According to the New York Times (5/26, Caron), research “suggests that, for some patients, the anesthetic ketamine is a promising alternative to electroconvulsive therapy, or ECT, currently one of the quickest and most effective therapies for patients with difficult-to-treat depression.” In the “largest head-to-head comparison of the two treatments,” investigators “found that ketamine, when administered intravenously, was at least as effective as ECT in patients with treatment-resistant depression who do not have psychosis.” The findings were published online May 24 in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Psychiatric News (5/26) reported, “The participants receiving ECT reported greater problems with memory at the end of treatment compared with those who received ketamine, though by the one-month follow-up, there was little difference between the two groups,” the study revealed. Additionally, “ECT participants reported more musculoskeletal adverse effects, whereas ketamine participants reported more dissociation symptoms.”

HCPlive (5/27, Kunzmann) also covered the study.

Related Links:

— “Ketamine Shows Promise for Hard-to-Treat Depression in New Study “Christina Caron, The New York Times, May 26, 2023

Healio (5/26, Weldon) reported, “High school-aged teens experiencing depression or suicidal ideation have increased perceived access to firearms compared with their peers,” which “is especially concerning, the researchers said, because easy firearm access increases the risk for suicide, which is the second leading cause of death among adolescents.” After examining data “from a web survey of 1,914 parent-teen duos between June 24, 2020, and July 22, 2020, to generate a nationally representative sample of U.S. teens,” investigators found that “teens with depression or suicidality were 56% more likely…to believe they had easy and quick access to a firearm either on their property or off it.” The findings were published online May 22 in the journal Pediatrics.

Related Links:

— “Teens with depression, suicidality have increased perceived access to firearms “Rose Weldon, Healio, May 26, 2023

According to NBC News (5/26, Syal), “evidence is growing of marijuana’s association with psychiatric disorders such as depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, especially in young men.” A studypublished online May 4 in the journal Psychological Medicine has found “evidence of an association between cannabis use disorder and schizophrenia,” a finding “most striking in young men ages 21-30, but was also seen in women of the same age.” The study examined “data from almost seven million men and women in Denmark over the course of a few decades to look for a link between schizophrenia and cannabis use disorder.”

Related Links:

— “Marijuana linked to mental health risks in young adults, growing evidence shows ” Akshay Syal, NBC News, May 26, 2023

According to HCPlive (5/30, Walter), “patients with mental health disorders and patients who are taking psychotropic” medications “are at an increased risk of sleep disorders, including sleep apnea and insomnia,” researchers concluded in a study that “identified medical claim data from the Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators…for mental disorders, psychotropic” medication “use, and demographic data for individuals aged 18-64 years between 2016-2020.” The findings were published online May 27 in the Annals of General Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Mental Disorders Associated With Sleep Apnea, Insomnia “Kenny Walter, HCPlive, May 30, 2023

mHealth Intelligence (5/25, Vaidya) reports, “Medicaid coverage of telehealth services between 2013 and 2019 was associated with significant increases in telehealth use and healthcare access, but private insurer coverage of telehealth during the same period was not similarly linked to increases in use and access, a recent study shows.” The findings were published online in Health Services Research.

Related Links:

— “Medicaid Coverage Linked to Rise in Telehealth Use, Healthcare Access “Anuja Vaidya, mHealth Intelligence, May 25, 2023