Parkinson’s News Today (5/12, Shapiro) reported, “People with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) were found to be at a higher risk of Parkinson’s disease or related neurodegenerative conditions,” researchers concluded in the findings of a six-study, 1,747,378-individual systematic review and meta-analysis published online ahead of print in the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “PTSD linked to increased risk of Parkinson’s in meta-analysis “Lindsey Shapiro, Parkinson’s News Today, May 12, 2023

In a parenting column for CNBC (5/12), Jen Zamzow, an adjunct professor of healthcare ethics at Concordia University Irvine, wrote, “It’s hard for parents to give kids the mental health support they need without affordable and accessible mental health services.” Currently, the United States “has ‘a chronic shortage of psychiatrists, and it’s going to keep growing, says Saul Levin,” MD, MPA, FRCP-E, FRCPsych, “medical director of the American Psychiatric Association.” This “situation is even worse for rural areas: 60% of rural Americans live in an area with” a shortage of mental health clinicians.

Related Links:

— “Here’s the No. 1 phrase moms are ‘sick of hearing’ on Mother’s Day, says parenting expert—what to say instead “Jen Zamzow, CNBC, May 12, 2023

HealthDay (5/12, Solomon) reported, “Among U.S. youth ages 13 and 14 years, suicide rates more than doubled from 2008 to 2018,” researchers concluded in a study that “used death certificate data collected by the” CDC “to explore trends in suicide by sex, race, level of urbanization, census region, month of the year, and day of the week among U.S. youths aged 13 to 14 years.” The findings were published online April 19 in the Annals of Pediatrics and Child Health.

Related Links:

— “Suicide Rates for 13- and 14-Year-Olds Doubled From 2008 to 2018 “Lori Solomon, HealthDay, May 12, 2023

Medscape (5/11, Brooks, Subscription Publication) reports, “Most adults in the United States (70%) are anxious or extremely anxious about keeping themselves or their families safe, with 42% very anxious about gun violence,” according to findings from “a national mental health poll conducted by the American Psychiatric Association (APA)” that “was conducted between April 20-22 among a nationally representative sample of 2201 adults.” Additionally, the analysis “tracks data from a poll conducted between April 23-24, 2022, among a sample of 2210 adults.” In a May 10 press briefing, APA President Rebecca W. Brendel, MD, JD, “said the results are an important reminder and opportunity for psychiatrists to put their finger on the pulse of Americans’ mental health.” In that briefing, Saul Levin, MD, MPA, chief executive officer and medical director at the APA, stated, “The majority of the public understands something we’ve been saying for a long time: your mental health is about your health.”

Related Links:

— Medscape (requires login and subscription)

Reuters (5/11, Roy) reports, “U.S. adolescents made fewer weekly emergency department (ED) visits for mental health conditions in Fall 2022 compared to a year earlier, researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported on” May 11.

CBS News (5/11, Tin) reports, “The data” are “an early sign that the surge in suicide attempts and mental health conditions that filled emergency rooms with adolescent patients, many teen girls, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic might be subsiding nationwide.”

CNN (5/11, McPhillips) reports, “A return to school and other community settings that were more similar to pre-pandemic environments may have helped adolescents feel less isolated and more engaged, CDC researchers said in the new report.”

According to Healio (5/11, Weldon), in coming to these conclusions, investigators examined “ED visit data from the National Syndromic Surveillance Program from January 2019 to early February 2023, comprising approximately 75% of EDs in the U.S.” The study revealed that when “compared with the fall of 2021, weekly ED visits for mental health conditions, suicide-related behaviors and drug overdoses decreased overall for boys and girls in the United States aged 12 to 17 years by fall 2022.” The findings were published online May 12 in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Related Links:

— “Teen mental health emergency visits decline in U.S. as pandemic eases, CDC says “Sriparna Roy, Reuters, May 11, 2023