In a finding that illustrates just how deeply racial disparities permeate the U.S. health care system, a new government report finds that suicide rates dipped slightly among white Americans while they rose for Black and Hispanic Americans. “Although the recent decline in suicide rates for non-Hispanic white persons is encouraging, the continued increase for non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic persons is concerning,” said study author Sally Curtin, a researcher for the U.S. National Center for Health Statistics. “Suicide has declined recently for white persons, in total, and for those involving the three leading methods — firearms and suffocation, including hangings, and poisoning,” she added. “Rates continued to increase for Black and Hispanic persons for those involving firearms and suffocation. These differing trends deserve our attention.” Suicide rates for white people increased from 2000 to 2018, but then dropped from 18 per 100,000 people to 17 per 100,000 in 2020. But among Black and Hispanic people, the suicide rate continued to increase to nearly 8 per 100,000. Still, the decline in suicide rates among white people appears to be short-lived, Curtin noted. Preliminary data for 2021 indicate suicide rates for all three race and ethnicity groups increased from 2020 to 2021, although the increase was less for white people (3%) compared with Black (13%) and Hispanic (8%) people, she said. “It is well documented that COVID increased…  read on >  read on >

Though the COVID-19 pandemic has eased, a mental health crisis persists, a nationwide survey of U.S. psychologists reveals. And growing demand for help with depression, anxiety and substance use issues means many psychologists across the United States are unable to take on new patients, according to the American Psychological Association’s 2022 COVID-19 Practitioner Impact Survey “The national mental health crisis continues,” said Arthur Evans Jr., chief executive officer of the APA. “If you are struggling, know that you are not alone. Psychological science shows that social support is key to developing resilience, so if you are having difficulty accessing care in a timely way, reach out to others to find support and identify ways to cope.” Close to 2,300 licensed psychologists nationwide responded to the APA’s third annual practitioner survey in late September and early October. About 60% said they no longer can take on new patients and 72% said they have longer waitlists than before the pandemic. On average, psychologists said 15 people a week contact them seeking new care. In all, 79% said they have seen more patients with anxiety disorders since the pandemic began. About 66% have seen increased demand for depression treatment; 47% for substance use treatment, and 64% for trauma. About two-thirds of psychologists said patients’ symptoms are more severe this year. Young people, especially 13- to 17-year-olds, represented the…  read on >  read on >

Getting bariatric surgery may significantly help prevent heart attacks, strokes and angina in very obese people, a new study finds. The study participants were also affected by what’s known as nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), which is often linked with obesity. While studying patients who had a body mass index (BMI) higher than 40 and NAFLD, researchers from Rutgers University-New Brunswick and Ohio State University found these patients were 50% more likely to suffer heart attacks, strokes and angina. But the new findings “provide evidence in support of bariatric surgery as an effective therapeutic tool to lower elevated risk of cardiovascular disease for select individuals with obesity and NAFLD,” said study author Dr. Vinod Rustgi, director of the Center for Liver Diseases and Liver Masses at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Jersey. “These finding are tremendously impactful for many reasons.” Rustgi and his colleagues used a medical insurance database for the years 2007 to 2017. They found nearly 87,000 adults ages 18 to 64 who had obesity and NAFLD, about 64% of whom were women. About 35% of these patients had bariatric surgery, while 65% received nonsurgical care. The patients who had bariatric surgery had a 49% decrease in the risk of developing heart attacks, heart failure or ischemic strokes (those caused by a blockage). They were also far less likely to…  read on >  read on >

Uterine fibroids can cause uncontrolled bleeding and infertility in women, and now a new study finds an unexpected culprit: Toxic chemicals called phthalates that are present in everything from fast-food packaging to plastic water bottles. “We detected the phthalate DEHP and its breakdown products in much higher quantities in the urine of women who also happen to have symptomatic uterine fibroid tumors. Then we asked the question whether this association was causal. And the answer was yes,” said corresponding study author Dr. Serdar Bulun. He is chair of the department of obstetrics and gynecology at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, in Chicago. Up to 80% of women will develop one or more fibroids in their lives, some experiencing bleeding, anemia, miscarriages and infertility. Most are non-cancerous. In the study, the researchers tested primary cells isolated from women’s fibroids. The investigators found that something known as MEHHP, a breakdown product of DEHP, activated a particular cellular pathway that triggered tumor growth. While previous studies have shown a consistent link between phthalate exposure and fibroid growth, this finding explains how that happens. DEHP is still widely used in the United States, even with concerns raised about its impact. It is gradually released into the dust and air, and lands on various surfaces. Fibroids can be found incidentally during a C-section or imaging, as well as discovered…  read on >  read on >

While marijuana legalization in some U.S. states and Canada may send a message that weed is harmless, that’s not necessarily so, according to a new study that found lung damage was more common in marijuana smokers than tobacco users. Research into marijuana’s impact on the lungs is just getting started, because weed wasn’t legal in many places until recently, but early indications are that it could do some serious damage. “The main message is that it may not be as safe as people think it is, and we need more information,” said study co-author Dr. Giselle Revah, a cardiothoracic radiologist and assistant professor at the University of Ottawa in Canada. “This is sort of just the opening. I want people to be aware that it may cause problems.” Revah said it’s possible to see that someone is a heavy or longtime cigarette smoker just by looking at their CT scan. She wondered if marijuana, the second most commonly smoked substance after tobacco, would show similar results. She was surprised to find little information existed. For this study, the researchers compared chest CT results from 56 marijuana smokers, including some who also used tobacco, with 33 who smoked only tobacco and 57 nonsmokers. Roughly 75% of the weed smokers had emphysema compared to 67% of the tobacco-only smokers and 5% of nonsmokers. The chief type of…  read on >  read on >

A new study that looks at suicide risk among U.S. teens who are lesbian, gay and bisexual finds they have disproportionately high rates of suicidal thoughts, planning and attempts compared to their heterosexual peers. “The major message of this paper is that among a group of survivors of these types of violence, those who identify as a sexual minority are more likely to develop suicidal thoughts and behaviors,” said Émilie Ellis, lead author of the study and a postdoctoral researcher in the College of Public Health at the University of Georgia. “We know that LGBTQ+ people are much more likely to experience suicidal thoughts and behaviors, but they’re also a lot more likely to have experienced trauma more frequently and to develop post-traumatic stress following those trauma exposures,” Ellis said in a university news release. Based on their answers to a questionnaire, LGBTQ high school students were more than twice as likely to attempt suicide, the researchers found, or to plan a suicide attempt and endure suicidal thoughts compared to their heterosexual classmates. This group was also more likely to experience trauma, including sexual or dating violence, as well as discrimination at home due to their sexual orientation. They were also more likely to experience bullying and victimization at school, according to the report. The suicidality issue may be even bigger than realized because of…  read on >  read on >

Illinois has seen a recent surge in the number of kids arriving in the emergency room for suicidal thoughts — both during and shortly before the pandemic, according to a new study. Among kids ages 5 to 19, ER visits for suicidal thoughts rose by 59% across the state between 2016 and 2021, researchers found. That included a sharp spike in the fall of 2019, followed by another in the fall of 2020. Experts said that while the findings come from one state, they reflect what’s been going on nationally. They also highlight a sobering fact: U.S. children and teenagers have been showing a deterioration in their mental health for years. “It’s absolutely not the case that this started with the pandemic,” said senior researcher Joseph Feinglass, of Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago. Over the past two decades, suicide deaths have risen by more than 50% among U.S. teens and adults younger than 25. And a 2019 government study found that about one-third of high school students said they felt persistently sad or hopeless — a 40% increase from a decade before. The new study, published Nov. 14 in the journal Pediatrics, focused on emergency room visits for suicidal thoughts — which are indicative of kids in real crisis, Feinglass said. Researchers found that from 2016 to June 2021, Illinois hospitals recorded…  read on >  read on >