General Mental Health Articles (Focus on Dementia and Caregiving)
- Deaths from dementia have tripled in just 21 years, according to a new study published in The Primary Care Companion for CNS Disorders. In 1999, about 150,000 Americans died from dementia, according to the study. By 2020, that number had tripled to over 450,000. The chances of dying from dementia increased among every demographic group studied, according to study author Mohsan Ali, a physician with the King Edward Medical University in Pakistan. Read more here.
- People with dementia lose the ability to remember and reason, and that affects their daily life. Dementia isn’t a normal part of aging, but it is more common in older people. About a third of all people ages 85 or older may have some form of dementia, according to the National Institute on Aging. There are several forms, with Alzheimer’s being the most common, according to the institute. Over 210,000 people in North Carolina ages 65 and older had Alzheimer’s in 2020, according to the Alzheimer’s Association. Read more here.
Youth Mental Health
- A bill intended to boost privacy and safety for children online that had broad bipartisan support in the Senate is stalling in the House amid resistance from leadership, putting a spotlight on Republican divisions on tech policy. Supporters of the legislation are outwardly optimistic about advancing it before the end of the year, hoping momentum from the Senate passage will prove the House resistance to be a speed bump rather than a brick wall. Read more here.
- The nation’s top doctor said the United States is “falling short” in protecting the public health of children and adolescents from the impact of social media and firearm violence — and both are areas where he wants Congress to take additional action. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy is no stranger to the task of influencing the federal government’s public health priorities and the nation’s understanding of the biggest public health issues. Read more here.
The Opioid Crisis and Addiction Issues
- Thirty-three years ago, doctors prescribed opioids for Julie McAllister to help her recover from a partial hysterectomy. She spent the next 26 years of her life in an all-consuming addiction. Her ex-husband and two adult children fell into addiction alongside her. Both of her children suffered multiple overdoses. “All of a sudden, something you were only supposed to be on for two or three days, it turns into the rest of your life,” McAllister told Carolina Public Press. Read more here.
- Price, in the heart of Utah’s Carbon County, is at the crossroads of a growing, deadly drug problem in Utah. With a population of just over 8,000 residents, this rural city has seen the devastation of opioid addiction and fentanyl use firsthand. Many residents work blue-collar jobs with a higher potential for on-the-job injuries, and the county’s poverty rate exceeds what is typically seen on the Wasatch Front. Read more here.
- In 2023, more than 100,000 Americans died from opioid overdoses. The most effective way to save someone who has overdosed is to administer a drug called naloxone, but a first responder or bystander can’t always reach the person who has overdosed in time. Researchers at MIT and Brigham and Women’s Hospital have developed a new device that they hope will help eliminate those delays and potentially save the lives of people who overdose. Read more here.
Research
- The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Whole Health initiative is designed to provide a holistic, personalized approach to health care that supports functioning and cultivates well-being. Military veterans experience a variety of stressors (e.g., deployment) and health conditions (e.g., cardiovascular disease) that can undermine functioning and erode well-being. Identification of factors associated with these domains may inform health promotion interventions in veterans. Read more here.
Gender-Affirming Care
- Doctors and advocates say efforts to ban gender-affirming care and the often inaccurate language lawmakers use to do it exploits most Americans’ relative unfamiliarity with transgender people to push a political agenda. As those efforts have grown — nearly exclusively led by Republicans — they have superseded both abortion rights and same-sex marriage as the go-to social issue among conservatives in the lead-up to the November elections. Read more here.
Federal Policy
- The Biden administration released the results of the first Medicare drug price negotiations, a milestone in Democrats’ decadeslong quest to have the nation’s largest payer use its leverage to lower prescription drug prices. The result is a $6 billion savings across 10 drugs when new prices take effect in 2026, according to the White House, and beneficiaries could save roughly $1.5 billion in out-of-pocket costs. Read more here.
Manage Cookie Preferences