Healio (6/10, Gramigna) reports, “Intern physicians commonly experienced work-related trauma exposure and PTSD,” researchers concluded after analyzing “data of 1,134 resident physicians in their internship year of training who entered an internship at U.S. residency programs nationwide in 2018.” The interns in the study “answered a baseline survey one to two months prior to the start of their internship, as well as follow-up surveys at four time points during the internship, with 12 months of internship as the exposure.” The findings were published online June 8 in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “Work-related trauma exposure, PTSD common among intern physicians “Joe Gramigna, Healio, June 10, 2021

STAT (6/9, Lloreda) reports research indicates that “a low dose of” nitrous oxide may help improve symptoms in patients with treatment-resistant depression [TRMD], investigators concluded in a study that “recruited 24 patients with TRMD, who were randomized in a crossover study to receive placebo, the low dose, or the high dose of laughing gas for one hour.” Eventually, “researchers then evaluated depressive symptoms of the 20 participants who completed all three sessions with a variety of questionnaires up to two weeks after each treatment.” The study team “found that a low dose of nitrous oxide…was just as effective at improving depression as a higher dose in patients with treatment-resistant depression, with” fewer “adverse side effects after two weeks.” The findings were published online June 9 in Science Translational Medicine.

Related Links:

— “A safer, low dose of laughing gas may be enough to help some patients with major depression, study finds “Claudia López Lloreda, STAT, June 9, 2021

TIME (6/9, Ducharme) reports, “In recent months, a small but growing number of people with Long COVID – the name adopted by those who develop lingering health problems after catching the virus – are experiencing improvements.” Experts “believe somewhere between 10% and 30% of COVID-19 patients develop long-term symptoms, including fatigue, chronic pain, brain fog, shortness of breath and gastrointestinal problems, though the severity of these can vary.” Dr. Federico Cerrone “is a pulmonologist and the co-medical director of Atlantic Health’s COVID Recovery Center in New Jersey, which has treated about 500 Long COVID patients since it opened in October 2020.” Cerrone says, “There seem to be some individual success stories, but I don’t know if I could tell you that one thing fits all. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn’t work. We’ve learned a lot, but there’s still a lot to learn.”

Related Links:

— “Some Patients Are Reporting Long COVID Recoveries—But Experts Still Don’t Fully Understand Why “Jamie Ducharme, TIME, June 9, 2021

Healio (6/9, Gramigna) reports, “Matching patients and therapists based on therapists’ performance strengths may improve mental health care outcomes,” researches concluded in “primary modified intent-to-treat analyses” in which “they included 218 adult outpatients, of whom 67.4% were women and 88.5% were white, treated by 48 therapists.” The study “showed a match effect on reductions in weekly general symptomatic and functional impairment, global distress and domain-specific impairment.” The findings were published online June 9 in JAMA Psychiatry. Psychiatric News (6/9) also covers the study.

Related Links:

— “Patient-therapist matching via therapist’s performance strengths may improve outcomes “Joe Gramigna, Healio, June 9, 2021

HealthDay (6/8, Norton) reports that research suggests “AD/HD medications might help lessen the risk of suicide in children with serious behavioral issues.” Investigators “found that medications like Ritalin [methylphenidate] and Adderall [amphetamine-dextroamphetamine], commonly prescribed for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD), were linked to a lower risk of suicidal behavior among 9- and 10-year-olds with substantial ‘externalizing’ symptoms.” The findings were published in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “ADHD Meds May Help Keep Some Kids From Thoughts of Suicide ” Amy Norton, HealthDay, June 8, 2021