MedPage Today (4/28, Monaco) reports, “Gender-affirming surgery can make a substantial beneficial impact on the mental health of transgender and gender diverse (TGD) individuals,” investigators concluded. In their “secondary analysis of data from the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey,” investigators found that “undergoing at least one type of gender-affirming surgery nearly halved the likelihood of TGD individuals experiencing severe psychological distress within the past month,” and “those who underwent at least one gender-affirming surgery also reported significantly less suicidal ideation within the past year.”

HealthDay (4/28, Murez) reports the study comes “at a particularly critical time, as some states move to ban certain gender-affirming treatments and surgeries for transgender minors.” The findings were published online April 28 in JAMA Surgery.

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— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

HealthDay (4/28, Preidt) reports, “Bullied and mistreated teens are much more likely to fantasize about hurting or killing others,” investigators concluded in a study that “included more than 1,400 young people in Zurich, Switzerland, who were asked about their thoughts and experiences at ages 15, 17 and 20.” The findings were published online April 27 in the journal Aggressive Behavior.

Related Links:

— “Being Bullied Often Leads Teens to Thoughts of Violence ” Robert Preidt, HealthDay, April 28, 2021

Psychiatric News (4/27) reports while “policy changes during the COVID-19 pandemic enabled physicians to deliver care via telehealth, people of all ages from across the country remain without access to such care due to a lack of reliable internet service and/or computers.” Marie Smith-East, Ph.D., D.N.P., and Shaquita Starks, Ph.D., A.P.R.N., wrote a letter to the editor of the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, “While a large majority of youth in the United States have internet access, about 14% of youth ages 6 to 17 live in homes without internet and 17% of youth ages 3 to 18 live in homes without computers, numbers which translate to approximately 11 million youth without access to the internet.” In the letter, “Smith-East and Starks offered several recommendations for connecting youth without internet access and/or computers to remote mental health care, including the use of telephone consultations with psychiatrists; buses that go into local communities equipped with internet service and laptops, where patients can access telehealth appointments; and community internet hubs where youth can access the internet outside their home for telehealth appointments.”

Related Links:

— “‘Digital Divide’ May Further Worsen Mental Health Disparities in Youth, Psychiatric News, April 27, 2021

The Washington Post (4/27, Goldstein) reports, “The Biden administration released guidelines Tuesday to make it easier for [physicians] and other health-care practitioners to prescribe the drug buprenorphine to treat” patients with “opioid addiction, softening restrictions widely criticized as hampering the response to the opioid epidemic.” Under the new guidelines, physicians, “physician assistants, nurse practitioners and other [healthcare professionals] no longer will need to undergo training before they are allowed to prescribe” buprenorphine, “as long as they are prescribing the medication for no more than 30 patients at a time.”

The AP (4/27, Johnson) reports under the new guidelines, prescribers will also “no longer have to refer patients to counseling services.”

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— “The Washington Post (requires login and subscription)

HealthDay (4/27, Collins) reports researchers surveyed “322 adults with COVID and a sudden change in smell or taste,” finding “56% reported decreased enjoyment in life and 43% admitted feeling depressed after losing their sense of smell.” The findings were published in the American Journal of Otolaryngology.

Related Links:

— “Nothing to Sniff at: Depression Common for People With COVID-Linked Smell Loss “Sarah D. Collins, HealthDay, April 27, 2021