HealthDay (2/25, Preidt) reports that research published in BMC Public Health suggests that homeless individuals who have a mental illness may face a high risk of heart disease. Investigators “found that they have a 24.5 percent risk of heart attack, fatal or nonfatal stroke, or sudden cardiac death over 30 years.” The study indicated that “the risk of cardiovascular disease in homeless people with mental illness was highest among men and those with substance abuse disorders.”

Related Links:

— “Mental Illness, Homelessness Linked to Heart Disease in Study,” Robert Preidt, HealthDay, February 25, 2015.

The Washington Post (2/25, Paquette) “Wonkblog” reports that the “mental health impacts of unemployment can be devastating.” For example, “a CDC study found suicide rates rise and fall with the economy.” What’s more, depression appears to be “higher among long-unemployed Americans, according to a recent Gallup poll: About one in five reported having depression.”

Related Links:

— “How unemployment warps your personality over time,” Danielle Paquette, Washington Post, February 24, 2015.

USA Today (2/25, Leger) reports that a study from the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics indicates that “deaths from prescription narcotic painkillers have soared as the opioid drugs became more popular and powerful.” The data indicated that “four out of five people who used a prescription narcotic painkiller in 2011 to 2012 took pills equal to or stronger than morphine.” The investigators also found that “the percentage of people who took painkillers stronger than morphine, which include such drugs as fentanyl, hydromorphone, methadone and oxycodone, grew from 17% in 1999 to 37% in 2012.”

Related Links:

— “CDC: Deaths soared as narcotic painkillers grew popular,” Donna Leinwand Leger, USA Today, February 25, 2015.

Reuters (2/25, Kelland) reports that a study published in The Lancet Psychiatry suggests that people who have received the diagnosis of major depression may have up to triple the likelihood of committing certain violent crimes, such as assault, sexual offenses and robbery, or of committing an act of self-harm, compared to people who have not been diagnosed with major depression. Researchers arrived at that conclusion after studying data on some 47,158 people in Sweden and then examining data on some 898,454 matched, mentally healthy controls. The study also found, however, that the vast majority of people with depression committed no violent crimes or criminal acts at all.

Related Links:

— “Clinically depressed three times more likely to commit violent crime,” Kate Kelland, Reuters, February 24, 2015.

The Los Angeles Times (2/24, Healy) “Science Now” blog reports that in an editorial published Feb. 23 in the Annals of Internal Medicine, the American Bar Association, the American Public Health Association and “seven medical specialty societies…joined forces to declare gun-related injuries, which annually kill an average of 32,000 Americans and harm nearly twice that number, ‘a public health crisis’ that should be studied and solved ‘free of political influence or restriction.’”

Together, the societies “issued a ‘call to action,’ and declared their collective backing for universal background checks, a ban on military-style assault weapons and large capacity magazines, more federal support for gun-injury research, and an end to laws that would punish physicians who discuss the safety of gun ownership with their patients.”

Related Links:

— “Gun injuries are a public health emergency, nine organizations say,” Melissa Healy, Los Angeles Times, February 23, 2015.