HealthDay (10/1, Dotinga) reports that a “report [pdf] released Sept. 30 by the US National Center for Health Statistics compares suicide rates among those aged 18 to 24 in various racial and ethnic groups,” revealing that “young adult Native Americans continue to be at a much higher risk of killing themselves than other racial or ethnic groups in the” US. According to the report’s findings, “Native Americans ranked the highest overall, at 23 suicides per 100,000 people, followed by whites (15), Asians and blacks (about nine), and Hispanics (just over eight).”

Related Links:

— “Younger Native Americans Face High Suicide Rate: Report,” Randy Dotinga, HealthDay, September 30, 2015.

TIME (10/1, Sifferlin) reports that according to a study published online Sept. 30 in JAMA Psychiatry, “people who are depressed and respond strongly to placebo treatments also reap the most benefit when they’re given real antidepressants.” For the study, investigators “focused on the mu-opioid system in the brain,” having “35 people with major depressive disorder take a new depression drug (which was actually a placebo) before taking drugs already proven to treat depression.” The study revealed that people “who reported the greatest improvement in depression symptoms after taking placebo pills also showed the greatest mu-opioid system response in the brain, which was determined through brain scans.”

Related Links:

— “The Fascinating Link Between Placebo and Antidepressants,” Alexandra Sifferlin, Time, September 30, 2015.

The Kaiser Health News (9/30, Andrews) reports that according to an analysis by the Brennan Center for Criminal Justice at New York University School of Law, “at least 35 states authorize copayments and other fees for medical services at state prisons or county jails.” Additionally, “the Federal Bureau of Prisons also permits inmates to be charged copayments for medical services.” Lauren-Brooke Eisen, senior counsel at the Brennan Center’s justice program, says “the practice is part of a larger trend of charging inmates for prison services.”

Related Links:

— “Prisons And Jails Forcing Inmates To Cover Some Medical Care Costs,” Michelle Andrews, Kaiser Heath News, September 29, 2015.

On its front page, the Washington Post (9/30, A1, Jouvenal) examines the plight of inmates with mental illnesses, who “are being warehoused for weeks, months and, in rare cases, years in jails around the nation, waiting to go to state mental hospitals where experts determine whether they are well enough to stand trial and treat those who aren’t.” The Post notes that advocates “say the delays are leaving vulnerable defendants to languish, sometimes with tragic results.”

Related Links:

— “Man accused of stealing $5 in snacks died in jail as he waited for space at mental hospital,” Justin Jouvenal, Washington Post, September 29, 2015.

The Los Angeles Times (9/29, Healy) reports in “Science Now” that a new study published in PNAS revealed that “multiple vaccines containing the preservative thimerosal…resulted in none of the key brain or behavioral changes linked to autism.” The study also “administered a wide range of vaccines including the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine – which never contained thimerosal – to rhesus macaques” and “found no evidence of changes in brains or behavior that would implicate either the much-maligned MMR vaccine or a combination of many vaccines as a cause of or contributor to autism.” The results cast further doubt on the supposed link between autism and vaccines, “which has fueled widespread resistance to vaccinations.”

Related Links:

— “Old-school and current vaccines have no link to autism (again), study says,” Melissa Healy, Los Angeles Times, September 28, 2015.