“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” This old saying is just plain wrong, a new study argues. Verbal abuse inflicted in childhood can harm a person’s future mental health as much as physical abuse, researchers reported Aug. 5 in the journal BMJ Open. Verbal abuse increased by 64% a child’s likelihood of low mental well-being as an adult, while physical abused increased odds by 52%, researchers found. Those who suffered both verbal and physical abuse had twice the risk of low mental well-being as adults, results show. “The immediate consequences of physical abuse of children are often shocking with immediate and life course impacts on the victims’ health,” wrote the research team led by Mark Bellis, a professor of public health and behavior sciences at Liverpool John Moores University in the U.K. “Verbal abuse may not immediately manifest in ways that catch the attention of bystanders, clinicians or others in supporting services with a responsibility for safeguarding children,” the researchers continued. “However, as suggested here, some impacts may be no less harmful or protracted.” Worldwide, about 1 in 6 children endures physical abuse from family or caregivers, which has been linked to depression, anxiety, alcohol and drug abuse, violence and serious health problems in adulthood, researchers said in background notes. But verbal abuse also is a source of…  read on >  read on >

“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” This old saying is just plain wrong, a new study argues. Verbal abuse inflicted in childhood can harm a person’s future mental health as much as physical abuse, researchers reported Aug. 5 in the journal BMJ Open. Verbal abuse increased by 64% a child’s likelihood of low mental well-being as an adult, while physical abused increased odds by 52%, researchers found. Those who suffered both verbal and physical abuse had twice the risk of low mental well-being as adults, results show. “The immediate consequences of physical abuse of children are often shocking with immediate and life course impacts on the victims’ health,” wrote the research team led by Mark Bellis, a professor of public health and behavior sciences at Liverpool John Moores University in the U.K. “Verbal abuse may not immediately manifest in ways that catch the attention of bystanders, clinicians or others in supporting services with a responsibility for safeguarding children,” the researchers continued. “However, as suggested here, some impacts may be no less harmful or protracted.” Worldwide, about 1 in 6 children endures physical abuse from family or caregivers, which has been linked to depression, anxiety, alcohol and drug abuse, violence and serious health problems in adulthood, researchers said in background notes. But verbal abuse also is a source of…  read on >  read on >

There may be a connection between a community’s homicide and suicide rates: When murder rates rise, there’s typically a local uptick in suicides a year later, new U.S. research shows. These trends were especially strong for gun-related incidents, according to a team from Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J.  The findings suggest that “local violence doesn’t only harm the victims – it destabilizes entire communities in ways that increase the risk of suicide,” said study leader Daniel Semenza. He directs research at the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center. Put another way, “violence prevention is suicide prevention,” Semenza said in a Rutgers news release. The researchers tracked 50 years’ worth of data — from 1968 through 2019 — for homicides and suicides in counties across 48 U.S. states. The main finding: A one-point rise in homicides in a county during one year was linked to an average 3.6% rise in suicides the following year. That trend got stronger for homicides and suicides committed with a gun: A one-point rise in gun-related killings was linked to a 5.7% rise in gun-related suicides the following year.  The murder-suicide link was more pronounced in rural versus urban communities, and among white people versus Black Americans, although Black Americans were not unaffected, the researchers said.  The bottom line? “Interpersonal and self-directed violence are interconnected and should be treated as…  read on >  read on >

There may be a connection between a community’s homicide and suicide rates: When murder rates rise, there’s typically a local uptick in suicides a year later, new U.S. research shows. These trends were especially strong for gun-related incidents, according to a team from Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J.  The findings suggest that “local violence doesn’t only harm the victims – it destabilizes entire communities in ways that increase the risk of suicide,” said study leader Daniel Semenza. He directs research at the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center. Put another way, “violence prevention is suicide prevention,” Semenza said in a Rutgers news release. The researchers tracked 50 years’ worth of data — from 1968 through 2019 — for homicides and suicides in counties across 48 U.S. states. The main finding: A one-point rise in homicides in a county during one year was linked to an average 3.6% rise in suicides the following year. That trend got stronger for homicides and suicides committed with a gun: A one-point rise in gun-related killings was linked to a 5.7% rise in gun-related suicides the following year.  The murder-suicide link was more pronounced in rural versus urban communities, and among white people versus Black Americans, although Black Americans were not unaffected, the researchers said.  The bottom line? “Interpersonal and self-directed violence are interconnected and should be treated as…  read on >  read on >

State bans on enticing flavors of e-cigarettes bring real benefits in terms of lowering vaping among adults of any age, new research finds. But it points to a downside, too: A slowdown in statewide declines of cigarette smoking after flavored vapes were banned.  “Both e-cigarettes and combustible cigarettes are essentially a source of nicotine for people who may have nicotine dependencies,” said study senior author Douglas Levy, who directs policy research at the Tobacco Research & Treatment Center at Massachusetts General Hospital.  “We’re trying to solve the problem of youth vaping, but we need to carefully consider impacts on more harmful combustible cigarette use,” he said.  The study was published July 30 in JAMA Network Open. Over the past decade flavored forms of e-cigarettes, with enticing fruit or candy flavors, have been a focus of attack by health-minded state legislatures. That’s because it’s thought these products are especially alluring to kids and teens.  To reduce youth vaping, a number of states — including Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Maryland and Utah — put bans on the sale of flavored vapes, with many policies going into place in 2020. What impact have those bans had on the use of nicotine products such as cigarettes and e-cigarettes? To find out, Levy and colleagues looked at national surveys conducted between 2019 to 2023.  Among their findings:…  read on >  read on >

State bans on enticing flavors of e-cigarettes bring real benefits in terms of lowering vaping among adults of any age, new research finds. But it points to a downside, too: A slowdown in statewide declines of cigarette smoking after flavored vapes were banned.  “Both e-cigarettes and combustible cigarettes are essentially a source of nicotine for people who may have nicotine dependencies,” said study senior author Douglas Levy, who directs policy research at the Tobacco Research & Treatment Center at Massachusetts General Hospital.  “We’re trying to solve the problem of youth vaping, but we need to carefully consider impacts on more harmful combustible cigarette use,” he said.  The study was published July 30 in JAMA Network Open. Over the past decade flavored forms of e-cigarettes, with enticing fruit or candy flavors, have been a focus of attack by health-minded state legislatures. That’s because it’s thought these products are especially alluring to kids and teens.  To reduce youth vaping, a number of states — including Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Maryland and Utah — put bans on the sale of flavored vapes, with many policies going into place in 2020. What impact have those bans had on the use of nicotine products such as cigarettes and e-cigarettes? To find out, Levy and colleagues looked at national surveys conducted between 2019 to 2023.  Among their findings:…  read on >  read on >

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is looking to remove the legal underpinning for most regulations against climate change. If approved, the EPA’s proposal would rescind the 2009 decision that set forth a legal basis to regulate greenhouse gases as pollutants. Known as the “endangerment finding,” it allowed the EPA to limit emissions from vehicles, power plants, and oil and gas companies under the Clean Air Act. The new proposal argues that Congress didn’t give the EPA permission in the Clean Air Act to regulate these emissions and that the agency essentially overstepped its power. “If finalized, today’s announcement would amount to the largest deregulatory action in the history of the United States,” EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said, as reported by The Washington Post. The EPA issued the endangerment finding in 2009 after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane are air pollutants. The finding said these gases endanger public health and welfare, allowing the EPA to set rules to limit them. These rules have led to stricter standards for car emissions and limits on pollution from power plants. Former EPA adviser Zealan Hoover told The Post that the new proposal was “not just an attack on science but on common sense.” “The National Climate Assessment provides over 2,000 pages of detailed evidence that climate change harms our health…  read on >  read on >