The Washington Post (7/24, Ovalle ) reports President “Trump directed federal agencies to find ways to make it easier to forcibly hospitalize homeless people with mental illness and addiction for longer periods – an effort to fight what the administration calls ‘vagrancy’ threatening the streets of U.S. cities.” The “executive order signed Thursday pushes federal agencies to overturn state and federal legal precedent that limits how local and state governments can involuntarily commit people who pose a risk to themselves or others.”

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— “The Washington Post (requires login and subscription)

MedPage Today (7/23, Lou ) reports, “Study after study, higher daily step counts were shown to track with better health outcomes, even well below the oft-touted target of 10,000 steps.” A “meta-analysis of studies published since 2014” found that “increasing daily step counts above 2,000 was associated with a risk reduction.” Researchers found that “there was a significant reduction in risks of all-cause mortality, cardiovascular disease incidence, dementia, and falls in people logging more steps; these outcomes were best around 5,000 to 7,000 steps per day, with no extra benefit beyond that range.” The findings were published in The Lancet Public Health.

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— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

The Hill (7/23, Delandro) reports that research “suggests diets including eggs, especially the yolk, may help reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease.” Investigators “followed more than 1,000 U.S. adults and found that those who consumed more than one egg weekly had a 47% reduced risk of Alzheimer’s.” During “an average follow-up of 6.7 years, 280 participants, or 27.3%, were diagnosed with Alzheimer’s dementia.” The investigators “found that 39% of the ‘total effect of egg intake’ was linked to choline, a nutrient found in egg yolks known to support memory and brain function.” The findings were published in The Journal of Nutrition.

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— “Eating eggs weekly may lower Alzheimer’s risk by nearly 50 percent: Study,” Taylor Delandro, The Hill , July 23, 2025

HealthDay (7/23, Solomon) reports, “Mental health hospitalizations [MHHs] are more common among adults with autism, with more than one-third of all admissions tied to mental health conditions for those with autism, according to a study.” Investigators “found that more than one-third (36 percent) of all admissions for adults with autism in 2019 were MHHs, with schizophrenia the most common reason.” Study results indicate that “among all index MHHs in adults with autism, 17 percent had a 30-day all-cause readmission.” The findings were published in Research in Autism.

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— “Mental Health Hospitalizations Common in Adults With Autism,”
Lori Solomon, HealthDay , July 23, 2025

HealthDay (7/22, Thompson ) reports research found that “fewer than one-third of American public schools are screening students for psychological problems, years after the U.S. Surgeon General declared a mental health crisis among the nation’s youth.” Investigators found that “by late 2024, just under 31% of principals surveyed said their school conducts screening for mental health issues.” Furthermore, “about 40% said it was difficult to ensure that students receive appropriate care if kids do speak up about feelings of anxiety or depression, results show.” The findings were published in JAMA Network Open.

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— “Few Schools Screen Students For Depression, Anxiety,”
Dennis Thompson , HealthDay , July 22, 2025

NBC News (7/22, Carroll ) reports, “Brain aging may have sped up during the pandemic, even in people who didn’t get sick from Covid, a new study suggests.” By “using brain scans from a very large database, British researchers determined that during the pandemic years of 2021 and 2022, people’s brains showed signs of aging, including shrinkage, according to the report.” Individuals “who got infected with the virus also showed deficits in certain cognitive abilities, such as processing speed and mental flexibility.” The findings were published in Nature Communications.

Psychiatric News (7/22) reports the researchers said, “Our findings provide valuable insight into how the COVID-19 pandemic affected brain health, demonstrating that the general pandemic effects alone, without infection, exerted a substantial detrimental effect on brain health, augmented by bio-social factors (age, health, and social inequalities).”

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— “The pandemic aged our brains, whether we got Covid or not, study finds,” Linda Carroll, NBC News, July 22, 2025

Psychiatric News (7/21) reports, “Older patients with treatment-resistant major depressive disorder (MDD) are more likely to be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and other types of dementia than their peers who respond to treatment, according to a study.” But, “compared with older patients who do not have MDD, the risk of dementia is higher for those with MDD regardless of how well their depression responds to treatment.” The findings were published in the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.

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— “Dementia Risk in MDD Differs Depending on Treatment Resistance or Responsiveness, Psychiatric News, June 21, 2025

The New York Times (7/21, Barry ) reports, “Over nearly four decades since Prozac [fluoxetine] was approved for the treatment of depression, waves of concern about the effects of antidepressants during pregnancy have resulted in a practical consensus: Though use of the drugs may be associated with a slight rise in the odds of birth defects, the risk of leaving a mother’s depression untreated is often greater.” Now, among a “select group of experts convened by the Food and Drug Administration on Monday to discuss the safety of antidepressants during pregnancy, around half said that women should receive a more clear and forceful warning about potential risks to the fetus.” HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon “said the agency would not comment on whether there were plans to require a so-called black box warning about the use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs, in pregnancy.”

MedPage Today (7/21, Monaco ) reports, “Women should be better informed about the potential risks of using selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) during pregnancy, and these risks should be weighed against their benefits, most speakers on an FDA panel selected by Commissioner Marty Makary, MD, MPH, agreed on Monday.” Makary said, “Up to 5% of women in pregnancy are on an antidepressant. Antidepressants like SSRIs can be an effective treatment for depression.” However, “he warned that SSRIs ‘may be unique’ because of their potential interaction with pregnancy.”

NBC News (7/21, Bendix ) also reports.

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— The New York Times (requires login and subscription)

Reuters (7/18, Sunny, Mahatole) reported the FDA’s “panel of independent advisers on Friday voted against the efficacy of Otsuka Pharma’s antipsychotic drug in combination with Viatris’ antidepressant Zoloft [sertraline hydrochloride] for treating adults with PTSD.” The FDA “panel voted 10-1 to say the available data does not establish the efficacy of the drug, brexpiprazole, in combination with Zoloft…for treating the condition.” The panel’s “decision is in line with the FDA staff reviewers’ assessment on Wednesday.

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— “US FDA advisers recommend against Otsuka’s PTSD combination treatment,”Mariam E Sunny and Siddhi Mahatole, Reuters, July 18, 2025

HealthDay (7/18, Thompson ) reported, “Some women have a greater risk of depression as they go through premature menopause, according to a new study.” Researchers found that “women were at greater risk for depression if they entered premature menopause earlier; their condition had a genetic cause; or they experienced worse menopause symptoms.” Study results indicate that “women grieving the loss of their fertility or without sufficient emotional support also had a higher risk.” The findings were published in Menopause.

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— “Depression Risk Greater In Some Women With Premature Menopause,”
Dennis Thompson , HealthDay, July 18, 2025