Suicidal behavior is declining among U.S. teenagers who identify as LGBT, but the problem remains pervasive. That’s the conclusion of two new studies that tracked trends among U.S. teenagers over the past couple of decades. Over the years, more kids have been identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT) — and their likelihood of reporting suicidal thoughts and behavior has gone down. The bad news is they remain at much higher risk of suicide than their heterosexual peers, the researchers said. In one study, LGBT teenagers were over three times more likely than heterosexual teens to report a suicide attempt. The other study charted a similar pattern, with LGBT kids still reporting a high prevalence of suicidal thoughts in 2017 — and roughly a quarter saying they’d attempted suicide in the past year. The studies, published online Feb. 10 in Pediatrics, could not dig into the reasons. But past research has suggested that bullying plays a role, according to Brian Mustanski, director of the Institute for Sexual and Gender Minority Health and Wellbeing at Northwestern University in Chicago. LGBT students are more likely to be targeted by bullies than their heterosexual peers are. But in school districts with strong anti-bullying policies, Mustanski said, LGBT students typically report less suicidal behavior. So efforts to combat bullying could be part of the solution, according to Mustanski.…  read on >

A deadly virus that’s surging through a foreign country makes its way into the United States, carried into this country by an unwitting traveler. In response, Americans panic, convinced the pathogen will soon sweep through the nation — even though only a handful of people in the United States have fallen ill. That may sound like the current state of affairs with the new coronavirus. While it has killed 1,113 and infected over 44,653 in mainland China, only 13 people have fallen ill with it in the United States and there have been no deaths. But this is actually a recurring pattern in the United States, where media coverage of a new global health threat causes distress and fear among Americans even though the risk here is fairly limited, experts say. “While an outbreak is small and simmering it doesn’t get much coverage, but then some event happens that creates an onslaught of coverage, some of which is very sensationalistic, and drops the context of what’s going on and ends up really panicking people,” said Dr. Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, in Baltimore. The most recent example before the coronavirus was the 2014-2016 Ebola outbreak in West Africa, said Roxane Cohen Silver, a professor of psychology at the University of California, Irvine. Coronavirus panic mirrors reaction to…  read on >

Researchers who have pinpointed an antibody linked to life-threatening autoimmune disorders in children say their discovery could lead to faster diagnosis and treatment of these patients. The investigators identified the myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG) antibody in their study of 535 children with central nervous system demyelinating disorders and encephalitis. MOG antibodies damage the protective covering (myelin sheath) that surrounds nerve fibers in the brain, optic nerves and spinal cord, which means that messages can’t be passed along these nerves. Of the 116 children who tested positive for MOG antibodies and received appropriate treatment, 85% had complete or near-complete recovery, according to the study published Feb. 10 in The Lancet Neurology journal. The findings suggest that the MOG antibody is associated with more life-threatening autoimmune conditions than previously thought. These include neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders and encephalitis, which cause severe brain and nervous system symptoms such as vision loss, muscle weakness and loss of coordination and speech, the researchers said. This group of neurological disorders can mimic similar conditions like multiple sclerosis (MS), making them difficult to diagnose correctly. Until about 10 years ago, patients with these diseases were thought to have atypical forms of MS, and the prognosis and best treatment methods were unknown. Over the last 10 years, research has shown that several demyelinating diseases are associated with the MOG-antibody biomarker, and that patients…  read on >

Women who receive general anesthesia during a cesarean section delivery are at higher risk of severe postpartum depression that requires hospitalization, as well as self-inflicted harm and suicidal thoughts, a new study finds. Researchers from Columbia University analyzed more than 428,000 discharge records of women who delivered by C-section in New York state hospitals between 2006 and 2013. Eight percent had general anesthesia. In all, 1,158 women (3%) had to be hospitalized for severe postpartum depression. Of those, 60% were diagnosed at readmission, about 164 days after their initial discharge. Compared with local anesthesia, general anesthesia was associated with a 54% increased odds of postpartum depression, and a 91% higher risk of suicidal thoughts or self-inflicted injury. The study only found an observation rather than a cause-and-effect link. “General anesthesia for cesarean delivery may increase the risk of postpartum depression because it delays the initiation of mother to infant skin-to-skin interaction and breastfeeding, and often results in more acute and persistent postpartum pain,” study first author Dr. Jean Guglielminotti said in a university news release. “These situations are often coupled with a new mother’s dissatisfaction with anesthesia in general, and can lead to negative mental health outcomes,” he added. Guglielminotti is an assistant professor of anesthesiology at Columbia’s Mailman School of Public Health in New York City. General anesthesia can hasten delivery in an emergency,…  read on >

Smartphones, and being on Facebook, Snapchat, TikTok and the like may be taking a big toll on teens’ mental health, a new survey of collected data on the subject shows. Canadian researchers pored over dozens of studies and said the negative effects of social media on teens’ well-being is on the rise. “Physicians, teachers and families need to work together with youth to decrease possible harmful effects of smartphones and social media on their relationships, sense of self, sleep, academic performance, and emotional well-being,” said study lead author Dr. Elia Abi-Jaoude. He’s a staff psychiatrist at The Hospital for Sick Children and Toronto Western Hospital, both in Toronto. As part of their research, Abi-Jaoude and his colleagues uncovered patterns across multiple studies. For example: In one U.S. study, the rate at which kids and teens arrive in hospitals due to suicidal thoughts or attempts “almost doubled between 2008 and 2015, with the highest increase among adolescent girls,” the researchers noted. U.S. overdose rates for young people ages 10 to 18, which has previously been on the decline, “increased substantially from 2011 to 2018, primarily among girls,” another study found. At the same time “the proportion of [U.S.] young people who between the ages of 13 and 17 years who have a smartphone has reached 89%, more than doubling over a 6-year period,” the data review…  read on >

Allowing pharmacists to provide the opioid overdose drug naloxone without a prescription led to a huge increase in dispensing of the lifesaving drug in Ohio. Ohio state lawmakers gave that permission in 2015. Since then, there’s been a 2,328% increase in naloxone dispensing, according to University of Cincinnati researchers. The study also found that counties with low-employment rates had 18% more naloxone dispensed per month than high-employment counties. The findings were published online Jan. 31 in JAMA Network Open. “Our study shows that this change in the Ohio law allowed pharmacists to have more opportunity to participate in the management of patients addicted to opioids,” said lead researcher Pam Heaton, a professor of pharmacy practice. Most states allow pharmacists to dispense naloxone (commonly known as Narcan) without a prescription. As of May 2019, about 75% of Ohio’s community pharmacies were registered to do so. Heaton said the dispensing rate in low-employment counties probably owes to the fact that the local pharmacy is often the only health care contact for people there. “We do not know whether the naloxone was for personal use, a family member or a friend, because the law was written to specifically allow access,” she said in a university news release. Heaton also noted that the study focused on access and didn’t examine the impact of increased naloxone distribution on the rate…  read on >