The CBS Evening News (9/9, story 9, 2:25, Pelley) reported on some of the health problems experienced by first responders who survived the 9/11 attacks. CBS News’ Dr. Jon LaPook, MD, said, “In a study of more than 800 first responders, more than 12 percent had cognitive impairment.” He added that “responders…with a diagnosis of PTSD with flashbacks were three times as likely to have impairment.”

Meanwhile, the New York Post (9/9, Fears) reported, “The city Health Department released on Friday new findings from the World Trade Center Health Registry that illustrate the long-term physical and mental effects that 9/11 survivors and recovery workers are suffering.”

Related Links:

— “9/11 survivors continue battling long-term health effects,” Danika Fears, New York Post, September 9, 2016.

The Minneapolis Star Tribune (9/10, Olson) reported, “Veterinarians have the third-highest risk of suicide as a cause of death when compared to other US occupations,” the Star Tribune found after examining data from the CDC’s National Occupational Mortality Surveillance database. Included in that database are “death records from 24 states in a recent seven-year period.” The suicide rate for veterinarians is surpassed only by that of “podiatrists and dentists.”

Related Links:

— “Veterinarians at high risk for suicide, and job could play a role,” Jeremy Olson, Minneapolis Star Tribune, September 10, 2016.

The Hill (9/9, Disipio) reported that on Sept. 9, “members of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health pushed for insurers to do more to ensure parity so that those with mental health or substance abuse issues don’t face tougher obstacles to receiving care as those with other medical conditions.” According to The Hill, “Since the passage of the Mental Health Parity Act of 1996, Congress has pressed to improve upon making mental health and substance use treatment as accessible as other treatments.” Meanwhile, lawmakers in the Senate “are still struggling to reach a deal” on mental healthcare reform legislation.

Related Links:

— “Lawmakers push insurers on mental health access,” Joe DiSipio, The Hill, September 9, 2016.

The AP (9/8, Murphy) reports on persistent “glaring differences in insurance coverage” for children with autism, amputees, “and others in need of certain expensive treatments even after the Affordable Care Act set new standards as part of its push to expand and improve coverage.” The article says these disparities “stem from random factors like what state someone lives in or who happens to provide their coverage – and often people can do nothing about it,” because the ACA allows states and employers to determine what should be covered. According to the AP, these differences can result in significant debt for patients, or they can push consumers to skip medical care.

Related Links:

— “WHY INSURANCE DENIES YOUR CLAIM, BUT PAYS YOUR NEIGHBOR’S,” TOM MURPHY, Associated Press, September 8, 2016.

Healio (9/8, Oldt) reports researchers found “insufficient evidence for accuracy of depression screening tools for major depressive disorder [MDD] in children and adolescents.” The findings of the 17-study review were published online May 27 in the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Study questions accuracy of depression screening tools for youth,” Healio, September 8, 2016.

Healio (9/8, Oldt) reports, “Cognitive impairment was common among individuals who responded to the attacks on the World Trade Center,” researchers found after evaluating “818 responders who reported for annual monitoring visits.” The findings, which were published earlier this year in Alzheimer’s & Dementia: Diagnosis, Assessment & Disease Monitoring, suggest an association between post-traumatic stress disorder and cognitive impairment.

Related Links:

— “Analysis of World Trade Center responders shows link between trauma, cognitive impairment,” Healio, September 8, 2016.

HealthDay (9/7, Preidt) reports, “The more ads for a brand of alcohol that underage drinkers see, the more likely they are to consume that product,” researchers found after asking some 1,000 13- to 20-year-old participants “who said they’d had alcohol in the past month” a number of questions on drinking and television viewing habits. The findings were published online Sept. 7 in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.

Related Links:

— “TV Booze Ads a Lubricant for Teen Drinking: Study,” Robert Preidt, HealthDay, September 7, 2016.

In a greater than 1,400-word article, The Atlantic (9/7, Todd) reports that “crisis living rooms,” which offer “talk therapy” and trained case managers’ help to mental health patients in crisis may help keep such patients out of emergency departments.

Related Links:

— “A New Place to Calm Mental Distress,” LEAH TODD, The Atlantic, September 7, 2016.

HealthDay (9/7, Preidt) reports, “Stroke survivors face an increased risk of developing depression,” researchers found after analyzing “national databases in Denmark to compare depression risk among stroke survivors and people with no history of stroke.” Investigators found that “in the first three months after having a stroke, survivors’ risk of depression was eight times higher than among people with no history of stroke.”

According to Healio (9/7, Oldt), the findings were published online Sept. 7 in JAMA Psychiatry. An accompanying editorial observed the “study indicates the need for a reappraisal of the importance of the stroke lesion in triggering depression in the context of background predisposing factors.”

Related Links:

— “Stroke Survivors Often Struggle With Depression,” Robert Preidt, HealthDay, September 7, 2016.

The Wall Street Journal (9/7, Radnofsky, Subscription Publication) reports the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Health Interview Survey found that the number of uninsured people in the US remained historically low in early 2016, with only 8.6% of respondents living without healthcare coverage.

The AP (9/7, Alonso-Zaldivar) reports the uninsured rate “has been cut by nearly half under Obama’s law.” The survey “estimated that 27.3 million people remained uninsured in the first three months of this year, about 21 million fewer than in 2010, when Obama signed the Affordable Care Act.”

Related Links:

— “Percentage of Uninsured Historically Low,” LOUISE RADNOFSKY, Wall Street Journal, September 7, 2016. [SUBSCRIPTION REQUIRED]