The AP (4/8, Stobbe) reports that “the number of U.S. suicides fell nearly 6% last year amid the coronavirus pandemic – the largest annual decline in at least four decades, according to preliminary government data.” The AP adds, “Death certificates are still coming in and the count could rise.” However, “officials expect a substantial decline will endure, despite worries that COVID-19 could lead to more suicides.”

Related Links:

— “US suicides dropped last year, defying pandemic expectations ” Mike Stobbe, AP, April 8, 2021

HealthDay (4/7, Preidt, Mundell) reports, “A combination of hearing and vision loss is tied to an increased risk of mental decline and dementia, but having just one of those impairments isn’t connected with a higher risk,” researchers concluded in a study that “included 6,520 people, aged 58 to 101, whose visual and hearing impairments were assessed by asking them about their use of glasses or hearing aids.” After adjustment for confounding factors, the study team “concluded that people with both hearing and vision impairment were twice as likely to develop dementia as those with one or neither of the impairments.” The findings were published online in the journal Neurology.

Related Links:

— “Diminished Hearing, Vision Together Could Be Risk Factor for Dementia ” Robert Preidt, HealthDay, April 7, 2021

PatientEngagementHIT (4/6, Heath) reports 10% of “Black patients reported feeling discrimination during a healthcare encounter, a rate that is three times that of White people and twice that of Hispanic people,” according to a report published by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Urban Institute. PatientEngagementHIT adds, “Of the Black non-elderly adults who reported institutional racism or implicit bias during a medical encounter, 13.1 percent were women and 14.6 percent were low-income, the data furthered.”

Related Links:

— “10% of Black Patients Report Implicit Bias in Medicine “Sara Heath, PatientEngagementHIT, April 6, 2021

The Washington Post (4/6, Clement) reports that a Washington Post-Kaiser Family Foundation poll found that a majority of healthcare workers say “worry, exhaustion, constantly changing safety rules and long hours of wearing PPE” are among the most difficult aspects of their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Post continues, “Their work has saved countless lives but also taken a personal toll: 62 percent say worry or stress related to [COVID-19] has had a negative effect on their mental health. A 55 percent majority feel ‘burned out’ going to work. Nearly half of all health-care workers say worry or stress has caused them to have trouble sleeping or to sleep too much.” At the top of the list of reported difficulties “were fears of infection for themselves, their family members or patients, mentioned by 21 percent of health-care workers.”

Related Links:

— “The Washington Post (requires login and subscription)

STAT (4/6, Cooney) reports that a study found that “six months after being diagnosed with Covid-19, 1 in 3 patients also had experienced a psychiatric or neurological illness.” While “anxiety, mood, and substance use disorders were most common,” investigators “also found worrying, if lower, rates of serious neurological complications, especially in patients who had been severely ill with Covid-19.” The data also indicated that “compared to control groups of people who had the flu or other non-Covid respiratory infections, first-ever neuropsychiatric diagnoses were almost twice as high.” The study was published in Lancet Psychiatry,

Reuters (4/6, Kelland) reports that the study, which analyzed health records of more than 236,000 patients with COVID-19, “was not able to determine the biological or psychological mechanisms involved…said” Max Taquet, who co-led the research.

Related Links:

— “1 in 3 Covid-19 patients are diagnosed with a neuropsychiatric condition in the next six months, large study finds “Elizabeth Cooney, STAT, April 6, 2021