CNN International (2/17, Rogers, Rogers) reports researchers found that people with mental illness early in life may have “poorer physical health and accelerated aging in adulthood.” The findings were published in JAMA Psychiatry. Dr. Brent Forester, a member of APA’s Council on Geriatric Psychiatry, said, “We think about depression as a disease that originates in the brain with chemical disturbances and things like that. But depression probably is a systemic illness that affects the entire body. The longer I’ve done this work, and the longer that I’ve worked with older adults in particular, the more I think of psychiatric illness as not a brain disorder, but as a whole-body disorder.”

Psychiatric News (2/17) reports the association remained “even after controlling for a host of other factors that might explain early aging, such as poor health in childhood; being overweight; smoking; or a history of cancer, diabetes, or heart attack.”

Healio (2/17, Gramigna) also covers the study.

Related Links:

— “People with multiple mental disorders may age several years faster, study finds “Kristen Rogers, CNN, February 17, 2021

HealthDay (2/16) reports recent research suggests recreational “substance use is associated with an increased likelihood of premature and extremely premature atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD).” In the study, researchers “found that patients with premature ASCVD had significantly higher use of tobacco, alcohol, cocaine, amphetamine, and cannabis compared with patients with nonpremature ASCVD.” The findings and an accompanying editorial were published in the journal Heart.

MedPage Today (2/16, Lou) also reports on the study.

Related Links:

— “Recreational Substance Use Linked to Premature Atherosclerotic CVD, HealthDay, February 16, 2021

HealthDay (2/16, Mozes) reports researchers found in a long-term study that young teenage girls who spend more time on social media than their peers are more likely to die by suicide. The findings were published in the Journal of Youth and Adolescence.

Related Links:

— “As Social Media Time Rises, So Does Teen Girls’ Suicide Risk ” Alan Mozes, HealthDay, February 16, 2021

Psychiatric News (2/16) reports “switching patients with serious mental illness who are taking one or more antipsychotics to aripiprazole or ziprasidone may lead to weight loss and other cardiometabolic improvements,” according to a meta-analysis published in Schizophrenia Bulletin. The researchers “analyzed 61 articles, which described studies of 8,554 people (mean age, 39 years) – the majority of whom had been diagnosed with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder, or comorbid mental disorders.”

Related Links:

— “Switching to Aripiprazole or Ziprasidone May Reduce Weight Gain in Patients Taking Antipsychotics, Psychiatric News, February 16, 2021

ABC News (2/16, Reshef, Schwartz-Lavares, Moll-Ramírez) reports experts say healthcare workers who have been on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic “will have to face a mental health reckoning after being in the trenches fighting the global pandemic.” ABC News adds, “Experts say there is still not enough data to assess the psychological toll COVID-19 has had on physicians in the past year.” Some healthcare workers, including Dr. Lorna Breen at New York-Presbyterian Allen Hospital, have died by suicide during the pandemic, due to the trauma of the pandemic, according to their families and friends. Before the pandemic, 300-400 physicians died by suicide each year, according to the APA.

Related Links:

— “An urgent mental health crisis: Health workers facing immense psychological toll from pandemic “Erielle Reshef,Ashley Schwartz-Lavares, and Victoria Moll-Ramirez, ABC News, February 16, 2021