Healio (9/25, Gramigna) reported, “Monitoring of cognitive function may be warranted among middle- and older-aged individuals who sleep for four or fewer or 10 or more hours per night,” investigators concluded after “evaluating the link between sleep duration and cognitive decline by analyzing data of several waves of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing and the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study among a population-based setting.” The findings of the “pooled cohort study” were published online in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “Insufficient, excess sleep may cause cognitive decline among middle-, older-aged people “Joe Gramigna, Healio, September 25, 2020

The AP (9/27, Baldor, Burns) reports military suicides “have increased by as much as 20% this year compared to the same period in 2019, and some incidents of violent behavior have spiked as service members struggle under COVID-19, war-zone deployments, national disasters and civil unrest.” While the data “is incomplete and causes of suicide are complex, Army and Air Force officials say they believe the pandemic is adding stress to an already strained force.” And senior Army leaders “– who say they’ve seen about a 30% jump in active duty suicides so far this year – told The Associated Press that they are looking at shortening combat deployments.”

Forbes (9/27, Reimann) also reports.

Related Links:

— “Military suicides up as much as 20% in COVID era “Lolita C. Baldor and Robert Burns, AP, September 27, 2020

Psychiatric News (9/25) reported, “The prevalence of serious mental illness (SMI) among people who live in assisted-living communities is rising faster than in the community at large,” investigators concluded after analyzing “data from the Medicare Master Beneficiary Summary File, a ZIP code history file, OASIS home health assessment data, Medicare Part B claims, a national list of state licensed assisted-living communities, and a Residential History File.” The data revealed that “over the 10-year period studied, the prevalence of SMI in assisted living increased by 54%, compared with an increase of 39% in the community at large.” The findings were published online Sept. 18 in the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Serious Mental Illness on Rise Among Residents of Assisted-Living Communities, Psychiatric News, September 25, 2020

Healio (9/25, Gramigna) reported, “Youth who experienced sexual exploitation exhibited high levels of sexual risk taking, multiple sexual partners, PTSD, child pornography exposure and childhood trauma,” investigators concluded in a “systematic review and meta-analysis” that synthesized “evidence of risk and protective factors linked to child sexual exploitation and their estimated effect sizes.” The findings were published online in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “Specific youth behaviors linked to risk for sexual exploitation “Joe Gramigna, Healio, September 25, 2020

Dr. Saul Levin, CEO and Medical Director of the APA, wrote a letter to the editor of the New York Times (9/24) in response to an article about nursing homes evicting poor patients in need of psychiatric care. Dr. Levin wrote, “The allegations in the article are deeply troubling” and that “evicting older Americans from nursing homes and into psychiatric hospitals or emergency rooms is inhumane and a disturbing exploitation of psychiatric evaluations.” Dr. Levin continues, “Mental health diagnoses are not weapons, and using them as such increases the stigma and prejudice against people who need treatment.” Dr. Levin concludes by calling for nursing homes to “ensure that their patients have access to mental health treatment while in residence,” and calling for state officials to “thoroughly investigate these claims.”

Related Links:

— “In Cities, No Place for Partisan Politics The New York Times, September 24, 2020