MedPage Today (9/28, Monaco) reports, “Individuals undergoing gender-affirming surgery…with a pre-existing mental health condition seemed to face higher rates of postoperative complications,” investigators concluded in a study that included “more than 4,000 patients.” The findings were published online Sept. 28 in a research letter in JAMA Surgery.

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— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

Psychiatric News (9/28) reports, “Older veterans who say they have a strong sense of purpose in life may be less likely to experience a range of mental disorders compared with those with those lacking such a sense of purpose,” investigators concluded after examining data from the “National Health and Resilience in Veterans Study…a survey of 4,069 U.S. veterans, the majority of whom were 60 years and older, white, and male.” The findings were published online Sept. 23 ahead of print in the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Feeling Strong Sense of Purpose May Protect Older Veterans From Mental Illness, Psychiatric News, September 28, 2022

Healio (9/28, Downey) reports, “Alcohol misuse during adolescence was associated with midlife alcohol misuse and poorer physical health, as well as less satisfaction with life, researchers” concluded in a study that “included 2,733 twin pairs from the FinnTwin16 study, a population-based longitudinal study of Finnish-born twins from 1975 to 1979.” The findings were published in the September issue of the journal Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research.

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— “Adolescent alcohol misuse linked to poor physical health, lower satisfaction later in life “Ken Downey Jr., Healio, September 28, 2022

CBS News (9/28, Maddox) reports, “Data released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on September 9 showed that 45% more people contacted the new national suicide lifeline in August 2022 than in the same month” in 2021. Yet, even “though the new lifeline number has led to an increased call volume, concerns about the lifeline have circulated on social media,” with some people “even discouraging people from calling, citing concerns about the possibility of police involvement or forced hospitalization in the most critical of situations.” For their part, “many advocates and mental health experts have said that instead of law enforcement, mobile crisis teams should be sent in emergency situations” to “deescalate crises and connect people with crisis stabilization programs and other longer-term resources.”

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— “New 988 Lifeline is seeing a major uptick in calls — but concerns remain about police intervention, advocates say “Sarah Maddox, CBS News, September 28, 2022

The Washington Post (9/27, Gibson) reports research indicates that “children who were exposed to Sandy, a superstorm, while in utero had substantially increased risks for depression, anxiety and attention-deficit and disruptive behavior disorders,” symptoms of which “presented when the children were preschool-age.” The study revealed that “girls who were exposed to Sandy in utero experienced a 20-fold increase of generalized anxiety disorder and a 30-fold increase of depressive disorder, compared with girls who were not exposed to the storm,” while boys exposed to Sandy in utero were found to be “at an over 60-fold increased risk to develop” attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD), “a 20-fold increased risk to develop conduct disorder and a 15-fold increased risk to develop oppositional defiant disorder.” The findings of the 163-child and 151-parent study were published online Sept. 21 in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.

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— “The Washington Post (requires login and subscription)