Medscape (8/14, Yasgur) reports that research suggests “clozapine…reduces mortality and protects against self-harm in patients with treatment-resistant schizophrenia.” Researchers “found a nearly twofold higher mortality rate among patients with treatment-resistant schizophrenia who were not being treated with clozapine, compared with those treated with the” medication. The findings also “suggest a deleterious effect of other antipsychotics on self-harm compared to clozapine.” The research was published online July 28 in the American Journal of Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— Medscape (requires login and subscription)

HealthDay (8/14, Preidt) reports that research suggests “smoking during pregnancy is on the rise among American women with depression.” Investigators looked at data on approximately “8,500 mothers-to-be who took part in an annual government health survey.” The data showed “a 2.5 percent rise in smoking rates among pregnant women with depression between 2002 and 2014.” The findings were published online in the October issue of Drug and Alcohol Dependence.

Related Links:

— “Smoking on the Rise Among Pregnant Women With Depression,” Robert Preidt, HealthDay, August 14, 2017.

Reuters (8/14, Rapaport) reports that while “pain and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are among the most common reasons people use medical marijuana in the U.S., there isn’t much proof cannabis works for either one of these conditions, two research reviews” published in Annals of Internal Medicine suggest. In one review, investigators “examined 27 previously published studies on this topic,” and “found too little information to determine whether the drug helps most types of pain.”

The other “analysis of five previous studies of cannabis for PTSD found too little data to determine whether this would help relieve symptoms.” Also covering the story are CNN (8/14, Scutti), MedPage Today (8/14, Boyles), Healio (8/14), and HealthDay (8/14, Dotinga).

Related Links:

— “Little evidence shows cannabis helps chronic pain or PTSD,” Lisa Rapaport, Reuters, August 14, 2017.

STAT (8/11, Ross) reported “the cost of treating opioid overdose victims in hospital intensive care units” increased by 58 percent “between 2009 and 2015,” according to a study published Friday in the Annals of the American Thoracic Society. The average cost spiked from $58,500 to $92,500 over the seven-year period, which “far outpaced the overall medical inflation rate in the U.S.,” the article says.

HealthDay (8/11, Preidt) reported the study’s authors said the findings demonstrate the US “has reached a ‘new level of crisis’ and that opioid-related demand for acute medical care has exceeded the available supply.”

MedPage Today (8/13, Boyles) and Healthcare Finance News (8/11, Sanborn) also covered the story.

Related Links:

— “The cost of treating opioid overdose victims is skyrocketing,” CASEY ROSS, STAT, August 11, 2017.

In continuing coverage, Medical Daily (8/10, Delzo) reports, “Women and older adults in the United States are drinking a concerning amount of alcohol,” a finding that is “leading researchers” at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism “to label the problem a ‘public health crisis.’” NIAAA investigators arrived at the study’s findings after examining research “carried out in 2001-02 and 2012-13” that “involved about 43,000 and 36,000 participants, respectively.” The findings were published online Aug. 9 in JAMA Psychiatry.

Psychiatric News (8/10) reports that “a related editorial…described the costs associated with alcohol-related problems and noted that the populations that appear to be at greatest risk may also be least likely to have access to care.” The editorialist wrote that the study “makes a compelling case that the United States is facing a crisis with alcohol use, one that is currently costly and about to get worse.”

Related Links:

— “Alcoholism Among Americans Deemed A Public Healt,” Janissa Delzo, Medical Daily, August 10, 2017.