Psychiatric News (8/8) reported an umbrella review published in JAMA Psychiatry found that “nearly one-third of transgender and nonbinary people will attempt suicide at least once in their lives.” The review “included 24 reviews and meta-analyses that analyzed 754 primary studies published between 1983 and 2022.” Researchers observed the “lifetime prevalence of suicidal ideation among transgender and nonbinary people was 50%, the lifetime prevalence of suicide attempt was 29%, and the lifetime prevalence of non-suicidal self-injury was 47%. Compared with cisgender people, trans and nonbinary people were about 3.5 times as likely to experience any of these above events.” The review also found that “trans and nonbinary people were more likely than cisgender individuals to experience an eating disorder, experience post-traumatic stress disorder, and be diagnosed with autism.”

Related Links:

— “Suicidal and Self-Harm Behaviors Common Among Transgender and Nonbinary People, Psychiatric News, August 8, 2025

Psychiatric News (8/7) reports a study found that in both males and females, both low and high “levels of testosterone may be a risk factor for future posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms,” while individuals in the middle had the lowest risk. For the study, male and female participants were “divided into 10 groups (deciles) based on total testosterone (TT) levels, with group one (lowest levels) serving as the reference.” Researchers observed “that relative to group one, all other groups had lower PTSD symptom scores, after adjusting for other variables. The scores exhibited a U-shaped pattern, with decile seven associated with the fewest PTSD symptoms in both males and females. Among both males and females, stronger associations between testosterone levels and future PTSD symptoms were seen in adults with a BMI of 30 or higher.” The study (8/6) was published in Translational Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Low and High Testosterone Associated With PTSD Symptoms in Males and Females, Psychiatric News , August 7, 2025

Healio (8/7, Byrne) reports a study found that “more than half of adults with inflammatory bowel disease have at least one psychiatric comorbidity.” Study results showed that “more than half (57%) of participants had at least one psychiatric comorbidity, and 27% had more than one. The most common condition was major depressive disorder (41.7%), followed by anxiety disorders (39.6%), substance use disorders (16.2%), PTSD (5.3%), obsessive-compulsive disorder (4.9%) and bipolar disorder (2%).” Researchers also observed that “certain combinations of psychiatric disorders occurred more often. Notably, among those with major depressive disorder and another psychiatric comorbidity, nearly half (49.1%) had a substance abuse disorder. Of those with at least one psychiatric comorbidity, more than 70% had major depressive disorder and an anxiety disorder.” The study was published in Crohn’s & Colitis 360.

Related Links:

— “Psychiatric disorders ‘common’ among patients with inflammatory bowel disease,”Jennifer Byrne , Healio, August 7, 2025

The AP (8/5, Dubow) reports the National Football League “sent a memo to teams on Tuesday explaining the decision to ban smelling salts and any other ammonia inhalant (AI) during pregame activities, games and halftime on the sideline or locker rooms.” The memo states, “The FDA noted potential negative effects from AI use. AIs also have the potential to mask certain neurologic signs and symptoms, including some potential signs of concussion. As a result, the NFL Head, Neck, and Spine Committee recommended prohibiting the use of AIs for any purpose during play in the NFL.”

Related Links:

— “NFL bans smelling salts, saying product can mask concussion symptoms,”Josh Dubow , AP, August 5, 2025

Healio (8/5, Herpen) reports a study presented at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference links a history of traumatic brain injury to “long-term cognitive decline involving speech functions, specifically where the presence of amyloid-beta was detected as opposed to other biomarkers indicative of preclinical Alzheimer’s.” Researchers observed that “in those positive for amyloid-beta biomarkers, a history of TBI was associated with accelerated longitudinal decline in speech measured by words per minute and letter fluency as well as word finding, while those without TBI had a slight longitudinal increase across all three domains. Further, they reported a decline of broader executive functions such as digital symbol substitution and trails making test were not accelerated by TBI history.” Conversely, they noted “no significant effect of TBI history on similar decline for participants with history of either apolipoprotein or tauopathies.”

Related Links:

— “TBI linked to long-term cognitive decline in preclinical Alzheimer’s disease,”Robert Herpen, MA , Healio, August 5, 2025

CNN (8/5, Holcombe) reports, “People who experienced physical abuse as a child were at a 50% increased risk of reporting low mental health in adulthood compared with those with no abuse, according to” a study, while “those who experienced verbal abuse had a 60% increase in likelihood of low well-being.” Investigators came to this conclusion after analyzing “data from more than 20,000 adults across seven different studies in England and Wales.” The findings were published in BMJ Open.

Related Links:

— “Childhood verbal and physical abuse leave similar impacts, study shows,”Madeline Holcombe, CNN, August 5, 2025

MedPage Today (8/4, George) reports a study found that “treatment with the antiviral oseltamivir (Tamiflu) was tied to a reduced risk of serious neuropsychiatric events in children and adolescents.” Researchers observed that “compared with untreated flu, the risk of serious neuropsychiatric events was lower in kids treated with oseltamivir during flu exposure periods and post-treatment periods.” Furthermore, the “relative risks of neuropsychiatric events also were low during periods with neither flu exposure nor oseltamivir dispensing and during oseltamivir prophylaxis periods compared with untreated flu.” The findings ultimately “raise questions about warnings on oseltamivir’s label” that states “that some flu patients who receive the drug, particularly pediatric patients, may be at an increased risk of confusion or abnormal behavior early in their illness.” The study authors wrote, “It is important to note that these warnings were placed on the basis of case reports rather than studies on associated risks for these events.” The study was published in JAMA Neurology.

Related Links:

— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

The Hill (8/4, Migdon) reports New Hampshire Gov. Kelly Ayotte (R) “signed two bills Friday restricting access to transition-related care in the state, which already prohibits rare genital surgeries for minors to transition.” The first bill “prohibits doctors from administering puberty blockers and hormones to transgender youth starting Jan. 1,” while the second “bars adolescents younger than 18 from undergoing certain procedures when they are used to treat gender dysphoria.” The move makes New Hampshire “the first Northeastern state to ban gender-affirming health care for minors.”

Related Links:

— “New Hampshire becomes first Northeastern state to ban gender-affirming care for minors,”Brooke Migdon, The Hill, August 4, 2025

The AP (8/1, Stobbe) reported a federal health official confirmed last week that experts from “more than a half-dozen of the nation’s top medical organizations” were “disinvited from the workgroups that have been the backbone of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. The organizations include the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Infectious Diseases Society of America.” In a joint statement Friday, the AMA and several organizations said: “To remove our deep medical expertise from this vital and once transparent process is irresponsible, dangerous to our nation’s health, and will further undermine public and clinician trust in vaccine.

Related Links:

— “AMA and other medical associations are kicked out of CDC vaccine workgroups,”Mike Stobbe , AP, August 1, 2025

HealthDay (8/1, Mundell) reported a study suggests that when a community’s homicide rates rise, “there’s typically a local uptick in suicides a year later.” The researchers “tracked 50 years’ worth of data – from 1968 through 2019 – for homicides and suicides in counties across 48 U.S. states. The main finding: A one-point rise in homicides in a county during one year was linked to an average 3.6% rise in suicides the following year.” Moreover, the trend intensified when homicides and suicides were due to “a gun: A one-point rise in gun-related killings was linked to a 5.7% rise in gun-related suicides the following year. The murder-suicide link was more pronounced in rural versus urban communities, and among white people versus Black Americans, although Black Americans were not unaffected, the researchers said.” The study was published in Social Science & Medicine.

Related Links:

— “When Local Homicide Rates Rise, Suicides Rise Soon After,”Ernie Mundell , HealthDay, August 1, 2025