HealthDay (11/16, Reinberg) reports research indicates that “suicide rates dipped slightly among white Americans while they rose for Black and Hispanic Americans.” While “suicide rates for white people increased from 2000 to 2018, but then dropped from 18 per 100,000 people to 17 per 100,000 in 2020,” investigators found that “among Black and Hispanic people, the suicide rate continued to increase to nearly 8 per 100,000.” The findings were published online Nov. 16 in the CDC’s NCHS Data Brief No. 450.

Related Links:

— “Suicide Rates Declining for White Americans, But Not for Minorities ” Steven Reinberg, HealthDay, November 16, 2022

Psychiatric News (11/16) reports, “Individuals who take antipsychotics that increase the hormone prolactin for four years or more are at heightened risk of low-energy fractures (fractures resulting from falls from standing height or lower),” researchers concluded in a study that “used Finnish national birth registries to look at the use of prolactin-increasing and prolactin-sparing antipsychotics among 4,960 people with schizophrenia who experienced a low-energy fracture and 24,451 people with schizophrenia who did not experience a low-energy fracture, matched for age, sex, and duration of illness.” The findings were published online Nov. 5 in the Schizophrenia Bulletin.

Related Links:

— “Long-Term Use of Some Antipsychotics Increases Risk of Fractures, Study Shows, Psychiatric News, November 16, 2022

The New York Times (11/16, Blum) reports, “In October, the Food and Drug Administration confirmed…a nationwide shortage of Adderall” (amphetamine/dextroamphetamine), a shortage that is still ongoing. Patients with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD) who suddenly discontinue the medication and go into withdrawal “may grapple with mood swings, irritability, appetite suppression and, in severe cases, suicidal thoughts.” Others may also “experience headaches, jitteriness, intense fatigue and gastrointestinal distress, said” Anish Dube, MD, “chair of the American Psychiatric Association’s Council on Children, Adolescents and Their Families.” Besides “withdrawal, Dr. Dube said the” AD/HD “that prompted patients to start medication in the first place can become even more severe when they stop medication abruptly.”

Related Links:

— “Amid the Adderall Shortage, People With A.D.H.D. Face Withdrawal and Despair “Dani Blum, The New York Times, November 16, 2022

Healthcare IT News (11/15, Fox) reports, “Combining research on provider burnout, electronic health record experiences and other data, KLAS researchers address what organizations can do to address staff shortages and patient care.” Many “of the measured contributors to burnout have become less prevalent than they were at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new Provider Burnout and the EHR Experience report from the KLAS Arch Collaborative,” but staffing shortages “are more frequently reported by all types of clinicians.” The findings showed “the stressor with the most significant drop was too much time spent on bureaucratic tasks.”

Related Links:

— “Provider burnout rates have leveled off, says KLAS report “Andrea Fox, Healthcare IT News, November 15, 2022

HealthDay (11/15) reports “high telehealth availability at federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) was associated with better care engagement during the COVID-19 pandemic for patients enrolled in Medicaid who had mental health diagnoses, according to a research letter published online Nov. 15 in JAMA Network Open.” The study “found that visit rates declined across all FQHCs during the COVID-19 pandemic, although high telehealth availability was associated with a larger relative increase in visit rates among patients with mental health diagnoses…versus lower telehealth availability.”

Related Links:

— “Telehealth Ups Engagement for Medicaid Patients With Mental Health Diagnosis “Lori Solomon, HealthDay, November 15, 2022