Psychiatric News (6/23) reported, “The American Medical Association (AMA) is encouraging states, communities, and schools to adopt policies that allow naloxone and other overdose reversal medications to be readily accessible to teachers and school staff,” as well as “urging states, communities, and schools to ‘remove barriers to students carrying safe and effective overdose medications.’” This “policy was sponsored by the AMA Section Council on Psychiatry, which includes delegates from” the American Psychiatric Association (APA), “the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry…the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, and the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry.” Kenneth Certa, MD, “an APA delegate to the section council, told Psychiatric News that the adopted resolution ‘will embolden school boards to make this change so students will not die on school campuses because no one has the necessary medication to keep them alive until EMS gets there.’”

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— “AMA Backs Making Overdose Reversal Medications More Accessible in Schools, Psychiatric News, June 23, 2023

The Washington Post (6/25, Moe) reports, “The ‘Sing With Us’ study…is part of a growing body of research that points to the physical and mental health benefits of singing with others.” The study “linked singing in the choir to reduced stress hormones and increased cytokines, proteins that can boost the body’s ability to fight serious illness.” Other studies have revealed “a connection between singing generally with lessened anxiety, stimulated memory for those with dementia, increased lung capacity and an easing of postpartum depression.” The study was conducted by the Centre for Performance Science.

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— “The Washington Post (requires login and subscription)

The New York Times (6/22, Jewett) reports, “Sales of e-cigarettes rose by nearly 47 percent from January 2020, just before the pandemic hit the United States, to December 2022, according to an analysis released on Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.” This “increase…occurred while teenagers and young adults reported in surveys that they had recently tried e-cigarettes at much higher rates than older adults did.” Data show that “sales were still growing through May of last year, but then dropped by 12 percent through December.” Investigators “attributed the decline to several possible factors, including state or local bans on flavored products; government enforcement; and the introduction of devices that offered thousands of ‘puffs’ in a single device.”

Related Links:

— “E-Cigarretes Sales Tapered Off Last Year After Big Surge,”Christina Jewett, The New York Times, June 22, 2023

Psych News Alert (6/22) reports, “Children, adolescents, and young adults who survive cancer may be more likely to experience depression, anxiety, and psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia after cancer remission compared with their peers and siblings who did not have cancer, according to a study.” After analyzing 52 studies, investigators found that “youth with cancer had a significantly increased lifetime risk of severe depression symptoms, anxiety, and psychotic disorders compared with both family members and matched controls.” The findings were published online June 22 in JAMA Pediatrics.

Related Links:

— “Childhood Cancer Survivors Have Greater Risk of Some Mental Disorders in Adulthood, Psych News Alert, June 22, 2023

MedPage Today (6/21, George) reports, “Repetitive head-impact exposure in American tackle football was linked with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE),” investigators concluded. After evaluating “data from 631 brain donors who played American tackle football for an average of 12.5 years, and who died at a mean age of 59.7 years,” the study team found that “cumulative repetitive head impacts were associated with CTE status, CTE severity, and pathologic burden…among brain donors who played football an average of 12.5 years.” The study also revealed, however, that “concussion counts alone were not associated with CTE risk.” The findings were published online in the journal Nature Communications.

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— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)