MedPage Today (6/15, Hlavinka) reports, “LGBTQ students attending schools with gay-straight alliance programs in place reported experiencing less bullying and better health outcomes than their LGBTQ peers whose schools lacked such programs,” investigators concluded. The survey study revealed that “among 17,112 LGBTQ high school respondents, 91% reported at least one experience with bullying of any type, and in fact most bullying was for ‘stigmatized identities’ unrelated to gender identity or sexual orientation, such as body weight or religion.” Even though “all forms of bullying were correlated with negative health outcomes like sleep issues, depression, or smoking, the presence of gay-straight alliance programs at schools, which focus on peer-to-peer connectedness to reduce prejudice, was not only associated with reductions in bullying, but improvements on these health outcomes,” the study revealed. The findings were published online June 15 in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

Related Links:

— “Gay-Straight Alliances at School Cut Bullying for LGBTQ Youth, “Elizabeth Hlavinka, MedPage Today, June 15, 2020

HealthDay (6/15, McNiff) reports that a recent study found “alarming” reported alterations “in eating and exercise” during the pandemic-related lockdowns among patients with obesity. Specifically, researchers found “almost 70% reported more difficulty in achieving weight-loss goals, and 6 out of 10 reported they were doing more stress-eating.” The findings were published in Clinical Obesity.

Related Links:

— “Lockdowns Making Things Worse for Obese Americans: Study, “Serena McNiff, HealthDay, June 15, 2020

MD Magazine (6/15) reports, “Familial psychiatric history could correlate with the risk of severe bipolar disorder activity in an individual,” investigators concluded after examining “both the Bipolar CHOICE (Clinical Health Outcomes Initiative in Comparative Effectiveness) comparing lithium with quetiapine and the LiTMUS trial, which compared optimized treatment with and without lithium.” In the trials were “a total of 757 patients.” The study revealed that “familial psychiatric history correlated with several disease severity measures, including hospitalizations, suicide attempts, and earlier onset.” The findings were published online ahead of print in the August issue of the Journal of Affective Disorders.

Related Links:

— “Family History Link Found in Bipolar Disorder, “Kenny Walter, MD Magazine, June 15, 2020

Psychiatric News (6/12) reported, “Volunteering at least two hours a week may increase longevity and improve mental health in adults over age 50,” investigators concluded after examining “data from approximately 13,000 participants in the Health and Retirement Study, a large, ongoing study of adults aged 50 years and older in the United States that began in 2006.” The findings were published online June 11 in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

Related Links:

— “Volunteering May Boost Longevity, Mental Health in Adults Over 50, Psychiatric News , June 12, 2020

NBC News (6/13, Fitzsimons) reported, “The United Nations released a report [PDF] documenting the global reach and impact of gay and transgender ‘conversion therapy,’ calling for nations around the” globe “to work to ban the scientifically discredited practice.” Jack Turban, an LGBTQ youth mental health researcher at Harvard Medical School, stated, “There is broad consensus among the medical community, including the American Medical Association, the American Psychiatric Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, that conversion therapy for gender identity or sexual orientation is dangerous and should be banned.

Related Links:

— “U.N. calls for global end to conversion therapy, says it ‘may amount to torture’, “Tim Fitzsimons, NBC News, June 13, 2020