HCP Live (1/9, Derman) reports, “Home-use transcranial direct current stimulation…combined with a digital psychological intervention or digital placebo is not superior to sham for the treatment of” patients with “a major depressive episode, according to a new study.” The findings were published in JAMA Psychiatry.
Related Links:
— “Home-Use tDCS is Not an Effective Treatment for Major Depressive Disorder,” Chelsie Derman, HCP Live, January 9, 2024
HealthDay (1/9, Mundell ) reports, “Depression that emerges around the time of pregnancy raises a woman’s risk for suicide sharply and for many years, new Swedish research shows.” Investigators “found that a new mom’s odds for suicide soars seven-fold in the year after a diagnosis of perinatal depression – depression that arises just before, during or after a pregnancy.”
The study indicated that “between five to 18 years after delivery, the risk of suicide in women with perinatal depression was still more than double that of women unaffected by the illness.” The findings were published in JAMA Network Open.
Psychiatric News (1/9) also covers the story.
Related Links:
— “Pregnancy-Linked Depression Raises Odds for Suicide Years After Delivery,” Ernie Mundell, HealthDay, January 9, 2024
ABC News (1/8, Zhang) reports, “For children under the age of 2, television screen time is associated with sensory differences later in toddlerhood, according to a new study.” Notably, “children who watched any television or DVDs at 12 months of age were twice as likely by 36 months to experience ‘atypical sensory processing’ … compared to others of that age.” According to the research, “after 18 months of age, each extra hour of screen exposure per day was associated with around a 20% increased likelihood of sensory processing differences.” The findings were published in JAMA Pediatrics.
Related Links:
— “Screen time for kids under 2 linked to sensory differences in toddlerhood: Study,” Dr. Angela Zhang, ABC News, January 8, 2024
Healio (1/8, Weldon) reports, “Residential addiction treatment centers serving adolescents are scarce and expensive in the United States, new study findings suggest, despite increasing overdose rates among young people in recent years.” The findings were published in Health Affairs.
Related Links:
— “Study: Residential addiction treatment for adolescents limited, costly,” Rose Weldon, Healio, January 8, 2024
The New York Times (1/5, Kolata ) said, “People taking the wildly popular drugs Ozempic, to treat diabetes, and Wegovy, to combat obesity, are slightly less likely to have suicidal thoughts than people who are not taking them, researchers reported on Friday.” The findings were published in Nature Medicine.
The AP (1/5, Aleccia ) reported NIH and Case Western Reserve University researchers found that “people taking semaglutide had a 49% to 73% lower risk of first-time or recurring suicidal thoughts than those taking another drug for those conditions during a six-month follow-up period.”
CNN (1/5, Tirrell ) reported, “The findings from the new study come days after the FDA said it was reviewing reports of suicidal ideation among people using semaglutide and similar medicines and evaluating the need for regulatory action.” Similarly, “the European Medicines Agency said in July that it was reviewing 150 reports of possible cases of self-injury and suicidal thoughts among people taking semaglutide and similar medicines.”
Related Links:
— “People taking Wegovy and Ozempic have lower risk of suicidal thoughts vs. older drugs, study finds,” Jones Aleccia, Associated Press, January 5, 2024
MedPage Today (1/5, Robertson) reported, “Problems with the veterinary sedative xylazine – also known as ‘tranq’ – appeared to be concentrated in the eastern U.S. but were spread across the entire country, a cross-sectional study found.” Investigators found that “at least 43 states reported at least one xylazine-related overdose death from 2019 to 2022.” The data also indicated that “in 2019, 16 states had no xylazine forensic reports but by 2022, only two states had no such reports.” The findings were published in JAMA Network Open.
Related Links:
— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)
Psychiatric News (1/5) reported, “Taking serotonergic antidepressants such as serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs) or selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) may increase the risk of patients with Parkinson’s disease developing impulse control disorder, a study…has found.” Investigators came to this conclusion after examining “data from 1,045 individuals (mean age, 63 years) who were participating in the Parkinson’s Progression Markers Initiative.” The research was published in The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.
Related Links:
— “Certain Antidepressants May Increase Risk of Impulse Control Disorder in Parkinson’s Patients,” Psychiatric News, January 5, 2024
NBC News (1/5, Bellamy) reported, “According to a study…Black children and teens who experience racial discrimination online may develop symptoms related to post-traumatic stress disorder.” Investigators “found that children and teens who experienced racism online were more likely to report PTSD symptoms, and that those who developed PTSD symptoms were more likely to report suicidal thoughts,” but “they didn’t find that experiencing online racism directly led to an increased likelihood of suicidal thoughts.” The findings were published in JAMA Psychiatry.
Related Links:
— “Online racism is linked to PTSD symptoms in Black youth, study finds,” Claretta Bellamy, NBC News, January 5, 2024
HCP Live (1/4, Derman) reports, “Hearing loss is associated with an increased risk of dementia, but hearing aids are linked with reducing the risk, according to a new study.” The findings were published in JAMA Otolaryngology–Head & Neck Surgery.
Related Links:
— “Hearing Loss Linked with Increased Risk of Dementia,” Chelsie Derman, HCP Live, January 4, 2024
Neurology Advisor (1/4) reports, “Excessive television watching is associated with an increased risk for dementia, Parkinson disease, and depression,” although “non-worked-related moderate computer use is tied to a lower risk for dementia,” according to a study. The findings were published in the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity.
Related Links:
— “TV Watching Duration May Impact Risk for Dementia, PD, and Depression,” Jessica Nye, PhD, Neurology Advisor, January 4, 2024