MedPage Today (3/9, George) reports, “Of nearly 1.2 million Medicare beneficiaries with dementia, 13.9% were prescribed CNS-active polypharmacy, defined as more than 30 days of overlap for at least three drugs that were antidepressants, antipsychotics, anti-epileptics, benzodiazepines, non-benzodiazepine receptor agonist hypnotics, or opioids,” investigators concluded. What’s more, “gabapentin (Neurontin) – a drug approved for seizures, nerve pain, and restless legs syndrome that’s frequently used for off-label indications – was the most common medication and was associated with 33% of polypharmacy-days,” the study revealed. Nearly “all (92%) polypharmacy-days included an antidepressant. About half (47.1%) included an antipsychotic, 40.7% included a benzodiazepine, and 32.3% included an opioid,” with “the most common medication class combination…an antidepressant, an anti-epileptic, and an antipsychotic, which represented 12.9% of polypharmacy-days.” The findings The findings were published in the March 9 issue of JAMA.

Psychiatric News (3/9) reports investigators arrived at these conclusions after analyzing “data on Medicare beneficiaries with dementia who had Part D prescription drug coverage on January 1, 2018.” Not included in the study were people “living in long-stay nursing homes.”

Related Links:

— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

Health Exec (3/8) reports “telehealth claim lines rose 2,817% from December 2019 to December 2020,” according to a study by Fair Health. The analysis “excluded Medicare and Medicaid” and aligns “with other studies and surveys showing a huge demand for telehealth during the pandemic, as patients and [health care] professionals alike aim to reduce exposure and spread of the virus.” The study also “measured the five most common diagnoses made via telehealth” and found mental health topped the list at 47%, followed by communicable disease exposure at 3.6%, respiratory infections at 3.4%, joint/soft tissue diseases at 3.4%, and COVID-19 at 3%. The findings were published in AJMC.

Related Links:

— “Telehealth claims surged in 2020 “Amy Baxter, Health Exec, March 8, 2021

Healio (3/8, Gramigna) reports, “Compassion cultivation training effectively decreased psychological distress among caregivers of individuals with mental illness,” researchers concluded in a study that included 161 participants. The findings of the “randomized clinical trial” were published online March 8 in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “Compassion cultivation training may decrease caregivers’ psychological distress “Joe Gramigna, Healio, March 8, 2021

CIDRAP (3/8, Van Beusekom) reports researchers analyzed “the medical records of 558,672” Americans with COVID-19, and found that “intellectual disability is second only to old age as a risk factor for” death from COVID-19, according to a commentary published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Meanwhile, a study published in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report found that “obesity is linked to coronavirus-related hospitalization and death.

Related Links:

— “Intellectual disability, obesity tied to COVID-19 hospitalization, death “Mary Van Beusekom, CIDRAP News, March 8, 2021

Healio (3/5, Downey) reported, “Current and past prescription opioid misuse were associated with increases in the risk for suicide-related behaviors and experiences among U.S. high schoolers,” researchers concluded after calculating “prevalence estimates of prescription opioid misuse and suicide risk behaviors in the past 12 months among high school students” by obtaining “data on 13,677 U.S. high school students who participated in the 2019 National Youth Risk Behavior Survey.” The findings were published online ahead of print in Pediatrics.

Related Links:

— “Opioid misuse among high schoolers associated with increased risk for suicidal behaviors “Ken Downey Jr., Healio, March 5, 2021