Mental Health

Alzheimer’s dementia risk factors may be measurable among adolescents and young adults, according to data presented at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference 2020.

The mental health of the U.K. population significantly worsened after the first month of the COVID-19 pandemic compared with before, according to results of a longitudinal probability sample survey published in The Lancet Psychiatry.

The COVID-19 pandemic, as well as infection with the virus, appeared associated with increased risk for development of general psychiatric disorders and loneliness, according to study results published in Psychiatry Research.

Dialectical behavior therapy and cognitive processing therapy appeared to improve PTSD symptoms among women who survived childhood abuse, according to results of a randomized clinical trial published in JAMA Psychiatry.

For the first time, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommended that primary care physicians ask adults about drug use and connect those with a drug use problem to resources for treatment.

The Women’s Preventive Services Initiative, after reviewing more than 2,000 abstracts and 300 full-text articles, recommended that primary care physicians screen women and adolescent girls aged 13 years or older for anxiety.

Children who experienced febrile seizures after vaccination were not at an increased risk for developmental or behavioral problems, according to researchers.

Practicing pediatricians have been using telehealth technology to communicate with patients who are not able to physically visit offices because of social distancing measures during the COVID-19 pandemic. Infectious Diseases in Children asked Editorial Board Member Eugene Shapiro, MD, professor of pediatrics and epidemiology at Yale School of Medicine, if patients should pay the same amount for a telehealth visit as they would for an in-person visit.

Many practices, if they did not have them already, set up telehealth services during the COVID-19 pandemic — one of several ways that clinicians have adapted to care for patients during ongoing social distancing measures.

Physicians face cultural, informational and financial barriers to integrating behavioral health services into their primary care practices in the United States, according to a qualitative analysis published in Annals of Internal Medicine.