Reuters (7/9, Kelland) reports that a review published online July 9 in The Lancet Psychiatry suggests that cigarette smoking may increase the risk for developing psychosis. Investigators came to this conclusion after analyzing data from studies including some 15,000 users of tobacco and 273,000 non-smokers. Also covering the story are BBC News (7/10, Gallagher) and The Guardian (UK) (7/10, Boseley).

Related Links:

— “New analysis of smoking and schizophrenia suggests causal link,” Kate Kelland, Reuters, July 10, 2015.

The Kaiser Health News (7/9, Pockros) interviewed former Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-RI), who discussed his efforts to promote mental health treatment. Kennedy said, “Today we are reacting to an epidemic of untreated mental illness.” He recommended building “a chronic care or intensive care system so that people are treated and cared for, and not abandoned.” He favors “a chronic care approach to” the treatment of mental illness.

Related Links:

— “Patrick Kennedy On Moving Mental Health Policy Out Of ‘The Dark Ages’,” Alana Pokros, Kaiser Health News, July 9, 2015.

The Tampa Bay (FL) Times (7/10) reports in depth on depression as a common, yet often unexpected side effect of significant medical treatment or illness. According to the article, a 2011 report from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation said that 34 million US adults – 17 percent of all US adults – “had a mental health disorder such as anxiety or depression along with a chronic health condition such as diabetes, heart disease, back pain or asthma.” The Times notes that the National Cancer Institute estimates 25 percent of cancer patients experience depression, and the American Heart Association estimates 33 percent of all heart attack patients do the same.

Related Links:

— “Depression common after serious illness or medical treatments, and should be treated,” Irene Maher, Tampa Bay Times, July 9, 2015.

The AP (7/9, Tanner) reports, “War-time suicide attempts in the Army are most common in newer enlisted soldiers who have not been deployed, while officers are less likely to try to end their lives,” according to a study published online July 8 in JAMA Psychiatry. After analyzing “records on nearly 10,000 suicide attempts among almost one million active-duty Army members during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, from 2004 to 2009,” researchers also found that suicide “attempts are more common among women and those without a high school diploma.”

The CBS News (7/9, Welch) website reports that “rates of attempted suicide were lower among black, Hispanic, and Asian soldiers,” the study found. The study’s lead author “said that future research will focus on the reasons why women are at a greater risk of attempted suicide, why the risk is lower among deployed soldiers, and which mental health disorders carry the highest risk.”

Related Links:

— “SUICIDE ATTEMPTS MOST COMMON IN NEWER SOLDIERS, STUDY FOUND,” Lindsey Tanner, Asssociated Press, July 8, 2015.

The CBS Evening News (7/8, story 7, 2:30, Pelley) reported, “America’s heroin problem is getting worse. There’s a new report from the CDC that says in just six years heroin use has risen 150 percent to more than a half million Americans, and over a decade, use by women alone is up 100 percent.” As a result, there are increasing numbers of babies born addicted to heroin.

USA Today (7/9, Ungar) reports that admissions of heroin- or opioid-addicted infants “to US neonatal intensive care units nearly quadrupled from 2004 through 2013, from seven to 27 per 1,000 admissions, a recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine found.” In the meantime, “the overall incidence nearly doubled in four years nationally, with one affected baby born every 25 minutes by 2012,” according to a study published in the Journal of Perinatology.

Related Links:

— “Born into suffering: More babies arrive dependent on drugs,” Laura Unger, USA Today, July 8, 2015.

Modern Healthcare (7/8, Dickson, Subscription Publication) reports that “inpatient psychiatric facilities are pushing back at attempts by the CMS” to implement “new quality metrics that will affect psychiatric facility payments starting in fiscal 2018.”

While some behavioral health facilities have “jeered” the proposed measures, particularly those regarding tobacco use treatment, “others were thrilled with the quality measure recommendations.” For example, American Psychiatric Association CEO Saul Levin, MD, said, “Given the prevalence of tobacco use among persons with mental illness and the detrimental effects of tobacco use on overall health, the (American Psychiatric Association) is in full agreement that clinicians should provide tobacco use screening and offer treatment.”

Dr. Levin added, “While inpatient psychiatric facilities may not be primarily established to provide substance use treatment, the lack of such treatment during periods of hospitalization impedes the effectiveness of psychiatric treatment and the likelihood of recovery.”

Related Links:

— “Psychiatric facilities push back on new CMS quality measures,” Virgil Dickson, Modern Healthcare, July 7, 2015.

The New York Times (7/8, Rabin) “Well” blog reports that a “cross-national study” published online July 6 in the journal Pediatric Obesity Investigates “weight-based bullying.” After surveying “the views of 2,866 adults in the United States, Canada, Iceland and Australia,” researchers found that “at least 70 percent of participants in all of the countries perceived weight-based bullying to be a common problem, with 69 percent characterizing it as a ‘serious’ or even ‘very serious’ problem.”

Related Links:

— “Fat Stigma Fuels Weight Bullying,” Roni Robin, New York Times, July 7, 2015.

One major television news network, along with several major newspapers, media outlets and wire sources, cover a troubling rise in overdose deaths from heroin, as detailed in a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Nearly all the sources quote CDC Director Tom Frieden, MD, who expressed alarm at this trend and who tied it to a new set of public health problems.

NBC Nightly News (7/7, story 6, 2:35, Holt) reported that the CDC released “alarming new numbers…showing a dramatic rise in the heroin epidemic,” with heroin overdose deaths nearly quadrupling between 2002 and 2013, and the number of women using the drug doubling.

Related Links:

— “CDC Report Notes Alarming Rise in Heroin Use Across U.S.,” Erika Edwards, NBC Nightly News, July 7, 2015.

The Washington Post (7/7, Gebelhoff) “To Your Health” blog reports in continuing coverage that a study published online July 1 in JAMA Psychiatry suggests that antipsychotic medication “use has been on the rise among adolescents, even though most had not been diagnosed with a mental disorder.” After analyzing “data from thousands of prescriptions to analyze trends between 2006 and 2010,” investigators also “expressed concern that in cases where there are diagnosed mental disorders, the antipsychotic drugs are being used to treat unapproved conditions, such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and depression.”

Related Links:

— “Most antipsychotic drugs prescribed to teens without mental health diagnosis, study says,” Robert Gebelhoff, Washington Post, July 6, 2015.

The Telegraph (UK) (7/7, Knapton) reports that a study published in BMJ Open suggests that consuming alcohol during pregnancy is “now a ‘significant health concern’ after finding three quarters of British women carry on drinking, while 33 per cent drink more than six units in one sitting.” The researchers analyzed nearly 18,000 women and found about “75 per cent of pregnant women in the UK reported drinking some alcohol in pregnancy, lower than in Ireland at 86 per cent but higher than in Australia at 40 per cent and New Zealand at 56 per cent.”

Related Links:

— “Pregnant women should be tested for alcohol amid binge drinking fears,” Sarah Knapton, The Telegraph, July 6, 2015.