NBC News (7/27, Tsirkin) reports, “A bipartisan group of lawmakers is working to address the staggering number of opioid overdoses nationwide, with two-thirds of drug overdose deaths last year caused by synthetic opioids like fentanyl, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.” On Thursday, “Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, Chris Coons, D-Del., Tom Cotton, R-Ark., Bill Cassidy, R-La., and Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., introduced legislation aimed at expanding access to fentanyl test strips.” The legislation “would clarify the federal drug paraphernalia statute to exclude the test strips, potentially life-saving tools that remain criminalized in many states.”

Related Links:

— “A new bipartisan bill aims to increase access to fentanyl test strips amid overdose deaths,”Julie Tsirkin, NBC News, July 27, 2023

USA Today (7/27, Hauck) reports, “Gun suicides reached an all-time high in the United States in 2022, and the gun suicide rate among Black teens surpassed that of white teens for the first time on record,” according to “newly-released provisional data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention analyzed by the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions in Baltimore.” In addition, guns “remained the leading cause of death for children and teens, marking the fifth straight year that firearms have claimed the lives of more minors than any other cause, including car crashes and cancer.” The provision data are “based on information from death certificates.”

Related Links:

— “‘A hidden epidemic’: Gun suicides reached an all-time high in the US in 2022,”Grace Hauck, USA TODAY, July 27, 2023

The Washington Post (7/26, Bever) reports, “Some people who experience cognitive issues after long covid continue to struggle with brain function for at least two years, a…study shows.” The Post adds, “Researchers in the United Kingdom found that people who reported having long-covid symptoms for at least 12 weeks after being infected with the coronavirus showed reduced performance in tests for, among other things, memory, reasoning and motor control, for up to two years after the infection.” Their conclusions were published online in eClinicalMedicine.

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— “The Washington Post (requires login and subscription)

HealthDay (7/26, Reinberg) reports, “More than half of all patients with autoimmune diseases also suffer from depression and anxiety,” although “most are never asked about their mental health,” researchers concluded in a survey study involving “more than 1,800 patients.” The study revealed that “more than half rarely or never reported their mental health symptoms to their” physician, possibly meaning that “the range of mental health and neurological symptoms is much wider than has been reported.” The findings were published online July 26 in the journal Rheumatology.

Related Links:

— “Over Half of People With Autoimmune Conditions Suffer Depression, Anxiety,”Steven Reinberg, HealthDay, July 26, 2023

Healio (7/26, Cooper) reports, “An analysis of poisoning-related suicides in Australia identified several substances to be careful about prescribing, while finding that ‘many medicines are present at lower levels,’ even in non-poisoning suicides,” according to findings published online July 26 in JAMA Psychiatry. The “cross-sectional study,” which “examined suicides from July 2013 to October 2019 using postmortem toxicology data from Australia’s National Coronial Information System,” included “13,664 decedents…24.9% of whose suicides were classified as poisoning-related.” Investigators concluded that “the most common substances in poisoning-related suicides – such as tricyclic antidepressants, sedatives and opioids – should be prescribed cautiously or monitored.”

Related Links:

— “Analysis of poisoning suicides warns of opioids, sedatives, tricyclic antidepressants,”Justin Cooper, , July 26, 2023