Medscape (8/1, Young, Subscription Publication) reports, “A coalition of health groups,” including the American Psychiatric Association (APA), “is continuing its legal challenge to the Trump administration’s policy that allows extended use of short-term medical insurance plans,” contending that such “‘junk’ plans put consumers at risk of being unable to afford care if they fall seriously ill, despite having purchased insurance.” On July 29, the coalition “filed an appeal to a July 19 ruling from Judge Richard Leon of the US District Court for the District of Columbia,” but the judge “found against arguments presented by…members of the coalition in a 2018 court filing.” The judge’s “ruling will put people with mental illness at risk, said APA president Bruce Schwartz, MD.” In a statement, Dr. Schwartz said, “These plans could be catastrophic for many Americans with mental illness or substance use disorders if these disorders are excluded from coverage.”

Related Links:

— “APA, Others Battle Trump Policy of Extended Use of ‘Junk’ Insurance, “Kerry Dooley Young, Medscape, August 01, 2019

NBC News (7/31, Edwards) reports on its website that researchers found about 10% of older adults engage “in binge drinking, putting them at greater risk for falls and other medical problems.” The findings were published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

Related Links:

— “One in 10 older adults binge drinks, increasing health risks, “Erika Edwards, NBC News, July 31, 2019

Healio (7/31, Demko) reports, “Clozapine was linked to an 18% lower risk for hospitalization and 27% lower risk for all-cause discontinuation compared with nonclozapine second-generation antipsychotics, despite greater illness severity in patients with schizophrenia receiving clozapine,” researchers concluded. The 63-cohort study meta-analysis also revealed, however, that clozapine use was “associated with a higher risk for cardiometabolic-related outcomes.” The findings were published online July 31 in JAMA Psychiatry. The author of an accompanying editorial observed, “The meta-analysis…supports evidence that clozapine is effective as it is used in the real world.” MD Magazine (7/31, Walter) also covers the study.

Related Links:

— “Clozapine tied to better effectiveness outcomes than other second-generation antipsychotics, “Savannah Demko, Healio, July 31, 2019

HealthDay (7/31, Preidt) reports, “Stigma about being overweight can cause physical and emotional harm to men,” researchers concluded after surveying some “1,750 men across the” US. The study revealed that “weight-related stigma (both internalized and from other people) was associated with higher rates of depressive symptoms and dieting.” The findings were published online in the journal Obesity.

Related Links:

— “Overweight Men May Feel Stigmatized, Too, ” Robert Preidt, HealthDay, July 31, 2019

Psychiatric News (7/31) reports, “Youth with bipolar disorder who take lithium may be less likely to attempt suicide than those who take other mood stabilizers,” researchers concluded after analyzing “longitudinal data collected from the Course and Outcome of Bipolar Youth…study, which included 413 youth aged seven to 17 who met criteria for DSM-IV bipolar spectrum disorders.” Next, investigators examined “data collected from 340 youth during 2,638 follow-ups to assess whether the youth who took lithium differed on these measures compared with those who took antimanic anticonvulsants, first- and second-generation antipsychotics, and/or lamotrigine.” The findings were published online July 29 in the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Lithium Found Superior to Other Mood Stabilizers in Improving Outcomes in Youth With Bipolar Disorder, Psychiatric News, July 31, 2019

Medscape (7/30, Vlessides, Subscription Publication) reports, “Children who live in areas that offer statewide child psychiatric telephone consultation programs are significantly more likely to receive mental health services than their counterparts who live in states without such programs,” researchers concluded after using “weighted information on 245,512 children and adolescents (aged five to 17 years) from 2003, 2007, 2011, and 2016 to identify those who received mental health services.” The study revealed that “compared to 2003, children in 2016 were 37% more likely to receive mental health services.” The findings were published online June 27 in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Call-In Consults the Answer to Severe Child Psychiatrist Shortage?, “Michael Vlessides, Medscape, July 30, 2019

Healio (7/30, Mille) reports, “Questions that assessed frequency of use of alcohol, cannabis and other illicit drugs correctly determined which adolescents had substance use disorders,” researchers concluded after pooling “survey data from 169,986 respondents between 12 and 20 years of age to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health from a six-year period, focusing on tobacco use in the past month and cannabis, alcohol and other illicit drug use in the past year.” The findings were published in the July issue of the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine.

Related Links:

— “Drug use within 3 days sufficient to identify substance abuse disorder in younger teens, “Janel Miller, Healio, July 30, 2019

The Wall Street Journal (7/29, Reddy, Subscription Publication) reports researchers found genetic factors linked to anorexia nervosa and metabolism, suggesting there may be a link between the genetics of metabolism and the eating disorder. The findings were published in Nature Genetics.

Related Links:

— “A New Genetic Explanation for Anorexia, “Sumathi Reddy, The Wall Street Journal, July 29, 2019

Healio (7/29, Demko) reports research indicated “patients with PTSD were at greater risk for death in the year following co-prescription of opioids and benzodiazepines than patients newly prescribed opioids only, benzodiazepines only or neither medication class.” Investigators arrived at this finding after examining one-year “total and cause-specific mortality for 17,476 patients (adjusted for propensity score, age, baseline comorbidity and daily medication dose) using data from the VA Corporate Data Warehouse.” The findings were published online July 9 in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Concurrent opioid, benzodiazepine use increases mortality risk in PTSD, “Savannah Demko, Healio, July 29, 2019

The Washington Post (7/26, Wan) reports that up until fairly recently, “the suicide prevention movement has been largely driven by family and friends of those who died.” In the past five years, however, “as suicide rates have climbed to historic levels, survivors of suicide attempts have been ‘coming out,’ determined to combat the problem even if it means speaking out about their own, often-hidden pasts.” This “has transformed the suicide prevention world.” For example, “researchers trying to understand suicide, who previously focused on post-mortem data and environmental factors, are starting to embrace the relatively new idea of reaching out to people who experienced it directly.” Meanwhile, mental health “advocates are harnessing those voices to raise awareness of suicide as a public health issue and win sorely needed funding and attention.”

Related Links:

— “Once they hid their stories. But now, survivors of suicide are ‘coming out’ to combat a national crisis., “William Wan, The Washington Post, July 26, 2019