According to HCPlive (5/30, Walter), “patients with mental health disorders and patients who are taking psychotropic” medications “are at an increased risk of sleep disorders, including sleep apnea and insomnia,” researchers concluded in a study that “identified medical claim data from the Deseret Mutual Benefit Administrators…for mental disorders, psychotropic” medication “use, and demographic data for individuals aged 18-64 years between 2016-2020.” The findings were published online May 27 in the Annals of General Psychiatry.

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— “Mental Disorders Associated With Sleep Apnea, Insomnia “Kenny Walter, HCPlive, May 30, 2023

mHealth Intelligence (5/25, Vaidya) reports, “Medicaid coverage of telehealth services between 2013 and 2019 was associated with significant increases in telehealth use and healthcare access, but private insurer coverage of telehealth during the same period was not similarly linked to increases in use and access, a recent study shows.” The findings were published online in Health Services Research.

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— “Medicaid Coverage Linked to Rise in Telehealth Use, Healthcare Access “Anuja Vaidya, mHealth Intelligence, May 25, 2023

MedPage Today (5/25, Monaco) reports, “Withdrawing from antidepressants likely won’t affect how well psilocybin works for treatment-resistant depression, according to a phase IIb randomized controlled trial.” The findings of an “analysis of 233 participants treated with a single dose of the investigational psilocybin treatment COMP360” were presented at the American Psychiatric Association annual meeting.

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— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

The Washington Post (5/24, Cimons) reports, “A daily multivitamin – an inexpensive, over-the-counter nutritional supplement – may help slow memory loss in people age 60 and older,” according to the findings from “a large nationwide clinical trial” published online ahead of print in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. The study revealed that people “taking multivitamins showed an estimated 3.1 fewer years of memory loss compared with a control group who took a placebo.” In other words, “the multivitamin group was an estimated 3.1 years ‘younger’ in terms of their memory function than the placebo group.”

According to the AP (5/24, Aleccia), the study “tracked more than 3,500 people over age 60 for three years.” Participants were randomized “to take a daily multivitamin or a dummy pill,” then were “evaluated annually for three years with internet-based exams that measure memory function.” Investigators also found that memory “improvement was maintained for at least the remaining two years of the study and was more pronounced in people with heart disease.”

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— “The Washington Post (requires login and subscription)

STAT (5/24, Goldhill, Subscription Publication) reports that “when seriously depressed patients don’t respond to antidepressants, the alternatives are limited,” but researchers have “found that ketamine performs at least as well as the current gold standard for such patients, electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), suggesting it deserves consideration as a frontline response for people with treatment-resistant depression.” The research was presented at the American Psychiatric Association 2023 Annual Meeting and simultaneously published online May 24 in the New England Journal of Medicine.

MedPage Today (5/24, Monaco) reports, “The open-label trial randomized 403 patients with non-psychotic treatment-resistant major depression to either ketamine or” ECT. Investigators found that “following a 3-week treatment period, 55.4% of the patients in the ketamine group and 41.2% of those in the ECT group had a treatment response, a 14.2% difference…that fell well within the trial’s noninferiority threshold.”

Related Links:

— “Ketamine is comparable to ECT for patients with treatment-resistant depression, study shows ” Olivia Goldhill, STAT, May 24, 2023