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INSTITUTE OF MEDICINE OF CHICAGO

  • 13 Dec 2023 8:11 AM | Deborah Hodges (Administrator)

    In March 2023, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change published yet another daunting report1 projecting a high likelihood that, unless drastic action is taken, our planet will cross the 1.5 °C warming threshold at some point before 2040, making it increasingly difficult to deter catastrophic climate changes. The report also stated that climate change is here, having already caused substantial damages across ecosystems leading to “increasingly irreversible losses.”1 Having left New York City a few days after skies became red with smoke from Canadian wildfires, today, on June 15, 2023, I write this introduction to our invited Viewpoint series from San Juan, Puerto Rico. Today is the 16th consecutive day with recorded temperatures above 90 °F (a new record), and we are keeping an eye on several storms forming in the Atlantic Ocean that may turn into hurricanes—months before we are used to seeing this kind of activity. My social media accounts are immediately inundated with images of lines forming at grocery stores and gas stations, mentions of anxiety and traumatic memories of hurricanes past, anger and indignation against local and global authorities for allowing the continued deterioration of our climate, and the occasional joke wishing folks happy holidays in case the storm becomes a hurricane and we again lose power until the December holidays. Our planet is undeniably changing, and so may be our mental health. [JAMA Network]

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  • 12 Dec 2023 8:06 AM | Deborah Hodges (Administrator)

    The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today released the third edition of the Illinois Maternal Morbidity and Mortality Report, covering maternal deaths occurring for Illinois residents during 2018-2020. Among the key findings are that Black women continue to die at disparately higher rates, specifically due to medical causes including cardiovascular disease and pre-existing chronic medical conditions; and that the leading overall cause of pregnancy-related death is substance use disorder. [IDPH]

    An average of 88 pregnancy-associated deaths occurred in Illinois during the three years, with the highest number of deaths (110) taking place in 2020.  This report offers the first glimpse into the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the pregnant and postpartum population in Illinois.  However, the full scope of the pandemic will be studied in the next edition of the report when deaths beyond 2020 will be analyzed.

    The report’s findings were previewed last week at the state’s second Maternal Health Summit on October 17 and 18, a virtual gathering of a broad range of maternal health stakeholders and experts. More than 330 people participated in the summit. Speakers included IDPH Director Dr. Sameer Vohra, Dr. Robin L. Jones of Rush University Medical Center, the Chair of the Maternal Mortality Review Committees (MMRCs), and elected officials who work closely on maternal health issues: U.S. Senators Tammy Duckworth and Dick Durbin and U.S. Representatives Robin Kelly and Lauren Underwood.

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  • 11 Dec 2023 8:56 AM | Deborah Hodges (Administrator)

    Governor JB Pritzker announced eighteen members of the Early Childhood Education and Care Transition Advisory Committee, chaired by Bela Moté. As part of the Pritzker administration's plan to create a new, unified state agency to administer early childhood education and care programs, the strategic-planning group will consist of educators, childcare providers, and policy experts. [Illinois.gov]

    "I want to thank this incredible group of parents, educators, leaders and advocates on for their dedication to creating a more cohesive, equitable, and family-centered early childhood education and care system in Illinois," said Governor JB Pritzker. "Their perspectives and feedback are vital as Illinois transitions to a single agency for early childhood education and care, bolstering our support for our youngest residents and their families."

    The unified agency will address the obstacles that providers and families experience when navigating various agencies. Currently, services are housed in three separate agencies—the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE), the Illinois Department of Human Services (DHS), and the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS). The Transition Advisory Committee will help inform and provide feedback to the State as it prepares for the transition to a new single agency. This work builds on Governor Pritzker's commitment to make Illinois the best state in the nation for families raising young children, with the nation's best early childhood education and care system.

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  • 8 Dec 2023 3:22 PM | Deborah Hodges (Administrator)

    With Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration projecting it will take 40 years and up to $12 billion to replace toxic lead water pipes throughout the city, aldermen are pressing for changes to speed up the work while driving down costs. [Chicago Tribune]

    On Tuesday a pair City Council committees heard from water officials in Cincinnati and Newark, New Jersey, two cities that are far ahead of Chicago in their replacement programs in part because elected officials declared the lingering underground hazards are a public health emergency.

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  • 7 Dec 2023 12:52 PM | Deborah Hodges (Administrator)

    The transition to unpaid caregiving was linked with increased psychological distress and worse mental health, according to results from a nationally representative survey of UK participants aged 16 years or older. [JAMA]

    Writing in The Lancet Public Health, the researchers recommended that “an individual’s status as a caregiver should be noted on their health record.” Primary care practices in the UK now do this to foster conversations between clinicians and their caregiving patients, the authors said.

    The survey found that changes in well-being were most pronounced for people who were younger than 65 years as well as for those who provided care for 20 hours or more per week and who cared for someone in their household.

    Changes in physical health were not linked with the transition to a caregiver role.

    Although the researchers were not able to tease apart the consequences of caregiving from the difficulty of having a loved one with an illness or care need, they said the study’s results emphasize the importance of early identification and support of caregivers.

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  • 6 Dec 2023 1:16 PM | Deborah Hodges (Administrator)

    The demand for mental health has increased significantly in the 2020s. [ TechTarget- Healthcare Consumerism News]

    Mental healthcare utilization grew 38.8 percent between 2019 and 2022 and spending on mental health jumped 53.7 percent in the same timeframe. The coronavirus pandemic was a key driver of these trends. It was disruptive and destructive to well-being, but it also opened many Americans’ eyes to their desperate need for mental health support. 

    As a result, in 2022 telemental health utilization had stabilized at around 1,068 percent of what it was pre-pandemic.

    In today’s episode of Industry Perspectives, Georgia Gaveras, DO, co-founder and chief medical officer at Talkiatry, discusses these trends and the state of telemental healthcare.

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  • 5 Dec 2023 10:19 AM | Deborah Hodges (Administrator)

    Health workers continued to experience higher levels of burnout and worse mental health in 2022 than in 2018, according to a US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) analysis of survey results from 3395 workers, 551 of whom were health workers. About 44% of health workers indicated that they were somewhat or very likely to look for a new job in 2022.

    “Health workers faced overwhelming demands and experienced crisis levels of burnout before the COVID-19 pandemic; the pandemic presented unique challenges that further impaired their mental health,” the researchers wrote in the CDC’s Vital Signs report. [JAMA]

    Almost half of health workers reported feeling burned out often or very often in 2022. Those who reported being harassed at work were more likely to experience anxiety, depression, and burnout than those who didn’t report harassment. In contrast, those who described having trust in management, involvement in decision-making, and enough time to complete their work were less likely to report feeling burned out and anxious.

    The researchers noted that these findings support an emphasis on “improving the work environment to support mental health, rather than asking workers to be more resilient or to fix problems themselves.”

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  • 4 Dec 2023 8:12 AM | Deborah Hodges (Administrator)

    America’s mental-health crisis drove suicides to a record-high number last year. [WSJ] 

    Nearly 50,000 people in the U.S. lost their lives to suicide in 2022, according to a provisional tally from the National Center for Health Statistics. The agency said the final count would likely be higher. The suicide rate of 14.3 deaths per 100,000 people reached its highest level since 1941. 

    U.S. suicides per 100,000Source: National Center for Health Statistics Note: Provisional for 2022

     record reflects broad struggles to help people in mental distress following a pandemic that killed more than one million in the U.S., upended the economy and left many isolated and afraid. A shortage of healthcare workers, an increasingly toxic illicit drug supply and the ubiquity of firearms have facilitated the rise in suicides, mental-health experts said.

    “There was a rupture in our economic health and social fabric. We’re still experiencing the aftereffects of that,” said Jeffrey Leichter, a psychologist who connects mental health and primary care at Sanford Health, an operator of hospitals and clinics in the Dakotas, Minnesota and Iowa.

    Men 75 and older had the highest suicide rate last year at nearly 44 per 100,000 people, double that for people 15-24. Firearm-related suicides become more common with age as people experience declining health, the loss of loved ones and social isolation. While women have consistently been found to have suicidal thoughts more commonly, men are four times as likely to die by suicide

    U.S. suicide rates per 100,000, by age Source: National Center for Health Statistics*Prov

    Some groups remain at extreme risk. Suicide rates for American Indians and Alaska Natives are almost double the rates for other Americans. 

    But there is some evidence that efforts to reach people in crisis are helping. Suicide rates for children 10-14 and people 15-24 declined by 18% and 9%, respectively, last year from 2021, bringing suicide rates in those groups back to prepandemic levels.

    Life expectancy in the U.S. improved to 77.5 years in 2022 from 76.4 in 2021, largely because of fewer deaths from Covid-19, a separate report from the statistics agency showed. In 2021, life expectancy in the U.S. fell to the lowest level since 1996 after Covid-19 and opioid overdoses drove up deaths.

    Adults are learning how to talk to children about suicide, said Dr. Katie Hurley, senior clinical adviser at the Jed Foundation, a suicide-prevention group. More work is necessary to reach women 25-34, she said. They were the only group of women for which suicide rates increased significantly in 2022. 

    “They’re taking on young adulthood while the world is on fire,” Hurley said. 

    Officials are trying to widen familiarity with a national Suicide and Crisis Lifeline that received a nationwide number, 988, last year. About 6% of some 5,000 respondents in a study published in October in the journal JAMA Network Open reported using 988 when they were in serious psychological distress. About a third of them said they would use the lifeline in the future. 

    Mental-health care is harder to find than before the pandemic. About half of people in the U.S. live in an area without a mental-health professional, federal data show, and some 8,500 more would be needed to fill the gap. Most people rely on family doctors for mental-health care, said Leichter at Sanford Health. 

    Suicides are difficult to predict even by clinicians, research shows. 

    Talkspace, an online therapy provider, is using artificial intelligence to help mental-health providers identify patients at risk for suicide. New York City this month said it would make a Talkspace app called TeenSpace available free to teenagers 13-17.

    “People are feeling worse,” said Dr. Nikole Benders-Hadi, a psychiatrist and Talkspace’s chief medical officer. “That’s why people are using these services more.”

    Help is available: Reach the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (formerly known as the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline) by dialing or texting 988.

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  • 1 Dec 2023 11:26 AM | Deborah Hodges (Administrator)

    President Joe Biden’s administration is moving to require utilities to replace every toxic lead pipe connecting homes to water mains during the next decade, though Chicago and several other cities likely will get more time to finish the job. [Chicago Tribune]

    Ingesting tiny concentrations of lead can permanently damage the developing brains of children and contribute to heart disease, kidney failure and other health problems later in life. One study estimated more than 400,000 deaths a year in the U.S. are linked to lead exposure.

    For decades dust from lead-based paint has been considered the chief source of exposure to the toxic metal. But in recent years the largely hidden threat of lead water pipes has become more widely understood, driven in part by federal research in Chicago and a crisis in Flint, Michigan, that showed how the simple act of drinking a glass of unfiltered tap water can pose significant health risks.

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  • 30 Nov 2023 12:31 PM | Deborah Hodges (Administrator)

     On behalf of the Department of Public  Health, I am excited to present to you the second piece of our Healthy Illinois 2028 initiative: the Illinois State Health Improvement Plan. [11.2023 IDPH]

    The State Health Improvement Plan looks different than in previous versions. As the State of Illinois moves forward after the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency, we know that this is a crucial moment in Illinois’s public health story – a time in our history to write new chapters and think differently about how we view and can improve our health today and in the years ahead.

    For me, [Dr. S. Vohra, MD]public health has always been about community. Yes, it is about keeping us safe from infectious diseases and preventing future emergencies. Those issues will always be core state priorities. However, at its heart, public health is so much more. Public health is about us coming together to unify around the health of ourselves and our loved ones. It is about the incredible residents in our big, diverse, and unique state. When we do public health right, our residents can be well and live well – enjoying the people and activities that make Illinois so special.

    Our State Health Improvement Plan concentrates on five areas that Illinois will make a priority in moving our health forward from 2023-2028. This initial release of the State Health Improvement Plan brings to our Illinois residents a framework for action.

    Download full plan here>

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