The New York Times (11/3, Bakalar) reports investigators “found no association between engagement in leisure activities at age 56 and the incidence of dementia over the following 18 years.” They arrived at that conclusion after studying “8,280 people, average age 56, who were free of dementia at the start of the analysis,” tracking “their involvement in 13 leisure activities – listening to music, gardening, attending cultural events, playing cards, using a home computer and others,” and then controlling for confounding factors. The findings were published online in the journal Neurology.

Related Links:

— “Pursuing Leisure Activities May Not Protect Against Dementia “Nicholas Bakalar, The New York Times, November 3, 2020

Healio (11/2, Forand) reports, “Psoriasis has a substantial psychological burden that affects quality of life for many patients,” investigators concluded in “a meta-analysis of 98 studies.” The meta-analysis “found nearly 30% of patients with psoriasis experienced depression symptoms, and 10% of those were on antidepressants.” When “compared with the general population, those with psoriasis showed a higher rate of depression, anxiety and suicidal ideation,” the meta-analysis revealed. The findings were presented at the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology virtual congress.

Related Links:

— “Psoriasis increases psychological burden, depression “Rebecca L. Forand, Healio, October 2, 2020

Healio (11/2, Miller) reports, “A ‘revolution’ in legal access to cannabis over the past 20 years has raised concerns about its overuse,” investigators concluded in a clinical care article published online Nov. 3 in the Annals of Internal Medicine. Article author Robin Williams, MD, MBE, an assistant professor of psychiatry at Columbia University, discussed the article’s contents with Healio Primary Care. Dr. Williams talked about “important takeaways” focusing “on the effects of cannabis use, intoxication and withdrawal, as well as the causes of cannabis use disorder and evidence-based pharmacologic and psychosocial treatments.”

Related Links:

— “Cannabis ‘revolution’ requires closer look at its benefits, dangers “Janel Miller, Healio, October 2, 2020

Healio (11/2, Michael) reports, “High school students with nonmedical opioid misuse may have an increased risk for heroin use later in life,” researchers concluded after conducting “a prospective study using a nationally representative sample of adolescents from 25 cohorts of 12th-graders who participated in the Monitoring the Future study and completed self-administered questionnaires from 1976 to 2000.” The 11,012 “participants were followed from 1993 through 2017, or from the ages of 18 years to 35 years.” The findings were published online Sept. 24 in a brief report in the Journal of Addiction Medicine.

Related Links:

— “Opioid misuse in high school linked to heroin use in adulthood “Erin Michael, Healio, October 2, 2020

Healio (11/2, Gramigna) reports, “Male and female youth with bipolar disorder had similar outcomes, despite substantial literature on sex differences among adults with bipolar disorder,” investigators concluded in a study that sought “to pinpoint potential sex differences in psychiatric comorbidity and mood symptomatology among 199 female and 171 male youth with bipolar 1 disorder, bipolar 2 disorder or operationalized bipolar disorder not otherwise specified according to DSM-4 criteria.” The findings were published online in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Sex differences not significant for youth bipolar disorder outcomes “Joe Gramigna, Healio, October 2, 2020