In continuing coverage, the Deseret (UT) News (9/18, Betar) reports that a new plan proposed by US Surgeon General Regina Benjamin will “focus on making suicide prevention a part of everyday life.” Among other things, the “plan asks community groups, friends and family members to take an active role in suicide prevention, including utilizing Facebook.” The News points out that Veterans Affairs “has hired 1,600 new mental-health workers under an executive order by President Obama.”

VA Using Crisis Line To Prevent Suicides. The KREX-TV Grand Junction, CO (9/17, Dias) website reported, “With September being Suicide Prevention Month, the Department of Veterans Affairs is stepping up its efforts.” Officials with VA are trying to prevent suicides “by providing easily available support right away through their crisis line.” The “important thing is that we know that treatment works and we know that we can intervene at the earliest level of crisis, that goes a long way,” said Sonja Encke, suicide prevention coordinator at the Grand Junction VA. KREX-TV Grand Junction, CO (9/17, 6:19 p.m. MT) aired a similar report.

Related Links:

— “Updated suicide prevention plan integrates social media, increased awareness, “Thomas Betar, Deseret News, September 17, 2012.

The Washington Post (9/18, Huget) “The Checkup” blog reports that a new study “finds that people who harm themselves — by intentionally injuring or poisoning themselves, with or without suicidal intent, according to the study’s definition — remain at greater risk of early death from both natural and external causes for years after their initial self-harming incident.”

MedPage Today (9/18, Phend) reports, “Suicide attempts and other self-harm may point to individuals at high risk for premature death due to overall poor health,” according to a 30,950-person study published online in The Lancet. “The rate of death from natural causes was two- to 7.5-fold higher than expected in people with a history of self-harm,” researchers reported. “While accidental poisoning and suicide were the top causes of death in this group overall, circulatory and digestive diseases were major contributors as well.”

Related Links:

— “Self-Harm Tracks Poor Health,”Crystal Phend, Medpage Today, September 17, 2012.

The AP (9/18) writes that “a new report says substance use and misuse among troops and their families has become a ‘public health crisis’ and that Pentagon methods for dealing with it are out-of-date.” The study, conducted by the Institute of Medicine, was requested by the Defense Department. Among its findings, “about 20 percent of active-duty service members reported they engaged in heavy drinking in 2008, the latest year for which data was available;” “Binge-drinking increased from 35 percent in 1998 to 47 percent in 2008;” and “the rate of medication misuse is rising.” Perhaps most troubling, the report also noted that “the armed forces’ programs and policies have not evolved to effectively address medication misuse and abuse.” One change the report suggested was the use of FDA-approved medication designed to combat addiction.

Related Links:

— “Study: Level of military substance abuse now a ‘public health crisis,’ Pentagon care outdated,”Associated Press, The Washington Post, September 17, 2012.

CNN (9/15, Enayati,) reported that “several recent studies underscore how critically important it is for those fighting” cancer “to learn how to combat stress.” For instance, in a study recently published in PLoS ONE, “a team of researchers led by Lorenzo Cohen, professor of general oncology and director of the Integrative Medicine Program at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, found that symptoms of depression among a group of patients with late-stage renal cell carcinoma were associated with an increased risk of death.” The primary “suspects in Cohen’s study: cortisol — also known as the ‘stress hormone’ — and inflammatory pathways.”

Related Links:

— “Stress, depression may affect cancer survival, “Amanda Enayati, CNN, September 14, 2012.

HealthDay (9/14, Dallas) reports that adolescents who are “new smokers suffer nearly all of the same negative psychological effects when they try to quit as people who’ve smoked for years,” according to an analysis published online Sept. 4 in the journal Nicotine and Tobacco Research. Scientists at Brown University Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies divided the study population, which ranged in “age from 13 to 19,” into three groups: “22 nonsmokers, 27 smokers who did not change their habit, and 47 smokers who avoided cigarettes for almost a full day.” They noted that the “teen smokers had about nine cigarettes each day for about two years”; and after quitting the habit, the researchers found that the teens “experienced the same withdrawal symptoms, smoking urges, negative mood swings and intense cravings as those recorded in adults.”

Study Links Secondhand Smoke To Memory Problems. HealthDay (9/14, Dallas) reported that secondhand smoke “has a negative effect on brain function,” according to a study published online “recently” in the journal Addiction. Over four and a half years, researchers at Northumbria University in the UK “compared a group of smokers” with one group of nonsmokers “exposed to secondhand smoke either at home or in a ‘smoking area’ for an average of 25 hours a week” and one group of nonsmokers not exposed to secondhand smoke. An “event-based memory test, which focuses on memory for future intentions” showed that nonsmokers in the secondhand smoke group “forgot almost 20 percent more” than did the other nonsmoking group; and smokers forgot “30 percent more than those who were not exposed to secondhand smoke.”

Related Links:

— “Quitting Smoking Just as Hard for Teens: Study, “Mary Elizabeth Dallas, HealthDay, September 14, 2012.

HealthDay (9/15, Dallas) reported that a new study appearing in the recent issue of the journal Medical Care found that “people who visit multiple doctors and pharmacies to get medications are at greater risk of dying from” a prescription medication overdose. According to the article, the researchers said that “drug-monitoring programs might help identify patients who engage in what’s known as ‘doctor shopping’ or ‘pharmacy shopping.'” Researchers in the study “identified nearly 700 people aged 18 and older who had died,” and “of these, about 25 percent were doctor shoppers, and nearly 17.5 percent were pharmacy shoppers.”

Related Links:

— “‘Doctor Shopping’ Tied to Fatal Prescription Drug Overdoses, “Mary Elizabeth Dallas, HealthDay, September 14, 2012.

MedPage Today (9/14, Phend) reports, “Cognitive behavioral therapy to tackle depression in heart failure patients can improve outcomes for both conditions, research” according to a study presented at the Heart Failure Society of America meeting. Investigators found that “talk therapy with biofeedback was associated with a 1.8-fold lower risk of cardiac hospitalization or death during 12 months of follow-up compared with usual care in a trial.” The researchers reported that “the difference in rates was substantial at 28.2% versus 38.2% with usual care and 39.7% with an extra attention control group.”

Related Links:

— “Depression Tx Boosts HF Outcomes, “Crystal Phend, Medpage Today, September 13, 2012.

HealthDay (9/14, Dotinga) reports, “New research suggests that Hispanic children with developmental delays often are undiagnosed, and both Hispanic and non-Hispanic kids who are diagnosed with developmental delays often actually have autism.” Investigators looked at data on more than 1,000 California children. The researchers found that, “of the Hispanic kids in the study, 6.3 percent had signs of developmental delay compared with 2.4 percent of non-Hispanics.” The investigators reported that, “of the children overall, about 19 percent who had been diagnosed with developmental delay actually appeared to have autism.” The findings are published in the journal Autism.

Related Links:

— “Improved Developmental Screening Urged for Hispanic Kids, “Randy Dotinga, HealthDay, September 13, 2012.

Medscape (9/14, Brauser) reports that “new research suggests that long-term psychotherapy can decrease defensiveness” in patients with psychiatric disorders. “The observational study, which included 21 adults with anxiety, depression, or personality disorders, showed significant changes in the participants’ defensiveness after roughly 2.5 years of dynamic psychotherapy.” The researchers reported that “these changes were then significantly associated with improvements in both symptoms and overall functioning 2.5 years later.”

HealthDay (9/14) reports, “Although depression affects about one-third of all stroke victims, male stroke survivors are more likely to become depressed than females, a small new study suggests.” Investigators followed “36 people who had a first stroke within the previous” three years. The researchers found that “uncertainty about health was strongly associated with greater depression for both men and women,” with the association being “stronger for the men.”

Related Links:

— “Men More Prone to Depression After Stroke: Study, “Mary Elizabeth Dallas, HealthDay, September 13, 2012.