USA Today (4/4, Pitofsky) reports, “Survivors of gun violence and their families see a spike in medical costs and the prevalence of psychiatric disorders and substance use disorders in the months following an injury,” investigators concluded in a study “based on patient records over 10 years.” The study “included information from 6,498 survivors of firearm injuries, matched to 32,490 control individuals, and 12,489 family members, including significant others, parents and children of survivors of gun violence injuries, compared to 62,445 control individuals,” as well as “survivors’ records from one year before a firearm injury through one year after.” The findings were published online April 5 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Related Links:

— “Gun violence survivors see substantial increase in psychiatric, substance use disorders, study says “Marina Pitofsky, USA TODAY, April 4, 2022

The AP (4/1, Kruesi, Finley) reported “COVID-19 hospitalization numbers have plunged to their lowest levels since” the summer of 2020. The AP added, “The number of patients hospitalized with the coronavirus has fallen more than 90% in more than two months, and some hospitals are going days without a single COVID-19 patient in the ICU for the first time since early 2020.” Physicians “hope to see a correction to the slide in pediatric visits, yearly checkups and cancer screenings.”

CNN (4/1, McPhillips) reported that as of Friday, there were “16,138 people in the hospital with COVID-19 – fewer than there have ever been since the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services first started tracking in July 2020.”

Related Links:

— “Number of COVID patients in US hospitals reaches record low “Ben Finley and Kimberlee Kruesi, AP, April 1, 2022

Healio (4/1, Herpen) reported, “According [to] the 2022 Apollo Healthcare Predictions” report, “45% of U.S. physicians say they personally have experienced burnout in the past two years, compared with 25% of their European counterparts,” investigators concluded. Staffing concerns “in their hospitals or clinics were cited by 62% of American” physicians, “but only 49% in Europe, while one in three U.S.” physicians “and one in four European physicians have considered leaving the medical profession during the past year.” For physicians in the US, “in 2022, this number (34%) is nearly double what it was in 2021 (18%).” Click here to gain access to the report.

Related Links:

— “Physician burnout, staffing shortages top list of concerns as COVID-19 becomes endemic “Robert Herpen, Healio, April 1, 2022

Kaiser Health News (4/1, Newsome) reported, “Black students at predominantly white institutions” of higher learning “report everything from instances of thinly veiled racism, homophobia, and sexism to outright racial hostility and intimidation.” Such “racist incidents can take a toll on students’ overall health and well-being, undermine their self-confidence, and affect academic performance, said” Annelle Primm, MD, MPH, “senior medical director for the Steve Fund, a nonprofit focused on supporting the mental health of young people of color.” What’s more, “the history of racism in the fields of psychology and psychiatry makes many Black people leery of seeking help.” In 2021, “the American Psychiatric Association apologized for the organization’s ‘appalling past actions’ and pledged to institute ‘anti-racist practices.’”

Related Links:

— “Black Students Experiencing Racism on Campus Lack Mental Health Support “Melba Newsome, Kaiser Health News , April 1, 2022

MedPage Today (4/1, Wu) reported, “Adolescents with substance use disorder (SUD) were more likely to have subsequent prescription” medication “use and symptoms of SUD in adulthood,” investigators concluded in an analysis of “Monitoring the Future study” data that “used questionnaires to assess SUD symptoms over a 32-year period from ages 18 (when participants were high school seniors) to 50, beginning in 1975.” The 5,317-respondent study revealed that “students with two or more SUD symptoms at age 18 had higher odds of medical prescription” medication “use and prescription” medicine “misuse in adulthood, and 61.6% of adolescents with the most severe SUD symptoms (six or more) had at least two SUD symptoms in adulthood.” The findings were published online April 1 in JAMA Network Open.

According to Psychiatric News (4/1), “in an accompanying editorial, National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) Director Nora Volkow, MD, and Eric M. Wargo, PhD, also of NIDA, reflected on the potential value of screening that captures the intensity of substance use by adolescents as well as the need for interventions targeting substance use in this population,” writing, “Drug use and related behavioral problems are preventable when communities, schools, and health care systems are willing to invest in evidence-based prevention and therapeutic interventions appropriate to the youth’s risks.” The editorialists continued, “For this to occur, healthcare systems must incorporate screening for drug use and SUD, including SUD severity, in office visits, and ensure that screening, prevention, and quality treatment are reimbursable by insurance.”

Related Links:

— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)