The New York Times (1/19, Barry) reports, “Suicide attempts in the United States showed a ‘substantial and alarming increase’ over the last decade, but one number remained the same, a new study has found: Year in and year out, about 40 percent of people who had recently tried suicide said they were not receiving mental health services.” The study’s “researchers drew on data from 484,732 responses to the federal government’s annual National Survey on Drug Use and Health.” The findings were published January 19 in JAMA Psychiatry.

HCPlive (1/19, Kunzmann) reports, “The annual rate of suicide attempts among US adults increased 17% from 2008 to 2019,” investigators concluded in the analysis, “which also showed that the rate of surveyed suicidal persons who did not know from where to seek treatment more than doubled in the same time.”

MedPage Today (1/19, Grant) also reports.

Related Links:

— “Survey of Americans Who Attempted Suicide Finds Many Aren’t Getting Care “Ellen Barry, The New York Times, January 19, 2022

MedPage Today (1/18, Walker) reports, “While more adverse events (AEs) were reported among those who received the COVID-19 vaccine during clinical trials versus placebo, the number of AEs reported in the placebo group was disproportionately high, a systematic review and meta-analysis found.” According to the review, “about a third of placebo recipients reported at least one systemic AE following both doses,” and these “so-called ‘nocebo responses’ in the active arms likely accounted for 76% of the reported systemic AEs after the first vaccine dose and 52% of AEs after the second vaccine dose.” The findings were published in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

HealthDay (1/18, Thompson) reports that patients with prostate cancer “treated with the latest forms of hormone blockers were twice as likely to develop depression compared with men treated with older forms of hormone therapy or those who received no such medication at all, results from a new study show.” The findings were published in JAMA.

Related Links:

— “Newer Hormone Treatments for Prostate Cancer May Raise Risk of Depression ” Dennis Thompson, HealthDay, January 18, 2022

According to HealthDay (1/17, Thompson), some people who have become vaccinated and boosted against COVID, who wear their masks, maintain social distance and adhere to hand washing protocols are now joining “a contingent of people who consider themselves ‘vaxxed and done’ with the COVID-19 pandemic.” Many “public health and mental health officials agree that ‘vaxxed and done’ is a real phenomenon, in that some vaccinated Americans are becoming exasperated with COVID-19 safety mandates that many fear will never” be lifted. American Psychiatric Association President Vivian Pender, MD, stated that “the new normal keeps changing. Just when it started to feel like things were going to go back to the way it used to be, along comes Omicron.” Nevertheless, “thoughtful and responsible people who’ve reached their ‘vaxxed and done’ limit should consider that wearing a mask and maintaining social distancing will help healthcare workers who are being slammed by the Omicron surge,” Dr. Pender said, as well as people who are immunocompromised or cannot be vaccinated.

Related Links:

— “COVID Fatigue: Are You Among the ‘Vaxxed & Done’? “Dennis Thompson, HealthDay, January 17, 2022

Healio (1/18, Herpen) reports, “The prevalence of mental disorders has been on the rise and remains a significant leading cause of disease burden worldwide,” investigators concluded in a study that “estimates for prevalence and burden from both men and women within 23 different age groups across 204 countries and territories worldwide.” The findings of the “30-year global systematic analysis” were published online Jan. 10 in The Lancet Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Mental disorders remain significant global burden on health “Robert Herpen, Healio, January 18, 2022