The New York Times (11/25, Lewis) reports that following an incident last January on an Alaska Airlines flight in which “one of the plane’s doors had blown off,” over “30 other passengers from the Alaska Airlines flight are suing the carrier and Boeing, the aircraft manufacturer, citing ‘severe stress, anxiety, trauma, physical pain, flashbacks and fear of flying and also objective physical manifestations such as sleeplessness, PTSD, hearing damage and other injuries.’”

Such “harm inflicted on passengers who experienced in-flight emergencies…ha s not been as researched or recognized.” The Times adds, “Neither the Federal Aviation Administration nor the National Transportation Safety Board has policies or recommendations regarding passenger mental health after emergencies.”

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— “The New York Times (requires login and subscription)

MedPage Today (11/25, DePeau-Wilson ) reports, “Lack of control over their work environment fostered burnout among physicians, along with an increased desire to bail out of the organization, according to a multi-institutio nal study.” An “analysis of data from 2,339 physicians revealed that those who reported having poor control over their workload had higher levels of burnout (OR 3.83, 95% CI 2.99-4.90),” according to investigators. The findings were published in Annals of Internal Medicine.

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— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

Psychiatric News (11/22) reported, “Short-term menopausal hormone therapy does not appear to have any long-term cognitive effects, either positive or negative, according to a study.” The researchers said the findings “may reassure women opting to use hormone therapy in early menopause, to manage menopausal symptoms, that 4 years of therapy started within 3 years of menopause had no long-term deleterious impact on cognition.” The findings were published in PLOS Medicine.

Related Links:

— “Short-Term Menopausal Hormone Therapy Does Not Affect Long-Term Cognition, Study Finds,” Psychiatric News , November 22, 2024

The New York Times (11/22, Schmall ) reported, “A company that makes clonazepam, a drug commonly prescribed for anxiety and seizures, has expanded its recall of some of the pills after it discovered that they were labeled with the wrong strength, the Food and Drug Administration announced.” According to the Times, “the company, Endo, recalled 16 product lots of clonazepam, a drug best known by the brand name Klonopin.” Endo “said it had not received any reports of adverse events related to the recall.”

Related Links: — “The New York Times (requires login and subscription)

Medical Economics (11/21, Littrell) reports, “More than one in five U.S. adults, which equates to 59.3 million people, were living with mental illnesses in 2022, yet just more than half of them (50.6%) had received treatment in the previous year.” A new study, from Gallup and West Health, “uncovered that 70% of Americans would prefer to be asked about both their physical health and their mental health during appointments with their primary care providers (PCPs).” The survey “reported that 65% of men and 76% of women hoped to discuss both physical and mental health with their PCPs.” The research “also found that 66% of U.S. adults have been asked about their mental health by their PCPs or family practitioners, whereas 32% of adults said that had never happened.”

Related Links:

— “70% of Americans want primary care providers to address mental health,” Austin Littrell, Medical Economics, November 21, 2024