The Health News USA February 15 2018

• According to a new study, more teenagers are identifying themselves with nontraditional gender labels such as transgender or genderfluid. The research, published Monday in the journal Pediatrics, found that almost 3% of Minnesota teens did not identify with traditional gender labels such as “boy” or “girl.” That number is higher than researchers expected. A UCLA study from a year ago estimated that 0.7% of teens identified as transgender.
• President Trump’s 2019 budget released Monday proposes cutting $1.7 trillion in funding from Department of Health and Human Services’ programs, including Medicare, over a decade, while boosting funding to combat the opioid epidemic and high drug prices.  Trump also urged Congress to repeal the Affordable Care Act and, in effect, slash Medicaid by passing an ACA replacement bill.  The administration also requested $5 billion dollars in new HHS funding over the next 5 years to combat the opioid epidemic.
• A new survey finds that women are twice as likely as men to be depressed. In any given two-week period, about eight percent of Americans report they are depressed. The new data from the National Center for Health Statistics finds there has not been a significant worsening of depression in the U.S. over the past decade. But it shows giant disparities in who suffers from depression. And a second study found that most of these people are not getting treatment. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, early childhood trauma, genetics, major life changes, medical conditions and substance abuse can all cause or worsen depression.

News on Health Professional Radio. Today is the 15th of February 2018. Read by Tabetha Moreto.

https://edition.cnn.com/2018/02/06/health/teens-gender-nonconforming-study-trnd/index.html

According to a new study, more teenagers are identifying themselves with nontraditional gender labels such as transgender or genderfluid. The research, published Monday in the journal Pediatrics, found that almost three percent of Minnesota teens did not identify with traditional gender labels such as “boy” or “girl.” That number is higher than researchers expected. A UCLA study from a year ago estimated that zero point seven percent of teens identified as transgender.

Lead researcher Nic Rider of the University of Minnesota said the main purpose of the new study was to examine health differences between gender-nonconforming teens and teens who are cisgender, a person whose gender identity aligns with the sex assigned to them at birth.
The study found that transgender and gender-nonconforming youth reported “significantly poorer health” — including mental health — than cisgender teenagers. TGNC teens also were less likely to get preventive health checkups and more likely to visit their school nurse.

The study supports prior research suggesting “that previous estimates of the size of the TGNC population have been underestimated by orders of magnitude,” wrote Daniel Shumer, a specialist in transgender medicine at the University of Michigan.

Nearly two thousand two hundred of these teens — about two point seven percent — answered yes to the question: Do you consider yourself transgender, genderqueer, genderfluid or unsure of your gender identification? The term “genderqueer” describes a person who does not subscribe to conventional gender distinctions and may identify with neither, both, or a combination of male and female identities. That study was based on government data on adults collected by twenty seven US states in two thousand fourteen and two thousand fifteen.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/02/12/trump-budget-slashes-medicare-other-health-programs-while-boosting-money-opioid-crisis/329369002/

President Trump’s two thousand nineteen budget released Monday proposes cutting one point seven trillion in funding from Department of Health and Human Services’ programs, including Medicare, over a decade, while boosting funding to combat the opioid epidemic and high drug prices.  Trump also urged Congress to repeal the Affordable Care Act and, in effect, slash Medicaid by passing an ACA replacement bill.  The administration also requested five billion dollars in new HHS funding over the next five years to combat the opioid epidemic.

Advocacy groups were quick to oppose the budget proposal, which is an outline of the administration’s goals that is expected to face political opposition from both parties on Capitol Hill.

The administration did signal its support for more attention to the opioid epidemic and drug costs, however. HHS Secretary Alex Azar said the two issues, coupled with making insurance more affordable and improving Medicare so it pays more for quality than the quantity of services provided, demonstrate the administration’s priorities.  The budget  “reflects a solemn and unshakable commitment to liberate communities from the scourge of opioids and drug addiction, the White House budget statement said.

The budget proposed new strategies to address high drug prices by targeting areas including what it called “perverse payment incentives,”  that reward the use of higher costs drugs.

Under the budget, up to five states could participate in pilot projects to test drug coverage and financing reforms based on “best practices” at commercial insurers.  These states could negotiate drug prices directly with manufacturers and set up their own drug formularies with an appeals process that would help patients get drugs that are medically necessary.

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/women-twice-likely-men-have-depression-survey-finds-n847556

A new survey finds that women are twice as likely as men to be depressed. In any given two-week period, about eight percent of Americans report they are depressed. The new data from the National Center for Health Statistics finds there has not been a significant worsening of depression in the U.S. over the past decade. But it shows giant disparities in who suffers from depression. And a second study found that most of these people are not getting treatment.

….
Between two thousand thirteen and two thousand sixteen, five point five percent of men reported having had symptoms of depression, compared to ten point four percent of women. The researchers wrote that depression was lower among non-Hispanic Asian adults, compared with Hispanic, non-Hispanic black, or non-Hispanic white adults and overall, non-Hispanic Asian adults had the lowest prevalence of depression (three point one percent) compared with Hispanic (eight point two percent), non-Hispanic white (seven point nine percent), and non-Hispanic black (nine point two percent).

People with lower incomes were more likely to report depression. Nearly sixteen percent of people living below the federal poverty level reported recent symptoms of depression, compared to three point five percent of those living at four hundred percent of the federal poverty level.
….
According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, early childhood trauma, genetics, major life changes, medical conditions and substance abuse can all cause or worsen depression.