Medscape (9/11, Brooks, Subscription Publication) reports, “Approximately 49 to 65 inpatients commit suicide each year in US hospitals,” researchers concluded after performing “a cross-sectional analysis of data from 27 states reporting to the National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS) for 2014-2015 and from hospitals reporting to the Joint Commission’s Sentinel Event (SE) database from 2010 to 2017.” The study authors estimated that “between 48.5 and 64.9 hospital inpatient suicides occur annually in the United States, with 31.0 to 51.7 of these events occurring during psychiatric hospitalization.” The findings were published online Sept. 3 in “the Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety to coincide with National Suicide Prevention Week, September 9 to 15.”

Related Links:

— Medscape (requires login and subscription)

Healio (9/11, Demko) reports, “Women with gestational diabetes mellitus may be at elevated risk for postpartum depression symptoms,” researchers concluded. The findings of the 1,066-woman study were published online Aug. 15 in the Journal of Affective Disorders.

Related Links:

— “Link found between gestational diabetes, postpartum depression risk, “Savannah Demko, Healio, September 11, 2018.

NBC News (9/11, Fox) reports on its website that according to research published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, a review of medical records from 2006 to 2015 “showed that a physician gave no explanation at all for writing an opioid prescription in 29 percent of the cases.” The findings by researchers at Harvard Medical School and the Rand Corp. “help support criticism by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration and others that say inappropriate prescribing practices have helped drive the opioid crisis.”

The Boston Globe (9/10, Finucane) reports “inappropriate prescribing, bad recordkeeping, or a combination of both were possible reasons for the missing data, according to the researchers.” Study author Tisamarie Sherry said, “Whatever the reasons, lack of robust documentation undermines our efforts to understand physician prescribing patterns and curtails our ability to stem overprescribing.”

Related Links:

— “Doctors gave no reason for a third of opioid prescriptions, study finds, “Maggie Fox, NBC News, September 10, 2018.

According to USA Today (9/10, O’Donnell), fifty-three “children aged 11 and younger took their lives in 2016, the last year for which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has data.” The reasons behind the increase are unclear, but as investigators “look more closely, themes are beginning to emerge.” For example, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, “which can make impulsive youth still more impulsive, was a common characteristic found in a 2016 study” published in Pediatrics “by researchers from Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus,” as were “arguments or disagreements with family members and friends.” Depression, unlike in adult suicides, “didn’t appear to be a major factor” in child suicides.

Related Links:

— “More children are dying by suicide. Researchers are asking why, “Jayne O’Donnell, USA Today, September 10, 2018.

Reuters (9/10, Carroll) reports, “Nearly one in 10 suicide deaths in the U.S. occurs in people with chronic pain,” research indicated.

MedPage Today (9/10, Monaco) reports that in the “large, retrospective study,” investigators arrived at this conclusion after “using death certificates and related records as a data source on contributing factors.” Specifically, “among more than 120,000 suicide deaths from 2003 to 2014, 8.8% of decedents age 10 and older had evidence of chronic pain, according to Emiko Petrosky, MD, MPH, of the CDC in Atlanta, and colleagues.” The findings were published online Sept. 11 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

According to HealthDay (9/10, Preidt), an accompanying editorial “noted that the role of opioids in suicide risk should be explored and suicide prevention should be a component of care for those suffering from chronic pain.” Healio (9/10, Tedesco) also covers the study.

Related Links:

— “Chronic pain may contribute to suicide, study warns, “Linda Carroll, Reuters, September 10, 2018.

In a nearly 2,500-word story, The Atlantic (9/6, Lucchesi) reports, “Medical researchers estimate that untreated postpartum psychosis leads to an estimated four percent risk of infanticide, and a five percent risk of suicide.” Currently, 12 “states have new legislation or special programs intended to build awareness of postpartum psychosis among new mothers and medical” professionals. Meanwhile, “lawmakers have also considered mandatory screening for new mothers during well-baby visits.” But, some experts in public health “have described these programs as well-intended but ineffective.” In fact, “a 2015 study in Psychiatric Services,” a publication of the American Psychiatric Association, “analyzed the various programs and concluded: ‘Despite the abundant good will, there is no evidence that state policies are addressing this great need.’” Postpartum psychosis “occurs in one to two mothers per 1,000 who give birth, according to the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.”

Related Links:

— “When Giving Birth Leads to Psychosis, Then to Infanticide, “Emilie Le Beau Lucchesi, The Atlantic, September 06, 2018.

The Boston Globe (9/6, Krantz) reports, “One in five college students reported thoughts of suicide in the past year,” researchers concluded after surveying some “67,000 college students at more than 100 colleges in the” US. The findings were published online Sept. 6 in the journal Depression and Anxiety.

Related Links:

— “Study finds 1 in 5 college students reported thoughts of suicide, “Laura Krantz, The Boston Globe, September 06, 2018.

According to Healio (9/5, Demko), “the percentage of active-duty female Air Force personnel experiencing PTSD symptoms increased as number of wartime experiences increased,” researchers found after using “participants’ responses to the U.S. Air Force Community Assessment Survey in 2008, 2011, or 2013 to determine the connections between wartime experiences and PTSD symptoms.” Included were sample sizes of “18,012 in 2008, 12,249 in 2011, and 8,061 in 2013.” The findings were published online Aug. 21 in the Journal of Women’s Health.

Related Links:

— “, “Savannah Demko, Healio, September 05, 2018.

STAT Plus (8/30, Robbins, Subscription Publication) reports the first digital tablet that can alert a patient’s physician or caregiver after it has been swallowed will soon enter the market and be first sold to people with mental illness who are covered by Medicaid. The product will cost $1,650 per month. The digital pill was approved last year by the FDA “for patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder,” and “it’s a high-tech upgrade to the antipsychotic drug Abilify.”

Related Links:

— “At $1,650 per month, the first digital pill will soon roll out to certain Medicaid patients with mental illness, “Rebecca Robbins, STAT Plus , August 30, 2018.

HealthDay (8/30, Mundell) says a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on opioid overdose deaths across 11 states “finds the problem is increasingly complex, but more can be done to stop it.” According to the research team led by Christine Mattson, of the CDC’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, most states “were simultaneously struggling with a complex mix of prescription and illicit opioid deaths.” According to Dr. Harshal Kirane, who directs addiction services at Staten Island University Hospital in New York City, the CDC report “reveals two key areas of pressing concern: limited access to addiction care and limited community engagement in overdose education and naloxone distribution.” The report was published August 31 in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Related Links:

— “States Struggle With Onslaught of Opioid OD Deaths, “E.J. Mundell, HealthDay, August 30, 2018.