Healio (7/12, Young) reports, “In the year since its launch, the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline has provided millions of Americans with timely, lifesaving care, according to a” July 11 press release from the National Council for Mental Wellbeing. Going forward, “the National Council for Mental Wellbeing plans to further establish the Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic model to ensure comprehensive crisis services are available to those in need of them, according to the release.” Additionally, “the mental health and substance use care workforce will require increases and diversification to keep up with the current increase in 988 calls, texts and chats.”

Related Links:

— “‘988’ suicide hotline sees growth in first year,”Kate Young, Healio, July 12, 2023

The New York Times (7/12, Barry) reports, “As the coronavirus pandemic dragged through its second year, an increasing number of American families were so desperate to get help for depressed or suicidal children that they brought them to emergency” departments (EDs), and now, “a large-scale analysis of private insurance claims shows that this surge in acute mental health crises was driven largely by a single group – girls aged 13 to 17,” according to findings published online July 12 in JAMA Psychiatry. The study revealed that “during the second year of the pandemic, there was a 22 percent increase in teenage girls who visited” EDs “with a mental health emergency compared with a prepandemic baseline, with rises in patients with suicidal behavior and eating disorders, according to the study of 4.1 million patients.” The “proportion of teen boys visiting declined,” however.

Related Links:

— “https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/12/health/teen-girls-depression-suicide.html,”Ellen Barry, The New York Times, July 12, 2023

USA Today (7/11, Weintraub) reports, “Racism contributes to childhood obesity, according to” findings published online in JAMA Network Open, revealing that “children as young as nine were more likely to meet the definition of obesity if they faced racism a year earlier.” The study revealed “large racial differences in the obesity rates of more than 6,000 children ages 9-11.” For example, “less than 7% of children who identified as white met the medical definition for having obesity, compared to 9% of Asian Americans, 18% of Hispanics of any race, 21% of Native Americans or Alaskan natives and more than 24% of Black Americans.”

Related Links:

— “A catalyst for childhood obesity: How racism has ‘huge implications’ for health trajectory,”Karen Weintraub, USA Today, July 11, 2023

HealthDay (7/11, Gotkine) reports, “Deaths due to opioid toxicity increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a study.” Results show “that there was a 289 percent increase in the number of unintentional deaths due to opioid toxicity, from 19,395 to 75,477.” Between 2011 and 2021, “the percentage of all deaths that were attributed to opioid toxicity increased from 1.8 to 4.5 percent.” Additionally, “by 2021, opioid toxicity was responsible for 10.2, 21.7, and 21.0 percent of deaths among those aged 15 to 19, 20 to 29, and 30 to 39 years, respectively.” The findings were published in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “Deaths Due to Opioid Toxicity Up in U.S. During COVID-19,”Elana Gotkine, HealthDay, July 11, 2023

Psychiatric News (7/11) reports, “Between 2007 and 2016, psychiatrists who were accepting new patients participated in insurance networks at lower rates than physicians who were not psychiatrists,” according to findings published online July 10 in Psychiatric Services, a publication of the American Psychiatric Association. The report “also revealed that the gap in insurance acceptance between psychiatrists and nonpsychiatrists was wider for Medicare and Medicaid than for private insurance.” Researchers arrived at these conclusions after analyzing “10 years of data (January 2007 to December 2016) from the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey.”

Related Links:

— “Study Highlights Gaps in Insurance Acceptance Between Psychiatrists, Other Physicians, Psychiatric News, July 11, 2023