Healio (8/22, Oldt) reports that just 42 percent of “older adults who screened positively for suicidal ideation and were discharged received a mental health evaluation during their visit” to the emergency department, researchers found. In fact, “older adults with current suicidal ideation or attempt were less likely to receive referral resources, compared with younger adults with current suicidal ideation or attempt (34% vs. 60%).” The findings were published online July 28 in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. The abstract notes that “a total of 800 charts were reviewed” by investigators.

Related Links:

— “Suicide follow-up severely lacking in older adults,” Arias SA, et al., Healio, August 22, 2017.

Healio (8/22) reports investigators “found that anxiety and depression are strongly linked with glaucoma, an association that does not change with age,” researchers found after examining data on “4,439,518 patients.” The findings were published online in the American Journal of Ophthalmology.

Related Links:

— “Study confirms strong association between anxiety, depression, glaucoma,” Zhang X, et al., Healio, August 22, 2017.

The New York Times (8/21, Yin, Subscription Publication) reports there were “nearly 1.3 million hospitalizations involving opioids…in the United States in 2014,” representing “a 64 percent increase in inpatient stays and a doubling” in opioid-related emergency room visits since 2005, according to data “published this year” by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).

The article extensively quotes senior AHRQ researcher Dr. Anne Elixhauser, who said the data “cover all areas, all age groups, male and female. And it’s only getting worse in the time frame we’re looking at here.” The article adds that online data managed by AHRQ “show that most inpatient stays involving opioids over the last decade were among patients covered by Medicaid, closely followed by Medicare patients.”

Related Links:

— “Hospitals Are Clogged With Patients Struggling With Opioids,” STEPH YIN, New York Times, August 21, 2017.

HealthDay (8/21, Reinberg) reports that research published in JAMA Neurology suggests “for seniors, and particularly” black patients, with hypertension, “lowering it may help keep their minds sharp.”

MedPage Today (8/21, Bacher) reports that during “a 10-year period, the greatest decline in cognitive status was seen in people with” systolic blood pressure (SBP) “levels of 150 mm Hg or higher.” Comparatively, “the least cognitive decline occurred in those with SBP levels of 120 mm Hg or lower.”

Healio (8/21) reports that the investigators “found that when compared with white patients, black patients had a greater difference in cognition between the higher and lower systolic BP levels: adjusted differences between the group with levels of 150 mm Hg or higher and the group with levels of 120 mm Hg or lower were –0.05 in white patients and –0.08 in black patients for Modified Mini-Mental State Examinations…and –0.07 in white patients and –0.13 in black patients for the Digit Symbol Substitution Test.” Data from “1,657 cognitively intact older adults” were used in the study.

Related Links:

— “Lower Blood Pressure Best for Seniors’ Minds,” Steven Reinberg, HealthDay, August 21, 2017.

Healio (8/21, Oldt) reports, “Risks for head injuries and traumatic brain injuries [TBI] were significantly higher among adults newly diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease who recently began using antidepressants,” researchers found after conducting “a matched cohort study of 10,910 new antidepressant users and 21,280 matched nonusers between 2005 and 2011.” The findings were published Aug. 1 in Alzheimer’s Research & Therapy.

Related Links:

— “Antidepressant use in Alzheimer’s disease increases risk for head injury, TBI,” Taipale H, et al., Healio, August 21, 2017.