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.

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— 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.

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— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

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— “Is Your Child Emotionally Ready for College?, “Anthony Rostain and B. Janet Hibbs, Wall Street Journal, August 22, 2019

MD Magazine (8/22, Walter) reports, “By mapping the brain of” patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder and their “family members, investigators have learned different patterns in the brain that could help lead to better diagnosis practices.” After conducting “a meta-analysis of global and subcortical brain measures of 6008 participants, 1228 of which are first-degree relatives of patients with schizophrenia (FDR-SZ), 852 of which are first-degree relatives of patients with bipolar disorder (FDRs-BD), 2246 control subjects, 1016 patients with schizophrenia and 666 patients with bipolar disorder from 34 schizophrenia and/or bipolar disorder family cohorts using standardized methods,” researchers “found that the first-degree relatives of bipolar patients had significantly larger intracranial volume (d = +.16, q < .05 corrected), while the first-degree relatives of schizophrenia patients had smaller thalamic volumes than the control subjects (d = −0.12, q < .05 corrected).” The findings were published online June 13 in Biological Psychiatry: A Journal of Psychiatric Neuroscience and Therapeutics. Related Links:

— “Relatives of Patients with Psychotic Disorders Have Distinct Brain Abnormalities, “Kenny Walter, MD Magazine, August 22, 2019

Healio (8/22, Demko) reports, “Patients receiving buprenorphine for treatment of opioid use disorder were more likely to use medications for unrelated, chronic conditions like depression,” research indicated. In the large “retrospective cohort study,” investigators “quantified the effect of buprenorphine treatment on adherence to five therapeutic classes – antilipids, antipsychotics, antiepileptics, antidiabetics and antidepressants – among commercially ensured patients with opioid use disorder using Truven Health’s MarketScan data.” The study revealed that “buprenorphine use was associated with a higher likelihood of adherence to all chronic medication classes included in the analysis, especially antidepressants.” The findings were published in the September issue of the journal Medical Care.

Related Links:

— “Buprenorphine for opioid dependence may improve treatment adherence for depression, “Savannah Demko, Healio, August 22, 2019