Psychiatric News (6/14) reports, “Calls to hundreds of child psychiatrists listed as in-network with Blue Cross-Blue Shield (BCBS) in three major U.S. cities led to appointments for children just 11% of the time,” investigators concluded in a study in which researchers “called 322 psychiatrists listed as in-network by Blue Cross-Blue Shield in Chicago, Houston, and Los Angeles and impersonated the parent of a 10-year-old child who had just visited the emergency department for depression.” Taking a “secret shopper” approach, the researchers “asked for an appointment using a standardized script that varied only according to how they intended to pay for the services: BCBS, Medicaid, or self-pay.” The findings were published online June 8 in a brief report in the journal Psychiatric Services, a publication of the American Psychiatric Association.

Related Links:

— “Survey Reveals Stark Difficulty in Obtaining Appointments With Child Psychiatrists,” Psychiatric News, June , 202314

CNN (6/15, McPhillips) reports, “In 2021, suicide and homicide rates for children and young adults ages 10 to 24 in the US were the highest they’ve been in decades, according to a new report from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.” The report found that “suicide and homicide were the second and third leading causes of death for this age group,” while “the homicide rate for this age group in 2021 was the highest it’s been since 1997, and the suicide rate was the highest on record, since 1968.”

Related Links:

— “Youth, young adults are dying from suicide and homicide at highest rates in decades, CDC report says,” Deidre McPhillips, CNN, June 15, 2023

Psychiatric News (6/13) reports, “Individuals exposed to a greater number of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) – for example, violence, abuse, and neglect early in life – may age more rapidly than those with fewer of these experiences early in life,” researchers concluded in a study that examined “data collected from more than 850 middle-aged adults at two time points.” The study revealed that “participants who reported four or more ACEs were likely to have molecular biomarkers that suggested they were older than their chronological ages.” The findings were published online June 12 in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “Adverse Childhood Experiences Found to Accelerate Aging,” Psychiatric News, June 13, 2023

CNN (6/13, Christensen) reports that “adults who identify as gay, lesbian or bisexual are more likely than those who identify as straight to have serious thoughts of suicide and mental health conditions including major depressive episodes, and they are more likely to misuse substances like alcohol or drugs, according to a new US government report.” According to CNN, “The data in the report, which focuses on LGB adults,” come “from 2021 and 2022.”

Related Links:

— “People who are gay, lesbian or bi have more mental health and substance use problems, survey finds,” Jen Christensen, CNN, June 13, 2023

Healio (6/13, VanDewater) reports, “From 2017 to 2021, people seeking treatment for opioid use disorder” (OUD) “increasingly tested positive for fentanyl, methamphetamine and cocaine at presentation,” but “over one year of methadone treatment for” OUD, “heroin and fentanyl positivity decreased,” investigators concluded in a study that analyzed 194,333 urine “specimens from 16,386 patients in 10 states.” The findings were published online May 9 in the journal Addiction.

Related Links:

— “Patients seeking opioid use treatment increasingly test positive for illicit drug co-use,” Kalie VanDewater, Healio, June 13, 2023