Reuters reports, “Volunteer work may be good for…mental wellbeing, but only after age 40,” researchers found after analyzing “survey responses from adults in 5,000 British households, including more than 66,000 responses for 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006 and 2008.” The findings were published online Aug. 8 in BMJ Open.

TIME (8/9, Sifferlin) points out, “Other research has suggested that people over age 50 who volunteer regularly are less likely to develop high blood pressure than non-volunteers.”

Related Links:

— “After age 40, volunteering linked to enhanced mental health,” Reuters, August 9, 2016.

The Washington Post (8/8, Hicks) reports, “Mental-health advocates on Monday demanded that Maryland hire more state hospital staff and reopen facilities that once housed patients, arguing that the moves could relieve pressure on jails as a backlog of people await court-ordered psychological evaluations.” Officials with AFSCME Maryland Council 3, “the largest union representing Maryland public employees, released figures from the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene showing that the agency has more than 500 staff vacancies.” They “said the department should fill many of those openings with mental-health workers to help trim the backlog.”

Related Links:

— “Mental-health advocates say Maryland desperately needs more hospital staff,” Josh Hicks, Washington Post, August 8, 2016.

HCP Live (8/8, Smith) reports that “patients who take warfarin for atrial fibrillation (AF) are more likely to develop dementia than people who take the drug for the long-term treatment of other conditions,” research suggests. The findings of the 10,537-patient study were published in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

Related Links:

— “Long-Term Dementia Risk and Warfarin Treatment in Patients with Atrial Fibrillation – See more at: http://www.hcplive.com/medical-news/long-term-dementia-risk-and-warfarin-treatment-in-patients-with-atrial-fibrillation#sthash.vkzoiByi.dpuf,” Andrew Smith, HCP Live, August 8, 2016.

Medscape (8/8, Brooks) reports that a study published in the August issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry, a publication of the American Psychiatric Association, “supports a link between inflammation and depression and the antidepressant potential of combining a statin with a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI).”

The 872,216-patient study revealed that patients “with depression who took both an SSRI and a statin were far less likely to contact a psychiatric hospital, both in general and for treatment of depression, than their peers who took an SSRI alone.” An accompanying editorial observes the findings warrant “further investigation of the antidepressant potential of the combined treatment in larger randomized trials.”

Related Links:

— Medscape (requires login and subscription)

HealthDay (8/5, Preidt) reported that adolescents “struggling with mental health disorders are more likely to smoke cigarettes, drink alcohol and use marijuana,” researchers found. The findings of the 4,000-student study were published online in the American Journal on Addictions.

Related Links:

— “Mental Illness May Make Teens Vulnerable to Drugs, Alcohol,” Robert Preidt, HealthDay, August 5, 2016.