News Briefs – SEPTEMBER 2023
by Loren Talbot
CDC Reports Death by Suicide Increase
In August 2023, a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention identified an increase of death by suicide in the United States. Overall the number of deaths increased by 2.6% for all populations other than American Indian or Alaska Natives, who saw a 6.1% decrease in deaths. The 48,183 people who died by suicide in 2021 include a disproportionate amount of men. While males make up 50% of the population, the suicide rate is approximately four times higher than the rate among females. Individuals who are 85 years or older have the highest rates of suicide. The states in the nation with the highest rates of death by suicide include Alaska, Montana, and Wyoming. There are 12.3 million adults in the country who have seriously considered suicide and 1.7 million people who have attempted suicide. September is Suicide Prevention Month. If you are in a crisis, call or text 988 for the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline or HOME to 741741 for the Crisis Text Line.
Acid Reflux Drugs Tied to Dementia
The American Academy of Neurology reported that individuals who take acid reflux drugs containing proton pump inhibitors for more than 4.5 years may have a higher risk of dementia. According to the study’s author Kamakshi Lakshminarayan, MBBS, PhD, ”Proton pump inhibitors are a useful tool to help control acid reflux, however long-term use has been linked in previous studies to a higher risk of stroke, bone fractures, and chronic kidney disease.” The long-term use of this drug led to checking if dementia could also be an outcome. The study included 5,712 people ages 45 and older (average age was 75) who did not have dementia at the start of the study, but who were followed for an average of 5.5 years. While more research is needed, the study concluded that “after adjusting for factors such as age, sex, and race, as well as health-related factors such as high blood pressure and diabetes,” people taking the “acid reflux drugs for more than 4.4 years had a 33% higher risk of developing dementia than people who never took the drugs.”
Communities Are Essential in Palliative and End-of-Life Care
An international study was conducted to evaluate how to enable communities to support people who are dying and their carers. The researchers reviewed current literature related to public health interventions by identifying 18 studies (out of 2,902) in North America, Europe, Africa, Australia, and Asia, focusing mainly on urban communities. As one can imagine, the outcomes showed that there is not one method for enhancing end-of-life care that will benefit
all communities, but that a “public health approach to palliative and end-of-life care ideally involves the input from members of the target community at every stage of design, implementation, and dissemination, thereby ensuring that services are relevant, people feel empowered and supported, with sustainable change.” The study acknowledges how important context is to understanding community needs and how individuals might benefit from public health interventions. Community-based doulas can offer that context, as well as “demographics, resource availability, and understanding of social capital” in order to help deliver a public health solution in a community-driven care model.