CNN (7/20, Kelly) reports, “Social media platforms, including TikTok and Instagram, have come under mounting scrutiny in recent years for their potential to lead younger users to harmful content and exacerbate what experts have called a national mental health crisis among” adolescents. However, “nearly two dozen parents…told CNN that they are grappling with a different but related issue: teens using social media to diagnose themselves with mental health conditions,” a trend that “has alarmed parents, therapists and school counselors, according to interviews with CNN.” Child psychiatrist Larry D. Mitnaul, MD, MPH, MS, stated, “Teens are coming into our office with already very strong opinions about their own self-diagnosis.”

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— “Teens are using social media to diagnose themselves with ADHD, autism and more. Parents are alarmed,”Samantha Murphy Kelly, CNN Business, July 20, 2023

MedPage Today (7/18, DePeau-Wilson) reported, “While bipolar disorder is known to be associated with early mortality, deaths are more likely to be caused by external factors, such as suicide, than somatic factors, such as alcohol-related diseases,” investigators concluded in a study revealing that “in the cohort of people ages 15 to 64, those with bipolar disorder had six-fold higher mortality due to external causes…and two-fold higher mortality due to somatic causes,” when “compared with those without the disorder.”

HealthDay (7/19, Murez) reports the study authors “say this is due to a combination of external causes – such as suicide, accidents and violence – and physical health issues, with alcohol a big contributor.” The findings of the 47,018-patient study were published online May 1 in the journal BMJ Mental Health.

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— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

The Washington Post (7/19, Ovalle) reports, “The evolving overdose crisis in the United States is making another lethal turn, federal disease trackers reported” in the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics Data Brief No. 474. Investigators concluded that “increasingly, people dying from opioids are also using stimulants such as cocaine and methamphetamine.” In fact, the analysis “shows that between 2011 and 2021, the age-adjusted rate of overdose deaths involving opioids and cocaine nearly quintupled, far outpacing the rate of deaths involving only cocaine.”

ABC News (7/19, Kekatos) says that the report also “found the percentage of deaths involving cocaine and opioids varied by region,” with the Northeast having “the highest percentage at 84.5%” and the West having “the lowest at 73.4%.”

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— “The Washington Post (requires login and subscription)

HCPlive (7/18, Grossi) reports RAND Corporation investigators have “addressed the two standard procedures used to compare suicide rates among veterans and nonveterans: direct standardization and indirect standardization.” Their “analysis consisted of four years’ worth of data (2017-2020) published by the VA on suicide counts and population sizes for both veterans and nonveterans.” The data analysis “revealed significant differences in age and sex distribution between the veteran and nonveteran populations” in that “veterans tended to be older and predominantly male.” The findings were published online July 18 in a research letter in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “Understanding the Complexity of Analyzing Veteran Suicide Rates,”Giuliana Grossi, HCPlive , July 18, 2023

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)