Healio (2/18, Marabito) reported, “Most physicians and trainees who were surveyed agreed that racism has an impact on health; however, less than half of respondents reported speaking out against a racist encounter or policy,” according to results of “an anonymous, cross-sectional survey of interns, residents, fellows and faculty.” The survey also found that “adults aged 50 years and older were more likely to report speaking out against racism compared with younger physicians.” The results were published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.

Related Links:

— “Survey suggests many health care workers are not speaking out against racism “Maria Marabito, Healio, February 18, 2022

Healio (2/21, Gramigna) reports, “Researchers found moderate rates of exclusion and refusal in” 36 “youth suicide prevention randomized controlled trials” that included some 13,264 participants. The findings of the meta-analysis were published online Feb. 15 in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Exclusion, refusal rates moderate in youth suicide prevention RCTs “Joe Gramigna, Healio, February 21, 2022

According to MedPage Today (2/18, Firth), a Feb. 17 “subcommittee hearing of the House Committee on Energy & Commerce…focused on the rising toll of youth mental health challenges during the pandemic.” In 2020 alone, “mental health-related emergency department visits for children rose by 24% for children ages five to 11 and by 31% for those ages 12 to 17, according to the CDC.” What’s more, “every week, 119 young people die by suicide.” While the pandemic has undoubtedly adversely affected youth mental health, some witnesses before the subcommittee, however, “stressed that no single factor is responsible for the rise in children’s mental health issues.”

Related Links:

— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

HealthDay (2/21, Preidt) reports investigators “have discovered differences between the brains of girls and boys with autism that they say may improve diagnosis of the developmental disorder in girls.” After utilizing “artificial intelligence to analyze MRI brain scans from 637 boys and 136 girls with autism worldwide,” researchers concluded that “girls had different patterns of connectivity from the boys in several brain centers, including motor, language and visuospatial attention systems,” with “the largest differences between the sexes…in a group of motor areas.” The findings were published online Feb. 15 in the British Journal of Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Signs of Autism Differ in Brains of Boys, Girls “Robert Preidt, HealthDay, February 21, 2022

MedPage Today (2/18, George) reported, “Mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) affected cognition 1 year later, data from the prospective TRACK-TBI study showed.” Investigators found that “at 1 year, 13.5% of people with mild TBI had a poor cognitive outcome compared with 4.5% of controls.” The data indicated that “poor 1-year cognitive outcomes were associated with non-white race, lower education, lower income, lack of health insurance, hyperglycemia, pre-injury depression, and greater injury severity in univariate analysis.” The findings were published in Neurology.

Related Links:

— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)