Month: January 2022

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Omicron BA.2: Should we be worried?

A new version of the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2, known as BA.2, has emerged. Although experts are unsure about its effects, they know that it is spreading quickly and has 20 mutations in the area that most COVID-19 vaccines target.

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Should we be worried about the ‘stealth variant’ of Omicron? Image credit: Kate Geraghty/The Sydney Morning Herald via Getty Images.

Scientists first identified the BA.2 subvariant of Omicron in India and South Africa in late December 2021. Since then, it has spread to several countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, and Israel.

The subvariant virus has also spread rapidly in Denmark, increasing from 20{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} of all COVID-19 cases in the country in week 52 of 2021 to 45{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} in the second week of 2022.

Despite its rapid spread in the country, initial analyses show no difference in hospitalizations between the BA.2 subvariant and the original form of Omicron, also known as BA.1.

Studies, however, are still ongoing to understand the infectiousness of BA.2, alongside how effective vaccines are against it.

While BA.2 is not currently a “variant of concern,” public health officials in the U.K. have taken enough interest in its spread to designate it as a “variant under investigation.”

To understand more about the emerging subvariant, Medical News Today spoke with six experts in public health, immunology, and infectious diseases.

“Omicron has three main [subvariants] — BA.1, BA.2, and BA.3 — according to the World Health Organization (WHO),” Dr. Donald C. Vinh, associate professor in the Department of Medicine at McGill University, Canada, told MNT.

“Up until now, the overwhelmingly large majority of all Omicron cases has been BA.1. However, in some places, the BA.2 has emerged and has spread faster than BA.1,” he went on to note.

“This sister variant, which is still Omicron, is interesting because it seems to be displacing Omicron in certain parts of the world,“ Dr. Amesh A. Adalja, senior scholar at Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, told MNT. “There is speculation that it may be more transmissible than its sibling.”

How the fast spread of the BA.2 subvariant may affect public health is still under investigation.

“The Omicron SARS-CoV-2 variant has been interesting to scientists because of its comparatively (i) higher number of mutations, which […] allow it to partially evade people’s immune response; (ii) higher transmissibility and pathogenicity, i.e., its greater ability to infect and cause disease; and (iii) lower virulence, i.e., its lower ability to cause severe disease,” Dr. Richard Reithinger, Ph.D., vice president of global health at RTI International, explained.

“The big question for newly identified variants and subvariants such as omicron BA.2 is how these above three characteristics vary from the original SARS-CoV-2 virus [variant] or the Omicron variant and why.”

– Dr. Richard Reithinger, Ph.D.

“If some countries are now reporting a surge in the proportion of BA.2 subvariant infections, is it because the additional mutations make it more transmissible or allow it to evade the immune response more easily than the other Omicron subvariants? Will BA.2 result in the same clinical pathology as the Omicron parent variant (B.1.1.529) and subvariants (BA.1 and BA.3)? Also, how do current therapeutic options and vaccines fare against BA.2?”

According to Dr. Reithinger, these are some of the questions that public health experts must take into consideration while keeping this subvariant under observation.

While researchers are still gathering data on how BA.2 may affect the population at large, laboratory studies have already verified many of its molecular properties.

“BA.2 is missing the spike 69-70 mutations, so it does not cause S gene target failure, making it harder to identify on PCR tests,” Dr. Anna Ssentongo, assistant professor of public health at the Penn State College of Medicine, told MNT.

“Because of this, BA.2 was nicknamed the ‘stealth variant,’” she explained.

Dr. Ssentongo added that BA.2 has more than 20 mutations in its spike protein, which is a target of many COVID-19 vaccines because the virus uses it to enter healthy cells. Although this difference may make BA.2 more resistant to vaccines, further research is necessary to confirm any effects.

“Similar to its parental lineage (Omicron), it is expected to be highly transmissible and result in less severe disease than the Delta or Beta variants, especially if one is fully vaccinated and — even better — boosted,” added Dr. Reithinger. “However, ultimately, this would have to be confirmed by ongoing laboratory and clinical studies, which are expected to provide results in the next couple of weeks.”

Dr. Vinh agreed that before drawing any conclusions on how the subvariant may affect public health, further research is necessary:

“It is important to mention that there are very limited data on clinical differences between BA.2 and BA.1. Specifically, we have no firm data to know if BA.2 is more contagious, results in more severe disease, or can evade immunity better than BA.1. Nonetheless, early data from Denmark and the U.K. suggest that BA.2 may be more contagious than BA.1.”

When MNT asked whether we should be concerned about BA.2, Dr. Pavitra Roychoudhury, research associate at the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Division at the University of Washington, explained: “It remains to be seen how BA.2 will compete against currently circulating viruses […], and also whether it causes more severe disease. […] We will continue to monitor frequencies of BA.2 through the use of genomic surveillance.”

Dr. Adalja agreed that much remains to be seen: “We know that this has been a variant that has been present since the early days of Omicron and that it has some similar and some distinct mutations. It is unclear, as of now, whether it is more transmissible. [It] likely has the same characteristics when it comes to vaccine efficacy and severity.”

“It is too early to know what role [BA.2] may play. It’s likely that it will just be part of the Omicron wave and they extend it over time and eventually become the dominant version of Omicron. More study is needed.”

– Dr. Amesh Adalja

However, Dr. Barton F. Haynes, director of the human vaccine institute in the Department of Medicine at the Duke University School of Medicine, said that due to its molecular changes, there might be cause for concern regarding BA.2.

“We are worried that because it is so different than Omicron BA.1, it may escape current vaccines and Omicron BA.1-neutralizing antibodies,” he noted. “To this point, we are working to study the Omicron BA-2 virus to see whether current vaccine-induced neutralizing antibodies neutralize it.”

“Whether BA.2, or any other Omicron subvariant or other SARS-CoV-2 variant, there is irrefutable evidence that existing vaccines are quite effective in protecting people against infection and highly effective in protecting people from developing severe disease or — worst case scenario — dying upon SARS-CoV-2 infection,” explained Dr. Reithinger.

“Additionally, even if vaccinated, people should consider adhering to nonpharmaceutical interventions, such as face masks, physical distancing, and handwashing, particularly when in crowded and/or high transmission environments,” he advised.

For live updates on the latest developments regarding COVID-19, click here.

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Frankie Welch’s iconic fashion on display at University of Georgia

Style that permeated pop society and politics in the 1960s is on exhibit at the College of Ga Specific Collections Libraries in an exhibit that includes the dresses, prints and patterns of Frankie Welch.

The exhibition, “Frankie Welch’s Americana: Style, Scarves, and Politics,” documents the life perform of Welch, a native of Rome, Ga, from her days as a house economics trainer to taking care of her preferred Virginia boutique and coming up with dresses for 1st woman Betty Ford. The colorful display screen characteristics an eclectic array of prints Welch built for political strategies and for companies like McDonald’s, nonprofits and colleges, like UGA.

“Frankie Welch occupies a one of a kind situation in the record of American manner,” reported Ashley Callahan, an impartial ornamental arts scholar who curated the exhibition. “She was a retailer and apparel advisor to popular women—including a number of 1st ladies—in the nation’s money, as perfectly as a designer of custom made, minimal-version scarves that seamlessly blended fashion and enterprise. She outlined her own entrepreneurial occupation, and her distinctive brand name of Americana style found an enthusiastic viewers from the 1960s via the 1990s.”

The exhibition characteristics the legendary style of Frankie Welch, pictured above, a Ga native who owned a Virginia boutique, building scarves and attire used in political strategies and situations and worn by girls through the region in the 1960s and 70s. (Submitted image)

The exhibition attributes a quantity of noteworthy textiles, from Welch’s common Cherokee Alphabet models to the Learn The us scarves showcased in the only trend exhibit ever held in the White Household and the 50 Point out Bouquets style worn by Ford and other folks. Several of these fashions had been donated by Welch’s household to be preserved by the Hargrett Uncommon Reserve and Manuscript Library, one of three distinctive collections models housed in the setting up.

The resources, which include goods on loan from Welch’s daughters and the Rome Historical Society, are also featured prominently in Callahan’s book Frankie Welch’s Americana, which is scheduled for a publishing release date up coming thirty day period by the University of Ga Press.

This spring, the Hargrett Library will host a series of functions engaging UGA students, students and the neighborhood in celebration of the exhibition, built attainable with funding and support from the Lucy Hargrett Draper Heart and Archives for the Research of Girls in Record and Legislation.

In March, Madelyn Shaw, retired curator of textiles for the National Museum of American Heritage, element of the Smithsonian Establishment, will be part of Callahan in a dialogue about style in the context of political actions. Shaw’s lecture, titled “Camelot to Counterculture: Clothing & Society in the 1960s,” is scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday, March 3, in the Exclusive Collections Making auditorium. The function is co-sponsored by the UGA Press and the College or university of Household and Shopper Sciences.

In addition to gallery tours scheduled for 2 p.m. on Feb. 1, March 1 and April 5, the group is invited to a Household Working day occasion showcasing children’s things to do from 1 to 4 p.m. March 26. In addition, the UGA Style Layout College student Affiliation will existing a spring style exhibit encouraged by Welch’s styles at the Particular Collections Making on April 14.

“Frankie Welch’s Americana: Vogue, Scarves, and Politics” will remain on exhibit in the Hargrett Library gallery through July 8.

The galleries at the Particular Collections Libraries, situated on the University of Georgia campus in Athens, are open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays, with extended night hrs till 7 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays this spring. For far more details or to program a tour, visit libs.uga.edu/scl.

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2,800 US flights canceled for Saturday, as winter storm is set to pummel East Coast

In accordance to FlightAware, extra than 2,800 flights in just, into or out of the United States are canceled Saturday, with East Coast hubs getting the most influenced.
Boston’s Logan airport, which is a hub city for JetBlue and Delta Air Traces (DAL), has 300 cancellations. For Saturday, JetBlue (JBLU) has axed 50{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} of its program. About 17{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} of American’s plan and 18{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} of United’s (UAL) routine for Saturday has also been canceled.

Republic Airways, a feeder carrier that operates flights under the names American Eagle, Delta Connection, and United Specific, has canceled 60{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} of its agenda Saturday.

New York airports, including John F. Kennedy and LaGuardia, have extra than 600 cancellations mixed. Both of those of individuals airports have sizable functions for Delta, JetBlue and American (AAL). Newark Liberty in New Jersey, which is United’s hub, has 267 cancellations.

Delta, JetBlue and United equally have issued journey waivers enabling travelers flying from various East Coast airports to rebook with out shelling out the fare variation.

“Delta’s meteorology group in the airline’s operation and client centre will go on to keep track of the wintertime climate and make tactical changes as desired,” the airline said.

An American Airlines spokesperson mentioned that the storm is “expected to have a sizeable effect on our Northeast procedure, specially at Boston Logan International Airport.”

More than 1,000 cancellations were being recorded Friday with the most happening at Chicago O’Hare.

The path of this weekend’s nor’easter is getting to be clearer as 75 million individuals from the Southeast to New England may well confront dangerously weighty snow and winds approaching hurricane intensity with the probable to knock out electrical power, flood coastal regions and seriously impair journey, forecasts display.

The storm is expected to unleash a double whammy of heavy snowfall and robust winds during pieces of the Northeast, but the actual effects across the area stays in dilemma.

“This storm is very likely to improve at a rate, and to an depth, equivalent to only the most impressive hurricanes, so the superior-conclusion probable of this storm are not able to be overstated,” CNN meteorologist Brandon Miller explained. “But with nor’easters, like in real estate, it will all arrive down to site, site, area.”

It is been a miserable couple weeks to be an airline traveler. Wintertime weather and Omicron surges left 20,000 US flights canceled more than the occupied vacation vacation year. As vacation picked up, staffing cuts also remaining airways with fewer staff than they had before the pandemic.
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Feelings of fatigue may indicate earlier mortality in older adults

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New analysis finds a hyperlink between inner thoughts of fatigue and previously mortality in more mature people. Sergey Narevskih/Stocksy
  • An older person’s tiredness amounts immediately after enterprise specified things to do for a specified amount of time can predict the probability that the individual’s loss of life is significantly less than 3 yrs away.
  • Older older people who scored the optimum on the Pittsburgh Fatigability Scale (PFS) were more than two times as most likely to die in the subsequent 2.7 several years in contrast to their counterparts who scored reduce.
  • The study’s authors administered the Pittsburgh Fatigability Scale to nearly 3,000 members age 60 or older.

Even though functioning on a analyze over 10 several years back, Dr. Nancy W. Glynn, an associate professor in the Section of Epidemiology at the College of Pittsburgh’s Graduate School of Public Wellbeing, recognized that scientists and wellbeing practitioners lacked a trusted device for measuring fatigability. She defines fatigability as “whole-system tiredness anchored to quantifiable routines.”

At that time, Dr. Glynn discussed to Health-related Information Today, the tools for measuring fatigue questioned persons basic inquiries like, “How exhausted are you?” or “How weak do you experience?”

“We truly needed to measure exhaustion far more exactly in our investigation assignments,” Dr. Glynn stated. “When a resource doesn’t exist, you produce it your self.”

By 2014, Dr. Glynn experienced developed the Pittsburgh Fatigability Scale (PFS). It is at the moment accessible in 12 distinctive languages.

The PFS is a 10-concern, self-administered questionnaire that appears to be at actual physical and psychological tiredness connected to routines of fastened depth and duration in grownups age 60 and older. The PFS asks respondents to amount issues these as “how fatigued do you come to feel following having a brisk walk for an hour?” and “how fatigued do you sense after looking at Television for 2 hrs?”

More than the last quite a few years, Dr. Glynn and other researchers have done a number of experiments applying the PFS. Most just lately, Dr. Glynn served as guide author on exploration printed in the Journal of Gerontology: Sequence A, which located that more mature older people who felt particularly fatigued when enterprise many activities were far more possible to die inside of the subsequent 3 several years.

The scientists say the analyze is the first to “establish perceived physical fatigability as an indicator of earlier mortality.”

Dr. Glynn and the other authors of the review appeared at about 3,000 individuals, ranging in age from 60 to 108, who have been collaborating in the Extensive Life Loved ones Research. This global study follows relatives customers across two generations. Individuals answered the thoughts on the PFS.

The signify age of participants was 73.5. In excess of half of the participants were being women of all ages and 99.5{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} ended up white.

Participants rated their tiredness from (no fatigue) to 5 (severe fatigue) for how they expected to experience next certain activities. Questionnaires with greater scores indicated better perceived actual physical fatigability.

Info-amassing do the job concluded at the stop of 2019 to stay clear of mortality effect from the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, the review accounted for components that could possibly impact mortality, like melancholy and pre-present circumstances.

On average, every participant provided 2.7 yrs of knowledge. About 10{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} of participants died by the conclusion of the adhere to-up period of time.

Scientists found respondents who scored 25 points or larger on the PFS ended up 2.3 moments extra very likely than those who scored beneath 25 to die in the subsequent 2.7 several years right after completing the scale.

To begin with, Dr. Glynn explained to MNT, she was not confident of the character of the romantic relationship among fatigability and mortality.

“It’s pretty tough to know if it’s the hen or the egg,” she said. “Does bodily exercise impact fatigability, and then men and women turn into functionally impaired? […] Or […] is it the other direction? Are you fatigued, or there is anything that’s creating you fatigued and then it […] leads to reduced bodily exercise?”

Dr. Glynn and other scientists attempted to response that issue with distinctive research tasks, including a 2021 examine that found that amplified action amounts led to reductions in bodily fatigability.

“That certainly factors to the reality that physical action may well be a really practical modality to lessen fatigability,” Dr. Glynn advised MNT.

According to Dr. Scott Kaiser, director of geriatric cognitive well being for the Pacific Neuroscience Institute at Providence Saint John’s Wellbeing Heart, the very good information is that there is hope for older grown ups enduring frequent exhaustion.

“That’s anything you can modify, proper?” he instructed MNT. “If you are out of shape, you can get in shape.”

Dr. Glynn hopes to make exercise recipes for folks hunting to raise their stamina.

“My top objective would be to style a actual physical activity intervention aimed at lessening fatigability so that we really can quantify and pinpoint the style, dose, and frequency essential to cut down fatigability in more mature grown ups.”

– Dr. Glynn

Dr. Kaiser appreciates the relieve of working with the PFS in a clinical location. “It’s possible, it does not demand loads of extravagant technological innovation, does not need a large lift, and individuals can notify you how they’re accomplishing.”

In certain, he likes that the scale asks pretty certain issues. Right after all, “Do you get worn out gardening?” usually means just one detail to a human being who ordinarily fusses about flower beds for 7 several hours at a stretch and an additional for the specific who rarely does much more than invest 30 minutes mowing a patch of grass.

“This form of standardizes factors,” he mentioned.

One particular limitation of the examine is that virtually all members have been white, the two Glynn and Dr. Kaiser acknowledged.

“There could be ethnic and cultural parts to how folks report their exhaustion,” Dr. Kaiser told MNT.

With long run perform, Glynn hopes to glance at whether fatiguability predicts a increased threat of dying in a far more various group. “I would believe that the consequence would probably keep in other cohorts,” she said.

Dr. Glynn hopes her investigation potential customers to more health care practitioners speaking about fatigability.

“It’s largely not resolved by clinicians in actual physical exams,” she explained. “People should not have to just are living with it.”

Dr. Kaiser extra that fatigability is also a thing persons should think about when they periodically verify in on their bodies to evaluate their health and fitness.

“Being easily fatigued can be extra to that listing of potential warning indicators,” he explained. “Then you know it’s time to act.”

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‘Jeopardy!’ champ Amy Schneider finally loses after 40-game streak

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Doctors in Canada sought more mental health support during COVID-19

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Humber River Hospital’s Intensive Care Unit, in Toronto, Canada, on April 28, 2020. COLE BURSTON/Getty Images
  • An observational study examined data from around 34,000 physicians in Ottawa, Canada.
  • Researchers found physicians participated in nearly 26{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} more mental health and substance use visits during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic compared to the year prior.
  • The study team believes the increase is attributable to both increased stressors during the pandemic and additional access to mental health services through virtual outpatient options.

There is no denying the fact the COVID-19 pandemic has had an impact on the mental health of people worldwide. A recent study found the pandemic increased cases of major depressive disorder by 53 million and anxiety disorders by 76 million globally.

But for those working on the front lines of the pandemic — such as healthcare workers — how has the situation affected their mental health?

A team of researchers from the University of Ottawa Department of Family Medicine and The Ottawa Hospital in Canada is helping answer that question. Their new study has found a link between the pandemic and the number of outpatient healthcare visits physicians participated in for mental health and substance use concerns.

Researchers believe their study results will help shed light on the need for increased mental health services for the medical community.

The results from this population-based cohort study appear in JAMA Open Network.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, studies showed an elevated rate of mental health issues among healthcare workers. One such study in 2015 found resident physicians were at high risk for depression. Another study in 2018 examined burnout among United States healthcare professionals, finding over one-half of physicians and one-third of nurses had symptoms affecting their mental health.

Interestingly, other studies have linked higher levels of substance misuse issues to healthcare professionals. According to American Addiction Centers, approximately 4.4{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} of medical workers have a problem with heavy alcohol consumption. And about 5.5{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} of healthcare personnel experience illicit drug use.

Dr. Daniel Myran, a family physician, public health and preventive medicine specialist, and postdoctoral fellow at the University of Ottawa Department of Family Medicine and The Ottawa Hospital, is the lead author of this current study.

According to him, multiple surveys have found high levels of mental distress in healthcare workers, including physicians, during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“However, because these surveys generally look at one or two points in time, it limits our understanding of whether these concerning rates of mental distress reflect a worsening during COVID-19 or reflect pre-pandemic baselines,” Dr. Myran told Medical News Today. “In addition, most surveys have low response rates, which raises concerns that their results may not represent the overall mental health of physicians.”

The team addressed this by taking an alternative approach, looking at changes in mental health care-related visits that physicians made during the pandemic. “Because we were able to follow mental health visits before and during the pandemic, we were able to quantify how visits changed over time,” Dr. Myran explained.

Dr. Myran and his team conducted a population-based cohort study of 34,055 physicians, fellows, and residents registered with the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario between 1990 and 2018. All study participants were eligible for the Ontario Health Insurance Plan. The researchers collected the data from the Ontario Health Insurance Plan from March 2017 to March 2021.

During the study, researchers examined all in-person and virtual outpatient visits via telemedicine to either a psychiatrist or primary care physician. Researchers considered all psychiatry visits mental health or substance use-related medical visits. In their study, the team also included any visits to a primary care physician that included a diagnostic or fee code related to mental health or substance use.

The research team also investigated specific demographic characteristics, including:

  • age
  • sex
  • residence, whether urban or rural
  • previous mental health history

According to the study, data on race and ethnicity was not available. And the researchers also looked at the data by physician specialty to see if a specific area of the healthcare industry was more prone to mental health concerns.

According to the study results, physicians participated in 29,460 mental health visits during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This is almost a 26{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} increase compared to the 23,574 mental health care visits physicians made the year prior.

When looking at mental health visits, researchers found anxiety was a frequent cause in both the first year of COVID-19 and the year before. Indeed, anxiety visit frequency increased during the first year of COVID-19 from 66.5{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} to 69.1{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809}.

Researchers found that drug and alcohol-related visits saw a slight decline to 5.8{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} during the first year of COVID-19 from 7.4{cfdf3f5372635aeb15fd3e2aecc7cb5d7150695e02bd72e0a44f1581164ad809} the year before.

When looking at demographic information, researchers reported female medical professionals and healthcare workers in urban areas had a larger percentage of mental health and substance use visits. And among physician specialties, psychiatrists had the highest number of mental health care visits during the first year of COVID-19, while surgeons had the lowest.

The research team also reported that physicians without a history of mental health issues or substance misuse had the largest increase in the rate of visits compared to physicians with such a history. “This finding may reflect how the pandemic created new and highly stressful challenges for physicians,” Dr. Myran explained.

“These challenges may have caused a deterioration in the mental health of doctors who otherwise never would have needed care.”

“Another possibility is that changes in how health services were offered during COVID-19 — offering virtual mental health care — decreased important barriers to access for some physicians who used this opportunity to seek care for preexisting mental health concerns that they had never sought treatment for before,” Dr. Myran added.

In general, Dr. Myran believes the increased access to virtual options through telemedicine may partially explain the overall increase in mental health visits during the COVID-19 pandemic. “Physicians with mental health concerns that pre-dated COVID-19 may have used these services during the pandemic, as they were more accessible and less visible, reducing concerns over stigma,” he said.

Dr. Myran feels this research helps support the continuation of virtual mental health and substance use medical care for healthcare workers.

“While we suspect that much of the increase in visits during the pandemic is related to increased stressors and challenges, some of this increase may be related to better mental health access and reduced stigma.”

– Dr. Myran

“Ongoing access to virtual care services may be an important component of a post-pandemic mental health strategy aimed at improving the mental health of physicians and health care workers.”

Dr. Ken Duckworth, chief medical officer of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), agrees. “It doesn’t surprise me that doctors are taking advantage of (teletherapy) — there’s probably no time in the middle of a busy day to see a mental health practitioner,” he told MNT.

“The pandemic represented this tremendous switch being flipped towards the understanding that teletherapy is a safe way to deliver effective care. Teletherapy is the silver lining to this really dark cloud we’re dealing with.”

Dr. Duckworth views this study’s findings as positive, as they show a change in the “old school” mentality that doctors would ever need or require help. “The idea of physicians accepting help, discussing their vulnerabilities, taking care of themselves under stress, so they can take good care of other people is to me, a very positive development,” he said.

“The stressors of the pandemic are clear — they impact anybody who’s in a frontline role. I would be very distressed if the finding was that physicians in the context of the pandemic were not seeking mental health and addiction support.”

As for the next steps, Dr. Myran plans to look at the time after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. “Our study only looked at the first year of the pandemic, but the situation now is very different than it was a year ago,” he said.

“We plan on continuing to understand the longer-term changes in mental health visits in physicians during the pandemic. We are also interested in understanding predictors of mental health care use by physicians so that services and interventions can be better targeted to meet physician needs.”

Dr. Duckworth added he would like to see a study of this type conducted for United States physicians. And for frontline workers seeking mental health resources, he suggests visiting the Frontline Wellness section of NAMI’s website for free, confidential resources for all frontline workers, including healthcare professionals.