Psychiatric News (5/16) reports, “Older adults with hearing loss who receive treatment may retain greater social connections over time than those who do not receive treatment, according to a study.” The research included “977 adults (mean age of 76.3) with untreated hearing loss and no substantial cognitive impairment.” The researchers wrote, “Given the high prevalence of hearing loss among older adults and already established delivery models, hearing intervention represents a public health target for population-levelreductions in social isolation and loneliness.” The findings were published in JAMA Internal Medicine.

Related Links:

— “Hearing-Loss Treatment May Help Preserve Social Connection in Older People,” Psychiatric News, May 16, 2025

The Radiology Business Journal (5/16, Stempniak) reports, “A new analysis…explores suicide rates among” medical residents. Investigators “labeled this the leading cause of death for fellows and residents between 2015 to 2021.” In that “timeframe, 161 medical trainees died, with suicide the top cause (29%), followed by neoplastic disease (17%), other medical and surgical concerns (14%), accidents (14%), and unintentional poisonings (13%).” The findings were published in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “Study explores suicide rate among residents in radiology and other specialties,” Marty Stempniak, The Radiology Business Journal, May 16, 2025

The New York Times (5/15, Jewett , Thacker) reports that budget cuts under the Trump Administration have affected anti-smoking programs across the United States. Experts on tobacco control said the “funding cuts would set back a quarter-century of public health efforts that have driven the smoking rate to a record low and saved lives and billions of dollars in health care spending.” FDA officials “fired many staff members who levied fines on retailers that sold tobacco to minors or marketed illicit vapes. Some scientists who were experts in addiction and toxicology lost their jobs.” Meanwhile, the NIH “canceled grants to researchers examining tobacco use among certain groups, including L.G.B.T.Q. youths, Black people and young people.” The White House also closed the CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health. The cuts were discussed during budget hearings on Wednesday, with lawmakers expressing concerns to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Related Links:

— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

Psychiatric News (5/15) reports a study found that “individuals with first-episode psychosis who experience a shorter period between first use of an antipsychotic and enrollment in a coordinated specialty care (CSC) program show improved functioning and quality of life at six months.” Researchers “examined outcomes for 147 first-episode psychosis patients enrolled from 2014 to 2019 in Specialized Treatment in Early Psychosis (STEP), a CSC in New Haven, Connecticut, that ran a dedicated four-year early detection campaign focused on raising public awareness of psychosis, training health professionals to identify symptoms, and streamlining the CSC referral process.” They observed the average total duration of untreated psychosis (DUP) “for patients enrolled in STEP was 5.9 months shorter than those in the CSC with standard detection protocols. This included a 1.3-month reduction in DUP-Demand and a 4.6-month reduction in DUP-Supply.” Notably, the “time reduction translated into improvements in functional outcomes.” The study was published in Schizophrenia Bulletin.

Related Links:

— “Shorter Time Between Antipsychotic Initiation and CSC Referral Improves Outcomes,” Psychiatric News , May 15, 2025

CBS News (5/14, Moniuszko ) reports a study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association suggests that “men are twice as likely to die from the stress-related heart condition commonly called ‘broken heart syndrome’ compared to women.” Formally known as Takotsubo cardiomyopathy, the syndrome is “associated with severe emotional distress or stressful events, such as the death of a loved one,” with symptoms including “chest discomfort, shortness of breath, heart palpitations and arrhythmia, or irregular heartbeat.” Researchers “analyzed nearly 200,000 U.S. adults with data from 2016 to 2020” and found that “despite the condition being more common among women, the death rate among them was 5.5%, compared to 11.2% for men. The cause of the mortality discrepancy is not fully understood, the authors said, adding it could be due to hormonal differences or physical stress being a more common trigger for men than emotional stress.”

Related Links:

— “Men more likely to die of “broken heart syndrome” compared to women, study finds,” Sara Moniuszko, CBS News, May 14, 2025