NPR (9/8, Noguchi) reports “eating disorders are thriving during the” current COVID-19 pandemic. In recent months, “hotline calls to the National Eating Disorders Association are up 70-80%.” For some people, “eating is a form of control – a coping mechanism tied to stress.” Eating disorders also pose a “lethal threat,” having “the second-highest mortality rate of any psychiatric diagnosis – outranked only by opioid use disorder.”

Related Links:

— “Eating Disorders Thrive In Anxious Times, And Pose A Lethal Threat “Yuki Noguchi, NPR, September 8, 2020

USA Today (9/5, Ayres) reported, “During the pandemic, doctors in many parts of the country have connected with their patients online instead of in person for everyone’s safety.” Those “patients who had adapted to connecting to family and friends via video smoothly transitioned to seeing their physicians that way too, minimizing a lot of potential technical difficulties.” According to USA Today, “This situational advance of telemedicine has left many doctors and patients hoping it will continue to be an option even when life returns to ‘normal.’”

Related Links:

— “During COVID-19, many doctors and patients are using telehealth to keep connected “Amy Sinatra Ayres, USA Today, September 5, 2020

The New York Times (9/7, Goldberg) reports, “Early on in the pandemic, a pervasive myth among patients and some health authorities was the idea that Covid-19 was a short-term illness.” It’s only been “in recent months” that “more attention [has] been given to long-haulers.” For instance, the Times adds that “in online support groups like Body Politic and Survivor Corps, long-haulers have produced informal surveys and reports to study their course of illness,” and in one support group, “dozens wrote that their months of illness have contributed to anxiety and depression, exacerbated by the difficulties of accessing medical services and disruptions to their work, social and exercise routines.”

Related Links:

— “For Long-Haulers, Covid-19 Takes a Toll on Mind as Well as Body “Emma Goldberg, The New York Times, September 7, 2020

Healio (9/4, Gramigna) reported, “Certain types of childhood maltreatment were linked to suicide behaviors among children and young adults,” investigators concluded in a systematic review and meta-analysis that “included 79 studies with 337,185 youths, with a mean age of 15.67 years.” Researchers found “significant associations between higher suicide attempt rates and sexual abuse…physical abuse,” emotional abuse, emotional neglect, physical neglect, and “combined abuse.” What’s more, “these forms of childhood maltreatment were linked to as much as a 2.5 times higher risk for suicide ideation, and sexual abuse specifically with a four times higher risk for suicide plans,” the review revealed. The findings were published online in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “Childhood maltreatment linked to increased suicide behaviors among children, young adults “Joe Gramigna, Healio, September 4, 2020

The Washington Post (9/3, Brulliard, Wan) reports that “physicians and researchers are seeing signs” that the coronavirus pandemic “is doing deep damage to people’s sleep.” Dubbed “coronasomnia” by some experts, it “could prove to have profound public-health ramifications – creating a massive new population of chronic insomniacs grappling with declines in productivity, shorter fuses and increased risks of hypertension, depression and other health problems.”

Related Links:

— “The pandemic is ruining our sleep. Experts say ‘coronasomnia’ could imperil public health. ”
Karin Brulliard and William Wan, The Washington Post, September 3, 2020