MedPage Today (8/20, Bankhead) reports, “Cancer survivors had disproportionately higher rates of drug prescriptions for antidepressants and anxiolytics in a survey of more than 50,000 people.” Researchers found that “individuals who reported a personal history of cancer had a 32% higher rate of prescriptions for medications used to treat depression, increasing to almost 40% higher for anti-anxiety medications, compared with the general population.” MedPage Today adds, “In particular, patients on Medicare or Medicaid had more prescriptions for anxiolytics, and those with a history of certain poor-prognosis cancers more often reported prescriptions for antidepressants.” The findings were published in JAMA Network Open.

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— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

Managed Healthcare Executive (8/20, Lutton) reports a study found that “artificial intelligence large language models (LLMs) showed the most racial bias when dealing with” patients with schizophrenia “when compared with patients with eating disorders, depression, anxiety or attention-deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).” Researchers asked “four of the most popular LLMs in psychiatry (Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini and NewMes-1) for a diagnosis and treatment plan for 10 hypothetical patient cases. For each case, race was either explicitly stated, implied or left ambiguous. Responses were then rated by a clinical neuropsychologist and a social psychologist using a 0-3 assessment scale, with 3 indicating the highest bias.” The researchers observed that “LLMs were more likely to propose inferior treatments when patient race was explicitly or implicitly indicated. Diagnostic decisions showed less bias, with most scores at a 1.5 or below.” The study was published in npj Digital Medicine.

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— “Schizophrenia Diagnoses Have Highest Likelihood of AI Racial Bias, Study Shows,” Logan Lutton, Managed Healthcare Executive, August 20, 2025

Healio (8/20, Gawel) reports a study found that “routine psychological therapy for depression and anxiety is less effective for young adults compared with older adults.” Researchers noted that “prior to treatment, younger adults had lower mean scores on the Patient Health Questionnaire 9-item (PHQ-9) and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale 7-item (GAD-7), compared with older adults.” Later, they observed that “mean PHQ-9 scores fell from 15.7 before treatment to 10.2 afterward for young adults and from 15.9 to 9.4for older adults. Mean GAD-7 scores fell from 14.4 to 9.2 for young adults and from 14.5 to 8.5 for older adults. As patients got older, mean changes in PHQ-9 and GAD-7 symptom scores increased.” Based on the findings, “researchers concluded that younger adults had worse outcomes with psychological treatment than older adults.” The study was published in The Lancet Psychiatry.

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— “Psychological therapy less effective among younger adults,” Richard Gawel, Healio, August 20, 2025

HealthDay (8/18, Gotkine) reports a study found a “weak correlation between change in cognitive impairment and change in work productivity loss in adults with bipolar disorder.” For the study, 179 adults with bipolar disorder “responded to all the study questionnaires and were included in this 48-week analysis. The researchers identified a weak correlation between change in cognitive impairment and change in work productivity loss (presenteeism) from baseline to week 48, but no association was seen on the multiple regression analysis.” Furthermore, they noted a “significant association seen between change in work productivity loss and change in depressive symptoms. A significant association was seen between change in QOL with change in insomnia.” The study was published in Neuropsychopharmacology Reports.

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— “Cognitive Impairment, Work Productivity Loss Linked in Bipolar Disorder,” Elena Gotkine, HeakthDay, August 18, 2025

MedPage Today (8/18, Firth) reports a study found that “a large proportion of opioid use disorder (OUD) patients getting care via telemedicine reported missed buprenorphine doses over the past year due to pharmacy-related barriers.” Among 601 patients with OUD “who responded to a survey, 31.9% reported missing buprenorphine doses due to problems filling their prescriptions.” The primary “reason (54.5%) for a fill problem was pharmacies’ need for additional stock of buprenorphine.” Other top reasons for a fill problem include “insurance issues, including prior authorization or other coverage problems: 22.4%,” and a “pharmacy’s hesitance to fill due to use of a telemedicine [professional]: 19.4%.” Furthermore, the researchers “reported wide variation by state, with 22% of respondents experiencing a fill problem at the pharmacy in Ohio compared to 45.5% of respondents in Florida.” The study was published in JAMA Network Open.

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— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)