Reuters (6/12, Rapaport) reports, “Heart attack survivors with chronic mood disorders may be more likely to die prematurely than their counterparts who don’t suffer these problems,” researchers concluded after evaluating nearly “58,000 patients for emotional distress two months after a heart attack, and again at 12 months after the event,” then following “a majority of patients for at least four years.” The study revealed that “compared to those who didn’t report any emotional distress at all, people who felt depressed or anxious at both assessments were 46% more likely to die of cardiovascular causes during the follow-up period and 54% more likely to die from other causes.” The findings were published online June 3 in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology. The author of an accompanying editorial observed, “We do not know for certain whether treating depression or anxiety improves survival, but there is some evidence that it probably does.”

Related Links:

— “Chronic depression after heart attack tied to increased risk of death, “Lisa Rapaport, Reuters, June 12, 2019

USA Today (6/13, O’Donnell) reports that “young adults were more likely than any other age group to die from drugs, alcohol and suicide over the past decade.” Drug-related fatalities “among people 18 to 34 soared 108% between 2007 and 2017, while alcohol deaths were up 69% and suicides increased 35%, according to an analysis out Thursday of the latest federal data by the non-profit Trust for America’s Health and Well Being Trust.” The analysis, which used Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data, “found the increases for these three ‘deaths of despair’ combined were higher than for Baby Boomers and senior citizens.”

Related Links:

— “‘Deaths of despair’ from drugs, alcohol and suicide hit young adults hardest, “Jayne O’Donnell, USA Today, June 13, 2019

Reuters (6/12, Rapaport) reports that “nearly half of trauma patients, even those without brain injuries, experience social deficits that make it harder for them to interact with friends and stay involved in the community, a recent study suggests.” For the study, “researchers followed 805 adults hospitalized for moderate to severe traumatic injuries. During the year after the injury, 364 of them, or 45%, reported experiencing social dysfunction.” The findings were published in the journal Surgery.

Related Links:

— “Traumatic injuries linked to later social dysfunction, “Lisa Rapaport, Reuters, June 21, 2019

HealthDay (6/11, Mozes) reports researchers found children “who had participated in athletic programs between ages 6 and 10 had less emotional distress, anxiety and shyness by age 12.” The findings of the 1,492-child study were published in Pediatric Research.

Related Links:

— “Can Playing a Sport Foster Better-Adjusted Kids?, ” Alan Mozes, HealthDay, June 11, 2019

Healio (6/12, Demko) reports that “long-term benefits of psychotherapeutic and combined treatments were superior to pharmacological treatments for PTSD across six randomized clinical trials with follow-up data.” The findings of the “network meta-analysis” were published online June 12 in JAMA Psychiatry. According to Healio, “future research needs to address clinically meaningful questions, like what clinicians can do when the first treatment fails, not just the question of whether psychotherapy or pharmacotherapy is better…wrote” the authors of an accompanying editorial.

Related Links:

— “Psychotherapeutic, combined treatments superior to pharmacological treatment in PTSD, “Savannah Demko, Healio, June 12, 2019