One-third of public health workers have endured threats, anger and aggression from the public during the pandemic, and that has come at a steep cost to their mental health, a new study finds. “The negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on workers have been documented and the research on psychological impacts is building,” said lead study author Hope Tiesman. She is a research epidemiologist with the division of safety research at the U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), in Morgantown, W.Va. “Public health workers do the important work of disseminating information and services to the public; making sure their health and well-being are addressed in the face of workplace violence is important for their mental health and for the health of the nation in future public health crises,” Tiesman added. For the study, more than 26,000 state, tribal, local and territorial public health workers responded to an online survey developed by a team of researchers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, including Tiesman. The survey’s aim was also to understand the prevalence of nonphysical workplace violence on public health workers between March 2020 and April 2021. It included questions on demographics, level of workplace violence, other workplace factors, and mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and suicidal ideation. The survey found that nearly one…  read on >  read on >

Nearly 20% of American adults use a drug to help them sleep, either occasionally or regularly, health officials reported Wednesday. Sleep medications, sold both over-the-counter and by prescription, are a common treatment for sleep problems, said senior report author Lindsey Black, a health statistician at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). “Our report details patterns of use of medication to inform patterns of use among subgroups of the U.S. population,” Black said. “We do hope by dissemination of this report it can lay the groundwork for more work in this area and our understanding of sleep health among adults.” Using data from the 2020 National Health Interview Survey, Black and colleagues found that among adults ages 18 and older, 8.4% used medication to help them fall or stay asleep on most nights or every night. Another 10% said they used medication on some nights. Women were more likely than men to take medication for sleep and the percentage doing it generally increased with increasing age. Specifically, 10% of women used sleep medication, compared with 6.6% of men. White adults were more likely to use sleep medications, and Asian adults were least likely to do so. Also, the percentage of men who used medication for sleep dropped as family income increased, Black’s team found. The findings were published…  read on >  read on >

Any ‘middle-age spread’ of excess weight around your tummy could raise your risk of becoming frail decades later, a new study suggests. Obese folks who’ve packed on pounds around their waist are more likely to develop symptoms of frailty, including exhaustion, weak grip strength, slow walking speed and reduced physical activity levels, researchers say. Those symptoms can make a person more likely to hurt themselves in a fall, suffer disability, require hospitalization, have a lower quality of life and die prematurely. Frailty affects as many as 17% of older adults, according to the American Academy of Family Physicians. The new study, published Jan. 23 in BMJ Open, tracked more than 4,500 people in Norway for an average 21 years, starting at an average age of 51. Measurements of body mass index (an estimate of body fat based on height and weight) and waist circumference were taken at the start. Waistlines were categorized as “normal” if they were 37 inches or less for men and 31 inches or less for women; “moderately high” as 37-40 inches for men and 32-35 inches for women, and “high” if above 40 inches for men and 35 inches for women. People who were obese at the outset were nearly 2.5 times more likely to be frail or on the edge of frailty by the study’s end, said lead researcher Shreeshti…  read on >  read on >

Actor Michael J. Fox details his experiences with Parkinson’s disease, including turning to alcohol and pills in an attempt to cope, in a new documentary. Fox, 61, has had the degenerative brain disorder since 1991, but didn’t disclose it publicly until 1998. The star — best known for the “Back to the Future” movies — said he was an alcoholic in the early days and also took dopamine pills like candy while trying to hide symptoms of his condition, such as tremors. “Therapeutic value, comfort — none of these were the reason I took these pills. There was only one reason: to hide,” Fox says in the documentary “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie.” “I became a virtuoso of manipulating drug intake so that I’d peak at exactly the right time and place,” admits the actor, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s at 29. Fox says he got sober 30 years ago with the help of his wife, actress Tracy Pollan, and his children, USA Today reported. “I didn’t know what was happening. I didn’t know what was coming. So what if I could just have four glasses of wine and maybe a shot?” Fox says. “I was definitely an alcoholic.” “As low as alcohol had brought me, abstinence would bring me lower. I could no longer escape myself,” Fox recalls, according to the news report.…  read on >  read on >

Most people think of eating disorders such as anorexia or bulimia as afflictions of teenagers, but a new study finds that older women are also vulnerable to developing them, especially around menopause. The main driver of eating disorders in older women? Body dissatisfaction, the researchers found. When researchers looked at eating disorder symptoms among 36 women aged 45 to 61, they found that body dissatisfaction was a key risk factor for eating disorders across the lifespan, especially in midlife. Perimenopausal and early post-menopausal women were more likely to report a fear of gaining weight or losing control of their eating. Perimenopause is the transition before menopause that may be marked by irregular or skipped periods, among other symptoms. “Eating disorders have been stereotyped as a disease of adolescence and young adulthood, but are still present in older women,” said Dr. Stephanie Faubion, medical director of the North American Menopause Society and director of the Mayo Clinic Center for Women’s Health in Rochester, Minn. About 3.5% of women older than 40 have an eating disorder, and this may manifest differently than it does in younger people, she said. “Women in perimenopause may have more dysregulated eating behaviors such as weight control behaviors/counting calories or consumption of diet foods, and may note more body dissatisfaction and fear of gaining weight,” said Faubion. Exactly why midlife is a…  read on >  read on >

Intravenous (IV) lines are generally associated with medical centers — picture a patient in a hospital bed, an IV drip-dropping needed fluids, nutrients and medicines into their arm. But millions now are receiving IV treatments at home, and a new study warns that not enough people are being properly trained to watch out for potentially dangerous IV-associated infections. There are no standard protocols for training home care nurses, caregivers or the patients themselves how to watch out for and report signs of infections caused by IV lines, said co-author Dr. Sara Keller, an assistant professor of infectious disease at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Md. “There are more patients receiving home infusion therapy now than there were 10 or 20 years ago, and being able to monitor complications in a validated and standardized fashion is going to be important,” Keller said. More than 3 million patients received IV treatment at home in 2019, a 300% increase from 2008, according to the National Home Infusion Association. “People no longer are in the hospital for six weeks of IV therapy,” said Dr. Aaron Glatt, chief of infectious disease at Mount Sinai South Nassau, in Oceanside, N.Y. “They’re sent home with central lines in place, and they’ll get their therapy on a daily basis as an outpatient, usually giving it to themselves or sometimes with…  read on >  read on >

When the deadly Camp Fire swept through Northern California in 2018, it may have damaged more than the landscape. University of California, San Diego researchers studying survivors’ mental functioning in the wake of the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in the state’s history have uncovered evidence of “climate trauma.” The November 2018 fire burned 239 square miles, destroyed 18,804 structures and killed 85 people. “In this study, we wanted to learn whether and how climate trauma affected and altered cognitive and brain functions in a group of people who had experienced it during the Camp Fire,” said Jyoti Mishra, an associate professor of psychiatry and associate director of the UC Climate and Mental Health Initiative. “We found that those who were impacted, directly or indirectly, displayed weaker interference processing,” she said in a university news release. “Such weakened cognitive performance may then impair daily functioning and reduce well-being.” To function well, brains need to process information and manage memories that help a person achieve goals, while dispensing of harmful distractions, Mishra said. Extreme climate events are well-documented to have significant psychological impacts. “Warming temperatures, for example, have even been linked to greater suicide rates,” Mishra said. “As planetary warming amplifies, more forest fires are expected in California and globally, with significant implications for mental health effects.” The study included 27 people who were directly exposed…  read on >  read on >