one big number
763%
That's how much reports of young children accidentally eating nicotine pouches rose between 2020 and 2023, according to a study published today in Pediatrics. Usually, the children were fine, apart from some nausea or vomiting. But there can be severe consequences: 1.2% had serious medical outcomes like seizures or respiratory failure, and two children, both under age 2, died after consuming liquid nicotine. STAT's Sarah Todd has the details.
public health
The links between different gun laws and types of gun deaths
Research has shown that, for the most part, stricter gun laws are correlated with fewer gun deaths. A new study, published in JAMA Network Open, aimed to analyze what types of legislation are most effective at preventing suicide versus homicide by firearm. The researchers found that laws that regulate sales, transfers, and permitting for guns are most strongly correlated with a reduction in suicides. When it came to homicides, sociodemographic factors like unemployment and poverty played a bigger role than legislation. To get there, researchers analyzed firearm deaths and gun laws between 2017 and 2022 using data from the CDC and Giffords Law Center.
"These results are not just statistically significant, they are politically and morally clarifying," wrote physician Joseph Sakran in an accompanying editorial. He urged clinicians, policymakers, and communities to resist one-size-fits-all solutions and to pursue both gun regulations and policies to address the sociodemographic struggles that also play a role.
mental health
Does court-ordered treatment for serious mental illness actually work?
In the last decade, the federal government has provided $146 million to organizations that provide outpatient care to people with serious mental health conditions like psychosis. The people were ordered to undergo treatment so they wouldn't be a threat to themselves or society.
But whether or not you think this sort of involuntary treatment works might depend on who you ask. HHS has looked at its effectiveness over the years, generally finding favorable outcomes. Now, a new Government Accountability Office report is suggesting those earlier conclusions are not reliable because of methodological flaws in how the assessments were made. STAT's O. Rose Broderick walks through the evidence in her latest.
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