NBC News (6/13, Fitzsimons) reported, “The United Nations released a report [PDF] documenting the global reach and impact of gay and transgender ‘conversion therapy,’ calling for nations around the” globe “to work to ban the scientifically discredited practice.” Jack Turban, an LGBTQ youth mental health researcher at Harvard Medical School, stated, “There is broad consensus among the medical community, including the American Medical Association, the American Psychiatric Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, that conversion therapy for gender identity or sexual orientation is dangerous and should be banned.

Related Links:

— “U.N. calls for global end to conversion therapy, says it ‘may amount to torture’, “Tim Fitzsimons, NBC News, June 13, 2020

MedPage Today (6/12, Lou) reported, “Behavioral counseling and multidisciplinary care coordination together helped lower cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk in people with serious mental illness,” investigators concluded.

Healio (6/12, Dobkowski) reported that “in the IDEAL trial…researchers analyzed data from 269 patients…who attended outpatient psychiatric rehabilitation programs and clinics and had dyslipidemia (n = 175), hypertension (n = 142), diabetes (n = 93), overweight/obesity (n = 242) and/or were current tobacco smokers (n = 138).” Patients were randomized to “the intervention (n = 132; mean age, 49 years; 47% men) or control (n = 137; mean age, 49 years; 48% men).” The study revealed that patients who had the intervention ended up having “a net percentage reduction of 12.7% for the 10-year global Framingham Risk Score.” The findings were published online in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “Care Coordination Intervention Cuts Heart Risk Among the Mentally Ill, ” Nicole Lou, MedPage Today, June 15, 2020

Psychiatric News (6/11) reports research indicates that “handgun ownership is associated with an elevated risk of suicide by firearm, particularly immediately after the gun is acquired.” For the study, investigators “tracked firearm ownership and mortality over 12 years (2004-2016) among 26.3 million adults in California.” The findings were published online June 4 in the New England Journal of Medicine. According to Psychiatric News, the authors of an accompanying editorial posited that “assessments of suicide risk should include questions about recent gun ownership and access to firearms, for example, and women, as well as men, should be questioned about gun ownership.”

Related Links:

— “Suicide Risk Increases Immediately After Gun Purchase, Psychiatric News, June 11, 2020

NPR (6/11, McCammon) reports that physicians “should start screening all women and girls for anxiety, according” to “guidelines issued by the Women’s Preventive Services Initiative.” Those guidelines “advise primary care doctors and other” healthcare professionals “to screen all female patients for anxiety disorders beginning at age 13.” NPR adds, “Dr. Jeanne Conry chairs the Women’s Preventive Services Initiative, a federally funded initiative administered by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.” She “says the group is recommending routine screening because patients who struggle with anxiety often don’t raise the issue with their” physicians. The clinical guideline recommendation was published online June 9 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Related Links:

— “All Women Should Be Screened For Anxiety Disorders, Health Group Says, “Sarah McCammon, NPR, June 11, 2020

STAT (6/11, Glaser) reports that while the coronavirus pandemic has had a negative impact on the mental health of many Americans, it has been particularly distressing for young black people, especially when combined with recent events. STAT adds, “Black adults have been 10% to 26% more likely than white adults to report symptoms of psychological distress in a mental health survey conducted weekly since late April by the” CDC and Census Bureau. STAT interviews four young black Americans who “are navigating far more than a disrupted senior year and a collapsed job market: Covid-19 hit their communities especially hard, and then that was compounded by seemingly limitless videos of police brutalizing people who look like them.”

Related Links:

— “For Black youth, a time of upheaval takes a toll on mental health, “Gabrielle Glaser, STAT, June 11, 2020