High school students who smoke, drink or use weed are more likely to be emotionally troubled and have suicidal thoughts, a new study finds. Teens who turn to nicotine, alcohol or marijuana are more likely to think about suicide, feel depressed or anxious, have psychotic episodes and exhibit inattention or hyperactivity, researchers report Jan. 29 in the journal JAMA Pediatrics. For example, thoughts of suicide occurred about five times more often among high schoolers who used substances daily or near-daily, compared with those who didn’t. Increases in psychiatric symptoms occurred even among teens with relatively low levels of use, the researchers noted. The results “lend strong support for the notion that screening, prevention, intervention and policy efforts need to comprehensively address targets beyond substance use alone,” such as the mental health impacts of drug use, said lead study author Brenden Tervo-Clemmens, an assistant professor at the University of Minnesota Medical School. “Also, these efforts may not need to necessarily be specific to a given substance, but rather reflect the multifaceted mental health needs of all adolescents who use substances,” Tervo-Clemmens added in a university news release. For the study, the team analyzed survey results from more than 15,000 high school students in Massachusetts in 2022 and 2023. “We sought to determine whether substance use was dose-dependently associated with various psychiatric symptoms in a large sample…  read on >  read on >

Imagine being subjected to domestic violence in your home, wanting to escape — but there’s no place you can go that will accept a beloved pet. That’s the gut-wrenching situation facing too many victims of domestic abuse, according to a new data review spanning 27 years. “In a lot of cases of domestic violence, there is evidence to suggest that people will delay leaving their relationship to protect their pet,” said study lead author Jasmine Montgomery, a PhD student at James Cook University in Townsland, Australia. “This is often because there’s a lack of shelters or housing places which can accommodate pets, or a lack of trust… that they won’t be separated from their pet,” she said in a university news release. “In those cases where threats to pets are made, victims can be lured back by the perpetrator, which places significant risk to their safety as well,” Montgomery noted. “Sadly, the review also confirmed that a common outcome for pets in cases of domestic violence was maltreatment and/or death.” The Australian authors noted that similar scenarios exist for people fleeing natural disasters or those who become homeless. The new data review looked at information from 42 studies on the human-animal bond in the context of personal crises. “Our results reveal the strong emotional attachment between people and animals may result in vulnerability for both…  read on >  read on >

Marijuana has a reputation for being harmless, but frequent tokers are more likely to suffer from asthma, a new study shows. Asthma is more common among U.S. adults who’ve used weed within the past 30 days, researchers reported recently in the journal Preventive Medicine. Further, the odds of asthma are significantly greater among people who reported using the drug 20 to 30 days per month, researchers found. The more frequent the cannabis use, the higher the likelihood of asthma, even after adjusting for the potential effects of concurrent cigarette smoking, they concluded. “With the growing use of cannabis across the U.S., understanding potential links between cannabis use and asthma is increasingly relevant to population health,” said co-researcher Renee Goodwin, a psychiatric epidemiologist with Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health in New York City. For the study, researchers analyzed data from the 2020 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, an annual study of nearly 33,000 people ages 12 and older in the United States. They looked at the relationship of cannabis or marijuana use within the past month among people with asthma. About 10% of people with recent weed use had asthma, versus about 7% of those who don’t use, researchers found. The odds rose if people used weed many times a week, results showed. The study adds to prior research by “being the…  read on >  read on >

If your preteen or teen skips school activities and social events, it may be more than the typically moody behavior of adolescence, new research warns. Being socially withdrawn and having physical discomforts such as headaches, nausea or stomachaches as a preteen may boost the risk of having suicidal thoughts by age 16, researchers report. Dr. John Duffy, a Chicago-based psychologist who wasn’t involved in the study, told CNN that the findings mirror what he has seen in his practice. “That is, teenagers that I’ve worked with who are socially withdrawn and experienced somatic symptoms — anxiety, in particular — early in adolescence have a far greater risk for suicidal ideation in mid and late adolescence,” added Duffy. “This is undeniably true and a really strong argument for early intervention.” Duffy noted he has found the findings to be especially prevalent among boys and young men. “I think that’s due in large part to the fact that girls are imbued early with a rich, emotional language that boys continue to lack even today,” he said. In the United States, suicide attempts and deaths by suicide among children and young adults have been increasing in recent years, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In the new study, Japanese researchers studied over 2,700 adolescents involved in the Tokyo Teen Cohort study, which has examined mental and physical development…  read on >  read on >

Women are suffering more anxiety and depression in states that banned abortion after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, a new study shows. The court’s Dobbs decision in June 2022 triggered laws banning abortion in 13 states. In the six months after, symptoms of anxiety and depression increased among women living in those states, particularly those ages 18 to 45, researchers report Jan. 23 in the Journal of the American Medical Association. “These findings suggest that changes in abortion policy can impact mental health at the population level,” said senior study author Matthew Eisenberg, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Mental Health and Addiction Policy in Baltimore. “Policymakers should, of course, be aware of the first-order impacts of policies, but studies such as this suggest that they should also consider downstream policy effects on mental health, even when a policy is not specifically targeting mental health,” Eisenberg added in a Hopkins news release. For the study, researchers analyzed data drawn from the Household Pulse Survey, an online survey the U.S. Census Bureau conducts every two weeks to track health and socioeconomic conditions in the United States. The survey includes a four-question screening tool often used in primary care to assess anxiety and depression, researchers said. The study examined 13 waves of data drawn from the survey, spanning from late December 2021 to January…  read on >  read on >

 The American Lung Association’s annual report on smoking blasts President Joe Biden for failing to finalize rules that would end the sale of menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars. Last month, the Biden administration announced it was delaying until March a ban on menthol cigarettes that has been in the works for years. In response, the lung association’s “State of Tobacco Control” report released Wednesday takes Biden to task for this decision. “Right now, President Biden can take action and save lives if he finalizes the rules to end the sale of menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars,” Harold Wimmer, president and CEO of the lung association, said in a news release. “Menthol cigarettes make it both easier to start and harder to quit by reducing the harshness of the smoke and cooling the throat,” Wimmer explained. “Once these rules are final, fewer people will start smoking, millions will begin their journey to quit and lives will be saved.” Menthol cigarettes pose a serious political problem for Biden, who needs the support of Black voters to win re-election. Black people are more likely to smoke menthol cigarettes than smokers of other races or ethnicities, according to the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention. For example, about 7 in 10 Black adults ages 18 to 34 who currently smoke cigarettes use ones flavored with menthol, compared to…  read on >  read on >

Could a blood pressure drug thats been around since the 1960s help ease anxiety in people with autism? That’s the main finding from a small study where 69 people between the ages of 7 and 24 who had autism were given the drug, called propranolol. “The findings show that propranolol could serve as a helpful intervention for reducing anxiety for individuals with autism,” said study lead author Dr. David Beversdorf. He’s a clinician at the University of Missouri’s Thompson Center for Autism and Neurodevelopment. “This drug has been around since the 1960s and is very inexpensive,” he noted in a university news release. “Up until now, we haven’t had any known drugs that target psychiatric issues specifically for individuals with autism, so these results are very promising and can support future research.” The study found that people who received propranolol had significantly lower anxiety levels at their three-month checkup. Although the team also checked participants’ social communication skills, no benefits linked to use of propranolol were found. Beversdorf said he’s seen firsthand the benefits of propranolol for people with autism who battle anxiety. “As researchers, we try our best to improve the lives of our patients, and it feels rewarding to help out,” said Beversdorf, who is also a professor of radiology, neurology and psychological sciences at the university. “I went into the field of…  read on >  read on >

Alcoholics Anonymous is a key means by which millions of Americans deal with drinking problems. However, white Americans are much more likely to engage in the trusted “12-step” program than Black of Hispanic drinkers, a new study finds. Black and Hispanic alcoholics are about 40% less likely to have ever attended an AA meeting, compared to white drinkers, according to analysis of data from the National Alcohol Survey. Researchers also discovered age-related disparities. Among adults younger than 30, less than 5% had ever attended AA versus about 12% of those 30 and older. After accounting for other factors, younger adults still attended AA at a third of the rate of older adults. “This is concerning, because the disparities suggest that these groups — Black, Latinx and emerging adults — are not receiving optimal care,” said lead researcher Sarah Zemore, a senior scientist with the Alcohol Research Group in Emeryville, Calif. AA and other similar support groups have become a staple for treatment of alcohol and substance use disorders, researchers said in background notes. Research has proven these groups can help people achieve lasting recovery. “It’s known that mutual-help groups can be quite effective in initiating and sustaining recovery,” Zemore said. And in the United States, more Americans turn to AA-type groups than specialty substance abuse treatment programs, Zemore noted. It’s not clear why racial and…  read on >  read on >