The New York Times (2/23, Carey) reports research shows “that for young people who are anxious by nature, or feeling emotionally fragile already, the pandemic and its isolation have pushed them to the brink. Rates of suicidal thinking and behavior are up by 25 percent or more from similar periods in 2019, according to a just-published analysis of surveys of young patients coming into the emergency” department. Many EDs “are now seeing a surge in such cases.” Furthermore, “the local emergency department is frequently unprepared for the added burden. Workers often are not specially trained to manage behavioral problems, and families don’t have many options for where to go next, leaving many of these pandemic-insecure adolescents in limbo.”

Related Links:

— “For Some Teens, It’s Been a Year of Anxiety and Trips to the E.R. “Benedict Carey, The New York Times, February 23, 2021

HealthDay (2/23, Murez) reports a variable sleep schedule may worsen mood and symptoms of depression, investigators concluded after using “fitness trackers to determine the sleep and activity of more than 2,100 early-career physicians,” then gathering “mood data by asking the interns to report their daily mood on a smartphone app and to take quarterly tests for signs of depression.” The findings were published online Feb. 18 in the journal npj Digital Medicine.

Related Links:

— “Grumpy? Depressed? Try a More Regular Sleep Schedule ” Cara Murez, HealthDay, February 23, 2021

Healio (2/22, Gramigna) reports, “Adolescents with depression were more physiologically reactive to acute social media use vs. controls,” investigators concluded in a study that “collected data via baseline clinical assessment of 30 depressed adolescents and 30 health control adolescents who abstained from social media use for 24 hours or longer.” The findings of the “prospective, cross-sectional study” were published online ahead of print in the April issue of the Journal of Psychiatric Research.

Related Links:

— “Depressed adolescents more physiologically reactive to acute social media use vs. controls “Joe Gramigna, MA, Healio , February 22, 2021

Healthcare IT News (2/22, Siwicki) reports Heritage Clinic has turned to telehealth to “help patients connect with their clinicians and with their families” during the pandemic. The decision “solved the issue of isolation and risk of exposure of in-person therapy,” and the PHQ-9 score, which “measures depression symptoms,” declined by “1.73, which indicates a slight decrease in depressive symptoms.” The clinic was also given “$41,457 by the FCC telehealth funding program,” which helped expand how many patients they could put on the new telehealth system.

Related Links:

— “iPads for telehealth can help reduce depression in patients “Bill Siwicki, Healthcare IT News, February 22, 2021

MedPage Today (2/22, Henderson) reports CODAC Behavioral Healthcare, which offers “opioid treatment in Rhode Island,” has “partnered with Brown University to study how well patients and [professionals] feel telephone counseling for” medication-assisted treatment (MAT) “has been working during the pandemic.” The partnership’s “results have proved promising in a potential bright spot for the addiction treatment sector, grappling with how best to protect vulnerable patients from potential exposure to COVID-19, serve new ones as overdoses spike during the pandemic, and get reimbursed for their efforts.” So far, “unpublished data show that the majority of 247 patients and 41 counselors who participated in a survey between August and October of last year believed telephone counseling improved the therapeutic relationship, Linda Hurley, president and CEO of CODAC, told MedPage Today.”

Related Links:

— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)