Reuters (10/13, Steenhuysen) reported, “U.S. health officials on Friday lifted curbs on reimbursement of a non-invasive imaging test called amyloid PET used to diagnose Alzheimer’s, ending a once-per-lifetime limitation that clears the way for its use to determine eligibility for new treatments.” These new medications “include Eisai and Biogen’s Leqembi [lecanemab], and an experimental drug from Eli Lilly known as donanemab, which work by removing a protein called beta amyloid from the brain.” The protein clumps “are considered an early hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease that gradually destroy memory and thinking skills. Previously, amyloid positron emission tomography, or PET, scans were only accessible for use in a clinical trial or patient registry.”

Related Links:

— “US removes coverage curb on PET scans for Alzheimer’s patients,”Julie Steenhuysen, Reuters, October 13, 2023

HealthDay (10/13, Solomon) reported, “Internalizing symptoms among Latinx youth during early adolescence relate to health behaviors and outcomes underlying cardiometabolic risk during middle and late adolescence,” investigators concluded in the findings of a 547-Hispanic adolescent survey study published online in the Journal of Adolescent: “ Kathleen M. Roche, Ph.D., from the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., and colleagues examined how Latinx youth’s internalizing symptoms during early adolescence are related to sleep problems, overweight/obesity, sedentary behavior, physical activity, healthy diet, and hypertension or diabetes risk during middle and late adolescence.”

Related Links:

— “Internalizing Symptoms in Early Teens Tied to Later Cardiometabolic Risk Factors,”Lori Solomon, HealthDay, October 13, 2023

Healio (10/12, Martin) reports, “The prevalence of neuropsychiatric symptoms in patients with systemic autoimmune rheumatic diseases is significantly ‘higher and more wide-ranging’ than previously recognized, according to” findings published online in the journal Rheumatology. After analyzing data from the INSPIRE project, investigators concluded that “barriers to reporting neuropsychiatric symptoms in patients with systemic autoimmune rheumatic diseases include limited knowledge and subjectivity.” What’s more, “most patients reported not being asked about their mental health by physicians.”

Related Links:

— “Psychiatric symptom burden in SARDs higher, ‘more wide-ranging’ than previously recorded,”Erich Martin, Healio , October 12, 2023

The Washington Post (10/12, Johnson) reports researchers on Thursday released “the most detailed and complex portrait yet of the human brain in a dazzling catalog of more than 3,000 types of brain cells that collectively give rise to emotion, thought, memory and disease.” The findings, developed under the Brain Research Through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies initiative and published in 21 studies in Science and other journals, “are starting to open up the black box of the brain by providing an initial parts list for the most complex organ scientists have ever studied.”

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— “The Washington Post (requires login and subscription)

MedPage Today (10/12, Bankhead) reports, “Adults with atopic dermatitis (AD) had a significantly higher prevalence of anxiety, depression, and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) across all severities of the skin disorder,” investigators concluded in findings from “a large retrospective analysis” published online in the Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology. The study “identified 625,083 adults with AD, who were matched to 2,678,888 adults without AD.”

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— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

Healio (10/12, Bascom) reports, “Alcohol and tobacco use were both notably associated with suicide attempts among adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to” findings presented at the Osteopathic Medical Education Conference. Data derived “from the CDC’s Adolescent Behaviors and Experiences Survey showed that 37.1% of high school students had poor mental health and 9.3% attempted suicide during the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Related Links:

— “Study findings ’emphasize the relationship’ between substance use and teen suicide,”Emma Bascom, Healio, October 12, 2023

Healio (10/12, Cooper) reports, “A study of more than 110,000 patients receiving psychotherapy found improved continuity of care and significantly fewer days between appointments after the switch to virtual care during the COVID-19 pandemic,” according to findings published online Oct. 11 in the journal Psychiatric Services, a publication of the American Psychiatric Association. The study revealed that “improvements in patient engagement were observed across all demographic subgroups and major mental health conditions,” thereby supporting “further use of virtual psychotherapy.”

Related Links:

— “Virtual psychotherapy improved patient engagement, cut time between visits during pandemic,”Justin Cooper, Healio, October 12, 2023

Healio (10/11, Monostra) reports, “The majority of adults with diabetes say their diabetes team has never discussed the topic of mental health with them, even though most self-reported feelings of emotional distress, according to” the findings of a survey study published online in the journal Diabetic Medicine. The 478-survey response study also revealed that “of a group of adults with type 1 or type 2 diabetes, 69% had self-reported anxiety and 65% self-reported depression.”

Related Links:

— “Most adults with diabetes report emotional distress, but do not discuss it with care team,”Michael Monostra, Healio, October 11, 2023

CNN (10/11, Musa) reports, “The number of drug overdose deaths in the” US “is still increasing every month, according to new data” from the CDC, “but the pace appears to be slowing.” According to “new estimates from the” CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics, “more than 112,000 people died from a drug overdose in the 12-month period ending in May, an increase of more than 2,700 from the previous year.” Meanwhile, “there were 112,024 overdose deaths in the 12-month period ending in May, compared with 109,261 in the 12-month period ending in May 2022, a 2.5% increase.”

Related Links:

— “US overdose deaths continue their rise, data shows, with ‘devastating impact’ on population,”Amanda Musa, CNN, October 11, 2023

The New York Times (10/11, Ives) reports California has banned “the use of ‘excited delirium’ as a cause of death, rejecting a term that prominent medical associations have said is rooted in racism and is often used to justify the deaths of people in police custody.” The American Psychiatric Association is among major medical groups that “have dismissed the term as pseudoscience.”

Related Links:

— “California Bans ‘Excited Delirium’ as a Cause of Death,”Mike Ives, The New York Times, October 11, 2023