The New York Times (10/24, Weiland) reports, “Health workers feel burnout more frequently than they did before the COVID-19 pandemic, while also struggling with symptoms of anxiety and depression, sleep problems and harassment, according to a federal survey of American workers published on Tuesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.” The result “compared data from 2018 and 2022 and underscored a dire staffing crisis in the nation’s health work force, which limped through the pandemic amid long hours, high turnover, violence in emergency departments and public vitriol over vaccines, masks and treatments.”

The Hill (10/24, Weixel) says the report found that, “overall, about 46% of health care workers reported feeling burnout often or very often in 2022, compared with 32% in 2018.” Almost “half of those in the field also reported they were likely or very likely to apply for a new job – in contrast to other worker groups who reported a decrease in job turnover intention.”

Healio (10/24, Rhoades) reports, “Harassment at work also rose from 6.4% to 13.4% from 2018 to 2022, and was linked to increased odds of: anxiety,” depression, and burnout.

Related Links:

— “Why Health Care Workers Are Burning Out,”Noah Weiland, The New York Times, October 24, 2023

The Washington Post (10/24, Reynolds Lewis) reports, “Young adults in the United States experience anxiety and depression twice as frequently as teenagers, according to a new nationally representative survey.” The survey, from “Making Caring Common, a project of Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education,” found that “thirty-six percent of young adults — ages 18 to 25 — reported anxiety, compared with 18 percent of younger teenagers — ages 14 to 17 — while 29 percent felt depression, compared with 15 percent in the younger age group in the survey.”

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— “The Washington Post (requires login and subscription)

The New York Times (10/24, Kang, Singer) reports, “Meta was sued by more than three dozen states on Tuesday for knowingly using features on Instagram and Facebook to hook children to its platforms, even as the company said its social media sites were safe for young people.” The coalition of 33 states “said that Meta – which owns Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger – violated consumer protection laws by unfairly ensnaring children and deceiving users about the safety of its platforms.” Washington, DC, “and eight other states filed separate lawsuits on Tuesday against Meta with most of the same claims.”

The Washington Post (10/24, Lima, Nix) reports, “The barrage of lawsuits is the culmination of a sprawling 2021 investigation into claims that Meta contributes to mental health issues among young people.” The states’ “federal complaint alleges that the company engaged in a ‘scheme to exploit young users for profit’ by misleading users about its safety features and the prevalence of harmful content on its products, harvesting data from younger users and violating federal laws on children’s privacy.” Furthermore, “state officials claim that the company knowingly deployed changes to keep kids on the site to the detriment of their well-being.”

Reuters (10/24, Stempel, Bartz, Raymond) reports research has linked “children’s use of Meta’s social media platforms with ‘depression, anxiety, insomnia, interference with education and daily life, and many other negative outcomes.’”

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— “The Washington Post (requires login and subscription)

Psychiatric News (10/23) reports, “Older adults with depression may be least likely to discontinue or switch treatment when prescribed sertraline for the first time compared with other antidepressants, suggests a” study. Researchers came to this conclusion after comparing “one-year outcomes in 93,000 Danish residents with depression who for the first time filled a prescription for one of 10 antidepressants.” The findings were published in The American Journal of Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Study Compares Clinical Outcomes of Older Adults Prescribed 10 Common Antidepressants, Psychiatric News , October 23, 2023

HealthDay (10/23, Reinberg) reports, “Many college kids are depressed and anxious, especially when they are a minority on campus or the first in their family to go to a university, a…study finds.” Investigators also found that “women suffered greater depression and anxiety levels than men.” The findings were published online in the Journal of American College Health.

Related Links:

— “Depression Rates Rising Among College Students, and Race Matters,”Steven Reinberg, HealthDay , October 23, 2023