HealthDay (4/30, Thompson ) reports a study found that suicide risk is tripled later in life “among men and women who experienced sexual trauma while serving” in the military. Researchers analyzed “Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical records for more than 5 million veterans, looking for links between sexual trauma and suicide.” They found that “nearly 16% of female veterans and just over 1% of male veterans had experienced sexual trauma while serving. Nearly 9% of women who’d experienced military sexual trauma later attempted suicide, compared with about 3% of women who hadn’t been assaulted, results show.” Nearly 19% of male sexual trauma victims attempted suicide compared to about 6% of men who had not been abused, researchers noted. The study was published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

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— “Sexual Assault Triples Suicide Risk Among Veterans,” Dennis Thompson, HealthDay, April 30, 2025

The New York Times (4/30, Caron ) reports that survey data, collected by Gallup primarily in 2023, show that “young adults between the ages of 18 and 29 were struggling – not only with happiness, but also with their physical and mental health, their perceptions of their own character, finding meaning in life, the quality of their relationships and their financial security.” Study participants across the globe “had relatively low measures of flourishing on average until age 50,” but the “the difference between the younger and older adults was largest in the United States, the researchers said.” The study was “one of a collection of papers published on Wednesday in the journal Nature Mental Health.”

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— The New York Times (requires login and subscription)

MedPage Today (4/28, George ) reports, “Alzheimer’s disease pathology was common in people diagnosed with other dementias, a large cross-sectional study in Sweden showed.” Investigators found that “while most patients clinically diagnosed with Alzheimer’s had evidence of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) amyloid and tau pathology, those biomarkers also emerged in people with other dementias.”

Among “nearly 14,000 adults, a clear, Alzheimer’s-like profile based on three CSF biomarkers – amyloid-beta 1-42, total tau (t-tau), and phosphorylated tau 181 (p-tau181) measurements – was seen in 68% of people with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease, 65% of late-onset Alzheimer’s, and 52% of people with mixed Alzheimer’s and vascular dementia.” Meanwhile, “among people without an Alzheimer’s diagnosis, the Alzheimer’s profile emerged in 25% of people with unspecified dementia, 9% of people with Parkinson’s disease dementia, and 8% of people with frontotemporal dementia.”

The findings were published in JAMA Neurology.

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— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

Psychiatric News (4/28) reports, “Antidepressants effectively treat depression in patients who have a history of heart attacks without adversely impacting their long-term prognosis, according to a study issued in BMC Psychiatry.” Additionally, antidepressents “were linked to a decreased risk of heart attack recurrence.” Further, while baseline depression scores did not differ between control and treatment groups, “antidepressant treatment significantly reduced depression scores at long-term follow-up.”

Antidepressants “did not increase the risk of adverse cardiac events, all-cause mortality, or rehospitalization for heart disease.” Researcher Hongquan Wan and colleague wrote, “Meta-analyses indicate that post–[heart attack] depression is associated with a 1.6- to 2.7-fold increased risk of mortality and cardiovascular events during long-term follow-up, highlighting the critical need for effective interventions.”

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— “Antidepressants Effective, Safe for Patients After Heart Attacks,” Psychiatric News, April 28, 2025

Healio (4/25) reported that approximately 33% of adults with past-year medical debt “had forgone mental health care.” According to a research letter published in JAMA Health Forum, adults with previous medical debt “were more likely to forgo mental health care due to cost.” Kyle J. Moon, BS, PhD student trainee in the Center for Mental Health and Addiction Policy at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, told Healio that “given the high prevalence of medical debt (roughly one in seven people), this should raise concern about how medical debt may contribute to, or even exacerbate, the mental health treatment gap.” Further, “with less than half of adults receiving care for any mental disorder, prior research suggests that medical debt may exacerbate this gap by eroding patient trust in the system or raising the threshold for care, Moon and colleagues wrote.”

Related Links:

— “US adults with medical debt more likely to forgo mental health care,” Moira Mahoney, Healio, April 25, 2025