The Washington Post (3/12, Chiu) reported, “Several health-related organizations held a news conference Friday to raise alarm about the significant effect the coronavirus pandemic is having on Americans’ efforts to quit smoking.” In a report (PDF) released Friday, the “North American Quitline Consortium (NAQC) found a steep drop in calls during 2020 to the National Cancer Institute-operated portal that connects callers to local quitlines.” And “at the same time, the nonprofit noted, cigarette sales increased after years of steady decline, according to data from the Treasury Department.”

USA Today (3/12, Alltucker) reported, “Officials attributed the decline in calls…to stress, anxiety, depression and isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic.”

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— “The Washington Post (requires login and subscription)

CIDRAP (3/12, Van Beusekom) reported a research letter published in JAMA Network Open suggests that the majority of COVID-19 survivors have “symptoms of major depressive disorder months after recovery.” The researchers “analyzed internet-based nonprobability survey and Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) responses from 82,319 adult coronavirus survivors delivered in eight waves from June 2020 to January 2021.”

Related Links:

— “Half of COVID survivors note lingering signs of depression “Mary Van Beusekom, CIDRAP News, March 12, 2021

CNN (3/11, Maxouris, Sanchez, Almasy, McPhillips) reports one year after the WHO declared a pandemic, 10% of the U.S. population is vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2. According to the CDC’s website, “at least 33.9 million Americans are protected with either a one-dose or two-dose vaccine.”

Related Links:

— “One year after the pandemic was declared, 1 in 10 Americans have been fully vaccinated “Christina Maxouris, Ray Sanchez, Steve Almasy and Deidre McPhillips, CNN, March 11, 2021

HealthDay (3/11, Preidt, Mundell) reports, “The trauma and loss of stroke can often leave survivors with long-term depression, and women appear to be at special risk,” investigators concluded after analyzing “data from Medicare patients aged 65 and older who were hospitalized for either ischemic stroke (more than 174,000) or heart attack (more than 193,000) from July 2016 to Dec. 31, 2017,” then following patients “for an average of 1.5 years.” The findings are set for presentation “later this month at the virtual American Stroke Association’s annual meeting.”

Related Links:

— “Depression Often Follows Stroke, and Women Are at Higher Risk “Robert Preidt, HealthDay, March 11, 2021

The Hill (3/11, Coleman) reports that more than “20 percent of health care workers worldwide have experienced depression and anxiety amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to a study published Wednesday” in PLOS One. A meta-analysis of 65 studies “surveying more than 97,000 people between December 2019 and August 2020 concluded that 21.7 percent of health care workers have experienced depression and 22.1 percent have experienced anxiety during the COVID-19 crisis.” Researchers “averaged the results of nine of these studies to predict that 21.5 percent of health care workers worldwide have reported symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.”

Related Links:

— “More than 20 percent of health care workers experience depression, anxiety amid pandemic: study ” Justine Coleman, The Hill, March 11, 2021