Celebrity suicides seem to be contagious, prompting everyday folks to consider the same, a new study suggests. The 2014 suicide death of comedian Robin Williams caused a thousand-fold increase in the risk of suicidal thoughts, reflected in a spike in calls to what was then the equivalent of the current 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, researchers found. A similar but less intense response occurred in 2018 following the suicide deaths days apart of fashion designer Kate Spade and celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain, results showed. A spike in calls to crisis lines that was roughly half of that following Williams’ death occurred after Spade and Bourdain died, researchers found. “The model we developed shows how suicide contagion, including both suicidal ideation and deaths, spreads quickly following the suicide deaths of celebrities whose lives and work are known and likely meaningful to large portions of the population,” said researcher Jeffrey Shaman, a professor of environmental health sciences at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health in New York City. No single factor causes suicidal thoughts or actions, but researchers have long thought that social processes can cause suicide to be “contagious.” People close to or familiar with people who have considered or attempted suicide can become more suicidal themselves, the theory goes. Suicide rates in the United States increased 37% between 2000 and 2018, declined 5% between…  read on >  read on >

The wildfires thats are increasing with climate change could harm the future brain health of humanity, a new study suggests. Wildfire smoke appears to increase people’s risk of a dementia diagnosis even more than other types of air pollution, researchers reported this week at the Alzheimer’s Association annual meeting in Philadelphia. The risk of dementia with wildfire smoke was notably stronger, even with less exposure, than that associated with other sources of air pollution, researchers found. “With the rising global incidence of wildfires, including in California and the western U.S., exposure to this type of air pollution is an increasing threat to brain health,” said Claire Sexton, senior director of scientific programs and outreach at the Alzheimer’s Association. “These findings underscore the importance of enacting policies to prevent wildfires and investigating better methods to address them.” Researchers found a 21% increase in the odds of dementia diagnosis for every increase of 1 microgram per cubic meter in levels of particle pollution caused by wildfire smoke, researchers found. By comparison, other forms of air pollution caused a 3% increased risk in dementia diagnosis for every 3 microgram per cubic meter increase in airborne particulates. Wildfires, motor vehicles and factories all spew a type of air pollution called fine particulate matter. These solid and liquid particles are 30 times smaller than the width of an average human…  read on >  read on >

People who’ve had a history of smoking can get a lung cancer spotted early — when it’s most treatable — through annual CT screening. Unfortunately, most Americans polled in a new survey didn’t know this potentially lifesaving screen exists. “The survey shows that we have a significant amount of work to do in increasing awareness about lung cancer screening,” said Harold Wimmer. He’s president and CEO of the American Lung Association (ALA), which conducted the 2024 Lung Health Barometer survey. Getting a tumor detected via an annual CT lung scan raises the odds of five-year survival from stage 1 to 4 lung cancer by 63%, according to the ALA. Under current American Cancer Society guidelines, yearly lung cancer screening with a low-dose CT scan is currently recommended for all people aged 50 to 80 who smoke or used to smoke, and who have at least a 20 pack-year history of smoking (meaning a pack of cigarettes smoked per day for 20 years). The new ALA survey canvassed 4,000 people across the United States about their knowledge of lung health and lung cancer. Only 38% of respondents knew that CT scans were now an available screening option for folks at high risk for lung cancer. Still, even that number is an increase from prior years, Wimmer noted. “Compared to our 2022 Lung Health Barometer, we saw a…  read on >  read on >

In findings that suggest more young Americans struggling with mental health issues are getting the help they need, a new poll shows that nearly a third of American adolescents and teens received some sort of mental health treatment in 2023. That translates to over 8 million young people between the ages of 12 and 17 getting counseling, medication or another treatment, the survey from the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) found. “We’re pleased to see that more people received mental health treatment in 2023 than the previous year,” SAMHSA Adminstrator Miriam Delphin-Rittmon said in an agency news release announcing the survey. Among adolescents, the biggest increase from 2022 was in the number of those getting mental health medications: Nearly 14% of those age 12 to 17 received such a prescription in 2023, up from 12.8% the year before. SAMHSA officials said they saw the increase shows that mental health treatment is finally being destigmatized. Rates of adolescents getting mental health treatment has increased virtually every year since 2009, though the agency noted that changes in how the survey was done were introduced in 2021. In 2022, the survey estimated that 7.7 million youths ages 12 to 17 had received mental health treatment of some kind. The increase in 2023 amounts to more than 500,000 more young people getting treatment, SAMHSA noted. Meanwhile, the rate of adolescents…  read on >  read on >