MedPage Today (10/15, George) reports a study found that “older adults with Alzheimer’s disease or dementia who were newly prescribed benzodiazepines or antipsychotic drugs in hospice had higher mortality than those who didn’t get the drugs.” Researchers observed that “starting either benzodiazepines or antipsychotic drugs in hospice was tied to a higher 180-day mortality compared with nonuse.” The findings “were consistent across propensity score-weighted models and as cumulative exposure increased,” which highlight the “need for careful prescribing decisions and dementia-specific hospice prescribing guidelines, the researchers noted.” The study was published in JAMA Network Open.

Psychiatric News (10/15) adds that “researchers found that patients who had begun taking benzodiazepines and antipsychotics had a 41% and a 16% increased risk of dying within 180 days, respectively, compared with their matched peers who did not start the medications. The increased mortality risk remained significant when only including adults with a primary diagnosis of ADRD or only including those taking neither medication upon entering hospice.”

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— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

The Washington Post (10/15, A1, Sima) reports a new study “suggests that even light alcohol consumption can increase dementia risk. The finding comes from data of more than 550,000 adults ages 56 to 72, as well as genetics information from 2.4 million study participants.” Specifically, researchers found that “every threefold increase in drinking prevalence upped lifetime dementia risk by 15 percent. That is, increasing intake from one drink to three drinks per week or from three drinks to nine drinks per week was associated with a 15 percent increased risk of dementia. The study also countered previous research that found that alcohol was ‘protective’ or that light to moderate drinkers had the lowest dementia risk, even when compared with nondrinkers.” Overall, it “adds to evidence that even small amounts of alcohol can be harmful to our health, including increasing the risk of cancer or disrupting sleep.” The study was published in BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine.

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— “The Washington Post (requires login and subscription)

Healio (10/14, Leiser) reports, “Depression may affect a person’s likelihood of achieving optimal recovery after cancer surgery, according to retrospective study results.” The “analysis of more than 32,000 adults with abdominal cancer showed those with comorbid depression had significantly worse postoperative outcomes.” The findings were published in Psycho-Oncology.

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— “Depression linked to poorer outcomes after cancer surgery,”Mark Leiser, Healio, October 14, 2025

Healio (10/14, Rhoades) reports a study found that “alcohol-induced deaths nearly doubled in the United States from 1999 to 2024.” The researchers analyzed “yearly and monthly data, taken from the CDC’s National Vital Statistics System and the U.S. Census, to determine changes in alcohol-induced deaths from 1999 to 2024. They found that alcohol-induced deaths overall rose by 89% during the study period, with fatalities peaking at 54,258 in 2021. Deaths from alcohol in 2024 dropped to 13.2 fatalities per 100,000 but were still 11% higher vs. those in 2019.” They found that “most of these deaths were attributable to alcoholic liver disease, followed by alcohol-related mental and behavioral disorders.” While more men were impacted across all age and racial groups, researchers highlighted that the “greatest rise in alcohol-induced deaths overall between 1999 and 2024 was 255% among women aged 25 to 34 years, followed by 188% among men aged 25 to 34 years.” The study was published in PLOS Global Public.

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— “New data reveal ‘striking’ rise in alcohol-induced deaths, “Lori Solomon, HealthDay , October 14, 2025

HealthDay (10/10, Solomon) reported a study found that “heart rate variability biofeedback (HRVB) can reduce negative affect, craving, and substance use among individuals in early recovery from substance use disorder (SUD).” The researchers “examined the efficacy of HRVB in the treatment of SUD. The analysis included 115 adults seeking treatment for SUD who were randomly assigned to receive treatment as usual with or without HRVB as a wearable smart patch.” They observed that “HRVB was associated with significant reductions in negative affect and craving over eight weeks, while the control group experienced increases in both negative affect and craving. There were no differences for positive affect.” Furthermore, HRVB was “associated with a significantly lower proportion of alcohol and other drug (AOD) use days compared with control. The within-person relationship between craving and later AOD use was moderated by HRVB treatment, with those receiving HRVB less likely to use AOD following craving.” The study was published in JAMA Psychiatry.

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— “Heart Rate Variability Biofeedback Improves Early Substance Use Disorder Recovery,”
Lori Solomon, HealthDay , October 10, 2025