The Wall Street Journal (4/21, MacDonald, Subscription Publication) reports coronavirus lockdowns have disrupted the routines, therapy, and special education that many people with autism depend on, which has increased anxiety for many of them and their families.

Related Links:

— “For People With Autism, Lockdowns Shatter Routine, Heighten Anxiety, “Alistair MacDonald, The Wall Street Journal, April 21, 2020

Healio (4/20, Gramigna) reports, “Opioid-involved overdose deaths commonly featured alcohol and benzodiazepine co-involvement,” investigators concluded in a “repeated cross-section analysis” involving data on “399,230 opioid-involved poisoning deaths from 1999 to 2017.” The findings were published online April 9 in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “Alcohol, benzodiazepines often co-involved in opioid overdose deaths
, “Joe Gramigna , Healio, April 20, 2020

Healio (4/20, Gramigna) reports, “Risk factors for first nonfatal suicide attempt likely differ by age,” investigators concluded after analyzing “data from the second wave of the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions – a nationally representative sample of 34,629 U.S. adults.” The findings of the “nationally representative study” were published online April 7 in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “First nonfatal suicide attempt risk factors differ significantly by age, “Joe Gramigna, Healio, April 20, 2020

NPR (4/20) reports that “under the national emergency declared by the Trump Administration in March, the government has suspended a federal law that required patients to have an in-person visit with a physician before they could be prescribed drugs that help quell withdrawal symptoms, such as Suboxone [buprenorphine/naloxone]. Patients can now get those prescriptions via a phone call or videoconference with a doctor.” NPR says that “addiction experts have been calling for that change for years to help expand access for patients in many parts of the country that have shortages of physicians eligible to prescribe these medication-assisted treatments.”

Related Links:

— “Coronavirus Crisis Spurs Access To Online Treatment For Opioid Addiction, “Phil Galewitz, NPR, April 20, 2020

The Washington Post (4/18, Goldstein) reported that just as millions of people in the US have lost their jobs amid the pandemic, many of them have also lost their health insurance. The Washington Post said “in a nation where most health coverage is hinged to employment, the economy’s vanishing jobs are wiping out insurance in the midst of a pandemic.”

Related Links:

— “The Washington Post, (Requires Login and Subscription), April 18, 2020