Kaiser Health News (10/3, Leys, Zionts) reports, “For years, many cities have sent social workers, medics, trained outreach workers, or mental health professionals to” respond to some calls previously handled by police officers. In rural areas, however, “crisis response teams have been slower to catch on…even though mental illness is just as prevalent” in those areas as in cities. Meanwhile, Iowa now funds a program that dispatches crisis teams “via the statewide crisis line or the new national 988 mental health crisis line.”

Related Links:

— “Mental Health Crisis Teams Aren’t Just for Cities Anymore “Tony Leys and Arielle Zionts, Kaiser Health News, October 3, 2022

CNN (10/3, LaMotte) reports, “A diagnosis of dementia more than doubles the risk of suicide in the first three months after a patient is told the news,” investigators concluded in a study that “followed nearly 600,000 English people for 18 years.”

MedPage Today (10/3, George) reports, “Suicide risk was higher in people recently diagnosed with dementia, especially younger patients,” investigators concluded in a study revealing that “compared with people who didn’t have dementia, suicides rose in people who received a dementia diagnosis in the past three months.” Also, “for people under age 65, suicide risk within three months of diagnosis was 6.69 times…higher than in patients without dementia.” The findings were published online Oct. 3 in JAMA Neurology.

Related Links:

— “Dementia diagnosis increases suicide risk for those under age 65, study finds “Sandee LaMotte, CNN, October 3, 2022

Healio (9/30, Herpen) reported, “Data gained from existing academic research shows that hearing loss is associated with depression but a causal relationship between the two has yet to be established,” according to findings presented at BRAINWeek 2022 by Justin S. Golub, MD, MS, associate professor of otolaryngology at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. In the presentation, Dr. “Golub cited his own study from 2018, which focused on age-related hearing loss with depressive symptoms in more than 5,300 Hispanic individuals,” finding that “compared to those with normal hearing, those with mild hearing loss had a 1.8 times greater chance to develop depression, those with moderate hearing loss were 2.4 times more likely to experience depression, and those with severe hearing loss 4.3 times more likely for the same.”

Related Links:

— “Hearing loss associated with depression, causal relationship less clear “Robert Herpen, Healio, September 30, 2022

According to the Washington Post (10/2, Atkins), in response to rising “child mental health problems…in the past few years, a growing number of states have adopted laws that let students take an excused absence if they feel anxious, depressed or need a day to ‘recharge.’” Already, “a dozen states…have measures in place that allow kids to take off for mental health and not just physical health reasons,” while “a handful of others are considering making similar changes to school absentee rules.”

Related Links:

— “The Washington Post (requires login and subscription)

Healio (9/29, Downey) reports, “Two-thirds of an estimated 108,174 overdose deaths in the United States in the 12 months ending in April 2022 can be attributed to synthetic opioids, specifically illicitly manufactured fentanyl,” investigators concluded after assessing “overdose death data from the State Unintentional Drug Overdose Reporting System to examine monthly frequencies of overdose deaths involving para-fluorofentanyl.” The findings were published online Sept. 30 in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Related Links:

— “Two-thirds of US overdose deaths attributable to fentanyl “Ken Downey Jr., Healio, September 29, 2022