Healio (8/26, Demko) reports, “Depression-related cognitive deficits in selective attention, working memory and long-term memory persisted into remission from a major depressive episode and worsened with repeated episodes,” research indicated. Included in the meta-analysis were “75 cognitive variables from 252 studies encompassing 11,882 major depressive episode remitters and 8,533 healthy controls.” The findings were published online Aug. 15 in The Lancet Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Cognitive deficits persist into remission of major depressive episodes, “Savannah Demko, Healio, August 26, 2019

HealthDay (8/23) reported a new study by researchers at Penn State suggests that “people with restless legs syndrome (RLS) have nearly three times the risk of suicide and self-harm, which indicates that there may be a link between the physical condition and mental health.” Investigators “analyzed data on more than 24,000 people with RLS and about 145,000 people without the neurological condition. None had a history of suicide attempts or self-harm.” Results indicate that “during the study period, people with RLS had a 2.7-fold higher risk of suicide or self-harm than people without the condition.” The findings were published in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “Restless Legs Syndrome Might Raise Risk of Suicide, Self-Harm, “Robert Preidt, HealthDay, August 23, 2019

Pulmonology Advisor (8/23) reported a new study by researchers at University of Massachusetts Amherst indicates that “following medical marijuana legalization (MML) in Massachusetts in 2012, there was an increase in pediatric cannabis exposure.” Study authors wrote, “The increase occurred despite the cannabis product packaging being designed to be difficult for young children to open, being unappealing to the youth, and requiring warning labels instructing that the product be kept away from children.” The findings were published online in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “Pediatric Exposure to Cannabis Has Increased Since Medical Legalization, Pulmonology Advisor, August 23, 2019

Medscape (8/23, Parry, Subscription Publication) reported a new study suggests that “psychiatric illnesses are common in children and adults with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) who are receiving dialysis.” Specifically, while “only approximately 2% of all adults and 1% of children had been hospitalized with a primary psychiatric diagnosis, these amounted to a large number of patients (9058 elderly adults, 8570 middle-aged adults, and 122 children).” Also, researchers saw “that the rate of hospitalizations with psychiatric diagnoses increased over the course of the study period, predominantly attributed to secondary diagnoses.” The findings were published online in the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.

Healio (8/23) also reported.

Related Links:

— Medscape (requires login and subscription)

MedPage Today (8/23, Boyles) reported, “The prevalence of depression, marijuana use, and alcohol abuse among former cigarette smokers in the U.S. have all increased since the mid-2000s, according to data through 2016 from the annual National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH)” analyzed by researchers at City University of New York. Data indicate that “prevalence of past-year major depressive episodes among former smokers rose from 4.88% to 6.04% from 2002 to 2016.” The findings were published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

Related Links:

— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)