Healio (4/10, Demko) reports, “In 2016, past-month daily cannabis use was about three times higher among individuals with serious psychological distress than among those without,” researchers concluded after “using data from the 2008 to 2016 National Survey on Drug Use and Health” to examine “the prevalence of daily cannabis use among U.S. adults (n=356,413) with and without serious psychological distress, as measured by the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale in 2016, and” then examining “trends in daily cannabis use by past-month psychological distress status from 2008 to 2016.” The findings were published in the April issue of the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence.

Related Links:

— “Daily cannabis use more common among people with psychological distress, “Savannah Demko, Healio, April 10, 2019

HealthDay (4/10, Preidt) reports, “People with migraine may be much more likely to attempt suicide than others,” investigators concluded after examining “data on nearly 22,000 Canadians who took part in a 2012 community mental health survey.” The study revealed that one “in 12 adults with migraine had attempted suicide – and those with a history of sexual abuse or long-term exposure to domestic violence had a significantly higher risk.” The findings were published online April 4 in the journal Archives of Suicide Research.

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In a nearly 4,000-word piece, Kaiser Health News (4/9, Bailey, Aleccia) reports that as suicide rates rise across the US, “such deaths among older adults – including the 2.2 million who live in long-term care settings – are often overlooked.” The piece says “a KHN analysis of new data from the University of Michigan suggests that hundreds of suicides by older adults each year – nearly one per day – are related to long-term care.” The piece also states, “Thousands more people may be at risk in those settings, where up to a third of residents report suicidal thoughts, research shows.”

PBS NewsHour (4/9, Wise, Carlson, Nagy) provides the transcript of a recent program reporting in partnership with Kaiser Health News on the risks of suicide among senior citizens. The program featured Julie Rickard, a psychologist at a crisis stabilization center in Wenatchee, Washington, who said that with regard to treatment in long-term care, it is important to consider what professionals are “doing on the backside to make sure that the person is transitioning well when they are going into long-term care, that we are doing the things to support them and stay connected.”

Related Links:

— “Lethal Plans: When Seniors Turn To Suicide , “Melissa Bailey and JoNel Aleccia, Kaiser Health News, April 9, 2019

Reuters (4/8, Rapaport) reports that research suggests that “it’s possible that as many as one in 13 boys in the U.S. have sex before reaching their teens,” but “the chance that they will do this varies widely depending on where they live.” Investigators looked at data from two surveys and found that “overall, 7.6 percent of high school students in the first survey and 3.6 percent of participants in the second survey reported having sex for the first time before age 13.” The study also found that “across cities nationwide, the proportion of boys who reported having sex before age 13 ranged from as small as one in 20 in San Francisco to as large as one in four in Memphis, Tennessee.” The findings were published in JAMA Pediatrics.

Related Links:

— “Up to 1 in 13 boys in U.S. have sex before adolescence, “Lisa Rapaport, Reuters, April 8, 2019

The New York Times (4/8, Kolata) reports that even though nearly all elderly patients with dementia “are given a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease, nearly every one of them has a mixture of brain abnormalities.” For scientists seeking treatments, “these so-called mixed pathologies have become a huge scientific problem,” research published last year in the journal BRAIN found. Investigators “can’t tell which of these conditions is the culprit in memory loss in a particular patient, or whether all of them together are to blame.”

Related Links:

— “The Diagnosis Is Alzheimer’s. But That’s Probably Not the Only Problem, “Gina Kolata, The New York Times, April 8, 2019

Reuters (4/4, Kelland) reports that “blood pressure and stroke risk rise steadily the more alcohol people drink, and previous claims that one or two drinks a day might protect against stroke are not true, according to the results of a major genetic study” published in The Lancet. The study “found that people who drink moderately – consuming 10 to 20 grams of alcohol a day – raise their risk of stroke by 10 to 15 percent.” For heavy drinkers, who consume “four or more drinks a day, blood pressure rises significantly and the risk of stroke increases by around 35 percent, the study found.”
The AP (4/4, Cheng) reports that researchers “weren’t able to figure out, though, whether small amounts of alcohol might also increase the chances of a heart attack.”

Related Links:

— “Major study debunks myth that moderate drinking can be healthy, “Kate Kelland, Reuters, April 4, 2019

Healio (4/4, Demko) reports, “College students from minority groups demonstrated similar or lower rates of diagnosed psychiatric disorders than white peers,” researchers concluded after analyzing “survey results from more than 67,000 undergraduates at 108 colleges throughout the U.S.” The study did reveal, however, that “Asian/Pacific Islander and multiracial students reported significantly higher rates of suicidal ideation and suicide attempts.” The findings were published online March 27 in Psychiatric Services, a publication of the American Psychiatric Association.

Related Links:

— “Minority college students may have more undetected psychiatric disorders, “Savannah Demko, Healio, April 4, 2019

HealthDay (4/4, Preidt) reports researchers found that in patients with HIV, “depression appears associated with an increased risk of death.” The findings were published in HIV Medicine.

Related Links:

— “Depression Plus HIV Can Turn Deadly, “Robert Preidt, HealthDay , April 4, 2019