Psychiatric News (12/19) reports, “Over 75% U.S. adults plan to start 2024 with a New Year’s resolution – including 28% who are resolving to work on improving their mental health, according to APA’s latest Healthy Minds monthly poll.” Of the respondents “who want to work on improving their mental health, the most common steps they plan to take toward this goal include exercising more (67%) or meditation (49%). Other actions included seeing a therapist or psychiatrist (35% and 21%, respectively) and journaling (26%).”

Related Links:

— “More Than 1 in 4 U.S. Adults Plans to Make Mental Health a Priority in 2024,” APA Psychiatric News Alert, December 19, 2023

HCP Live (12/15, Smith) reported the FDA “announced that it has approved of newly-required measures related to safety labels for opioid pain medicines, part of a move to support patients’ ability to make better-informed decisions about opioid use.” Announced Friday, “the FDA’s decision is considered to be part of the agency’s Overdose Prevention Framework. The framework outlines the FDA’s commitment to taking actions to prevent overdoses and decrease drug-related fatalities.”

Related Links:

— “FDA Announces Approval of Opioid Pain Medication Safety Labeling Changes,” Tim Smith, HCP Live, December 15, 2023

Healio (12/15, Weldon) reported, “The rate of e-cigarette use increased more than fivefold among adolescents in late pregnancy from 2016 to 2021, according to a study published in JAMA Network Open.” In the study, researchers “found that the weighted prevalence of exclusive e-cigarette use during late pregnancy increased from 0.8% in 2016 to 4.1% in 2021, whereas the prevalence of exclusive cigarette use decreased from 9.2% in 2017 to 3.2% in 2021.”

Related Links:

— “E-cigarette use increases among pregnant adolescents,” Rose Weldon, Healio, December 15, 2023

PatientEngagementHIT (12/15, Heath) reported, “About a million Medicare enrollees have opioid use disorder (OUD), but only 18 percent of them received medication to treat OUD, according to a new Office of Inspector General report that illustrates continued medication assisted treatment (MAT) access problems.” The report “also revealed disparities in OUD treatment access, with Black, Hispanic, Asian/Pacific Islander, low-income, and over-65 beneficiaries facing greater challenges.”

Related Links:

— “Medication Access for OUD Abysmal for Medicare Enrollees,” Sara Heath, Patient Engagement HIT, December 15, 2023

HealthDay (12/14, Mundell) says that unintentional firearm injuries “have occurred in American homes hundreds of times over the past two decades, killing 1,262 children, according to a sobering new report” from the CDC’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. According to researchers, firearms used in these incidents “were often stored loaded (74%) and unlocked (76%) and were most commonly accessed from nightstands and other sleeping areas.” The report was published in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Related Links:

— “Too Often, Unlocked, Loaded Guns Are Fatal Playthings for America’s Children,” Ernie Mundell, HealthDay, December 14, 2023