MedPage Today (7/10, George ) reports a study found that “gabapentin (Neurontin) prescriptions for chronic low back pain were linked with an increased risk of dementia and cognitive impairment.” Researchers found that “among more than 52,000 adults with chronic back pain who were followed for 10 years, those who had six or more gabapentin prescriptions had a higher incidence of dementia and mild cognitive impairment than those not prescribed gabapentin.” Researchers observed no heightened risk among patients aged 18 to 34 who were prescribed gabapentin, “but dementia risk was more than double and mild cognitive impairment risk more than triple among those ages 35 to 49. A similar pattern emerged among those 50 to 64 years old.” The study was published in Regional Anesthesia & Pain Medicine.

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— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

The New York Times (7/9, Blum) reports a recent study published in ACS Central Science found that the mist from popular vapes contains “such high levels of heavy metals that one researcher thought their machine had malfunctioned.” This follows other studies suggesting “vaping can affect the heart, lungs and brain.” Experts told The Times that “the liquids in e-cigarettes can release known carcinogens, like formaldehyde and acetaldehyde, when heated. These and other chemicals can damage blood vessels, drive inflammation and contribute to cardiovascular disease risk.” Vaping can also lead to chronic inflammation in the airways and lungs, as well as exacerbating asthma and COPD symptoms. Research has also shown that “e-cigarettes are addictive. Dependence can be especially problematic for adolescents, whose brains are developing.”

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The New York Times (7/9, Barry) reports a systemic review and meta-analysis “found that a week after quitting antidepressants, patients reported symptoms like dizziness, nausea and vertigo,” but they mostly remained “below the threshold for clinically significant” withdrawal. Researchers criticized a 2019 UK study “that found that 56 percent of patients suffered from withdrawal symptoms” after discontinuing antidepressants for including “data from online surveys as a quantitative measure, for failing to control for the placebo effect, and for failing to distinguish between various types of antidepressants.” The new review, “based on 50 studies with more than 17,000 subjects,” found that “patients who had quit antidepressants were 5.5 times as likely to report dizziness, 6.4 times as likely to report vertigo and 3.1 times as likely to report nausea compared to placebo. But on average, the number of withdrawal symptoms had risen modestly, by only one compared with placebo, which is not considered clinically significant.” The review was published in JAMA Psychiatry.

Psychiatric News (7/9) adds that “antidepressant discontinuation was not associated with greater depressive symptoms in the first two weeks compared with placebo, despite being measured in studies specifically examining major depressive disorder; this suggests that later presentation of depression symptoms is more likely to represent depression relapse, researchers wrote.”

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MedPage Today (7/8, Firth) reports a study found that “the odds of dying by firearm suicide were substantially lower for teens ages 15 to 20, but not for adults, when all firearms at home were locked.” In a study of 725 people who died by suicide, 83.6% died by firearms. Researchers observed that “adults who died by firearm suicide were no more likely than those who died by other suicide methods to have lived in a home with locked firearms or unloaded firearms.” However, “of decedents ages 15 to 20 years – classified as adolescents in this study – 26 of 43 (60.3%) who died by firearm suicide had lived in a home with unlocked firearms, but none of the seven adolescents who died by non-firearm suicide did.” Furthermore, “among adolescents living in homes in which all firearms were locked, the suicide method was not tied to whether any firearm was unloaded.” The studywas published in JAMA Network Open.

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NBC News (7/7, Cox) reports a study from the FDA’s Division of Applied Regulatory Science “suggests there are still ongoing questions about the safety of even low doses of cannabidiol, even as CBD capsules, gummies, edibles, oils and lotions have become increasingly omnipresent in the United States in recent years.” The researchers “carried out a randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial last year to assess how low-dose CBD affects liver function in a group of healthy middle-aged men and women.” They observed that 5% of participants “showed greatly elevated levels of the liver enzyme aminotransferase, a known marker of liver cell damage or inflammation.” Additionally, “women appeared to be more vulnerable than men. The liver enzyme returned to normal within one or two weeks of stopping CBD.” The study was published in JAMA Internal Medicine.

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— “Even low doses of CBD may cause harm to the liver in some people, FDA study finds,” David Cox, NBC News, July 7, 2025