Medscape (7/18, Anderson, Subscription Publication) reports, “Patients with risk factors for dementia, such as diabetes and hypertension, experienced a 48% slowing of cognitive decline after wearing a hearing aid for three years,” investigators concluded in findings from the 977-participant ACHIEVE study presented at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference and simultaneously published online in The Lancet.
        
HealthDay (7/18, Murez) reports, “Untreated hearing loss may contribute to cognitive decline in several ways, including by making the brain work harder to hear, at the detriment of other mental functions such as thinking and memory,” and “may cause the aging brain to shrink more quickly, the study suggested.” Additionally, “hearing loss may also ultimately result in brain atrophy as people become less socially engaged.”

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— Medscape (requires login and subscription)

MedPage Today (7/17, Monaco) reports “discontinuation or dosage change of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) may be more common than one would think, according to a qualitative study of online drug reviews.” Among “667 SSRI reviews posted to an online health forum by patients or caregivers, 335 posts were about discontinuing their medication – the most common type of medication change, reported” the researchers. The findings were published online in JAMA Network Open.

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— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

HealthDay (7/17, Gotkine) reports, “Use of oral contraceptives…especially the first two years of use, is associated with an increased risk for depression, with the association consistent with a causal relationship,” investigators concluded in a “population-based cohort study using data from 264,557 women from the U.K. Biobank.” Additionally, “Familial confounding was examined in 7,354 sibling pairs to validate causality.” The findings were published online June 12 in Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences.

Related Links:

— “Oral Contraceptive Use May Increase Risk for Depression,”Elana Gotkine, HealthDay , July 17, 2023

Psychiatric News (7/17) reports, “Children and adolescents who have eating disorders are more likely than those without eating disorders to use most mental health and non-mental health services,” investigators concluded after examining “the health records of 1,449 patients aged five to 17 years who had eating disorders and” then comparing “them to the health records of 7,245 patients in the same age group in the general population who did not have eating disorders.” The findings were published online July 14 in the International Journal of Eating Disorders.

Related Links:

— “Youth With Eating Disorders More Likely to Use Health Care Services, Psychiatric News , July 17, 2023

According to CNN (7/13, Viswanathan), as the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline “heads into its second year of existence,” it “still has some hurdles to overcome when it comes to awareness, staffing and routing.” For example, “many people still don’t know that the lifeline exists or that 988 call centers face ongoing staffing challenges – and are actively seeking counselors.” What’s more, “since 988’s launch, there have been state-by-state differences in the implementation and funding of the crisis line.”

Related Links:

— “One year after launch, 988 mental health crisis line still building awareness and staffing,”Jacqueline Howard and Giri Viswanathan, CNN, July 13, 2023