The AP (9/18, Mulvihill, Raby) reports a 37-state coalition of attorneys general “asked health insurers Monday to encourage pain treatment through means other than prescriptions for opioid” pain medications, an effort they are conducting by sending letters to companies to request they prioritize alternative treatments.
Related Links:
— “States ask insurers to prioritize non-opioid pain treatment,” GEOFF MULVIHILL and JOHN RABY, AP via Washington Times, September 18, 2017.
Reuters (9/18, Cohen) reports women who took folic acid supplements during their pregnancies were less likely to have children with autism even when the mothers were exposed to pesticides that have been linked to the disorder, according to a 510-child study published in Environmental Health Perspectives. The study suggests that “folic acid might reduce, though not eliminate, an increased risk of autism associated with maternal pesticide exposure.”
Related Links:
— “Pregnant moms who take folic acid cut autism risk from pesticides,” Ronnie Cohen, Reuters, September 18, 2017.
The New York Times (9/17, A1, Thomas, Ornstein, Subscription Publication) reports that the New York State Attorney General’s office sent letters last week to the state’s three largest pharmacy benefit managers requesting information on “how they were addressing the crisis” with opioids amid questions that insurers are “are limiting access to pain medications that carry a lower risk of addiction or dependence, even as they provide comparatively easy access to generic opioid medications.”
The Times and ProPublica analyzed Medicare prescription drug plans covering 35.7 million people and found access to less-risky or more expensive painkillers was limited, but “almost every plan covered common opioids and very few required any prior approval.”
Related Links:
— “Amid Opioid Crisis, Insurers Restrict Pricey, Less Addictive Painkillers,” KATIE THOMAS and CHARLES ORNSTEIN, New York Times, September 17, 2017.
The AP (9/16, Yen) reported, “Suicide among military veterans is especially high in the western US and rural areas,” researchers from the Department of Veterans Affairs found. The data reveal that “wide state-by-state disparities and suggest social isolation, gun ownership and access to health care may be factors.” The article also cited statistics on suicide rates for veterans versus non-veterans, and quotes a RAND epidemiologist who said the data begs “closer investigation into why suicide rates by veteran status are higher, including the role that opiates play.” The Hill (9/16, Delk) and the Fox News (9/17) website also covered the story.
Related Links:
— “Suicide among veterans highest in western US, rural areas,” HOPE YEN, AP via The Brunswick News, September 16, 2017.
In the New York Times (9/14, Span, Subscription Publication) “The New Old Age” blog, Paula Span writes, “Epidemiologists at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism…reported” that “problem drinking is rising fast among older Americans.”
Researchers arrived at that conclusion after comparing “data from a national survey taken in 2001 and 2002 and again in 2012 and 2013, each time with about 40,000 adults.” The findings were published in the September issue of JAMA Psychiatry. The author of an accompanying editorial observed, “The trajectory over time is remarkable.”
Lead study author and NIAAA epidemiologist Bridget Grant, PhD, and her “team didn’t investigate causes” for late-life drinking, “but she speculates that anxiety caused by the recession, which hit right between the two surveys, may have played a part.”
Related Links:
— “Alcohol Abuse Is Rising Among Older Adults,” Paula Span, New York Times, September 14, 2017.
HealthDay (9/14, Preidt) reports, “Even after the devastation caused by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma disappears, survivors could still suffer from mental stress caused by the massive storms, experts” contend. In a news release, crisis psychiatrist Carol North, MD, of the UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, “outlined some coping techniques for people with short-term symptoms of mental stress after a disaster.”
Meanwhile, pediatric psychiatrist James Norcross, MD, also of the UT Southwestern Medical Center, “said that parents can help children recover after a natural disaster by remaining calm and reassuring” and by limiting “children’s exposure to news reports on television or social media.”
Meanwhile, Healio (9/14, Oldt) reports that James M. Shultz, MS, PhD, of the University of Miami School of Medicine, and Sandro Galea, MD, DrPH, of Boston University, who together authored a viewpoint published online Sept. 11 in the Journal of the American Medical Association, “explored how mental health consequences of Hurricane Harvey can be mitigated.”
Related Links:
— “Hurricanes’ Toll on Mental Health Will Linger,” Robert Preidt, HealthDay, September 14, 2017.
MD Magazine (9/14, Warren) reports, “The risk for health anxiety…a disorder characterized by a preoccupation with physical health and/or somatic/body symptoms, is increased in older adults,” researchers found after assessing “538 primary care patients” ranging in age from 18 to 90. The findings were published online June 24 in the Journal of Anxiety Disorders.
Related Links:
— “Older Adults Have Increased Risk for Health Anxiety,” Amanda Warren, MD Magazine, September 14, 2017.
Medscape (9/13, Brooks) reports, “One in 10 children in the United States suffer from serious emotional disturbance (SED) and are likely to require treatment or referral to appropriate mental health services,” researchers concluded after reviewing data from “12 population-based US studies that estimated the prevalence of youths with SED.” The findings of the meta-analysis were published online Sept. 1 in Psychiatric Services, a publication of the American Psychiatric Association.
Related Links:
— Medscape (requires login and subscription)
HealthDay (9/13, Preidt) reports, “Three common mental health disorders – depression, panic disorder and generalized anxiety disorder – pose no serious threat to pregnant women or the health of their” infants, researchers found after following some “2,600 pregnant women at 137 clinical practices in Connecticut and Massachusetts.” The findings were published online Sept. 13 in JAMA Psychiatry.
Related Links:
— “Does Mother’s Mental Health Affect Pregnancy?,” Robert Preidt, HealthDay, September 13, 2017.
Reuters (9/13, Seaman) reports, “Young adults with low levels of education and people with mental health disorders bore the greatest burden of a recent increase in suicide attempts in the US,” researchers concluded.
HealthDay (9/13, Dotinga) reports that after examining “surveys of over 69,000 US adults taken from 2004-2005 and 2012-2013,” then adjusting the data for confounding factors, investigators found that “the risk of suicide attempts was ‘significantly higher’ among certain groups, including: those aged 21 to 34 (compared to those 65 and up); those with only a high school education (compared to college grads); and those with antisocial, anxiety and depressive disorders (compared to others).” The findings were published online Sept. 13 in JAMA Psychiatry.
Healio (9/13, Oldt) reports the author of an accompanying editorial “reflected on the public health impact” of the study’s findings, writing, “Given the cumulative frequency of family, legal and financial problems, it behooves us to look beyond the walls of our clinics and offices to engage vulnerable individuals and families in diverse settings such as courts and jails, social service agencies, and perhaps the streets long before they have become ‘suicidal.’” Also covering the story are Medscape (9/13, Brooks) and Psychiatric News (9/13).
Related Links:
— “U.S. suicide attempts up most among younger adults, less educated,” Andrew M. Seaman, Reuters, September 13, 2017.