Politico (6/25, Ravindranath) reports, “The Department of Veterans Affairs is using artificial intelligence to figure out which veterans are in critical need of mental health treatment as part of a massive effort to stem suicide in its ranks.” Now, “a computer program scours millions of records for medications, treatment, traumatic events, overall health and other information, and based on prior experience, it plucks out the names of veterans most likely to die by suicide in the next year.” Next, “clinicians…reach out to them directly, sometimes before the patient has expressed suicidal thoughts to anyone.” The VA now “believes that its algorithms have reduced suicides by vulnerable veterans.”

Related Links:

— “How the VA uses algorithms to predict suicide, “Mohana Ravindranath, Politico, June 25, 2019

According to HealthDay (6/25, Gordon), “22% of young men and 5% of young women turn to potentially dangerous methods to ‘bulk up,’” research indicates. Such “unhealthy methods – dubbed ‘disordered eating behaviors’ – include eating to gain weight and using supplements or anabolic steroids to increase muscle or body size.” Included in the study were “nearly 15,000 young people across the” US who “were first interviewed when they were 11 to 18 years old, and again when they were between 18 and 24.” The findings were published online June 20 in the International Journal of Eating Disorders.

Related Links:

— “Many Young Men Putting Health at Risk to Bulk Up, “Serena Gordon, HealthDay, June 25, 2019

HealthDay (6/24, Thompson) reports on a study published in the journal JAMA Pediatrics finding that “Hispanic teens are being driven to anxiety and sleeplessness over the Trump Administration’s immigration policies, even though they are U.S.-born citizens and face no threat of deportation.” Researchers found that “nearly half…reported that they worry that U.S. immigration policy could tear their families apart.” The teens “had five times higher levels of anxiety as kids without similar worries,” and “they also had poorer sleep quality.” The study was conducted in Salinas, California.

MedPage Today (6/24, Hlavinka) reports, “U.S.-born Hispanic teens’ concerns about immigration policy may be affecting their overall mental health.” The study included “about 400 Hispanic adolescents – all U.S. citizens – with at least one immigrant parent.”

Related Links:

— “Hispanic Teens Losing Sleep Over Trump’s Immigration Policies, “Dennis Thompson, HealthDay, June 24, 2019

TIME (6/24, Adams) reports on the difficulties of responding to teens who have had “a suicide attempt or suicidal ideation” and have been hospitalized, stating “that where hospitalization provides effective crisis management in such situations, keeping young people safe back at home is a challenge that modern medicine has so far failed to solve.” TIME adds that some University of Michigan researchers have “been working with a simple yet powerful tool that just might help: recruiting three or four familiar adults — not just the young person’s parents — who pledge ongoing support through recovery.” They also offer training to the parents and the others “to encourage their struggling charges to stick to the treatment plan.” In a study of the results, “those who received the attention of trained adults in their lives were nearly seven times less likely to die than teens who received only standard care.”

Related Links:

— “New Research Is Focusing on Treating Teens’ Suicidal Thoughts With Support of Friends, Family, “Jill U. Adams, TIME, June 24, 2019

Reuters (6/24, Rapaport) reports on a study published in Pediatrics, finding that “teens who feel understood by their parents and teachers may grow up to be healthier adults.” The study included 14,800 participants who “completed health surveys at an average age of 15.” Researchers found that “at an average age of 28, participants with higher levels of school connectedness in adolescence had lower rates of emotional distress, suicidal thoughts, physical violence victimization and perpetration, multiple sex partners, sexually transmitted infections, and drug abuse.”

Related Links:

— “Teens with strong connections at home and school may become healthier adults, “Lisa Rapaport, Reuters, June 24, 2019

HealthDay (6/24, Preidt) reports, “U.S. veterans with PTSD are twice as likely as the general population to die from suicide, accidents and viral hepatitis,” researchers concluded after examining “the top causes of death among 491,000 veterans who began PTSD treatment at V.A. medical centers between 2008 and 2013.” The study also revealed that “veterans with PTSD also have a higher risk of death from diabetes and liver disease.” The findings were published online June 24 in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

Related Links:

— “Vets With PTSD Face Higher Odds for Early Death From Multiple Causes, ” Robert Preidt, HealthDay, June 24, 2019

The Hill (6/21, Sullivan) reported, “The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) sent to the White House for review a proposal to lower certain drug prices in Medicare by linking them to the lower prices paid in other countries, an idea called the international pricing index.” President Trump “unveiled the original proposal in October,” and Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar voiced support for the proposal sent to the White House on Friday.

Related Links:

— “Key Trump proposal to lower drug prices takes step forward, “Peter Sullivan, The Hill, June 21, 2019

USA Today (6/21, Dastagir) reported, “The US suicide rate is up 33% since 1999, but for Native American women and men, the increase is even greater: 139% and 71%, respectively, according to an analysis out this week from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics.” The article added, “Native Americans and Alaska Natives also experience PTSD more than twice as often as the general population, according to” the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). SAMHSA Regional Administrator Karen Hearod said, “You get this historical trauma, and people aren’t able to resolve it. It gets internalized and passed down to future generations.”

Related Links:

— “Suicide rate for Native American women is up 139%, “Alia E. Dastagir, USA Today, June 21, 2019

Bloomberg (6/20, Koons) reports, “U.S. suicide rates are at the highest level since World War II, said the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,” and the problem is becoming “worse: The U.S. suicide rate increased on average by about 1% a year from 2000 through 2006 and by 2% a year from 2006 through 2016.”

CNN (6/20, Howard) reports the U.S. suicide rate “continues to climb, with a rate in 2017 that was 33% higher than in 1999,” research indicates. During that period, “suicide rates among people 15 to 64 increased significantly…rising from 10.5 per 100,000 people in 1999 to 14 per 100,000 in 2017, the most recent year with available data.” The findings were “published by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics” on June 20.

Related Links:

— “Latest Suicide Data Show the Depth of U.S. Mental Health Crisis, “Cynthia Koons, Bloomberg, June 20, 2019

FierceHealthcare (6/20, Kuhrt) reports a study indicates that “a decrease in reports of child neglect in states that participated in Medicaid expansion suggests the program plays a part in reducing child maltreatment.” Medicaid expansion “has been associated with improved financial stability for families and better access to mental health care, which led a research team at the University of Washington to look for a correlation between Medicaid expansion and improvement in rates of child abuse and neglect.” The study was published in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “Study: Medicaid expansion linked to decrease in child neglect, “Matt Kuhrt, FierceHealthcare, June 20, 2019