Psychiatric News (6/3) reports, “Rates of seclusion and restraint at American hospitals, including psychiatric hospitals, fell between 2013 and 2017, at least among those with the highest rates,” research indicated. What’s more, “for-profit hospitals appear to use seclusion and restraint much less than nonprofit and government-owned facilities,” investigators found after examining “rates of seclusion and restraint at 1,642 acute care and psychiatric facilities using the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) Hospital Compare website,” then comparing “three types of hospitals – for-profit, nonprofit, and government-owned.” The findings were published online June 3 in Psychiatric Services, a publication of the American Psychiatric Association.

Related Links:

— “Use of Seclusion, Restraint in Hospitals Drops, But Better Data Needed to Get Complete Picture, Psychiatric News, June 3, 2020

Medscape (6/2, Harrison, Subscription Publication) reports, “People with diabetic retinopathy experience depression at higher rates than the general population, but the rate decreases at the most severe stage of the disease,” investigators concluded after analyzing “a database of 95,575 people 18 years and older with eye exams on record at the Carolina Data Warehouse, a repository of all patients seen in the University of North Carolina system.” The findings were presented in a virtual presentation at the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology 2020 Annual Meeting.

Related Links:

— Medscape (requires login and subscription)

MD Magazine (6/2, Walter) reports, “Cannabis use is associated with poorer mental health outcomes, with evidence showing the use of higher-potency cannabis increasing these risks,” researchers concluded after examining “whether high-potency cannabis compared to low-potency cannabis increases the risk of problems resulting from cannabis use, common mental disorders, and psychotic experiences after controlling for early-life mental health symptoms and frequency of use.” The findings of the 1,087-individual study revealed that “use of high-potency cannabis was linked to a significant increase in the frequency of cannabis use,” as well as “cannabis problems…and increased likelihood of anxiety disorder.” What’s more, those “who use high-potency cannabis had a slight increase in likelihood of psychotic experiences…tobacco dependence,” and use of other illicit drugs. The findings were published online May 27 in JAMA Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “High-Potency Cannabis Linked to Poor Mental Health, “Kenny Walter, MD Magazine, June 2, 2020

MD Magazine (6/2, Walter) reports researchers have “established how loneliness and disease containment measures” in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic “could impact the mental health of both children and adolescents.” For “the rapid review, the investigators examined articles published between 1946-2020, with 20% of articles double screened using a predefined criteria and 20% of data double extracted for quality assurance.” The review revealed that “social isolation and loneliness increased the risk of depression, as well as the possibility of anxiety at the time of loneliness, which was measured between 0.25-9 years later.” What’s more, the review found that “young people were as much as three times more likely to develop depression in the future due to social isolation, with the impact of loneliness on mental health lasting up to nine years later.” The findings (pdf) were published online in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “COVID-19 Lockdown Having an Impact on Adolescent Mental Health, “Kenny Walter, MD Magazine, June 2, 2020

The Hill (6/1, Hellmann) reports the FDA “is reporting shortages of Zoloft [sertraline] and the generic version of the antidepressant as demand soars and supply chains for key ingredients are interrupted by the pandemic.” Pfizer told the agency “it has a limited supply [of Zoloft] available of the 100-count bottles of 100-milligram pills due to” an increase in demand, and other manufacturers reported shortages of generic versions.

Bloomberg (6/1, Edney) reports, “Zoloft prescriptions climbed 12% year-over-year to 4.9 million in March, the most ever in the U.S., according to data compiled by Bloomberg Intelligence.”

Related Links:

— “Zoloft shortages reported amid increased demand, strained supply lines, “Jessie Hellmann, The Hill, June 1, 2020