MedPage Today (11/22, Monaco) reports, “Using benzodiazepines for sleep disorders was tied to a higher risk for overdose in the six months after starting treatment versus other treatments for commonly used treatments, researchers” concluded. The “cohort study of over 23,000 young adults (mean age 23)” revealed that “those who newly initiated benzodiazepine treatment had a 44% higher risk of drug overdose at six months versus other treatments in an as-treated adjusted analysis.” The findings were published online Nov. 22 in JAMA Network Open.

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— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

MedPage Today (11/21, Firth) reports, “Workforce shortages among mental health professionals in the U.S. were linked to increased rates of youth suicide at the county level,” researchers concluded in a study that “used data from all U.S. counties and all youth suicides (ages five to 19) from January 2015 through December 2016 obtained from death certificates through the CDC’s Compressed Mortality File, for which 2016 was the most recently released dataset.” The study “also used publicly available health professional shortage area data from the Health Resources and Services Administration.” The findings were published online Nov. 21 in JAMA Pediatrics.

HealthDay (11/21, Gotkine) also covers the study.

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— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

Healio (11/21, Bascom) reports, “One-third of public health workers” (PHWs) “have faced some sort of workplace violence that has affected their mental health,” investigators concluded in a survey study that examined responses from 26,174 PHWs. The study revealed that “26%…experienced stigma due to their public health work, 24%…were bullied or harassed and 12%…received job-related threats.” The findings were published online Nov. 13 ahead of print in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

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— “Public health workers face workplace violence that is ‘detrimental’ to mental health “Emma Bascom , Healio, November 21, 2022

mHealth Intelligence (11/18, Melchionna) reported a study “found that despite an overall decline in visit rates throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, high telehealth availability led to better care engagement among Medicaid beneficiaries with mental health conditions treated within federally qualified health centers (FQHCs).” These “results were similar after reviewing data from patients with various diagnoses.” Theresults were published in a research letter in JAMA Network Open.

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— “Telehealth Availability at FQHCs Linked to Engagement in Mental Healthcare ” Mark Melchionna, mHealth Intelligence, November 18, 2022

Psychiatric News (11/18) reported, “Using cannabis while pregnant may raise the risk of preterm birth,” investigators concluded after analyzing “data from 27 studies that measured cannabis use during pregnancy and were published between 1986 and 2022.” The findings of the meta-analysis were published online Oct. 28 in the journal Addiction.

Related Links:

— “Cannabis Use in Pregnancy Linked to Preterm Birth, Psychiatric News, November 18, 2022