The Washington Post (10/24, Reynolds Lewis) reports, “Young adults in the United States experience anxiety and depression twice as frequently as teenagers, according to a new nationally representative survey.” The survey, from “Making Caring Common, a project of Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education,” found that “thirty-six percent of young adults — ages 18 to 25 — reported anxiety, compared with 18 percent of younger teenagers — ages 14 to 17 — while 29 percent felt depression, compared with 15 percent in the younger age group in the survey.”

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— “The Washington Post (requires login and subscription)

The New York Times (10/24, Kang, Singer) reports, “Meta was sued by more than three dozen states on Tuesday for knowingly using features on Instagram and Facebook to hook children to its platforms, even as the company said its social media sites were safe for young people.” The coalition of 33 states “said that Meta – which owns Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger – violated consumer protection laws by unfairly ensnaring children and deceiving users about the safety of its platforms.” Washington, DC, “and eight other states filed separate lawsuits on Tuesday against Meta with most of the same claims.”

The Washington Post (10/24, Lima, Nix) reports, “The barrage of lawsuits is the culmination of a sprawling 2021 investigation into claims that Meta contributes to mental health issues among young people.” The states’ “federal complaint alleges that the company engaged in a ‘scheme to exploit young users for profit’ by misleading users about its safety features and the prevalence of harmful content on its products, harvesting data from younger users and violating federal laws on children’s privacy.” Furthermore, “state officials claim that the company knowingly deployed changes to keep kids on the site to the detriment of their well-being.”

Reuters (10/24, Stempel, Bartz, Raymond) reports research has linked “children’s use of Meta’s social media platforms with ‘depression, anxiety, insomnia, interference with education and daily life, and many other negative outcomes.’”

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— “The Washington Post (requires login and subscription)

Psychiatric News (10/23) reports, “Older adults with depression may be least likely to discontinue or switch treatment when prescribed sertraline for the first time compared with other antidepressants, suggests a” study. Researchers came to this conclusion after comparing “one-year outcomes in 93,000 Danish residents with depression who for the first time filled a prescription for one of 10 antidepressants.” The findings were published in The American Journal of Psychiatry.

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— “Study Compares Clinical Outcomes of Older Adults Prescribed 10 Common Antidepressants, Psychiatric News , October 23, 2023

HealthDay (10/23, Reinberg) reports, “Many college kids are depressed and anxious, especially when they are a minority on campus or the first in their family to go to a university, a…study finds.” Investigators also found that “women suffered greater depression and anxiety levels than men.” The findings were published online in the Journal of American College Health.

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— “Depression Rates Rising Among College Students, and Race Matters,”Steven Reinberg, HealthDay , October 23, 2023

CNN (10/20, Musa) reported, “After years of increases, the rate of firearm-related homicides in the United States decreased in 2022, according to data published…by the” CDC. CNN added, “This is the first time the national firearm homicide rate has fallen since a sharp increase was recorded from 2019 to 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the CDC.” The “provisional CDC data from 2022 saw 5.9 deaths per 100,000 people, about a 6% decrease from 2021.”

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— “US firearm homicide rate ticks down from pandemic peak, but remains elevated,”Amanda Musa, CNN , October 20, 2023

NBC News (10/22, Bendix) reports, “A Mediterranean diet that’s rich in vegetables, fruits and fish may help reduce or stave off symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, according to research.” These “findings are based on patient data from two studies — one in 2008 and another in 2013 — which collectively involved tens of thousands of female participants.” The findings were published in Nature Mental Health.

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— “Mediterranean diet may reduce or prevent PTSD symptoms, new research shows,”Aria Bendix, NBC News, October 22, 2023

HealthDay (10/19, Gotkine) reports, “Female offspring of parents with mood disorders have increased z body mass index (BMI) compared with controls of unaffected parents starting at about 12 years of age, according to a study published online Oct. 19 in JAMA Network Open.” In the study, “researchers found that youth at familial risk for mood disorders showed no overall difference in body weight from controls,” but “there was a sex-specific difference observed, with a rapid peripubertal increase in body weight in females at familial risk versus controls, leading to significantly increased zBMI at 12 years and older (β = 0.57), independent of socioeconomic status, prematurity, or birth weight.”

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— “Female Teens With Family History of Mood Disorder Prone to Weight Gain,”Elana Gotkine, HealthDay, October 19, 2023

HealthIT Security (10/19, McKeon) reports, “The HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) unveiled two resource documents to help [clinicians] communicate telehealth privacy and security risks to patients.” The documents “each aim to convey risks to patients in plain language and help them reduce risk using fundamental cyber hygiene practices.” They “stress the importance of supporting the continued use of telehealth while still communicating risks effectively. The HIPAA Privacy, Security, and Breach Notification Rules do not require” clinicians “to inform or educate patients about these risks, but the documents give [clinicians] the ability to do so if they wish.”

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— “OCR Publishes Resources On Telehealth Privacy, Security Risks,” Jill McKeon, HealthIT Security, October 19, 2023

mHealth Intelligence (10/19, Vaidya) reports, “Using telehealth to begin opioid use disorder (OUD) treatment is linked to high retention in treatment among Medicaid beneficiaries, according to a…study.” In the study, published in JAMA Network Open, “initiating buprenorphine treatment through telehealth was associated with better odds of 90-day retention in treatment in both” Kentucky and Ohio “compared with not starting treatment through telehealth. Among the individuals who initiated buprenorphine via telehealth in the second or third quarter of 2020, the proportion that continued treatment for at least 90 days was 45 percent in Kentucky and 28.5 percent in Ohio.”

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— “Telehealth Supports OUD Treatment Retention Among Medicaid Enrollees,”Anuja Vaidya, mHealth Intelligence , October 19, 2023

HealthDay (10/19, Murez) reports, “Stigma can take a toll on lesbian, gay and bisexual teens, leading to high rates of binge-eating disorders, researchers” concluded after analyzing “data from more than 10,000 adolescents aged 10 to 14 years old who were part of the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study.” Researchers discovered that “compared to their non-LGBTQ peers, lesbian, gay and bisexual teens are more than twice as likely to report binge eating.” The findings were published online Oct. 13 in the Journal of Eating Disorders.

Related Links:

— “Lesbian & Gay Teens Have Twice the Odds for Binge-Eating Disorders,”Cara Murez, HealthDay , October 19, 2023