HealthDay (5/19, Norton) reports that after examining “33 years’ worth of data,” investigators “found that states with more gun owners generally had more suicides by firearm among both men and women.” The findings were published online May 19 in the American Journal of Public Health.
Related Links:
— “States With More Gun Owners Have More Gun-Related Suicides: Study,” Amy Norton, HealthDay, May 19, 2016.
HealthDay (5/19, Mundell) reports that “risks for attempting suicide more than tripled for transgender adults who experienced a ‘high level’ of familial rejection,” research published online in LGBT Health suggests. After analyzing “2008-2009 data on almost 3,500 transgender adults interviewed from all 50 states, as part of the National Transgender Discrimination Survey,” researchers also found that “the risk for alcohol or drug abuse…rose much higher in these situations.”
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Medscape (5/18, Anderson) reports that at the American Psychiatric Association’s annual meeting, former Democratic Rhode Island congressman Patrick Kennedy, “who helped spearhead the national battle to end discrimination against mental illness,” called for more advocacy to ensure enforcement of the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act that was passed in 2008. Kennedy “said, ‘We have the promise of parity, but in order to make it a reality, we really need to put together a political movement.’” Kennedy then “urged the audience to ‘take on this issue from a place of personal commitment.’”
Related Links:
— Medscape (requires login and subscription)
HealthDay (5/17, Norton) reports on new research from the Center for Vital Longevity at the University of Texas at Dallas that shows that “busyness” among older adults may improve memory, information processing and reasoning. A study of 330 men and women between the ages of 50 and 89 showed that the people who were “busier” – those who stated that they often had too many things to do each day to complete – tested better in memory, information processing speed, reasoning, and vocabulary.
Medical Daily (5/17, Borreli) also reports on the study, which evaluates the benefits of a “healthy” busy schedule on mental health. The study, published in the journal Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, required participants to rank their “busyness” according to standards from the Martin and Park Environmental Demands Questionnaire (MPED). However, lead author Sara Festini said that although the study showed better cognitive performance associated with busier schedules, findings “do not mean being busy directly improves cognition” and that “it’s possible people with better cognitive function seek out a busier lifestyle, or that busyness and cognition reinforce and strengthen each other.”
Related Links:
— “Keep Busy! Stay Sharp!,” Amy Norton, HealthDay, May 17, 2016.
Medscape (5/17, Brooks) reports, “A rigorous programmatic approach to suicide prevention led by Magellan Health Services, in Arizona, that involves the local behavioral health community, is achieving promising results,” research presented at the American Psychiatric Association’s annual meeting suggests. In fact, during “the first 90 days of implementation, there were no reported suicides in the” Maricopa County Medicaid “behavioral health population in Arizona.” In addition, the so-called “Magellan Driving Suicide to Zero Initiative…decreased the suicide rate (number of suicides per 100,000) by 67% for the population and by 42% in people with serious mental illness.”
Related Links:
— Medscape (requires login and subscription)
The Wall Street Journal (5/17, Radnofsky, Subscription Publication) reports that according to the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics, some 9.1% of Americans, or 28.6 million people, were uninsured in 2015. That figure was 16 percent in 2010, when President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act into law. Commenting on the data, HHS Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell said 2015 was “the first year in our nation’s history that fewer than 1 in 10 Americans lacked health insurance, and the report documents the progress we’ve made expanding coverage across the country.”
Related Links:
— “Number of Uninsured in U.S. Dropped Below 10% for First Time in 2015,” Louise Radnofsky, Wall Street Journal, May 17, 2016. [Subscription Needed]
Medscape (5/16, Cassels) reports that even though the “two thirds” of “Americans believe that untreated mental illness has a significant negative impact on the US economy and that there is a strong need for mental health care reform, only 5% believe that mental health problems are a priority for Congress,” the findings of a “new national poll” conducted by the American Psychiatric Association suggest. The findings of the poll were released at APA’s annual meeting. Commenting on the poll’s findings, APA president Renée Binder, MD, said in a news release, “We applaud the lawmakers in Congress who recognize the dire need to improve our nation’s mental health system. But we call upon Congress as a whole to embrace this issue.”
Related Links:
— Medscape (requires login and subscription)
The Boston Globe (5/17, Vaznis) reports Massachusetts schools have embarked on programs to help reintroduce students who have been absent from school due to mental health issues. For example, Brooklyn High School partnered with the Brookline Community Health Center to create the Bridge for Resilient Youth in Transition program, which enables students “to catch up on schoolwork, receive some extra therapy, and ease back into the daily routine of school.” The program is housed in a two-room suite at the school. According to the article, Brookline is planning to expand the program nationwide.
Related Links:
— “Schools struggle to cope with rising mental health needs,” James Vaznis, Boston Globe, May 17, 2016.
Medical Daily (5/16, Olson) reports that the findings of a study published online May 11 in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry suggests “how a diet rich in omega-3s, which are naturally found in salmon, tuna, avocado, and seeds, influences a child’s behavior on the short and long-term basis.” The study, which involved some 290 11- and 12-year-old kids, found that children who “who had a combination of” cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and “omega-3s and an omega-3s-only intervention reported less aggression compared to the groups receiving only CBT or information on aggression.”
Related Links:
— “Omega-3 Benefits Child Brain Development, May Reduce Aggressive Behavior,” Samantha Olson, Medical Daily, May 16, 2016.
HealthDay (5/12, Thompson) reports, “People taking one of the alternative mood stabilizers were 40 percent more likely to harm themselves compared to patients on lithium,” researchers found.
According to MedPage Today (5/12, Jenkins), the findings of the 6,671-patient study published online May 11 in JAMA Psychiatry also reveal that “self-harm rates in those prescribed valproate were not higher than in those on other nonlithium maintenance therapies, contrary to the an existing… warning” by the Food and Drug Administration.
Psychiatric News (5/12) quotes the study authors, who theorized, “The lower rates of self-harm in those prescribed lithium may be due either to improved mood stabilization compared with other treatments or specific effects on impulsive aggression and risk taking.” The study authors concluded, “Self-harm, unintentional injury, and suicide are important morbidity and mortality outcomes in BPD [bipolar disorder] that appear to be amenable to modification through appropriate drug treatment.”
Related Links:
— “Lithium Beats Newer Meds for Bipolar Disorder, Study Finds,” Dennis Thompson, HealthDay, May 12, 2016.