People with inflammatory arthritis run a substantially increased risk for mood disorders like depression and anxiety. But these mental health concerns aren’t being adequately addressed by doctors, a new study suggests. Arthritis patients are about as likely to receive either medication or therapy for a mood disorder as people without arthritis, despite their increased risk for depression and anxiety, researchers reported recently in the journal Arthritis Research & Therapy. “As mental health often receives less attention, and it’s well-documented that mental health issues are frequently undertreated, these findings are not necessarily surprising,” senior researcher Mary De Vera, an associate professor at the University of British Columbia, told Healio, a website for health care professionals. “However, we were somewhat surprised with findings of no meaningful difference between inflammatory arthritis and inflammatory arthritis-free controls with respect to minimally adequate mental health treatment for depression and anxiety, as we had hypothesized that patients with IA may receive more mental health care, given their frequent contacts with the health care system, which may facilitate access,” De Vera added. For the study, researchers studied nearly 7,000 arthritis patients with depression and 3,700 with anxiety, comparing their mental health care to similar people who didn’t have arthritis. Results showed that about 51% of patients with inflammatory arthritis had been prescribed medication for depression, compared to 48% of people without arthritis. About…  read on >  read on >

Millions of Americans have sought help for gambling addiction in the wake of a 2018 U.S. Supreme Court decision that allowed states to legalize sports betting. That’s among the key findings in a new study published Feb. 17 in JAMA Internal Medicine.  “Sportsbooks have expanded from a single state to 38 states, with hundreds of billions of wagers, mostly online, coinciding with record-breaking demand for help with gambling addiction as millions seek help,” study senior author John Ayers said in a news release. He’s deputy director of informatics at the University of California San Diego Altman Clinical and Translational Research Institute and a scientist at UCSD’s Qualcomm Institute.  His team reported that sports wagers rose from $4.9 billion in 2017 to $121.1 billion in 2023. Almost all of these bets — 94% — are now placed online. “Sports betting has become deeply embedded in our culture,” said study co-author Matthew Allen, a third-year medical student.  “From relentless advertising to social media feeds and in-game commentary, sportsbooks are now everywhere,” he added in a news release. “What was once a taboo activity, confined to the fringes of society, has been completely normalized.” The researchers noted that major industry shifts, including the rebranding of Caesars Entertainment as Caesars Sportsbook and Casino, signal that sports betting (sportsbooks) is being positioned as the future of gambling. For the study, they…  read on >  read on >

Most people who are working after age 50 say staying on the job boosts their health and well-being, and those over 65 report the most benefit, a new University of Michigan poll finds. The poll of 3,486 U.S. adults aged 50-94 found that 67% of those who continue to work report that their jobs have a positive impact on their physical health, and 71% said work positively impacts their mental health. In addition, 78% said work positively affects their overall well-being. Workers aged 65 and older were especially likely to say work very positively benefits their physical health, mental health and well-being (32%, 41%, and 39%, respectively) versus those aged 50-64 (14%, 20%, and 21%, respectively). Among the respondents, 42% of people age 50 and older said they work now, including 63% of those age 50-64 and 18% of those aged 65 and up. However, nearly a third of those who are still working said disability, chronic illness or poor health disrupt their ability to stay on the job. “Taken together, these poll findings suggest that employers have an important role in recognizing the contributions and supporting the needs of older workers,” a team led by Dr. Jeffrey Kullgren of the University of Michigan School of Public Health write.  “For example, employers can help older adults feel engaged and valued in the workplace by fully…  read on >  read on >

Zoo workers and volunteers often grieve when animals die, and zoo managers can do a better job of supporting them, a new study finds. “Zoo professionals and volunteers frequently face significant emotional strain due to animal losses, yet structured organizational support for processing grief remains limited,” lead author Nichole Nageotte, adjunct instructor at Unity Environmental University in Maine, said in a news release.  For the study, researchers from Colorado State University and Denver Zoo Conservation Alliance surveyed 182 zoo workers and volunteers, including 135 animal care professionals, 12 volunteers and 35 other staffers.  Their findings were published Feb. 12 in the journal Human-Animal Interactions. Study participants who worked at zoos that do less to support grieving workers and volunteers reported hurt, shame, guilt and anxiety in connection with the deaths of animals.  These participants reported feeling as though they couldn’t openly grieve despite having created close bonds with the animals. Researchers highlighted several possible ways to support the grief process such as allowing workers and volunteers to “say goodbye” to dying animals and allow them to gather fur, feathers or pawprints and footprints as mementos. They also said an initial option could be the creation of a zoo animal grief or advisory group that meets regularly to discuss industry grief culture, share resources and show compassion around loss. More information The Humane Society of the…  read on >  read on >

Depression hits the whole body, speeding the onset of long-term physical ills as people age, new research contends. “People who’ve experienced depression are more likely to develop long-term physical health conditions such as heart disease and diabetes,” noted a team led by Kelly Fleetwood, a statistician at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.  Their study of more than 172,500 Britons over the age of 39 found that those with a history of depression began to develop long-term physical conditions about 30% earlier than people without such histories. The findings were published Feb. 13 in the journal PLOS Medicine. The new study looked at data from the ongoing UK Biobank. It included adults ages 40 to 71 who completed baseline assessments between 2006 and 2010.  Participants’ health was followed for an average of just under seven years, and Fleetwood’s team tracked the onset of 69 selected physical conditions. Over the study period, people without any history of depression developed an average of 0.16 of these conditions per year, the study found. However, that number jumped to 2.0 per year for people who had a history of depression.  Among the most common illnesses: osteoarthritis (15.7% of those with depression versus 12.5% without); high blood pressure (12.9% versus 12.0%); and gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) (13.8% versus 9.6%). All of this means that depression should be looked upon holistically,…  read on >  read on >

This Valentine’s Day, are you ready for something real or still playing the field? New research suggests your friends probably share similar notions about your readiness for lasting love. Researchers at Michigan State University in East Lansing tracked data on nearly 800 young adults embedded in friend groups.   Participants answered questions about their own readiness for a relationship, how ready they thought their various friends were, and each friend’s “attachment style.” Attachment styles can be secure or insecure, the researchers explained. Someone with an insecure attachment style typically has higher levels of anxiety and/or avoidance. According to the study, friends tended to agree as to whether a particular member of the group was ready for a solid relationship or not.   If a friend wasn’t thought to be ready, they were often perceived to have an insecure attachment style. “Friendships affect so many parts of our life — not just our health and happiness, but also our romantic prospects. Friends can constrain or facilitate who we date. They can also help our romantic relationships flourish or subtly and not-so-subtly undermine them,” study co-author William Chopik, associate professor of psychology at the university, said. He believes that friends’ “judgments of readiness likely explain all sorts of reasons why friends help and hurt our chances of finding love.” Chopik and co-author Hyewon Yang hope the study…  read on >  read on >

Even if a teen is at a healthy weight, just thinking they are overweight can greatly raise their odds for self-harm, a new study finds. “What we found was that the perception of being overweight has a much stronger effect of suicidal ideation than the objective measure of weight,” said study lead author Philip Baiden. He’s associate professor of social work at the University of Texas at Arlington. In the study, Baiden and colleagues looked at 2015-2021 data on more than 39,000 U.S. teens, ages 14 to 18, collected by surveys conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).  Some of the data focused on key factors in these kids’ lives: Their families’ socioeconomic status, dynamics within the family, pressures at school and tough issues experienced in childhood.  Other information about their lives was also gleaned from parents and other caregivers and school records. The Texas team focused especially on any self-reports of suicidal thoughts (ideation). Teens who thought they were overweight had triple the odds of these intrusive thoughts, the study found. “Even after adjusting for established suicidal ideation risk factors such as feelings of hopelessness, bullying, cyberbullying, substance use and demographic variables, we still found a connection between how adolescents feel about their weight and whether they are considering self-harm,” said study co-author Catherine LaBrenz.  “We also found that females…  read on >  read on >

Chronic ills like heart disease, asthma or diabetes afflict a majority of U.S. workers, but 60% of those affected say they’ve kept their health issue a secret from employers, a new poll finds. More than a third of workers battling chronic conditions also said they’d skipped a necessary medical appointment over the past year for reasons related to work. “Workers commonly feel stigmatized by their conditions, and this can have a profound effect on both their work and their health,” survey lead author Gillian SteelFisher concluded. She directs the Harvard Opinion Research Program and is a principal research scientist at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The new poll was conducted in early October of last year. It included a nationally representative sampling of 1,010 part-time and full-time working adults, all of whom were part of organizations with 50 or more employees. A majority of those polled — 58% — said they had at least one form of chronic health condition, such as high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes or asthma.  Among this group, 76% said they needed to find the time and resources to manage their health issue during working hours, but 60% said they had never informed their boss that they had a chronic health condition. “Though employers may think they know their employees’ needs, poll results suggest there are widespread and…  read on >  read on >