Regularly listening to music during times of crisis can significantly improve mood and relieve stress, new research suggests. In a cohort study of more than 700 adults, music listening during the COVID-19 pandemic was “prospectively associated” with lower momentary stress levels, better mood levels, and calmness–music perceived as “happy” was especially beneficial. The study corroborates … Read more
A waning sense of smell among older adults may portend frailty as they age, according to research published January 10 in The Journals of Gerontology. The researchers say the association is independent of the link between waning olfaction and a greater risk for dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. Although everyone will experience some loss of smell … Read more
During the initial stage of the COVID-19 pandemic US medical students were suspended from in-person clinical interaction. This decision was based on specific guidance from the Association of American Medical Colleges and subsequently implemented in medical schools across the United States.1 Our research project addressed students’ stress level before and after clinical in-person suspension and … Read more
Editor’s note: Find the latest COVID-19 news and guidance in Medscape’s Coronavirus Resource Centre. A new study provides more evidence that endocarditis associated with drug use is a significant and growing health concern, and further demonstrates that this risk has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The rate of infective endocarditis among individuals in the … Read more
Black women lost an estimated 748,300 years of life to drug overdoses between 2015 and 2021, researchers have found. Overdoses are now the fourth-leading cause of death in this group, behind cancer, heart disease, and COVID-19, according to the study, which was published online December 14 in JAMA Psychiatry. “This study is an attempt to … Read more
NEW YORK (AP) — New York City’s latest plan to keep mentally ill people from languishing in public is billed as a common-sense strategy to get them help. By encouraging police officers and city medics to take more psychologically disturbing people to hospitals, even if they refuse care, Mayor Eric Adams says he’s humanely tackling … Read more
A history of depression was “strongly” linked to having depression in the fall of 2020, data suggest. In an adjusted analysis of more than 22,000 participants in the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA), patients with a history of depression were 3.79 times more likely to have depression during the pandemic, compared with those with … Read more
Editor’s note: Find the latest COVID-19 news and guidance in Medscape’s Coronavirus Resource Center. After recovery from acute infection with SARS-CoV-2, major stressful life events such as the death of a loved one or financial insecurity can have a significant impact on the development of long COVID symptoms, new research suggests. Major life stressors in … Read more
From providing virtual therapy sessions to patients in the front seats of their cars, to sessions with patients who turn out to be in another state, the new paradigm of telepsychiatry is presenting clinicians with a host of situations with unwritten or constantly changing rules. Dr Sanjay Gupta But key practice tips are emerging for … Read more
Individuals who have chronic pain at age 44 are more likely to report poor general health, poor mental health, and joblessness when they are in their 50s and 60s, new research shows. Chronic pain at age 44 (in 2002) was also predictive of SARS-CoV-2 infection nearly two decades later, in 2021. “We speculate that pain … Read more