The Los Angeles Times (6/12, Khan) reports in “Science Now” that “poison center calls linked to synthetic cannabinoids have spiked roughly fourfold in just the first few months of 2015, according to a report from the” CDC published in the June 12 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. The data compiled by the CDC reveal that “between January and May 2015, poison centers received 3,572 calls linked to synthetic cannabinoid use – a 229% jump over the 1,085 calls received during the same period in 2014.” Ages of the user ranged from seven months to 72 years, with a median age of 26. The authors of the report conclude that the sudden spike demonstrates the need for stricter regulation.

Related Links:

— “Increase in poisoning reveals dangers of ‘synthetic marijuana,’ CDC says,” Amina Khan, Los Angeles Times, June 11, 2015.

Health Day (6/12, Mozes) reports, “Close to one in 10 American men suffers from depression or anxiety, but fewer than half get treatment,” according to survey results published June 11 in an NCHS Data Brief, a publication of the CDC. The US-wide survey “of more than 21,000 men also found that among younger males, blacks and Hispanics are less likely than whites to report mental health symptoms.” Stephen J. Blumberg, PhD, associate director for science, division of health interview statistics at the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics, said, “We suspect that there are several social and cultural pressures that lead black and Hispanic men to be less likely than white men to seek mental health treatments.” Blumberg added, “These pressures, which include ideas about masculinity and the stigma of mental illness, may be more pronounced for men of color.”

Related Links:

— “Many U.S. Men With Depression, Anxiety Don’t Get Treated, CDC Finds,” Alan Mozes, Health Day, June 11, 2015.

The New York Times reports that VA and NIMH researchers have “developed a database they say can identify veterans with a high likelihood of suicide, in much the same way consumer data is used to predict shopping habits.” The database, detailed in a study published June 11 in the American Journal of Public Health, uses a “computer algorithm using hundreds of variables” that has showed success in testing. While “many of the risk factors, such as being hospitalized for a psychiatric condition or making a previous suicide attempt, may seem obvious, said” Michael Schoenbaum, PhD, of the NIMH, one of the study’s authors, investigators “found that these high-risk patients, who should have been flagged by doctors and other health care staff under traditional suicide prevention protocols now in place, were not.” Schoenbaum said, “The database is so overwhelmingly better than just guessing, which is what we’ve been doing.”

USA Today (6/12, Zoroya) reports, “Using records from more than 3,000 patients who committed suicide between 2008 and 2011,” researchers “identified a range of factors from age, gender and race to service-connected disabilities, homelessness and hospitalizations that could be part of formula for singling out groups of veterans most at risk for suicide.” Next, investigators “used the formula to identify about 600 veterans whose suicide rates were 60 to 80 times higher than other VA patients, or only 1/100th of 1%.” The study revealed “a group – 1/10th of a percent of the veteran population – who were 30 to 39 times more likely to take their lives.”

Related Links:

— “Database May Help Identify Veterans on the Edge,” Dave Phillips, New York Times, June 11, 2015.

Modern Healthcare (6/11, Robeznieks, Subscription Publication) reports that Rep. Doris Matsui (D-CA) “has introduced a new bill aimed at ending…privacy concerns” that make it impossible for mental health professionals “to share patients’ information with their family and caregivers even when it was in their best interest to do so.” The measure enjoys “the support of a wide spectrum of mental health advocacy groups” and the American Psychiatric Association.

The congresswoman “said that her bill will codify the content of a 2014 guidance (PDF) issued by HHS’ Office for Civil Rights without amending the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.” According to Modern Healthcare, APA CEO and medical director Saul Levin, MD, MPA, “in a letter to Matsui expressing the organization’s support of her bill, wrote that the Including Families in Mental Health Recovery Act facilitates family and caregiver assistance to individuals with mental illness.”

Related Links:

— “Bill aims to clarify mental health record-sharing under HIPAA,” Andis Robeznieks, Modern Healthcare, June 10, 2015.

TIME (6/11, Park) reports that research published online June 10 in the journal Neurology suggests that “people who report higher levels of intellectual stimulation throughout their lifetimes don’t actually exhibit lower levels of protein plaques and other signs of Alzheimer’s compared to those who don’t.” The study did reveal, however, that “staying mentally and socially active can push back the appearance of memory problems and other symptoms of Alzheimer’s.”

Related Links:

— “Mental and Social Activity Delays the Symptoms of Alzheimer’s,” Alice Park, Time, June 10, 2015.