The Washington Post (11/19, A1, Shammas) reports, “With Thanksgiving a week away and coronavirus cases exploding nationwide, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday recommended against traveling or gathering for the holiday, urging Americans to consider celebrating in their own households instead.” In the agency’s “first news briefing in months, officials said they were alarmed to see 1 million new cases reported across the United States within the past week.” As the nation’s death toll “since the start of the pandemic reached 250,000, officials spoke of the risks in stark terms, warning that as friends and relatives get together over the holidays, they could inadvertently bring the coronavirus with them.”

Related Links:

— “CDC recommends against Thanksgiving travel amid surge of coronavirus cases “Brittany Shammas, The Washington Post, November 19, 2020

Cardiovascular Business (11/19) reports researchers found “social isolation during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in more patients arriving at the emergency department (ED) with high blood pressure.” The findings were presented at the Argentine Congress of Cardiology 2020 virtual meeting.

Related Links:

— “COVID-related social isolation associated with high blood pressure “Michael Walter, Cardiovascular Business, November 19, 2020

Frailty Appears To Be Key Risk Factor For Age-Related Cognitive Dysfunction And Dementia, Research Suggests
HCPlive (11/18, Meglio) reports research indicates that “health-deficit accumulation, specifically among older Americans, affects the likelihood of progressive cognitive impairment, as well as the likelihood of cognitive improvement independent of the APOE ε4 allele.” For the study, investigators “calculated a frailty index score using the deficit-accumulation approach in participants aged 50 years and older from the National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center.” The 14,490-participant study revealed that frailty appears to be “a key risk factor for age-related cognitive dysfunction and dementia.” The findings were published online in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Researchers Find New Method to Measure Cognitive Impairment, Dementia “Marco Meglio, HCPlive, November 18, 2020

Psychiatric News (11/18) reports, “Certain symptoms of borderline personality disorder – especially chronic feelings of emptiness, fear of abandonment, and disturbances in one’s sense of identity – appear to be significantly associated with suicide attempts,” researchers concluded after analyzing “data from the Collaborative Longitudinal Study of Personality Disorders, a multisite, prospective study of adults with at least one of four personality disorders (schizotypal, borderline, avoidant, and obsessive compulsive) and a comparison group of adults with major depressive disorder.” Investigators focused on “the occurrence of suicide attempts in both groups over a 10-year period and examined the associations between specific symptoms and suicide attempts.” The findings of the 701-participant study were published online Nov. 18 in JAMA Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Specific Symptoms of Borderline Personality Disorder Linked to Suicide Risk, Psychiatric News, November 18, 2020

MedPage Today (11/18, Hlavinka) reports research indicates that “the prevalence of suicidal ideation among commercially insured women in the year before or after giving birth increased from 0.1% to 0.5%  from 2006 to 2017.” The study also revealed that “rates of self-harm…doubled during this time period, from 0.1% to 0.2%.” What’s more, “overall suicidality increased from 0.2% to 0.6%, adding up to about 24,000 suicidal women when extrapolated to the four million who give birth each year.” The findings were published online Nov. 18 in JAMA Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)