HealthDay (4/21, Norton) reports researchers found the COVID-19 pandemic has stopped many people in the US from receiving treatment for opioid addiction, “possibly contributing to the national surge in overdose deaths.” The findings were published in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “Pandemic Has Blocked Access to Treatment for Many Americans Hooked on Opioids ” Amy Norton, HealthDay, April 21, 2021

The Hill (4/21, Marcos) reports the House “easily passed legislation on Wednesday to extend a ban on copycats of fentanyl, a highly addictive synthetic opioid, that is set to expire on May 6 without congressional action.” Lawmakers “passed the bill by voice vote to extend through Oct. 22 the federal government’s ability to regulate fentanyl analogues as one of the most strictly controlled drugs with no accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.”

Related Links:

— “House votes to extend ban on fentanyl-like substances “Cristina Marcos, The Hill, April 21, 2021

MedPage Today (4/21, Grant) reports, “Children as young as 9 years old have an increased risk of major depressive disorder and other psychopathologies if one or more generations in their family were also affected, an analysis of Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study data showed.” Parent reports showed that “the weighted prevalence of depressive disorder in children ages 9 to 11 years was 3.8% for those with no family history of depression, 5.5% for children who had a depressed grandparent but no depressed parent, and 10.4% for those who only had an affected parent.” Furthermore, “this trend was similar for a range of other psychiatric disorders, including all anxiety-related disorders.” The findings were published in JAMA Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

Healio (4/20, Gramigna) reports, “Omega-3 supplementation may slow accelerated aging by altering the body’s response during and after a stressful event,” researchers concluded after evaluating “the effects of omega-3 supplementation on biomarkers related to cellular aging following a laboratory speech stressor among 138 middle-aged participants who were sedentary and overweight.” The findings were published online April 20 in the journal Molecular Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Omega-3 supplementation may slow stress-related accelerated aging ”
Joe Gramigna, Healio, April 20, 2021

HealthDay (4/20, Thompson) reports research indicates that “high-profile police killings of Black people may take a big mental health toll on psyches across the” US. After gauging “Americans’ mental health ratings with data from a federal health survey that interviews more than 400,000 U.S. adults each year,” investigators “found that, on average, Black Americans reported an increase in ‘poor mental health days’ during weeks where more than one deadly racial incident was in the news.” The study revealed “no change in white Americans’ mental health ratings during those weeks,” however. The findings were published online April 19 ahead of print in PNAS.

Related Links:

— “High-Profile Police Brutality Cases Harm Black Americans’ Mental Health: Study “Amy Norton, HealthDay, April 20, 2021