HealthDay (4/10, Salamon) reports that research published online in Neurology suggests that individuals “with declining memory and thinking skills may be significantly less likely to die from cancer.” Researchers looked at data on “more than 2,600 Spaniards over the age of 65.” The investigators “found that people experiencing the fastest decline in mental skills were about one-third less likely to die of cancer over an average of 13 years.”

Related Links:

— “A Failing Mind May Mean Lower Cancer Death Risk, Study Suggests,” Maureen Salamon, HealthDay, April 9, 2014.

The Congressional Quarterly (4/10, Adams, Subscription Publication) reports that Sen. Bernard Sanders (I) introduced a bill yesterday intended to protect funding for community health centers. Such Centers were seen as being made redundant by the passage of the Affordable Care Act, but Sanders and some lawmakers from both sides would like to see funding restored. Sanders’ bill is seen as unlikely to become law.

FOX News (4/8, Ferry) reports on its website that according to data from the CDC, more young people are dying from opioid consumption. Addiction psychiatrist Andres Huberman, MD attributes this partly to “the increased availability of prescription painkillers,” identifying a recent trend in which physicians have become more “liberal” in prescribing such medications. Another problem he identified is patients pursuing multiple prescriptions from more than one physician.

Related Links:

— “More opioid-related deaths occurring among young people,”Shannan Ferry, FOX News, April 8, 2014.

Bloomberg BusinessWeek (4/9, Moroney) reports, “Ten times as many people with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and other acute forms of brain disease reside in prisons and county jails than in state hospitals, according to the Treatment Advocacy Center [TAC].”

The MSNBC (4/9, Clark) website reports that the TAC report, which was released yesterday, “found that state prisons and county jails house approximately 356,268 people with mental illnesses, while state mental hospitals hold only 35,000.” What’s more, this disparity is “a nationwide problem – only six states have psychiatric hospitals with more people in them than” in “prisons or jail.”

Psychiatric News (4/9), a publication of the American Psychiatric Association, reported, “The report also contains several recommendations, including use of court-ordered outpatient treatment – deemed by the Department of Justice to be an evidence-based practice for reducing crime and violence – to help at-risk individuals live more safely and successfully in the community.” TAC founder and psychiatrist E. Fuller Torrey, MD, who is the report’s lead author, said, “The lack of treatment for seriously ill inmates is inhumane and should not be allowed in a civilized society.” The Kaiser Health News (4/8, Gold) “Capsules” blog also covers the story.

Related Links:

— “America’s Mentally Ill Prisoners Outnumber Hospital Patients, Tenfold,”Tom Moroney, Bloomberg BusinessWeek, April 8, 2014.

In a front-page article, the Washington Post (4/9, A1, Chandrasekaran) reports that “according to a poll conducted by The Washington Post and the Kaiser Family Foundation,” more than 56% of “the 2.6 million service members dispatched to…Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001…say their physical or mental health is worse than before they deployed.” But Chandrasekaran adds that “almost eight in 10 of those reporting health problems – about 1 million of them – say they were not seriously injured in combat.” Chandrasekaran also notes that “rates of health problems are significantly higher in those who deployed for three or more years.”

Related Links:

— “The other wounds,”Rajiv Chandrasekaran, The Washington Post, April 8, 2014.