MedPage Today (10/25, Frieden) reports, “As the pandemic continues, clinicians should be on the lookout for patients at risk of” dying by homicide-suicide, according to comments made by Elias Ghossoub, MD, during the annual meeting of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law. Ghossoub conducted a literature review and “recommended that…healthcare professionals in the emergency department and in primary care offices should screen adults for depression, suicidality, or substance use disorder.”

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— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

Healio (10/25, Gramigna) reports “attachment style should be evaluated among adults with obsessive-compulsive disorder, according to” researchers who “analyzed data of 135 patients with OCD and 135 matched controls who completed the Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory-Revised, Obsessive Beliefs Questionnaire-46 and the ASQ.” According to Healio, “Higher need of approval most strongly predicted OCD diagnosis compared with the other attachment facets, even more so than obsessive beliefs.” The results were published online in the Journal of Psychiatric Research.

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— “Need of approval predicts OCD diagnosis “Joe Gramigna, Healio, October 25, 2021

TCTMD (10/25, O’Riordan) reports, “Older adults prescribed a stimulant are at a higher risk for adverse cardiovascular events early, but that risk drops off with long-term use,” investigators concluded in a “propensity-matched analysis” that “included 6,457 older adults exposed to stimulants with 24,853 adults who were not prescribed a stimulant during the study period.” The findings were published online Oct. 25 in JAMA Network Open.

Psychiatric News (10/25) reports, “Older adults prescribed stimulant medications appear to be at an elevated risk of cardiovascular problems in the first 30 days after beginning the treatment,” investigators concluded in a study that “used hospital and prescription databases to assess the cardiovascular outcomes of 6,457 Ontario residents aged 66 years and older who received a new prescription for a stimulant (for example, amphetamine, methylphenidate, lisdexamfetamine, or dextroamphetamine) between January 1, 2002, and March 31, 2015.” Next, “these adults were matched with a control group of 24,853 similarly aged adults who did not take any stimulants during this time.”

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— “Stimulants Linked to Early Risk of CV Events in Elderly “Michael O’Riordan, TCTMD, October 25, 2021

CNN (10/22, Howard) reported, “Cognitive impairment – described as brain fog – can persist for months in Covid-19 patients, even for some who were not hospitalized, according to a new study.” The research “found that nearly a quarter of Covid-19 patients in a Mount Sinai Health System registry experienced some issues with their memory – and although hospitalized patients were more likely to have such brain fog after a coronavirus infection, some outpatients had cognitive impairment too.” The findings were published in JAMA Network Open.

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— “Brain fog in Covid-19 patients can persist for months, even in those who were not hospitalized, study finds ” Jacqueline Howard, CNN, October 22, 2021

Healio (10/22, Gramigna) reported, “Clinical high risk for psychosis syndrome appeared linked to impairment in reciprocal social behavior [RSB],” researchers concluded in a study that “investigated RSB deficits and clinical and social functioning correlates among 45 individuals who met criteria for a CHR syndrome and 47 healthy controls.” The findings of the “cross-sectional study” were published online ahead of print in the December issue of the journal Psychiatry Research.

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— “Psychosis syndrome may impair reciprocal social behavior “Joe Gramigna, Healio, October 22, 2021