STAT (8/15, Begley) reports that despite an analysis that found there are “literally zero” experimental Alzheimer’s medications being tested in late stage trials to treat moderate to severe cases, thus far, “no patient advocacy groups uttered a peep in protest.” STAT explains, “For more than 20 years drug makers and academic scientists pursued treatments to slow or reverse dementia by targeting amyloid plaques in the brain,” but “every last one failed.” Companies are now focusing on preventing the disease in younger people or trying to address behavioral symptoms such as agitation.

Related Links:

— “As Alzheimer’s drug developers give up on today’s patients, where is the outrage?, “Sharon Begley, STAT, August 15, 2018.

In a front-page story, the New York Times (8/15, A1, Sanger-Katz) reports that drug overdoses killed more than 72,000 Americans in 2017, a rise of about 10 percent from the year prior, according to new preliminary estimates from the Centers for Disease Control. The rising death toll “reflects two major factors: A growing number of Americans are using opioids, and those drugs are becoming more deadly.” Experts who are monitoring the epidemic point to the increase in synthetic opioids like fentanyl “most likely explains the bulk of the increased number of overdoses last year.” According to the CDC estimates, “overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids rose sharply, while deaths from heroin, prescription opioid pills and methadone fell.”

The Washington Post (8/15, Ingraham) reports the CDC “cautions that these figures are early estimates based on monthly death records processed by the agency.” The deaths are geographically distributed similarly to how they have been in past years, with Appalachia and New England showing the highest mortality rates. The highest rates were “seen in West Virginia, with 58.7 overdose deaths for every 100,000 residents. The District of Columbia (50.4), Pennsylvania (44.1), Ohio (44.0) and Maryland (37.9) rounded out the top five.” The CDC data also show, despite the nationwide increase, “overdose rates fell in a number of states, including North Dakota and Wyoming, compared with the prior year. Particularly significant were the decreases in Vermont and Massachusetts, two states with relatively high rates of overdose mortality.”

Fortune (8/15, Mukherjee) reports the nearly 72,000 overdose deaths “outpaced fatalities from suicide, or from influenza and pneumonia, which claimed about 44,000 and 57,000 lives, respectively, in 2016.”

Related Links:

— “Bleak New Estimates in Drug Epidemic: A Record 72,000 Overdose Deaths in 2017, ” Margot Sanger-Katz, The New York Times, August 15, 2018.

The AP (8/14) reports Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker (R) signed a bill Tuesday “aimed at helping curb the state’s opioid addiction crisis.” The new law requires hospital employees to “either admit a patient battling opioid addiction into an inpatient service or provide a referral to an internal or community-based treatment program when the patient expresses interest.” Additionally, the law “creates a commission to make recommendations about the credentialing of recovery coaches, who help those trying to remain drug-free. It also requires all prescribers to convert to electronic prescriptions by 2020.”

WBUR-FM Boston (8/14) reports on its website that this is the second major bill Baker “has signed to fight the crisis that claimed an estimated 2,016 lives in 2017. He marked the occasion Tuesday with a ceremonial signing at a Roxbury recovery center.”

Related Links:

— “Massachusetts Governor Touts Bill Aimed at Opioid Addiction, AP, August 14, 2018.

The Washington Post (8/14, Nutt) “To Your Health” blog reports researchers found that traumatic brain injury may increase the risk of suicide. The findings were published Aug. 14 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Reuters (8/14, Rapaport) reports the researchers found that “people who have traumatic brain injuries may be nearly twice as likely to die by suicide as individuals who don’t have a history of injuries like concussions and skull fractures.”

Healio (8/14, Miller) reports the authors of an accompanying editorial wrote, “Among the main questions stimulated by this research is the mechanism. How exactly do TBIs increase suicide risk? … The answers are undoubtedly multifactorial and complex.”

According to Psychiatric News (8/14), the “retrospective cohort study” used “nationwide registers that included more than 7.4 million people aged 10 years and older living in Denmark in 1980.” All of “these individuals were followed up until their dates of death or emigration from Denmark or December 31, 2014, whichever came first.”

Also covering the story are HealthDay (8/14, Mozes), MD Magazine (8/14, Kunzmann), and MedPage Today (8/14, George).

Related Links:

— “A traumatic brain injury may increase the risk of suicide, study says, “Amy Ellis Nutt, The Washington Post, August 14, 2018.

Newsweek (8/13, Gander) reports researchers found “young people who binge drink could be at greater risk of developing conditions such as heart disease and stroke later in life.” The findings of the 4,710-adult study were published online in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

Related Links:

— “Young People who binge drink could increase risk of stroke, study suggests,”Kashmira Gander, Newsweek, August 13, 2018.

In “To Your Health,” the Washington Post (8/13, Bever) reports that after studying some 80,000 youngsters “over a four-year period,” Kaiser Permanent researchers found “no association between the prenatal Tdap (for tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis, also known as whooping cough) vaccine and autism spectrum disorder when looking at tens of thousands of children.” The findings were published online Aug. 13 in Pediatrics.

Also covering the study are Newsweek (8/13, Spear), HealthDay (8/13, Norton), MedPage Today (8/13, Walker), and Medscape (8/13, Subscription Publication).

Related Links:

— “Tdap vaccine given to pregnant women did not increase risk of autism in children, study says, “Lindsey Bever, The Washington Post, August 13, 2018.

Medscape (8/10, Brooks, Subscription Publication) reports new research shows that “one of the two major psychoactive constituents in kratom has high abuse potential and may also increase the intake of other opiates.” The finding “contradicts claims by kratom makers that the substance has no abuse potential and supports the US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) view that kratom is an opioid.” Mitragynine (MG) and 7-hydroxymitragynine (7-HMG) “are the two major psychoactive constituents of kratom,” and the researchers wrote 7-HMG should be considered a kratom constituent with “high abuse potential that may also increase the intake of other opiates.” The study was published online June 27 in Addiction Biology.

Related Links:

— Medscape (requires login and subscription)

Modern Healthcare (8/11, Kacik, Subscription Publication) reported on how opioid treatment varies across the country. The nonprofit Fair Health “pored through 26 billion privately billed healthcare claims and found tremendous variation in opioid treatment cost and utilization by state and region.” Dr. Martin Makary with the group said, “We need to recognize the downstream impacts of undertreating and improperly treating opioid abuse and restore the reimbursement of outpatient medication treatment and MAT.”

Related Links:

— “Variety of factors drive wide variation in opioid treatment across the U.S., “Alex Kacik, Modern Healthcare, August 11, 2018.

In “Health & Science,” the Washington Post (8/10, Adams) reported, “An in-depth survey of more than 10,000 teens used face-to-face interviews conducted between 2001 and 2004 to screen for psychiatric conditions,” finding that “anxiety disorders are the most common in this age group, far outnumbering behavioral, mood and substance use disorders.” In fact, “one teen in four met diagnostic criteria for an anxiety disorder.” Meanwhile, research from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reveals that “more than two million American children have been diagnosed with anxiety disorders, including 3.5 percent of those between ages six and 11.” The article interviewed experts who explained the differences between “normal, functional anxiety” experienced by teens and youngsters and anxiety disorders that need professional treatment.

Related Links:

— “Your child is nervous about the new school year, which may be normal — or not, ” Jill U. Adams, The Washington Post, August 10, 2018.

The Denver Post (8/10, Seaman) reported, “Teenagers with serious antisocial behaviors and substance-use histories are more likely to die prematurely,” research indicated. After following some “1,463 youths in their mid- to late- teens who had been arrested or referred to counseling for substance abuse or ‘conduct disorder’ for about 15 years,” investigators “found that ‘conduct disorder,’ a mental health disorder that involves aggressive behaviors, such as property destruction, lying and thievery, in youths may be as much of a predictor of early death as substance abuse.” The findings were published online Aug. 9 in the journal Addiction.

Related Links:

— “Teenagers with conduct and substance abuse problems are more likely to die young, Colorado researchers find, “Jessica Seaman, The Denver Post, August 10, 2018.