USA Today (9/8, Cannon) reports, “Marijuana use among U.S. college students hit a historic high in 2020, while alcohol use might have taken a pandemic-induced dip,” investigators concluded in the “National Institute on Drug Abuse’s annual ‘Monitoring the Future’ [PDF] study.” In the meantime, “alcohol use was less common among college students than in previous years,” showing “decreases from 2019 in terms of binge drinking, getting drunk and overall alcohol use.” These “changes in substance use came as COVID-19 forced college students to navigate social distancing measures, online classes and an overall muted version of normal campus life,” which, “for some students…was fully remote” last year.

Related Links:

— “Marijuana use among US college students hits record high during pandemic, study shows “Jay Cannon, USA TODAY, September 8, 2021

HealthDay (9/7, Norton) reports research indicates that postponing retirement “a few years might help older adults retain more of their mental sharpness.” After examining “data on more than 20,000 older Americans, researchers estimated that if all of those people waited until age 67 to retire, their collective cognitive health would benefit.” The findings were published in the journal SSM – Population Health.

Related Links:

— “Postponing Retirement Might Help Keep Dementia at Bay ” Amy Norton, HealthDay, September 7, 2021

The New York Times (9/8, F-15, Steinhauer) reports that “thousands of veterans who served in the wars that began after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks” still struggle “with health problems, trauma and feelings of displacement and alienation.” For many, these feelings “grew more intense as the United States completed its withdrawal from Afghanistan last month and the Taliban regained control of the country.”

Related Links:

— “Veterans Struggle With Issues That Are Often Invisible to Others ” Jennifer Steinhauer, The New York Times, September 8, 2021

Healio (9/3, Burba) reported, “Ending physician suicide from burnout relies on early identification of and intervention for unwellness before it leads to impairment, according to a speaker at the Ending Physician Burnout Global Summit.” Owen Muir, MD, assistant professor of psychiatry at the Baylor College of Medicine, said, “When we’re addressing physician burnout, we have to address the fact that it’s not always just burnout. … Burnout is a pervasive problem, but mental illness also exists, and we are particularly vulnerable.”

Related Links:

— “Early intervention key to combatting physician burnout, suicide “Kate Burba, Healio, September 3, 2021

HealthDay (9/3, Preidt) reported, “Transgender people have double the odds of dying early compared to folks whose identity matches the sex they were assigned at birth (cisgender), a long-term study finds.” This “added risk did not decrease over time, according to an analysis of data collected from more than 4,500 transgender people in the Netherlands between 1972 and 2018.” The findings were published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology.

HCPlive (9/3, Walter) also covered the study.

Related Links:

— “Transgender People Face Twice the Odds for Early Death: Study ” Robert Preidt, HealthDay, September 3, 2021