Visits to the emergency room related to mental health among young adults, teenagers, and children spiked between 2011 and 2020, according to the Journal of the American Medical Association. The annual number rose form 4.8 million to 7.5 million over that period, and much of the uptick was driven by a five-fold rise in suicide-related visits.
Alzheimer’s mainly affects the elderly, who are eligible for Medicare, but people under 65 — even, rarely, as young as their 30s — also can get diagnosed. They are more likely to have commercial coverage.
Some doctors say the drug should be held for three weeks before sedation to accommodate the delayed emptying of the stomach, which can cause patients to inhale food and liquid into their lungs.