USA Today (1/26, Brown) reported in a story focused on weighted blankets that “according to the American Psychiatric Association’s annual poll, 40 percent of Americans said they felt more anxious in 2018 than they did in 2017 – which saw a 36 percent increase over 2016.”
Related Links:
— “Weighted blankets: Here’s how the trendy bedding got so popular, “Dalvin Brown, USA Today, January 26, 2019
The NPR (1/25, Chatterjee) “Shots” blog reported, “The percentage of outpatient medical visits that led to a benzodiazepine prescription doubled from 2003 to 2015,” research indicated, with “about half” of “those prescriptions” coming “from primary care physicians.”
Medscape (1/25, Brooks, Subscription Publication) reported the study also found that “benzodiazepines are often coprescribed with opioids and other sedating medications, frequently for conditions other than anxiety and insomnia,” researchers concluded after analyzing data on “more than 386,000 ambulatory care visits from 2003 through 2015.” The findings were published online Jan. 25 in JAMA Network Open.
MD Magazine (1/25, Kunzmann) reported, “As opioids lose favor among healthcare” professionals, the study authors advised clinicians to “remain aware of the potential danger that overuse or misuse of benzodiazepines can harbor.” The study authors also “called for efforts addressing the limited use of the sedatives – whether it be in guidelines or prescription-monitoring programs – to focus on primary care.”
Current Or Recent Benzodiazepine Use May Be Associated With An Increased Risk For Pneumonia, Review Suggests . According to Healio (1/25, Demko), “current or recent benzodiazepine use was linked to an increased risk for pneumonia,” researchers concluded. The findings of the 10-study review were published online Jan. 8 in the International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.
Related Links:
— “Steep Climb In Benzodiazepine Prescribing By Primary Care Doctors, “Rhitu Chatterjee, NPR, January 25, 2019
Reuters (1/27, Borter) reported some “psychiatrists say internet addiction, characterized by a loss of control over internet use and disregard for the consequences of it, affects up to eight percent of Americans and is becoming more common around the world.” But, “neither the World Health Organization (WHO) nor the American Psychiatric Association recognize internet addiction as a disorder.” In 2018, “however, the WHO recognized the more specific Gaming Disorder following years of research in China, South Korea, and Taiwan, where” experts “have called it a public health crisis.”
Related Links:
— “The digital drug: Internet addiction spawns U.S. treatment programs, “Gabriella Borter, Reuters, January 27, 2019
Reuters (1/24, Rapaport) reports that research suggests “a diagnosis with certain types of cancer can still be upsetting enough to increase a patient’s risk of suicide.” Investigators looked at “data on more than 4.6 million cancer patients, including 1,585 people who died by suicide within one year of their diagnosis.” The data indicated “this was a suicide rate about 2.5 times higher than what would be expected in the general population.” The findings were published online in the journal Cancer.
Related Links:
— “Suicide risk rises in year following cancer diagnosis, “Lisa Rapaport, Reuters, January 24, 2019
HealthDay (1/24, Reinberg) reports, “Young people jailed in adult prisons, often while awaiting trial or sentencing, are at high risk for suicide, and the prison system is doing little to stop it,” researchers concluded. The researchers “reviewed 2003-2012 data from the National Violent Death Reporting System on more than 200 suicides among jailed teens and adults in their 20s, as well as more than 9,900 suicides among youths not in jail.” The Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry published the findingsonline Jan. 23.
Related Links:
— “Teens’ Odds for Suicide May Triple While in Jail: Study, “Steven Reinberg, HealthDay, January 24, 2019
Healio (1/23, Demko) reports, “Robust evidence supports a protective relationship between objectively assessed physical activity and major depression risk,” researchers concluded in a “two-sample mendelian randomization study” involving data on some 611,583 adults. The findings were published online Jan. 23 in JAMA Psychiatry. The author of an accompanying editorial observed, “The data have told us – over and over – that exercise is a viable plan to minimize the burden of mental illness. The question is how we execute against this plan,” he added.
Related Links:
— “Physical activity protects against depression, “Savannah Demko, Helio, January 23, 2019
The New York Times (1/23, Sanger-Katz) reports that the number of uninsured Americans “plunged” after the ACA took effect, but that figure “inched up throughout last year,” according to a new Gallup poll. Data indicate “the uninsured rate for adults increased by 1.3 percentage points,” which means there was “an increase of more than three million people without insurance between the first quarter of 2018 and the end of the year.” According to Gallup, “this was a four-year high, although a major methodology change a year ago may make such longer-term comparisons less precise.” The article says this “trend matches other data suggesting that health coverage has been eroding under the policies of the Trump administration.”
The Wall Street Journal (1/23, Armour, Subscription Publication) reports that data show the number of uninsured adults rose to 13.7 percent during the fourth quarter of last year, from 12.4 percent in 2017, and 10.9 percent in 2016. That means there were some seven million more uninsured Americans during the fourth quarter of 2018 compared to the same period in 2016. The Journal says this trend provides more fodder for Democrats who contend the Trump Administration is sabotaging the ACA, and Republicans who argue that high ACA premiums are responsible for the increased loss of coverage.
Related Links:
— “After Falling Under Obama, America’s Uninsured Rate Looks to Be Rising, ” Margot Sanger-Katz, The New York Times, January 23, 2019
The New York Times (1/17, Carey) reports multiple studies indicate that “regularly using the new, high-potency cannabis may indeed be a risk for young people who are related to someone with a psychotic condition.” The Times adds that the National Institutes of Health has “launched a $300 million project that will track thousands of children from the age of 9 or 10 through adolescence, and might help clarify causation.”
Related Links:
— “Does Marijuana Use Cause Schizophrenia?, “Benedict Carey, The New York Times, January 17, 2019
The Houston Chronicle (1/17, Report) reports that a recent survey “found that misconceptions regarding postpartum depression persist, despite increased exposure and discussion in recent years.” The survey found that 30 percent of respondents “do not believe there is a difference between the ‘baby blues’ and postpartum depression, even though the two conditions are distinct.” Deepali Patni, M.D., FACOG, an OB/GYN at Kelsey-Seybold Clinic, said, “Postpartum depression is a serious mood disorder,” and a diagnosis “can come as a surprise” for new mothers, who chalk up their “feelings of sadness, anxiety, and helplessness to the exhaustion of being a new mom.”
Related Links:
— “Survey: Misconceptions regarding postpartum depression persist despite increased exposure and discussion, The Houston Chronicle, January 17, 2019
On its “All Things Considered” program and in its “Shots” blog, NPR (1/16, Neighmond) reports that “even simple housework like cooking or cleaning may make a difference in brain health” as people age into their “70s and 80s.” For the study, investigators “looked at 454 older adults who were 70 or older when the research began.” Of these participants, “191 had behavioral signs of dementia and 263 did not.” Each participant was “given thinking and memory tests every year for 20 years.” After participants died, investigators examined their brains.
MedPage Today (1/16, George) reports the postmortem study revealed that “higher levels of physical activity and motor abilities were independently associated with better cognition in older adults, even when brain lesions or biomarkers linked to dementia were present.” The findings were published online Jan. 16 in Neurology. The authors of an accompanying editorial wrote, “The results of randomized trials of physical exercise suggest that exercise leads to increases in brain tissue, including in the hippocampus, where atrophy is an early and important finding in Alzheimer’s disease.” They added, “Alternatively, physical exercise itself might reduce brain pathology.”
Related Links:
— “Daily Movement — Even Household Chores — May Boost Brain Health In Elderly, “Patti Neighmond, NPR, January 16, 2019