Bay News 9 – According to a new study by The Dartmouth Institute, which examined over 9 million prescription records of people receiving benefits because they’re too disabled to work, “Roughly 4 million Americans too disabled to work are prescribed heavy-duty painkillers, such as OxyContin, Vicodin, codeine and morphine”. “Almost half — over 40 percent — filled a prescription for opiates in a year, and one in five was filling six or more prescriptions per year,” says Associate Professor of TDI Ellen Meara.

Boston Globe – Assistant Professor at Geisel Kendal Hoyt is interviewed on the rising costs of producing vaccines. According to Hoyt, “The time and cost of creating vaccines has steadily increased over the past 40 years, from an average of $199 million and six years to make it to market in the 1970s, to $1.5 billion and more than 13 years today.”

Detroit Free Press – Features a new Dartmouth study that examined the painkillers prescribed to Americans who are too disabled to work. “Almost half – over 40% – filled a prescription for opiates in a year and one in five was filling six or more prescriptions per year,” says Ellen Meara, an associate professor of The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice.

Great Falls Tribune – Paul Holtzheimer, an associate professor of psychiatry and surgery, is quoted in this story about the recent rise in phone calls to crisis hotlines. “There’s always a concern about ‘copycat’ suicides when a death by suicide is reported in the media,” he says.

Doctor’s Lounge – In a study, Shelsey Weinstein, Geisel ’16 and colleagues found that “regional variation exceeds payer-related differences in prescription use among children.” The team quantified the “overall and drug group-specific prescription use among 949,821 children aged 0 to 17 years.”

The Tennessean – Article interviews Diane Gilbert-Diamond, a Professor of Community and Family Medicine and the lead researcher on a recent study that suggesting “a possible link between kids having TV in the bedroom and more sedentary behavior, snacking and exposure to food ads, leading to weight gain.”

Center for Advancing Health – Assistant Professor of Psychiatry Brian Shiner comments on how a new practice is helping patients with mental health disorder. “In patients who actually have the disorder, there is good evidence that the intervention improves important health outcomes and benefits substantially outweigh harm,” says Brian. “Therefore, we assume that we can help to improve veterans’ health by following up screens with clinical exams and delivering these treatments when they are indicated.”

Business Standard – “Recent studies suggest that this relationship between marijuana and mental illness may be moderated by how often marijuana is used and potency of the substance,” says Professor of Psychiatry Alan Budney. “Unfortunately, much of what we know from earlier research is based on smoking marijuana with much lower doses of THC than are commonly used today,” Budney said.

Wall Street Journal – Professor of Medicine H. Gilbert Welch is interviewed on common misconceptions regarding health care professionals: “The idea that only your doctor can tell whether you are healthy or not is an unfortunate side-effect of our current emphasis on preventive medicine … Don’t let doctors’ machines and tests define health. That’s a recipe to make you sick. How you feel matters.”

TIME – “Addiction, car accidents, chronic bronchitis, and decreased life achievement are the most likely among the potential consequences of teenage marijuana consumption,” according to new research by Alan Budney, a professor of psychiatry at Dartmouth.