Psychiatric News (12/24) reported a study found that “individuals between the ages of 25 and 64 who are on Medicaid had a higher rate of suicide in 2020 than people in that age group in the general population.” Based on Medicaid enrollment data and the CDC National Death Index, “9,401 Medicaid beneficiaries died by suicide in 2020, accounting for 20.4% of all suicide deaths in the United States and 2.1% of all deaths among Medicaid beneficiaries. Among individuals ages 25 to 64, there were 21.1 suicide deaths per 100,000 people for Medicaid beneficiaries compared with 17.6 suicide deaths for all U.S. residents.” Researchers said the finding “is consistent with the theory that job insecurity and associated economic stress may place Medicaid beneficiaries at heightened suicide risk.” The study was published in Psychiatric Services.

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— “Medicaid Enrollees of Working Age at Higher Risk of Suicide,Psychiatric News , December 24, 2025

The Washington Post (12/28, Cha, Malhi) reports an “analysis of more than 10,500 children across 21 U.S. sites,” published in Pediatrics, “found that those who received phones at age 12, compared with age 13, had a more than 60 percent higher risk of poor sleep and a more than 40 percent higher risk of obesity.” This comes as “a wave of large-scale studies is quantifying how early smartphone access and heavy screen use can harm adolescent minds.” Across “studies, high levels of screen use are linked to measurable declines in cognitive performance,” and “rates of depression and anxiety climb steadily with heavier social media engagement.” Furthermore, “sleep quality deteriorates…and researchers are finding troubling associations between screen habits and rising adolescent weight gain.” The debate is now “shifting from one about whether screens have an impact – to one about how far-reaching that impact might be.”

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— “The Washington Post (requires login and subscription)

Psychiatric News (12/23) reports a systematic review and meta-analysis of 25 trials found that “cannabis products that primarily contain cannabidiol (CBD) bring little relief to people with chronic pain, while products high in tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) slightly reduce pain severity but come with stronger side effects.” Researchers observed that “on a zero-to-10-point pain scale, nabilone, a synthetic THC analogue, reduced short-term pain severity by an average of 1.59 points. Dronabinol, another purified THC product, had a negligible effect on pain.” Meanwhile, “nabiximols, a spray containing comparable THC and CBD levels, reduced short-term pain by an average of 0.54 points. Products that consisted primarily of CBD were associated with no or trivial reductions in short-term pain severity.” Researchers also noted that “products high in THC were associated with an increased risk of adverse events, including dizziness, sedation, and nausea.” The review was published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

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— “Cannabis Products Have Mixed Effects on Chronic Pain, Psychiatric News , December 23, 2025

MedPage Today (12/22, Robertson) reports a study found that “use of benzodiazepines during pregnancy, particularly in the second trimester, was linked to some adverse pregnancy outcomes.” Researchers observed that “among 454,477 pregnancies, benzodiazepine use was associated with increased risk of abortion (spontaneous and elective abortion), with an absolute risk of 0.83 events per 100 pregnancies among benzodiazepine users compared with 0.52 events per 100 in nonusers (relative risk [RR] 1.58).” Furthermore, they noted that “after accounting for competing risks, benzodiazepine use was also linked to increased risk of preterm birth (RR 1.20) and small for gestational age (RR 1.06), compared to nonuse, and effects were more pronounced with exposure during the second trimester.” The study was published in JAMA Internal Medicine.

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— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

Healio (12/22, Feliciano) reports a study found that “while most adolescents remained resilient to depression during the COVID-19 pandemic, girls and teens in the later stages of puberty were more vulnerable.” The researchers “classified participants’ depression trajectories as resilient, depression-susceptible or chronically high, based on symptoms scores that tracked six key symptoms of depression, including depressed mood, anhedonia, a sense of guilt or worthlessness, fatigue, sleep and concentration impairments.” They observed that “various pre-pandemic risk factors were associated with the depression-susceptible trajectory, including being in the late pubertal or post pubertal stage before the pandemic, pre-pandemic family conflict, peer bullying, cyberbullying, maternal history of depression, polyenvironmental adversity exposure, and polygenic risk of depression among those of European ancestry.” In contrast, “lower depression susceptibility was associated with parental monitoring and problem-solving skills.” The study was published in JAMA Network Open.

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— “Adolescent girls, teens in late puberty faced higher COVID-19 pandemic depression risk,”Octavia Feliciano, Healio, December 22, 2025