Medscape (5/19, Anderson) reports that at a poster session at the American Psychiatric Association’s annual meeting, Canadian researchers detailed how they “have incorporated real-time analytics to better determine the risk for violence in psychiatric patients.” Investigators adapted a tool “developed for risk management in the forensic psychiatric setting…for use in general psychiatry and in the community” to predict, assess, and manage “risk for violence.” They then worked with an analytics company to “click on a mouse and see how a particular patient has done in the last month or the last year, and…watch any change in any of the risk factors” for violence.

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— Medscape (requires login and subscription)

HealthDay (5/19, Norton) reports that after examining “33 years’ worth of data,” investigators “found that states with more gun owners generally had more suicides by firearm among both men and women.” The findings were published online May 19 in the American Journal of Public Health.

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— “States With More Gun Owners Have More Gun-Related Suicides: Study,” Amy Norton, HealthDay, May 19, 2016.

HealthDay (5/19, Mundell) reports that “risks for attempting suicide more than tripled for transgender adults who experienced a ‘high level’ of familial rejection,” research published online in LGBT Health suggests. After analyzing “2008-2009 data on almost 3,500 transgender adults interviewed from all 50 states, as part of the National Transgender Discrimination Survey,” researchers also found that “the risk for alcohol or drug abuse…rose much higher in these situations.”

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— “,” E. J. Mundell, HealthDay, May 19, 2016.

Medscape (5/18, Anderson) reports that at the American Psychiatric Association’s annual meeting, former Democratic Rhode Island congressman Patrick Kennedy, “who helped spearhead the national battle to end discrimination against mental illness,” called for more advocacy to ensure enforcement of the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act that was passed in 2008. Kennedy “said, ‘We have the promise of parity, but in order to make it a reality, we really need to put together a political movement.’” Kennedy then “urged the audience to ‘take on this issue from a place of personal commitment.’”

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— Medscape (requires login and subscription)

HealthDay (5/17, Norton) reports on new research from the Center for Vital Longevity at the University of Texas at Dallas that shows that “busyness” among older adults may improve memory, information processing and reasoning. A study of 330 men and women between the ages of 50 and 89 showed that the people who were “busier” – those who stated that they often had too many things to do each day to complete – tested better in memory, information processing speed, reasoning, and vocabulary.

Medical Daily (5/17, Borreli) also reports on the study, which evaluates the benefits of a “healthy” busy schedule on mental health. The study, published in the journal Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, required participants to rank their “busyness” according to standards from the Martin and Park Environmental Demands Questionnaire (MPED). However, lead author Sara Festini said that although the study showed better cognitive performance associated with busier schedules, findings “do not mean being busy directly improves cognition” and that “it’s possible people with better cognitive function seek out a busier lifestyle, or that busyness and cognition reinforce and strengthen each other.”

Related Links:

— “Keep Busy! Stay Sharp!,” Amy Norton, HealthDay, May 17, 2016.