USA Today (6/13, O’Donnell) reports that “young adults were more likely than any other age group to die from drugs, alcohol and suicide over the past decade.” Drug-related fatalities “among people 18 to 34 soared 108% between 2007 and 2017, while alcohol deaths were up 69% and suicides increased 35%, according to an analysis out Thursday of the latest federal data by the non-profit Trust for America’s Health and Well Being Trust.” The analysis, which used Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data, “found the increases for these three ‘deaths of despair’ combined were higher than for Baby Boomers and senior citizens.”

Related Links:

— “‘Deaths of despair’ from drugs, alcohol and suicide hit young adults hardest, “Jayne O’Donnell, USA Today, June 13, 2019

Reuters (6/12, Rapaport) reports that “nearly half of trauma patients, even those without brain injuries, experience social deficits that make it harder for them to interact with friends and stay involved in the community, a recent study suggests.” For the study, “researchers followed 805 adults hospitalized for moderate to severe traumatic injuries. During the year after the injury, 364 of them, or 45%, reported experiencing social dysfunction.” The findings were published in the journal Surgery.

Related Links:

— “Traumatic injuries linked to later social dysfunction, “Lisa Rapaport, Reuters, June 21, 2019

HealthDay (6/11, Mozes) reports researchers found children “who had participated in athletic programs between ages 6 and 10 had less emotional distress, anxiety and shyness by age 12.” The findings of the 1,492-child study were published in Pediatric Research.

Related Links:

— “Can Playing a Sport Foster Better-Adjusted Kids?, ” Alan Mozes, HealthDay, June 11, 2019

Healio (6/12, Demko) reports that “long-term benefits of psychotherapeutic and combined treatments were superior to pharmacological treatments for PTSD across six randomized clinical trials with follow-up data.” The findings of the “network meta-analysis” were published online June 12 in JAMA Psychiatry. According to Healio, “future research needs to address clinically meaningful questions, like what clinicians can do when the first treatment fails, not just the question of whether psychotherapy or pharmacotherapy is better…wrote” the authors of an accompanying editorial.

Related Links:

— “Psychotherapeutic, combined treatments superior to pharmacological treatment in PTSD, “Savannah Demko, Healio, June 12, 2019

The Washington Post (6/7, Dias) reported on the phenomenon of mothers discovering they have autism after the condition is diagnosed in their child. The Post adds that “autism is about four times more prevalent in boys than in girls,” and that for decades, physicians often didn’t consider it as a possible diagnosis for girls, but now there is a growing consensus that many girls and women with the condition have been “overlooked.” The article highlights several cases of women being diagnosed with autism after their children were diagnosed and describes the mixture of emotions that come with the late diagnosis.

Related Links:

— “‘I understand exactly who he is’: Moms discover they share autism with their children, “Isabela Dias, The Washington Post, June 11, 2019

Medscape (6/11, Yasgur, Subscription Publication) reports, “Rates of nonsuicidal self-harm…are rising, especially among adolescent girls and young adult women,” and “few of these people receive medical or psychological help,” researchers concluded after conducting “a secondary analysis of data from the Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Surveys for 2000, 2007, and 2014 regarding individuals aged 16–74 years (n = 7243, 6477, and 6477, respectively).” The findings were published online June 4 in The Lancet Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Rates of Self-Harm Soar, Especially Among Girls, Young Women, “Batya Swift Yasgur, MA, LSW, Medscape, June 11, 2019

NBC News (6/12, Edwards) reports on its website that “rates of deaths from suicides, drug overdoses and alcohol have reached an all-time high” in the US, but “some states have been hit far harder than others.” A report from the Commonwealth Fund showed that West Virginia “had the highest drug overdose death rates, fueled mostly by the opioid epidemic,” and that those rates “rose by 450 percent between 2005 and 2017.” Death rates from suicide and alcohol “also showed regional disparities,” with people dying “at higher rates by suicide or from alcohol than from drugs in Montana, Nebraska, the Dakotas, Oregon and Wyoming.”

Related Links:

— “https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/u-s-death-rates-suicides-alcohol-drug-overdoses-reach-all-n1016216, “Erika Edwards, NBC News, June 12, 2019

Medscape (6/10, Anderson, Subscription Publication) reports on two studies presented at the American Psychiatric Association’s annual meeting that suggest the use of long-acting injectable antipsychotics “leads to improved adherence and a reduction in suicide attempts for” patients with “severe schizophrenia.” One study included 43 “eligible patients,” while a “second 10-year follow-up study included 344 patients with severe schizophrenia who were treated in mental health units or in a case-managed community-based program.”

Related Links:

— “More Evidence Endorses Benefits of Long-Acting Antipsychotics, “Pauline Anderson, Medscape, June 10, 2019

Reuters (6/10, Mishra) reports, “While many people can pick up on signs of postpartum depression in new mothers, the same signs are often mistaken for something else or missed entirely in fathers,” researchers concluded. The findings of the 406-participant study were published online May 9 in the Journal of Mental Health.

Related Links:

— “Postpartum depression in new dads often missed, “Manas Mishra, Reuters, June 10, 2019

The Washington Post (6/10, Bernstein) reports, “Five years ago, a study of death certificate data attracted notice for suggesting that states that passed medical marijuana laws saw 25 percent fewer opioid overdose deaths on average than states that barred medical” marijuana. Following release of that study, “the cannabis industry” took up its findings “to help win passage of medical cannabis laws in more states, even as medical experts expressed skepticism.” Now, a new study conducted by the Stanford University School of Medicine indicates that “states that introduced medical marijuana actually had…more deaths from opioid overdoses.”

The AP (6/10, Johnson) reports that after analyzing “data through 2017,” investigators found that “states passing medical marijuana laws saw a 23% higher than expected rate of deaths involving prescription opioids.” The findings were published online June 10 in PNAS.

CNBC (6/10, Turner) reports, “More than 130 people in the U.S. die every day from opioid overdoses, with about 47,000 people dying in 2017, according to” data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Because of these deaths due to “the opioid epidemic,” some experts suggested “marijuana should be used as an alternative treatment. Chronic pain is the most common condition that drives people to use medical marijuana.” In spite of the inability of medical marijuana “to reduce opioid overdose deaths, the study authors said there are still benefits to the drug” for certain people. The study’s lead author said, “There are valid reasons to pursue medical cannabis policies, but this doesn’t seem to be one of them.”

Also covering the story are the Wall Street Journal (6/10, Abbott, Subscription Publication), Reuters(6/10, Rapaport), STAT (6/10, Flaherty), HealthDay (6/10, Thompson), Healio (6/10, Miller), and MD Magazine (6/10, Gingerich).

Some States Allowing Medical Marijuana To Be Used For Certain Conditions Despite Little Scientific Evidence The AP (6/11, Johnson) reports that “marijuana has been shown to help ease pain and a few other health problems, yet two-thirds of U.S. states have decided pot should be legal to treat many other conditions with little scientific backing.” Some prescription medicines “on the market use synthetic THC to treat weight loss, nausea and vomiting in patients with AIDS or cancer. And researchers continue to study whether marijuana helps with PTSD, back pain and other problems.” Meanwhile, the federal government “both considers marijuana an illegal drug and a therapeutic herb worth more study.” The AP adds that some “companies are pursuing Food and Drug Administration backing for products based on marijuana ingredients.”

Related Links:

— “A cautionary tale about medical marijuana and opioid deaths, ” Lenny Bernstein, The Washington Post, June 10, 2019