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US Task Force Recommends All Adults Under 65 Be Screened for Anxiety

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The U.S. Preventative Services Task Force recommended that all physicians screen adult patients under 65 for anxiety. The move was motivated by the country’s mental health epidemic in the wake of the pandemic.

The USPSTF is a panel of medical experts appointed by the Department of Health and Human Services. The panel said the recommendation was brought forward to prevent mental health disorders from going undetected or untreated for a long time. Over the last few years, people were more stressed and depressed, and anxiety levels went through the roof.

Between August 2020 to February 2021, adults with symptoms of anxiety or depression increased from 36.4% to 41.5%. According to the World Health Organization, anxiety and depression increased by 25% worldwide. In 2021, 1 in 4 adults aged 18 to 44 received treatment for mental health.

The task force recognizes anxiety as “characterized by greater duration or intensity of a stress response over everyday events.”

Clinical psychologist Dr. Lori Pbert, who is on the task force, says that Americans have been remarkably stressed out after a series of stressors like COVID-19, inflation, death of loved ones, fear of illness and crime rates. According to the NYTimes and CNN, Dr. Pbert said, “our only hope is that our recommendations throw a spotlight on the need to create greater access to mental health care — and urgently.”

“Our hope is that by raising awareness of these issues and having recommendations for clinicians, that we’ll be able to help all adults in the United States, including those who experience disparities.”

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The task force lists generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder, and agoraphobia under the umbrella of anxiety conditions and recommends screening those who are not already diagnosed with a disorder. The panel also recommended that adults be screened for depression.

Mental health providers appreciated the recommendations but acknowledged that while screening tools are helpful, they are not a diagnosis, and subsequent testing is required to determine if an individual has a clinical disorder. A one-time screening may only be indicative of a temporary stressor. Providers also spoke on the lack of resources to address the issue on a wide scale.

Dr. Jeffrey Staab, a psychiatrist and chair of the department of psychiatry and psychology at Mayo Clinic, said the country is “short on mental health resources on all levels — psychiatrists, psychologists and therapists — that’s a real concern.”

“When providers say, ‘You must have a disorder, here, take this,’ we could face an overprescribing problem, but the opposite scenario is that we have lots of people suffering who shouldn’t be. Both outcomes are possible.”

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Dr. Pbert also said the task force’s research showed that people from minority groups are often overlooked in mental health research, contributing to continued systemic inequality both in and outside the medical field.

The primary care practice is currently a missed opportunity for screening. Black and Hispanic people are less likely to be treated for mental health conditions than white people and are more often misdiagnosed when they do receive care. Dr. Pbert said standardized screenings might help reduce those statistics by removing other factors like implicit bias.

The USPSTF made a similar recommendation for children earlier in the year. The task force set the age range to 65 and younger because older adults may produce positive screening results due to the natural aging effects such as fatigue and generalized pain.

The panel will finalize the draft after reviewing public comments and notes submitted before the Oct. 17 deadline. Though the recommendation is not mandatory, many physicians use the panel’s guidance to improve their standard of care.

Uber App

Uber Rides Take Economic Hit Amid Pandemic While Uber Eats Thrives 

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It makes sense that citizens would feel less comfortable than usual getting into a Uber that they know has been sat in by countless other customers in the middle of a global health crisis. Uber rides in general have still been occurring with stricter health and safety procedures enforced throughout the past few months, however, overall business is way down for the riding division of their company. 

The company’s goal pre-pandemic was to be “profitable on an adjusted basis before the end of 2021,” according to executives. They planned on meeting this goal by making accurate cuts to certain annual costs while also maintaining a strong balancing sheet in regard to fund distribution throughout Uber Technologies’ many departments. 

Thanks to the pandemic, however, in the second quarter of this year Uber reported an adjusted loss in earnings of $837 million while shares dropped by 2.9%. 

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In the past, Uber’s ride-hailing trips accounted for nearly 66% of the company’s total revenue. The revenue from the rides has increased 5% within the past month when compared to the drop in April, however, total gross bookings are down 75% from what it was in 2019. Dara Khosrowshahi is Uber’s Chief Executive Officer, and held a meeting for executive heads and analysts this week where she told them that if they want their rides to recover, it’s more so dependent on every country’s ability to contain the virus. 

It really is for the most part out of Uber’s hands, the same way economic recovery is out of every industry leader’s hands right now. The Coronavirus pandemic has made it relatively impossible for most businesses to run to the same extent that they were before. In Hong Kong and New Zealand specifically, ride-bookings for Uber has monumentally increased within the past month, as the two locations were both able to completely eradicate the virus from their citizens. 

“Trip requests in Germany, France, and Spain have improved like New Zealand. Our global geographic footprint remains a huge advantage.” 

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In April through June of this year Uber reported a $1.8 billion net loss, which included charges that related to laying off nearly 25% of their global workforce; which occurred during the initial height of cases in the US back in April. The United States is by far Uber’s largest market despite being located in so many other countries, so the fact that the US is also currently one of the most infected countries in the world is detrimental. 

Uber operates out of 69 countries and initially had over 99 million employees working on their own time through the app. Now, thanks to all the cuts amid the pandemic, that workforce has dropped down to 55 million employees. 

Second-quarter revenue for Uber Rides dropped 29% to $2.24 billion when compared to 2019’s second-quarter, however, Uber Eats nearly doubled their revenue to $1.2 billion. This is likely to the much greater demand for delivery food services since everyone is supposed to be staying home now anyway. Uber also announced last week that they acquired the rights to Postmates Inc., one of their greatest competitors in terms of delivery services, for $2.65 billion so that they could expand the Uber Eats business into delivering even more everyday items such as cleaning supplies, furniture, tools, and more!

Uber Eats has closed down some of the locations where they operate to make room for even more delivery services in more metropolitan areas such as New York City or Los Angeles. Uber executives in general believe that by further cutting costs they’ll  still be able to reach their 2021 goal especially with the way that Uber Eats is growing.