U.S. suicide rates are ticking back upward again after a dip during the pandemic, new statistics show. Suicide deaths per 100,000 people had fallen from 14.2 recorded in the pre-pandemic year of 2018 to 13.5 in 2020. However, by 2022, the latest year for which statistics are available, the rate had climbed once more to 14.2 deaths per every 100,000 Americans, report researchers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This continues a tragic, longstanding trend, they noted. “From 2002 to 2018, the total rate [of suicide deaths] increased 30%, from 10.9 deaths per 100,000 standard population to 14.2,” wrote report co-authors Matthew Garnett and Sally Curtin, of the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). Looking at final 2022 data from the National Vital Statistics System, the researchers found some variations in suicide death by age, gender and method used. Among males, rates decreased somewhat among boys and young men ages 10 through 24 between 2020 and 2022, but it rose among men over the age of 24. However, rates for suicide death among males overall did rise, and “the suicide rate for males was three to four times the rate for females across the period,” Garnett and Curtin reported. In 2022, the suicide death rate among males was 23 fatalities per 100,000 people, compared to 5.9 among females. Nevertheless, the number…  read on >  read on >

As people living near airports probably already know, all that overhead traffic can take a huge hit to their sleep, a new study confirms. Night-time aircraft noise increases a person’s risk of tossing and turning in bed as engines roar overhead, researchers reported Sept. 25 in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives. Airplane noise also appears to disrupt people’s sleep/wake cycles, leading them to fall asleep and wake up at irregular hours, researchers found. “Higher night-time aircraft noise was linked with disturbed sleep quality, even if people didn’t realize it,” said lead investigator Xiangpu Gong, a postdoctoral researcher with the University of Leicester in the U.K. “Sleep disturbance could have long-term effects on health, so it’s important for policies to address and reduce noise pollution from airplanes.” For the study, researchers tracked more than 80,000 people living near four major British airports — London Heathrow, London Gatwick, Manchester and Birmingham. Study participants wore wrist devices that tracked their sleep patterns, and answered questionnaires about their sleep quality. Researchers compared this sleep data to maps created by the U.K. Civil Aviation Authority that show the level of aircraft noise that occurs in neighborhoods near airports. People exposed to higher levels of aircraft noise tended to move more while they slept, a sign of sleep disruption, researchers said. Higher levels of airplane noise was also associated with irregular…  read on >  read on >

“Body roundness” could be a better measure than BMI at predicting how excess weight might affect a person’s heart health, a new study finds. People who developed a high Body Roundness Index during a six-year period had a 163% increased risk of heart disease, researchers found, and even a moderate BRI was linked with a 61% increased risk. “Our findings indicate that six years of moderate-to-high stable BRI appeared to increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, suggesting that BRI measurements may potentially be used as a predictive factor for cardiovascular disease incidence,” said senior investigator Dr. Yun Qian, a researcher of chronic non-communicable disease control at Nanjing Medical University’s Wuxi Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Body Roundness Index (BRI) compares a person’s waist circumference to their height, providing an estimate of their excess abdominal fat. By comparison, body-mass index only compares a person’s weight to their height. Some have criticized the BMI as an inaccurate measure of obesity — for example, very fit athletes can have a high BMI due to their heavy muscle mass. For the study, researchers tracked the BRI of nearly 10,000 adults in China 45 and older during the 2010s. BRI reflects not just a person’s belly fat, but also their amount of visceral fat — the fat packed in around the organs that’s thought to do the most damage related…  read on >  read on >

In a move that could mean more Americans in crisis get help and get it quickly, federal officials announced Tuesday that major cellphone carriers now have the technology to direct 988 callers to local mental health services based on their location instead of their area code. “The goal of 988 is to help people in a mental health or substance use crisis get 24/7 access to compassionate, nonjudgmental help,” Miriam Delphin-Rittmon, leader of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), said in a statement, CNN reported. “Connecting callers to local centers that can share information about their community’s services and resources helps to elevate that quality of care.” Verizon and T-Mobile started rolling out the “georouting” technology last week, CNN reported. Once fully implemented, the change will cover about half of all wireless calls to the 988 lifeline. AT&T also plans to begin the process within the next couple months. Next month, the Federal Communications Commission will vote on a rule that would require all wireless carriers to use georouting for 988 calls. If the final rule is adopted, nationwide providers will have 30 days to begin implementing the technology, while smaller providers will have two years to do so, CNN reported. “In times of crisis, every minute matters — especially when seeking help for yourself or a loved one in need of…  read on >  read on >

Only 1 in every 4 U.S. adults struggling with schizophrenia receive “minimally adequate treatment,” new data shows. Many of these patients also struggle with other mental health issues, such as substance abuse or depression, and they are further challenged by social and economic hardship, according to the new report. The data comes from the U.S. Mental and Substance Use Disorders Prevalence Study, which surveyed almost 4,800 adults aged 18 to 65 between 2020 and 2022. The study is sponsored by the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Agency (SAMHSA). A total of 114 of those surveyed had a diagnosis of schizophrenia, according to researchers led by Natalie Bareis. She’s an assistant professor of clinical behavioral medicine at Columbia University in New York City. Bareis’ team found that, besides being diagnosed with schizophrenia, more than half (52%) of these patients also had depression, while 17% had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Suicidal thoughts ad attempts were much more common among these patients, as well. Nearly a quarter (23%) also had alcohol use disorder and 20% also used cannabis. Health care coverage was available to nearly all of the 114 patients with schizophrenia, and 70% had received some form of mental health treatment over the prior year. However, adequate levels of treatment were rare. For example, just 30% of patients were taking an antipsychotic…  read on >  read on >

Over 40 percent of U.S. adults are now obese, with rates roughly the same for men and women, new government data shows. Obesity rates fluctuated with age and fell as levels of education increased, said the report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The only good news: The rate of adult obesity did not change between 2013 and 2023, said a team led by Samuel Emmerich, an epidemiologist at the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics. Obesity was defined as a BMI of 30 or above. For example, a person 5-foot 10-inches tall with a weight of 210 pounds has BMI of 30. So does a 5-foot-6 person weighing 185 lbs. Rates of severe obesity have risen among U.S. adults, however. In 2013, 7.7% of adults were severely obese, but that number jumped to 9.7% 10 years later. According to the CDC, severe obesity begins at a BMI of 40, equivalent to a 5-foot-10-inch person weighing 280 lbs. The peak time for obesity was middle age: 46.4% of adults ages 40 to 59 were obese, compared to 35.5% of those aged 20 to 39 and 38.9% of those over the age of 60, the report found. Similar trends were seen among people with severe obesity. While 44.6% of adults with only a high school degree were obese, that number fell to 31.6%…  read on >  read on >

Psilocybin could help people suffering from a mental health problem that can lead to eating disorders, a new study suggests. Psilocybin, the active chemical in “magic” mushrooms, significantly reduced symptoms in people with body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), researchers reported Sept. 24 in the journal Psychedelics. BDD causes an obsessive preoccupation with perceived flaws in one’s physical appearance, and is frequently tied to eating disorders and other unhealthy behaviors, researchers said. For this pilot trial, eight people with hard-to-treat BDD received a single 25-milligram dose of psilocybin. Brain scans showed that the psilocybin treatment increased levels in connectivity between different brain regions related to emotional processing, cognitive activity and feelings and thoughts about oneself. People who had the greatest strengthening in these connections experienced the most improvement in their BDD symptoms within a week, results show. The findings “align with a growing body of evidence indicating that psychedelic compounds like psilocybin can promote mental health by enhancing the brain’s capacity for flexibility and integration,” concluded the research team led by Chen Zhang, a research assistant with the New York State Psychiatric Institute. “By facilitating communication within and between brain networks that are often dysregulated in psychiatric disorders, psilocybin may help restore more adaptive cognitive and emotional functioning,” the research team said in a journal news release. However, more studies in larger groups of people with BDD…  read on >  read on >