CNN (8/28, Musa) reports, “A new study from Boston University’s CTE Center has discovered more than 60 cases of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, known as CTE, in athletes who were under the age of 30 at the time of their death.” Additionally, the study “includes what researchers believe to be the first case of an American female athlete diagnosed with the disease.”
MedPage Today (8/28, George) reports, “Brain pathologies including chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a neurodegenerative disease, were identified in young deceased athletes, autopsy data” from “152 contact sports players under age 30 at the time of death” revealed. The study revealed that “CTE was diagnosed in 41.4%,” and “the mean age at death for players with evidence of autopsy-confirmed CTE was 25.” The findings were published online in JAMA Neurology.

Related Links:

— “Largest study of brains of athletes younger than 30 finds early signs of CTE even in amateur players,”Amanda Musa, CNN, August 28, 2023

HealthDay (8/28, Reinberg) reports, “Suicide has become an urgent issue among American military veterans, with rates increasing by more than 10 times in nearly two decades,” researchers concluded after examining data on “more than 8,200 suicides among veterans, comparing them with more than 562,000 U.S. adults in the general population.” The study also revealed that “the suicide rate for those with a” traumatic brain injury (TBI) “was 56% higher than among veterans who didn’t suffer a TBI.” The findings were published online Aug. 28 in the journal Neurology.

Related Links:

— “Suicides Among U.S. Veterans Jumped 10-Fold in Decades After 9/11,”Steven Reinberg, HealthDay, August 28, 2023

Psychiatric News (8/28) reports, “Individuals who take multiple antipsychotics to manage schizophrenia symptoms have three times the risk of developing hypertension relative to those taking one antipsychotic,” researchers concluded in a study that included “1,663, 1,268, and 1,668 adults with schizophrenia…assessed for incidence of diabetes, hypertension, and hyperlipidemia, respectively.” The study revealed that “the risk of hypertension was greatest when the patients were taking multiple first-generation antipsychotics.” The findings were published online Aug. 25 in the Schizophrenia Bulletin.

Related Links:

— “Antipsychotic Polypharmacy Increases Risk of Hypertension, Study Suggests, Psychiatric News, August 28, 2023

MedPage Today (8/28, Robertson) reports, “For mothers with opioid use disorder (OUD), the use of medication for their addiction such as buprenorphine or methadone during the prenatal period was associated with improved outcomes in infants,” investigators concluded in findings published online in JAMA Pediatrics. Utilizing “data from a multistate Medicaid database on over 10,000 mother-infant dyads, prenatal use of medications for OUD was found to be associated with 20% higher odds of infants receiving six well-child visits…and 20% lower odds of readmissions” during “the first year of life,” the study found.

Related Links:

— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

HealthDay (8/25, Solomon) reported, “Extreme heat exposure can disproportionately undermine cognitive health in later life for socially vulnerable populations,” researchers concluded after merging “data from seven waves of the Health and Retirement Study (2006 to 2018) with historical temperature data to assess the role of extreme heat exposure on trajectories of cognitive function among U.S. adults aged 52 years and older.” The findings were published online in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

Related Links:

— “Extreme Heat Exposure Tied to Faster Cognitive Decline in Vulnerable Populations,”Lori Solomon, HealthDay, August 25, 2023