U.S. Preventive Services Task Force Highlights High-Priority Evidence Gaps in 2019 Report to Congress

WASHINGTON, D.C. – November 13, 2019 – Today, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (Task
Force) released its ninth annual Report to Congress, highlighting research gaps from recent
recommendations related to prevention of mental illness, substance use, and violence. Topics
highlighted in the report include:
• Perinatal Depression: Preventive Interventions
• Unhealthy Alcohol Use in Adolescents and Adults: Screening and Behavioral Counseling
Interventions
• Tobacco Use Prevention and Cessation in Children and Adolescents: Primary Care
Interventions
• Illicit Drug Use, Including Nonmedical Use of Prescription Drug Use in Adolescents and Adults:
Screening by Asking About Drug Use
• Intimate Partner Violence, Elder Abuse, and Abuse of Vulnerable Adults: Screening
• Child Maltreatment: Interventions
“This year’s report highlights important gaps in the current evidence on how primary care clinicians can
help their patients prevent mental illness, substance use, and violence,” says Task Force chair Douglas
K. Owens, M.D., M.S. “The focus of this report is particularly timely given the substance use epidemic
in our country and the growing attention on the role of primary care in helping to address social factors
that impact health.”
Conditions related to mental illness, substance use, and violence can increase the risk for other
diseases, such as diabetes, heart disease, and cancer, as well as death. Prevention of these health
issues is essential, and primary care plays an important role. Future research in these areas can help
fill evidence gaps and may result in new recommendations that will help to improve the health of
Americans.