Suicide Rates Continue To Climb

L.A. Times article notes U.S. Suicide rate has climbed since 1999. Public health officials unsure as why the rate continues to climb.

After falling for more than a decade, the U.S. suicide rate has climbed
steadily since 1999, driven by an alarming increase among middle-age
adults, researchers said Monday.

A new six-year analysis in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine
found that the U.S. suicide rate rose to 11 per 100,000 people in 2005,
from 10.5 per 100,000 in 1999, an increase of just under 5%.

South Dakota and Depression

Researchers believe that the activity levels and the amount of time spent outdoors contribute to the lower rates of depression in South Dakota. Interestingly South Dakota’s suicide rates are not congruent with the rates of depression.

A report released today ranks South Dakota as the healthiest state in
America when it comes to depression levels – a finding that flattered
officials here still view with some skepticism.

Does Depression Shrink Your Brain?

A news article from ABCNews. Study finds patients with depression have a smaller hippocampus then those without depression. Now the question is, does depression cause your hippocampus to shrink? Or are people with small hippocamppi have a greater chance of being depressed? Confused?

The results of more than 20 studies now strongly suggest that the hippocampus is smaller in patients with major depression than in people without illness. The average difference is about 10 percent.

Depression and Suicide Among U.S. Veterans

I found this article at News-Medical.net.  The article goes into some detail about depression and suicide among veterans.  The study was from 1999-2004 and in that period 1683 people committed suicide.

The study finds that the predictors of suicide among veterans in
depression treatment differ from those seen in the general American
population, with younger, white, non-Hispanic men having the highest
risk among the veterans.

Technorati Tags: depression, suicide, veterans

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Large study on antidepressant use among children and adolescents

Duke University is launching a a large study to learn about the role of antidepressants in the treatment of children and adolescents.

The first study to be conducted under the CAPTN
umbrella is ASK, a prospective longitudinal cohort study of 2,420
children and adolescents with a depressive disorder, anxiety disorder,
obsessive-compulsive disorder or eating disorder. The study
participants will be prescribed either a selective serotonin reuptake
inhibitor (SSRI) or serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor (SNRI).
While these two classes of medications are widely used among adults and
prescribed to approximately two to three percent of American children,
questions have arisen about potential adverse events, especially
suicidal events, associated with use of these medications. Through ASK,
information will be collected about the safety, tolerability,
effectiveness and potential benefits of these medications.

Psychotic depression

This is an article written by Dr. James Potash that appears on abcnews.com. This article describes psychotic depression and a study conducted by Johns Hopkins that involves 4,700 people with a mood disorder. The study found that people with bipolar disorder had five times the rate of psychotic depression.

Psychotherapy, or talk therapy, tends to have little impact in helping to treat madness, or psychosis, as these patients typically do not have the reasoning power with which to unlock the doors to the prison of false belief in which they are locked up.

Anxiety affects obesity surgery

Obese people considering gastric bypass surgery should also be screened for anxiety and/or depression. According to a a new study published on Thursday, people with anxiety and depression lost less weight then those who do not have anxiety and depression.

Many hospitals and insurers require surgery candidates to go through a psychological evaluation before obesity surgery to make sure they are mentally fit for the operation and the lifestyle change afterward. Depressed people aren’t automatically disqualified for surgery, but those who are suicidal or abusing drugs and alcohol are usually ruled out.

 

Memory problems associated with anxiety and depression

Researchers from Rush University have found that those who suffer from depression and anxiety often have memory lapses. The researchers are trying to predict early signs of Alzheimer’s disease.

They said those who most often are anxious or depressed were 40 times more likely to develop mild cognitive impairment, a form of memory loss that is often a transitional stage between normal aging and dementia.

White male vets have higher suicide rates

There is allot of news about our veterans in the news this week. I stumbled across this article from MedPageToday.com. Some scary statistics here:

As a group, white men who served in the U.S. armed forces are twice as likely to die by their own hands as non-veterans, researchers here found. The suicide risk was greatest among those with few friends or family who had chronic medical or psychiatric conditions.

How many more studies like this are we going to have to read before we start seeing some treatment for our men and women who serve?

Physicians speak out on depression

 This is a pretty interesting survey of physicians in regards to depression.  Rarely do you get to read about how physicians feel about treating depression.  The first link provides a narrative to a survey conducted by Medical News Today.  The second paragraph is a direct link to the Epocrates data.

Providing a voice to an often silent disease, Epocrates, Inc. surveyed 500 clinicians to identify trends in depression diagnosis, prevalence and treatment. People dealing with stress, whether in the workplace or at home, should take note; nearly all clinicians identified stress as the leading contributor to depression. This links to Medical News Today article.

Follow this link to Epocrates survey. 90% of clinicians noticed symptoms of depression in 20% of their patients. Clinicians say it is more difficult to treat men because they are less “open” than women, and more resistant to addressing depression. 85% of clinicians have seen an increase in patients with depression over the past 5 years.