Healio (5/12, Herpen) reports, “Individuals with opioid use disorder [OUD] and polysubstance use were less likely to initiate treatment with buprenorphine and naltrexone than those without polysubstance use,” researchers concluded in a study that “sought to examine buprenorphine and naltrexone initiation among those diagnosed with” OUD, “with and without concurrent substance use disorder.” For the study, investigators “utilized insurance claims between 2011 and 2016 from United States IBM databases to find instances of medication initiation for OUD in 179,280 treatment-seeking individuals (50.5% male), aged 12 to 64 years, with a primary diagnosis of OUD.” The findings were published online May 10 in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “Those with opioid use disorder, polysubstance use less likely to initiate MOUD treatment “Robert Herpen, Healio, May 12, 2022

HealthDay (5/12, Preidt) reports, “Americans’ rates of depression and anxiety spiked during the first year of the pandemic, but the increases were much more pronounced among Black, Hispanic and Asian people than among white people,” investigators concluded. The study revealed that when “comparing 2019 to April-May 2020, probabilities of depression and anxiety were 218% larger for white people, 280% larger for Black people, 344% larger for Hispanic people and 560% larger for Asian American people.” The findingswere published online March 22 in the Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities.

Related Links:

— “Depression, Anxiety Hit Minorities Hardest During Pandemic ” Robert Preidt, HealthDay, May 12, 2022

CNN (5/11, Christensen) reports, “Even two years after their initial infection, the majority of people who were hospitalized with Covid-19 early in the pandemic had lingering symptoms, according to a new study.” Investigators “found that 55% of patients still had at least one Covid-19 symptom two years later,” which “was actually an improvement from six months after infection, when 68% had symptoms.”

US News & World Report (5/11, Smith-Schoenwalder) reports, “Fatigue and muscle weakness were the most commonly reported symptoms.” Meanwhile, “fewer people reported symptoms of anxiety or depression after two years than after six months, decreasing from 23% at six months to 12% at two years.” The findingswere published in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine.

MedPage Today (5/11, Walker) also covers the story.

Related Links:

— “More than half of early Covid-19 patients at one hospital had symptoms two years later, study finds “Jen Christensen, CNN, May 11, 2022

MedPage Today (5/11, DePeau-Wilson) reports, “Use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) or selective norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs) during the first trimester of pregnancy was not associated with an increased risk for neonatal seizures and epilepsy in childhood,” researchers concluded after conducting an “analysis of a Swedish registry.” The findings were published online May 11 in the journal Neurology

Related Links:

— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

The Washington Post (5/11, Kornfield) reports, “More Americans died of drug overdoses in 2021 than any previous year, a grim milestone in an epidemic that has now claimed 1 million lives in the 21st century, according to federal datareleased Wednesday.” Over “100,000 Americans died of drug overdoses in 2021, up 15 percent from the previous year, according to an estimate released by the National Center for Health Statistics.”

The New York Times (5/11, A1, Weiland, Sanger-Katz) reports that “a growing share of deaths continue to come from overdoses involving fentanyl…and methamphetamine.”

The AP (5/11, Stobbe) reports “overdoses involving fentanyl and other synthetic opioids surpassed 71,000.” Also, there was “a 23% increase in deaths involving cocaine and a 34% increase in deaths involving meth and other stimulants.”

USA Today (5/11, Alltucker) and the Wall Street Journal (5/11, Kamp, Subscription Publication) also report.

Related Links:

— “The Washington Post (requires login and subscription)