The Kaiser Health News (6/3, Boodman) reports on “the consequences of delirium, a sudden disruption of consciousness and cognition marked by vivid hallucinations, delusions and an inability to focus that affects seven million hospitalized Americans” each year. The condition which “disproportionately affects” seniors, can also affect intensive care unit patients of any age “who are heavily sedated and on ventilators.” The cognitive effects of delirium may last for months and leave patients with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Related Links:

— “For Many Patients, Delirium Is A Surprising Side Effect Of Being In The Hospital,” Sandra G. Boodman, Kaiser Health News, June 2, 2015.

BBC News (6/4, Kotecha) reports that a survey conducted by Public Health England and the National Health Service suggests that patients in UK mental healthcare units “smoke more than three times as much as the general population.” The PHE/NHS survey of 105 care units “suggests 64% of mental-health patients are addicted to tobacco – compared with 18% of the general population.” Experts caution that “smoking can increase depression and anxiety and reduce the effectiveness of medication by up to 50%.” PHE would like to have all psychiatric hospitals become “smoke-free.”

Related Links:

— “Mental health patients ‘smoke three times as much’,” Sima Kotecha, BBC News, June 4, 2015.

In continuing coverage, the Los Angeles Times (6/4, Kaplan) “Science Now” blog reports that adolescent “bullying may be responsible for nearly 30% of cases of depression among adults,” according to a study published June 2 in the BMJ. After following “2,668 people from early childhood through adulthood, researchers found that 13-year-olds who were frequent targets of bullies were three times more likely than their non-victimized peers to be depressed as adults.”

The CBS News (6/4, Welch, Kraft) website reports that the study “data factored out other causes of depression including mental and behavioral problems, previous bullying in childhood, and stressful life and family events, to focus on the relationship between bullying in teenage years and depression as adults.” For both genders, the study’s “results were the same.” MedPage Today (6/4, Walker) and Forbes (6/4, Walton) also cover the study.

Related Links:

— “Long-term study shows why bullying is a public health problem,” Karen Kaplan, Los Angeles Times, June 3, 2015.

The AP (6/4, Tanner) reports, “Alcohol problems affect almost 33 million adults and most have never sought treatment,” according to a study published online June 3 in JAMA Psychiatry. The research conducted by investigators at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism also suggests that “rates have increased in recent years.” NIAAA director George Koob, PhD, “said it’s unclear why problem drinking has increased but that many people underestimate the dangers of excessive alcohol.” Koob also pointed out that effective behavioral treatments and medications exist to help people overcome problem drinking. He said, “There’s a lore that there’s only Alcoholics Anonymous out there and that’s not true.”

TIME (6/4, Sifferlin) reports that the study examined “the prevalence of drinking issues based on a new definition for alcohol use disorders in the” American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th edition (DSM-5). That “definition classifies problem drinkers as those who have two of 11 symptoms including continuing to drink even if it harms relationships, drinking harming performance at work of school, or inability to quit,” with problem severity being “classified by the number of symptoms a person has.”

Related Links:

— “PROBLEM DRINKING AFFECTS 33 MILLION _ 14 PCT. OF US ADULTS,” Lindsay Tanner, Associated Press, June 3, 2015.

The NPR (6/2, Brink) “Goats and Soda” blog reports that the World Health Organization’s report called Health for the World’s Adolescents: A Second Chance in the Second Decade reveals that “the number one cause of death around the world for older teen girls had shifted from maternal mortality to ‘self-harm,’” that is, suicide. These statistics on suicide are driven “by extraordinarily high rates in Southeast Asia, a WHO-designated region that includes Bangladesh, Bhutan, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, India, Indonesia, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Timor-Leste.” In these countries, “the rate of death by suicide is 27.92 per every 100,000 females between 15 and 19, more than twice the global rate in that group.”

Related Links:

— “The Truth Behind The Suicide Statistic For Older Teen Girls,” Susan Brink, National Public Radio, June 2, 2015.