Medscape (2/4, McNamara, Subscription Publication) reports researchers found in “a large, population-based study of more than 7 million individuals” that “a small but significant increase in the risk for death by suicide occurs in the months immediately following diagnosis of specific neurologic disorders.” The researchers found that “patients diagnosed with a severe neurologic disorder were four to five times more likely to die by suicide compared to the general population.” The findings were published in JAMA.

MedPage Today (2/4, George) reports over a period of 37 years, “the suicide rate for people with a neurologic disorder was 44.0 per 100,000 person-years, compared with 20.1 per 100,000 person years for all other people.”

Related Links:

— “New Data Rank Neurologic Diagnoses by Suicide Risk, “Damian McNamara, Medscape, February 4, 2020

Psychiatric News (2/3) reports, “Children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder [AD/HD] who also have aggression problems might benefit from adjustments to their stimulant regimen and behavioral therapy,” researchers concluded in a study that “enrolled 175 children aged six to 12 with” AD/HD “and either oppositional defiant disorder or conduct disorder.” The findings were published online Jan. 30 in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Optimizing Stimulant Treatment May Help Reduce Aggression in Children With ADHD, Psychiatric News, February 3, 2020

Healio (2/3, Gramigna) reports, “Individuals with an eating disorder are nearly four times more likely to experience exercise addiction than those without one,” investigators concluded after conducting a “systematic review of grey literature and major databases, specifically looking at studies that reported on exercise addiction prevalence among these two populations,” then also conducting “a random effect meta-analysis to calculate ORs for exercise addiction.” Included in the review were “nine studies with a total sample of 2,140 participants with a mean age of 25.06.” The findings were published online Jan. 1 in the journal Eating and Weight Disorders.

Related Links:

— “Eating disorders increase risk for exercise addiction, “Joe Gramigna, Healio, February 3, 2020

HealthDay (1/31, Preidt) reported, “Allowing pharmacists to provide the opioid overdose” medicine “naloxone without a prescription led to a huge increase in dispensing of the lifesaving” medication “in Ohio,” researchers concluded. After state legislators “gave that permission in 2015,” researchers found “a 2,328% increase in naloxone dispensing” since then. In addition, the study revealed that “counties with low-employment rates had 18% more naloxone dispensed per month than high-employment counties.” The findings were published online Jan. 31 in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “When Pharmacists Allowed to Give Anti-Opioid Med Without Rx, Access Soars, ” Robert Preidt, HealthDay, January 31, 2020

In an investigative piece, the New York Times (1/31, A1, Gabler) reported on medication mix-ups and other errors at chain pharmacies across the US. The article highlights several such incidents that led to hospitalization and even death, but says “the people least surprised by such mistakes are pharmacists working in some of the nation’s biggest retail chains.” The article says “the American Psychiatric Association is particularly concerned about CVS, America’s eighth-largest company, which it says routinely ignores doctors’ explicit instructions to dispense limited amounts of medication to mental health patients.” Dr. Bruce Schwartz, the president of APA, took aim at CVS’ policy of providing patients with a three-month supply of their prescription drugs, “Clearly it is financially in their best interest to dispense as many pills as they can get paid for.”

Related Links:

— “How Chaos at Chain Pharmacies Is Putting Patients at Risk, ” Ellen Gabler, The New York Times, January 31, 2020