers concluded after analyzing “data from 4,761 patients (59% women; mean age at fifth visit, 75 years) aged 45 to 65 years.” The findings were published in JAMA.

Related Links:

— “Hypertension in midlife, late life increases risk for dementia, “Darlene Dobkowski, Healio Cardiology Today, August 13, 2019

According to HealthDay (8/13, Preidt), “researchers report they have identified 16 new genes linked to” autism spectrum disorder. After conducting “genetic analyses of 2,300 people from nearly 500 families with at least two children with autism,” investigators “pinpointed 69 genes that were associated with an increased risk of autism, 16 of which had not previously been linked to the disorder.” In addition, the scientists “found several hundred genes they suspect may increase the risk of autism based on their proximity to genes previously identified with an increased risk, and also identified several new biological pathways not previously identified in autism research.” The findings were published online Aug. 8 in the journal Cell.

Related Links:

— “Scientists Uncover More Autism Genes, “Robert Preidt, HealthDay, August 13, 2019