HealthIT Security (10/6, McKeon) reports, “Physician burnout was a growing problem prior to the pandemic, but other health care professionals are reporting significant levels of burnout as well, according to” a Spok survey, which found more than 50% “of IT staff and contact center staff reported feeling a considerable level of burnout.” In addition, more than 60% “of clinical executives reported feeling ‘a great deal’ of burnout since the pandemic.” The article adds, “Health care professionals overwhelmingly agreed that the risk of clinician burnout is a public health crisis.”

Related Links:

— “Workers Report Burnout Due to Healthcare Cybersecurity Concerns ” Jill McKeon, HealthIT Security, October 6, 2021

Healio (10/6, Gramigna) reports, “Individuals with psychological distress before the COVID-19 pandemic had increased risk for experiencing disruptions related to healthcare and economics,” investigators concluded in a study that sought to “elucidate mental health inequalities in life disruptions among 59,482 participants of 12 U.K. longitudinal studies.” The study team collected data “prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic.” The study revealed that “the wider health and economic impacts of the pandemic have been disproportionately experienced by those with mental health difficulties, potentially leading to worsening longer term outcomes, even post-pandemic, for those already experiencing poor mental health.” The findings were published online Sept. 30 in the British Journal of Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Pre-pandemic distress levels predict risk for health care, economic disruptions “Joe Gramigna, Healio, October 6, 2021

Psychiatric News (10/6) reports, “People who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and have a substance use disorder (SUD) appear to be at higher risk for breakthrough infections than people without an SUD,” investigators concluded after analyzing “de-identified data from electronic health records for 30,183 fully vaccinated patients with history of SUD and 549,189 patients without SUD between December 2020 and August 2021 – a period that included the Delta variant outbreak.” The study revealed that “the risk of breakthrough infection for people with SUDs ranged from 6.8% for tobacco use disorder to 7.8% for cannabis use disorder,” while “the risk of breakthrough infections in vaccinated people without an SUD was 3.6%.” The findings were published online Oct. 5 in the journal World Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Patients With SUDs Have Higher Risk of Breakthrough COVID-19 Infection, Psychiatric News, October 6, 2021

Healio (10/5, Weldon) reports, “Teen girls who experienced sexual abuse were more likely than their peers to be cyberbullied,” and also appeared to log “higher usage of pornography and social media, which led to being sexually solicited online and engaging in more sexual activity two years later,” researchers concluded in an “observational study” that “assessed two years of URL activity and offline psychosocial factors of 460 consenting girls aged 12 to 16 years.” The findings were published online Sept. 27 in the journal Nature Human Behavior.

Related Links:

— “Teen girls who suffered sexual abuse may face more online victimization, exploitation “Rose Weldon, Healio, October 5, 2021

HealthDay (10/5, Murez) reports research indicates that children “who exercised more and used technology less during the pandemic had better mental health outcomes.” Investigators arrived at that conclusion in a study that “included more than 500 parents of children aged 6 to 11 and more than 500 parent-adolescent pairs of kids aged 11 to 17,” all of whom “were questioned between Oct. 22 and Nov. 2, 2020.” The findingswere published online Oct. 1 in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “As Kids Turned to Screens During Pandemic, Their Mental Health Suffered “Cara Murez, HealthDay, October 5, 2021