HealthDay (12/15, Murez) reports, “Gun deaths skyrocketed in the United States between 2019 and 2020, according to” an analysis of CDC data from 1981 to 2020 “on gun death rates.” The study revealed that “men were most affected, with Black men most frequently killed in gun murders and white men in gun suicides.” In fact, “between 2019 and 2020 alone, gun homicides rose 39% for Black people, highlighting a grim statistic associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.” The findings were published online in PLOS One.

Related Links:

— “Gun Homicides Rose Sharply During Pandemic, Black Men Most Affected “Cara Murez, HealthDay, December 15, 2022

CNN (12/14, Christensen) reports that a study from the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found that “more than 55% of people involved in serious or fatal road accidents tested positive for drugs or alcohol.” Researchers “found that a quarter of serious or fatal accidents involved someone who tested positive for some form of weed, and nearly a quarter more had alcohol in their system.” Approximately “11% of people tested positive for some form of stimulant, like cocaine or methamphetamines, and 9% had opioids in their system.”

Related Links:

— “More than half of people involved in road accidents had drugs or alcohol in their system, study says “Jen Christensen, CNN, December 14, 2022

HCPlive (12/14, Walter) reports, “Hospitalizations for psychiatric conditions, including anxiety, depression, and suicidality increased since the beginning of the COVID-19 for adolescent patients,” investigators concluded in a study that included “9,696 adolescents hospitalized with a mental health condition during the prepandemic period and 11,101 during the pandemic period.” The findings were published online Dec. 13 in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “COVID-19 Pandemic Increased Risk of Hospitalization for Mental Health Reasons “Kenny Walter, HCPlive, December 14, 2022

MedPage Today (12/14, DePeau-Wilson) reports, “Annual overdose deaths among Black women increased by 393% from 2015 to 2021 – from 1,725 to 5,060 deaths,” investigators concluded in findings published online Dec. 14 in a research letter in JAMA Psychiatry. The study revealed that “the number of years of life lost jumped from 58,170 to 178,822, a 407% increase,” and “on average, an overdose death resulted in 34.8 years of life lost.”

Related Links:

— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

CNN (12/14, McPhillips) reports, “Drug overdose deaths in the United States have slowed in recent months after reaching record levels earlier this year,” according to data from the CDC showing “that 107,735 people died of a drug overdose in the 12-month period ending in July.” That is nearly “2,500 fewer deaths than the record high that was reached in March, marking a 2% drop over four months.” But despite this “improvement, annual drug overdose deaths in July were still 25% higher than they were two years earlier and more than 50% higher than they were five years earlier.”

The AP (12/14, Mattise, Stobbe) also reports.

Related Links:

— “Drug overdose deaths slowing in the US after reaching record levels during the Covid-19 pandemic “Deidre McPhillips, CNN, December 14, 2022