Medscape (2/1, Tucker, Subscription Publication) reports, “Oral vitamin D supplementation nearly halved the rates of suicide and intentional self-harm in a study of US veterans, with an even stronger effect among Black veterans,” investigators concluded in findings published online Feb. 1 in PLOS ONE. Additionally, “the retrospective cohort study,” which involved “about 490,885 veterans who received vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol) and 169,241 veterans who received vitamin D2 (ergocalciferol)” who “were compared one-on-one with veterans of similar demographics and medical histories who didn’t receive supplementation,” revealed that “higher daily vitamin D supplement dosages appeared to offer greater protection against suicide and self-harm risk than lower doses, that the effect was greater among those with baseline vitamin D deficiency or insufficiency, and that both” ergocalciferol and cholecalciferol “supplements were effective.”

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— Medscape (requires login and subscription)

Healio (1/31, Downey) reports, “Smoking cessation was associated with lower risk for dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia, compared with sustained or even reduced smoking intensity,” investigators concluded in a study that included 789,532 participants. The findings were published online in JAMA Network Open.

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— “Smoking cessation, rather than reduction, linked to lower risk for dementia “Ken Downey Jr., Healio, January 31, 2023

Healio (1/31, Herpen) reports, “For individuals prescribed antipsychotic medication, nonadherence, along with switching and stopping medication, was associated with increases in acute care utilization,” investigators concluded in a study that “included 577 individuals with schizophrenia, 795 with bipolar disorder and 618 who were prescribed antipsychotics but lacked a diagnosis of either illness.” The findings were published online Jan. 24 in BMC Psychiatry.

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— “Nonadherence, switching, stopping antipsychotics linked to more acute care utilization “Robert Herpen, Healio, January 31, 2023

CNN (1/31, LaMotte) reports that “use of marijuana and other substances dropped in teenagers during the first year of the pandemic,” but “adults’ use of cannabis, illegal drugs and alcohol, including binge drinking, either stayed the same or increased compared to the two years before COVID-19,” according to a study that “analyzed data from the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health Study.” The researcher wrote, “Substance use decreased between 2019 and 2020 among those aged 13 to 20 years,” but “consistent declines were not seen in older persons other than tobacco use reductions, and cannabis use increased among adults ages 25 years and older.” The findings were published online in JAMA Network Open.

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— “Adult drug use rose during pandemic, but dropped dramatically in youth, study says “Sandee LaMotte, CNN, January 31, 2023

MedPage Today (1/30, Henderson) reports a study published in JAMA Pediatrics found that “most teen alcohol use that escalated to having 10 or more drinks in a row reached that level rapidly during the high school years.” In “a sample of youth who reported drinking in the prior 30 days when surveyed in the 12th grade and who said they engaged in high-intensity drinking (HID)…when surveyed again around age 20, initiation of all three levels of alcohol use – first drink, binging on five or more drinks in a row, and HID – primarily occurred during high school grades 9 to 12,” and “it happened fast,” according to researchers.

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— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)