MedPage Today (2/4, Megli) reports, “For-profit ketamine clinics have proliferated over the past few years, offering infusions for a wide array of mental health issues, including obsessive-compulsive disorder, depression, and anxiety.” While “the off-label use of ketamine hydrochloride, a Schedule III drug approved by the FDA as an anesthetic in 1970, was considered radical just a decade ago, now between 500 and 750 ketamine clinics have cropped up across the nation.” Although “it’s legal for doctors to prescribe ketamine, the FDA hasn’t approved it for mental health treatment, which means that individual practitioners must develop their own treatment protocols.” This results in “wide variability” among healthcare professionals, “with some favoring gradual, low-dosage treatments while others advocate larger amounts that can induce hallucinations, as the drug is psychedelic at certain doses.” Iter Investments managing principal Dustin Robinson said, “Ketamine is the wild West.”

Related Links:

— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

mHealth Intelligence (2/2, Vaidya ) reported that a new “study by nonprofit research organization RAND Corp. assessed telehealth availability, wait times, and service features for various mental health conditions and facility-, client-, and county-level characteristics associated with telehealth availability.” To perform the study, “RAND researchers conducted a cross-sectional analysis of a secret shopper survey of mental health treatment facilities throughout the United States, except Hawaii.” The researchers found that “telehealth availability varied widely at the state level. Less than half of mental health treatment facilities in Mississippi and South Carolina were offering telehealth services versus all mental health treatment facilities contacted in Delaware, Maine, New Mexico, and Oregon.” The findings were published in JAMA Health Forum.

Related Links:

— “Telehealth Availability at Mental Health Facilities Varies Across States,”Anuja Vaidya, mHealth Intelligence, February 2, 2024

HealthDay (2/1, Thompson ) reports, “Coupons for e-cigarettes appear to be a powerful way to get people hooked on vaping, a new study shows.” Investigators found that “people who receive coupons for e-cigarettes are 50% more likely to begin vaping, and less likely to quit once they’ve started.” The research was published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

Related Links:

— “E-Coupons Are Luring Folks to Taking Up Vaping,”Dennis Thompson, HealthDay, January 1, 2024

HealthDay (2/1, Thompson ) reports that research finds “drug overdoses resulting in cardiac arrest occur most often among young adults.” The study showed that “people tend to have OD-related cardiac arrests at an average age of 39, compared to an average age of 64 for those suffering cardiac arrests not related to opioids.” The findings were published in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

Related Links:

— “Cardiac Arrests Linked to Drug ODs Are Killing the Healthy Young,”Dennis Thompson
, HealthDay, January 1, 2024

MedPage Today (2/1, George ) reports, “Pronounced cognitive slowing distinguished people with long COVID from others, a cross-sectional study showed.” Investigators found that, “on a 30-second task measuring simple reaction time, moderate-to-severe cognitive slowing was evident among long COVID patients compared with age-matched healthy individuals who had previous symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection and recovered.” The findings were published in eClinicalMedicine.

Related Links:

— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)