Recent reports show a small but growing number of people are taking very high doses of loperamide, an anti-diarrheal medication, in an attempt to self-manage opioid withdrawal or to achieve a euphoric high. At high doses, these individuals may be at risk of severe or fatal cardiac events. Learn more about identifying patients at risk of misusing loperamide at LoperamideSafety.org
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Bloomberg (4/30, Cortez) reports the Food and Drug Administration will now require a boxed warning on certain prescription sleeping medications, including Ambien (zolpidem), Lunesta (eszopiclone), and Sonata (zaleplon), advising patients about the risk of serious side effects that can lead to death. The article explains that the agency “said it had found 66 examples of patients who took the drugs and engaged in dangerous activities such as sleepwalking or driving while not fully awake, including 20 deaths linked to carbon monoxide poisoning, drowning, fatal falls, hypothermia, car crashes and apparent suicide.”
CNN (4/30, Scutti) reports the boxed warning will notify “patients to possible serious or life-threatening behaviors that may result from taking these drugs.”
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— “Sleeping-Pill Deaths Prompt FDA to Add Strict Warning for Drugs, “Michelle Cortez, Bloomberg, April 30, 2019
Psychiatric News (4/30) reports, “Suicide deaths increased in the 30-day period following the suicide of Robin Williams on August 11, 2014,” researchers concluded. For the study, investigators analyzed “data from the National Center for Health Statistics” and “compared U.S. daily suicides in the 30 days before and after August 11, 2014, as well as for the same periods in 2012 and 2013.” The study revealed that “suicide deaths were between 113 and 117 a day for the 30 days before Williams’ death but increased to 142 a day in the 30-day period beginning August 12.” The findings were published online April 30 in Psychiatric Services.
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— “Suicide Deaths, Calls to Hotlines Increased Dramatically Following Robin Williams’ 2014 Suicide, Psychiatric News , April 30, 2019
The AP (4/30, Neergaard) reports that “some people told they have Alzheimer’s may instead have a newly identified mimic of the disease.” It is unclear “how many people have this particular type” of dementia, “which an international team of scientists defined Tuesday in the journal Brain.”
CNN (4/30, Nedelman) reports, “The disease, called LATE, may often mirror the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease, though it affects the brain differently and develops more slowly than Alzheimer’s.” According to CNN, “The acronym LATE stands for limbic-predominant age-related TDP-43 encephalopathy.” This “full name refers to the area in the brain most likely to be affected, as well as the protein at the center of it all.”
HealthDay (4/30, Norton) reports that “LATE mainly affects people older than 80, the experts explained.” HealthDay adds that “it may account for about 17% of all cases of dementia.”
Also covering the story are The Guardian (UK) (4/30, Devlin), BBC News Online (UK) (4/30, Roberts), the Telegraph (UK) (4/30, Knapton), MedPage Today (4/30, George), and Science News (4/30, Sanders).
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— “It seems like Alzheimer’s but peek into brain shows a mimic, “LAURAN NEERGAARD, AP, April 30, 2019
The Wall Street Journal (4/29, Subscription Publication) reports the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is considering a rule which would mandate that drug companies show the list prices of prescription medications while advertising the drugs on television. Although the proposed rule is largely supported by consumers, the pharmaceutical industry opposes it, partly because list prices often do not reflect what consumers typically pay for the drugs after rebates and insurance.
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— “Should Drug Prices Be Disclosed in Ads Targeted Directly to Consumers?,, April 29, 2019
CNN (4/29, Howard) reports findings from a study of 1,300 toddlers “suggest that autism detection and diagnosis can start as young as 14 months old with high accuracy, which could lead to children with autism having the option to start therapies early.” The findings were published in JAMA Pediatrics.
HealthDay (4/29, Gordon) reports “the study found that 84% of those diagnosed early still met the criteria for having an autism spectrum disorder when they were re-evaluated at 3 years of age,” while “the remaining 16% thought to have an autism spectrum disorder early in life, most were later found to have a language or other developmental delay.”
The San Diego Union-Tribune (4/29) reports “if results are confirmed by independent research, this would be the earliest age this has proven feasible.” The study was “funded in part, by the National Institute of Mental Health.”
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— “When to screen for autism? New study suggests as young as 14 months, “Jacqueline Howard, CNN, April 29, 2019
The AP (4/29, Tanner) reports a study showed “suicides among U.S. kids aged 10 to 17 jumped to a 19-year high in the month following the release of a popular TV series that depicted a girl ending her life,” called “13 Reasons Why.” The findings were published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Though the study does not prove the show is the cause of the spike, “there were 195 more youth suicides than would have been expected in the nine months following the show’s March 2017 release, given historical and seasonal suicide trends, the study estimates.” Meanwhile, “Lisa Horowitz, a co-author and researcher at the National Institute of Mental Health, noted that suicide is the second leading cause of death for U.S. teens and called it ‘a major public health crisis.’”
Reuters (4/29, Serjeant) reports “the TV show was associated with a 28.9 percent increase in suicide rates among U.S. youth ages 10-17 in April 2017, the…study said.”
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— “Study: Kids’ suicides spiked after Netflix’s ’13 Reasons’, “Lindsey Tanner, AP, April 29, 2019
HealthDay (4/25, Reinberg) reports on a study published online in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs which found that overdoses in people aged 15 through 24 rose from “eight in every 100,000 people” in 2006 “to nearly 10 per 100,000 in 2015.” Among this age demographic, “death rates from prescription painkillers and opioids including heroin increased nearly 5% on average each year from 2006 to 2015, but jumped by more than 15% each year from 2013 to 2015.”
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— “Fatal Drug ODs Surging Among Young Americans, ” Steven Reinberg, Healthday, April 25, 2019
Reuters (4/25, Rapaport) reports that in the aftermath of “violent events like mass shootings or natural disasters, people who watch the most media coverage of the story are more likely to show post-traumatic stress symptoms months later,” researchers concluded. For the study, investigators “repeatedly surveyed more than 4,000 U.S. adults who hadn’t been involved in” either the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing or the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, FL. The study revealed that “repeated exposure to explicit violent content may exacerbate fear about future traumatic events, which in turn fuels more consumption of media coverage about the next bombing or shooting.” The findings were published online April 17 in the journal Science Advances.
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— “News coverage of violent events may contribute to ‘cycle of distress’, “Lisa Rapaport, Reuters, April 25, 2019
The Washington Times (4/24, Meier) reports that a bipartisan group of legislators will introduce a new bill addressing “a recent spate of high-profile veteran suicides and an uptick in suicide rates.” The bill “will require a review of the current training, workload and staffing at VA centers,” after three military veterans died of suicide on VA properties in Georgia and Texas “over the span of five days earlier this month.” Rep. Anthony Brindisi (D-NY), one of the lawmakers responsible for the bill, said, “Twenty veterans die by suicide every day. This is wrong and unacceptable, and we must do more.”
Related Links:
— “Lawmakers roll out new bill to stop veteran suicides on VA properties, “Lauren Meier, The Washington Times, April 24, 2019