Healio (12/5, Downey) reports, “Patients with PTSD who were diagnosed with COVID-19 were more likely to be hospitalized or die, compared with those without a psychiatric disorder, researchers reported” in a “retrospective cohort study that examined the associations of PTSD and other psychiatric disorders with risk for hospitalization and death in the 60 days following a COVID-19 infection.” For the study published online Nov. 22 in Translational Psychiatry, the team “identified a total of 228,367 patients…from the VA who tested positive for COVID-19 between February 2020 and August 2021.”

Related Links:

— “Patients with PTSD at an increased risk for hospitalization, death from COVID-19 “Ken Downey Jr., Healio, December 5, 2022

MedPage Today (12/2, Lou) reported, “In recent years, methamphetamine-associated heart failure (MethHF) ensnared more people across sociodemographic groups without showing signs of relenting,” and even though “reliable estimates are lacking, the prevalence of MethHF is likely increasing in step with rising methamphetamine use worldwide,” investigators concluded in the findings of a 21-study systematic review published online in the journal Heart.

Related Links:

— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

EHR Intelligence (12/2, Nelson) reported, “Female and Hispanic healthcare providers are more vulnerable to clinician burnout than other physicians, according to” a “cross-sectional study” that “extracted approximately 1.5 million inbasket messages for 609 physicians from multiple specialties.” These findings were published in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “Hispanic, Female Healthcare Providers More Likely to Report Clinician Burnout “Hannah Nelson, EHR Intelligence,December 2, 2022

Psychiatric News (12/2) reported, “Older men may be more vulnerable to the negative effects of stress on cognition compared with older women,” researchers concluded after analyzing “data from 274 community-dwelling adults aged 52 to 91 years…who participated in the UCSF Memory and Aging Center’s Longitudinal Brain Aging Study.” The study team posited that “the higher risk in older men may be because they experience greater increases in the inflammatory biomarker interleukin-6 (IL-6) in response to prolonged stress compared with older women.” The findings were published online Nov. 23 ahead of print in the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Prolonged Stress Linked to Cognitive Decline in Older Men, But Not Older Women, Psychiatric News,December 2, 2022

The New York Times (12/2, Friedman) reported, “Americans are five times more likely to say their stress level increases rather than decreases during the holidays,” And while such “higher stress levels aren’t only caused by a lack of physical activity, the lethargy certainly doesn’t help, said” Rebecca Brendel, MD, JD, “President of the American Psychiatric Association and an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard University Medical School.” Because “exercise can be a key way to combat the stress of the season,” the article provided “easy fitness strategies” to help people keep their spirits up.

Related Links:

— “Stressed During the Holidays? There’s an Exercise for That. “Danielle Friedman, The New York Times, December 2, 2022