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Suicide rates largely remained stagnant or even declined during the early pandemic months in high- and upper-middle-income countries, according to a report yesterday in The Lancet Psychiatry. The researchers first looked at real-time suicide data from 21 countries (11 of which had whole-country data with the rest composed of area-specific spots) from April to Jul 31, 2020, and compared rates with previous data from 1 to 4 years ago. Significant decreases in expected suicide rates were found in 12 areas (8 countries), ranging from New South Wales, Australia (rate ratio [RR] 0.81; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.72 to 0.91), to Ecuador (RR 0.74; 95% CI, 0.67 to 0.82). (4/14)

In this brief, we review excess death rates in the U.S. and peer countries by age groups to examine how the pandemic has affected excess mortality rate among younger people. We look specifically at the excess deaths that arose in 2020 to examine how the age at death during the pandemic has differed between the U.S. and peer nations. ... We find that, among similarly large and wealthy countries, the U.S. had among the highest excess mortality rates in 2020, and younger people were more likely to have died due to the pandemic in the U.S. than younger people in other countries.(Amin and Cox, 4/7)

During March 13–November 30, 2020, COVID-19 incidence and mortality among AI/AN (American Indian or Alaska Native) persons in Montana were approximately twice and nearly four times those among White persons, respectively. In addition, the case-fatality rate among AI/AN persons was close to twice that among White persons. Several factors might have contributed to the higher COVID-19 incidence and mortality ....AI/AN communities in Montana have higher levels of social vulnerability, including living in shared housing, challenges accessing health care and transportation, and lower household incomes. As well, AI/AN persons might be more likely than White persons to live in multigenerational households or be unable to work from home. (Williamson et al., 4/8)

Mental stress has been shown to induce cardiovascular events, likely due to its negative impact on vascular function. Flavanols, plant-derived polyphenolic compounds, improve endothelial function and blood pressure (BP) in humans, however their effects during stress are not known. This study examined the effects of acute intake of cocoa flavanols on stress-induced changes on vascular function. (Baynham et al, 3/27)

Transplantation of livers obtained from donors after circulatory death is associated with an increased risk of nonanastomotic biliary strictures. Hypothermic oxygenated machine perfusion of livers may reduce the incidence of biliary complications, but data from prospective, controlled studies are limited. (van Rijn et al, 4/15)