Healio (3/15, Oldt) reports, “Individuals recently discharged from inpatient psychiatric treatment had significantly increased risk for premature death, particularly in the first year after discharge,” researchers found after analyzing “data from Danish national registers for 48,599 individuals discharged from inpatient treatment at ages 15 to 44 years.” All “study participants were followed from age 15 years until death, emigration or through December 2011.” The findings were published online March 15 in JAMA Psychiatry.

Psychiatric News (3/15) quotes the study authors, who wrote, “Clinicians should keep these patients safe by serving as a liaison between primary and secondary health care services to ensure patients are receiving holistic care that meets their physical and mental health needs as well as addresses their psychosocial problems.”

Related Links:

— “Risk of Premature Death May Be Highest in Year Following Psychiatric Hospital Discharge,Psychiatric News, March 15, 2017.

HealthDay (3/16, Steele) reports that even though the “US suicide rate has been rising gradually since 2000, suicides in less urban areas are outpacing those in more urban areas,” researchers found in a report published March 17 in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Related Links:

— “U.S. Suicide Rates Rising Faster Outside Cities,”Margaret Farley Steele, HealthDay , March 16, 2017.

MedPage Today (3/16, Walker) reports that research indicated the likelihood “that an opioid-naive patient would become a chronic opioid user increased sharply after as little as 5 days of use.” Additionally, researchers found that “a second opioid prescription or refill and a cumulative dose of 700 morphine-milligram equivalents also led to the sharpest increases in probability of continued opioid use among commercially insured, opioid-naive, cancer-free adults.” The findings were published in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Related Links:

— “Longer Initial Opioid Prescription Ups Risk of Chronic Use,”Molly Walker, MedPage, March 16, 2017.

STAT (3/15, Sheridan) reports, “Richer countries have higher rates of anxiety in their population than poorer countries and” such “anxiety also interfered more with daily activities and responsibilities,” researchers from the World Health Organization’s World Mental Health Survey Consortium found. In particular, “there was a higher proportion of people in higher-income countries with generalized anxiety disorder [GAD]…and with severe GAD.” The findings were published online March 15 in JAMA Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Rich countries are more anxious than poorer countries,”Kate Sheridan, STAT, March 15, 2017.

Healio (3/15, Oldt) reports, “Individuals with intermittent explosive disorder had increased risk for substance use disorders,” researchers found after analyzing “data from the community-based National Comorbidity Survey Replication (n = 9,282).” The study’s conclusion “suggests aggressive behavior may be an indicator of substance use disorder risk.” The findings were published online in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Aggression may predict substance use disorder, Healio, March 15, 2017.