The AP (6/21, Freking) reports, “The Veterans Affairs Department hopes to reduce the risk of suicide among veterans by making greater use of video conferences between patients and doctors and by gradually integrating its electronic health records with those maintained by the Defense Department, VA Secretary Eric Shinseki told mental health professionals” who attended a suicide prevention held Wednesday in Washington, DC. Shinseki “oversees a department that members of Congress have criticized heavily in recent months for overstating how frequently patients are able to see a doctor or other mental health professional.” But, according to the AP, “as many as two-thirds of the veterans who commit suicide are not enrolled” in VA healthcare. As Shinseki put it during his Wednesday conference remarks, VA “can’t influence and help those we don’t see.”

Stars And Stripes (6/21, Shane) points out that during Wednesday’s conference, Shinseki “called for a national commitment to end military suicides, ‘not just controlling, reducing or managing those at risk.'” The “official theme of the conference this year is ‘back to basics,’ a call by officials to ensure that all caregivers are equipped with fundamental suicide prevention principles. But after the first day, the unofficial theme could have been ‘frustration despite progress,’ as mental health officials lamented lingering difficulty stopping suicide even after years of focusing on the issue.”

The American Forces Press Service (6/21, Parrish) notes, “The ongoing battle against service member and veteran suicide requires community, commitment, and attention to three critical areas, a senior Defense Department official said” on Wednesday. Addressing “attendees at the annual DOD and Department of Veterans Affairs suicide prevention conference, Dr. Jonathan Woodson,” assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, “said employing vigilance, reducing stigma and sharing success stories are essential to the struggle to end suicide.” The conference, which began Wednesday and “ends June 22, drew hundreds of health care [professionals], researchers, and others from what Woodson called a broad community of people from government and private industry working to understand and defeat the occurrence of suicide in the ranks and among the nation’s military veterans..”

USAF Monitoring Social Media Sites For Potential Suicides. The Washington Times (6/21) reports that the US Air Force (USAF) “plans to increase its monitoring of its airmen on Facebook and other social media sites for signs of personal distress.” That is according to Air Force Maj. Michael McCarthy, who on Wednesday “spoke at a suicide prevention conference sponsored” by VA and the DOD.

Related Links:

— “VA looking to technology to reduce suicide risks,”Kevin Freking, Associated Press, June 20, 2012.

HealthDay (6/21, Esposito) reports, “Lingering symptoms from combat-related traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) — even ‘mild’ cases — may persist for years,” according to a study presented at the American Headache Society’s annual meeting. Researchers arrived at that conclusion after looking “at 500 veterans who underwent general health and depression screenings between 2008 and 2011 at the Oklahoma City VA Medical Center and were found to have symptoms of mild traumatic brain injury and post-concussion syndrome.” Notably, “whether the injury had occurred two years or eight years earlier made no significant difference in frequency or intensity of symptoms. And the type of injury made no difference.”

Related Links:

— “For Combat Vets, Brain Injury Symptoms Can Last Years, “Lisa Esposito, HealthDay, June 20, 2012.

USA Today (6/21, Lloyd) reports that, according to a study appearing today in the International Journal of Eating Disorders, eating disorders appear to be common in older women. The online study of some 1,849 US women found that “13% of women ages 50 and older struggle with the problem — some for the first time in their lives. Eating disorders are more common in women than men and include purging, binge eating, excessive dieting and excessive exercising.”

Related Links:

— “Eating disorders are common in older women, study shows., “Janice Lloyd, USA Today, June 21, 2012.

The New York Times (6/21, Parker-Pope) “Well” blog reports, “The emotional toll of a heart attack can be so severe that an estimated one in eight patients who survive the experience develop post-traumatic stress disorder, a condition that doubles the risk of dying of a second heart attack, according to new research” by the from Columbia University Medical Center. The Times adds, “While it has long been known that a heart attack affects both physical and mental health, most doctors and patients are not aware that the emotional stress of a life-threatening heart event can develop into full-blown” PTSD.

The Los Angeles Times (6/21, Khan) “Booster Shots” blog reports that investigators “looked at the results from 24 studies involving nearly 2,400 heart patients, and found that about 12% of heart attack patients went on to develop PTSD symptoms.” The researchers reported that “4% of heart patients met the full criteria for the disorder.” The investigators “also found that those heart attack patients with PTSD symptoms were twice as likely to have a second heart attack or die as the heart attack patients without PTSD symptoms.”

Related Links:

— “Heart Attack Survivors May Develop P.T.S.D., “Tara Parker-Pope, The New York Times, June 20, 2012.

ABC World News (6/18, story 10, 0:35, Sawyer) reported, “Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University did something unprecedented. They compared stress levels across the country and found that stress has spiked in the past 25 years 18% among women, 24% among men.” However, they “did find that stress goes down as we age.”

Medscape (6/20, Lowry) reports, “Racial-ethnic disparities in the use and adequacy of mental healthcare exist and have even increased over time,” according to a study published in the June issue of the journal Psychiatric Services. “A comparison of 1990 and 2003 national data showed that disparities in the use of any mental healthcare increased, particularly between white and black Americans who used mental healthcare in primary care and between whites and Latinos who used specialty settings.” The study authors theorized that “the growing white-black and white-Latino disparities in receiving specialty mental healthcare could be due to the lack of psychiatrists and psychologists from racial-ethnic minority groups.”

HealthDay (6/20, Preidt) reports that prescription medication abuse in US college students is associated with suicidal thoughts and depression, according to a study published in the August issue of Addictive Behaviors: An International Journal. After analyzing “data from more than 26,000 college students at 40 campuses who took part in the 2008 American College Health Association National College Assessment survey,” researchers found that “about 13 percent of the college students reported nonmedical use of prescription” medications. “Those who said they had felt hopeless, sad, depressed or had considered suicide were much more likely to abuse prescription” medicines.
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Related Links:

— “More Mental Health Woes in College Kids Who Abuse Prescription Drugs,”Robert Preidt, HealthDay, June 19, 2012.

NBC Nightly News (6/18, story 9, 0:15, Williams) reported “new stats showing the hospital can be a dangerous place for Alzheimer’s patients as many families know too well already death rates and nursing home admissions both spike after hospital stays.”

The AP (6/19, Neergaard) reports, “People with dementia are far more likely to be hospitalized than other older adults, often for preventable reasons like an infection that wasn’t noticed early enough. Hospitals can be upsetting to anyone, but consider the added fear factor if you can’t remember where you are or why strangers keep poking you.” The AP notes that a new study appearing in the Annals of Internal Medicine finds that “being hospitalized seems to increase the chances of Alzheimer’s patients moving into a nursing home — or even dying — within the next year.”

Related Links:

— “With Alzheimer’s, Hospital Stays Can Be a Hazard,”AP , The New York Times, June 18, 2012.

HealthDay (6/19, Dallas) reports, “People suffering from anxiety, depression, sleeplessness or other forms of psychological distress are at greater risk of death from a stroke,” according to a study published online June 18 in CMAJ. After examining data on “68,652 adults who participated in the Health Survey for England,” then following those adults for approximately eight years, researchers “found 2,367 deaths from ischemic heart disease (blocked artery), stroke and other cardiovascular problems.”

“Psychological distress predicted a significant 66% elevated risk of death from cerebrovascular disease,” MedPage Today (6/19, Phend). “The impact on ischemic heart disease-related death risk was similar at a hazard ratio of 1.59,” researchers reported. “The associations with psychological distress were similar for cerebrovascular and ischemic heart disease but may not stem from the same mechanism in both cases, the researchers noted, pointing to the differences in pathogenesis of atherosclerotic lesions in coronary and cerebral arteries.”

Related Links:

— “Anxiety, Depression May Raise Stroke Risk,”Mary Elizabeth Dallas , HealthDay, June 18, 2012.

On the front of its Personal Journal section, the Wall Street Journal (6/19, D1, Beck, Subscription Publication) reports that while a little bit of stress may help people perform better, too much stress may result in anxiety and depression, as well as contribute to hypertension, migraine headaches, chronic pain, digestive troubles, and even cardiovascular disease, experts say and research has found. The article goes on to list ways people can deal with stress and anxiety, including cognitive behavioral therapy, deep breathing exercises, and meditation.

Related Links:

— “Anxiety Can Bring Out the Best,”Melinda Beck , Wall Street Journal, June 18, 2012.