In the New York Times (3/2) “The Checkup,” Perri Klass, MD, writes that “a prospective study published in the March issue of the journal The Lancet Psychiatry found that even light activity – and a corresponding decrease in the amount of time that kids spent being sedentary – was linked to better mental health as they” grew older. For the study, investigators “looked at the activity of adolescents at the ages of 12, 14 and 16, who were then assessed for depression at around 18.” The study revealed that “activity levels when kids were younger were linked to their mental health later on; the depression scores at 18 were lower for every additional 60 minutes per day of light activity at 12, 14 and 16, and higher for every additional sedentary hour.”

Related Links:

— “The Benefits of Exercise for Children’s Mental Health, “Perri Klass, The New York Times, March 2, 2020

HealthDay (3/2, Reinberg) reports fewer US teens are beginning drug and alcohol use “before their 16th birthday, a new study finds.” After examining data from the US National Survey on Drug Use and Health for 2004 to 2017, investigators “found that between 2004 and 2017, the age at which teens started drinking alcohol and smoking rose from 16 to 17 years.” At the same time, “the age for trying heroin went from 17 to 18, and for cocaine it increased from 18 to 19 years.” The findings were published online in JAMA Pediatrics.

Related Links:

— “U.S. Kids Waiting a Little Longer to Try Alcohol, Drugs, “Steven Reinberg, HealthDay, March 2, 2020

HealthDay (3/2, Norton) reports, “Of the medications that have been studied to treat problem marijuana use, none have proved effective,” researchers concluded. In their 26-trial review, investigators “found that no tested” medications, “including antidepressants, anxiety medication and synthetic cannabinoids, showed clear benefits for people with cannabis use disorder.” The findings were published online March 3 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Related Links:

— “Do Any Medications Help Ease Marijuana Dependence?, “Amy Norton, HealthDay, March 2, 2020

Psychiatric News (2/28) reported, “Fear of missing out – the fear that others may be having fun or rewarding experiences from which one is absent – may make adolescents more sensitive to feeling stress or negative emotions when their friends don’t react to their social media posts,” researchers concluded after studying “the relationships between fear of missing out…emotional symptoms, and social media addiction in 472 adolescents aged 11 to 19 years.” The findings were published online Feb. 27 in Addictive Behaviors.

Related Links:

— “Fear of Missing Out Linked to Adolescents’ Addiction to Social Media, Psychiatric News, February 28, 2020

Psychiatric News (2/27) reports, “Patients with opioid use disorder (OUD) who receive treatment with methadone or buprenorphine” appear to have an 80 percent “lower risk of dying from an opioid overdose compared with patients receiving nonmedication treatment,” researchers concluded after examining “outpatient substance use specialty treatment records from 48,274 patients in Maryland from 2015 to 2016 and” then cross-referencing “the data with opioid overdose death records.” The findings were published online Feb. 24 in the journal Addiction.

Related Links:

— “Medication Treatment for OUD Linked With 80% Lower Risk of Fatal Overdose, Psychiatric New, February 27, 2020

In a nearly 3,000-word special piece for USA Today (2/27), Alia E. Dastagir, a “recipient of a Rosalynn Carter fellowship for mental health journalism,” writes that according to “suicide prevention experts…outside of psychiatrists, the majority of mental health professionals have minimal to no formal training in how to effectively treat suicidal people.” In fact, “suicide-specific training is not commonly offered as part of college curriculums, optional post-graduate training opportunities are limited, costly and time-consuming, and experts say some therapists may not be aware they even need the education.”

Related Links:

— “We tell suicidal people to go to therapy. So why are therapists rarely trained in suicide?, “Alia E. Dastagir, USA TODAY, February 27, 2020

Newsweek (2/27, Gander) reports researchers at the University of Rochester examined “data on people who died of drug overdoses between 1999 to 2016 from a database kept by the National Center for Health Statistics in the U.S., which included a total of 632,331 cases,” and concluded that “the number of deaths linked to opioids in the U.S. over the past two decades could be almost 30 percent higher than previously thought.” The researchers published their findings in the journal Addiction.

Related Links:

— “Opioid-related deaths in the u.s. could be far higher than previously thought, study suggests, “Kashmira Gander, Newsweek, February 27, 2020

CNN (2/27, Rogers) reports, “Around one in six US youth ages six to 17 has a mental, behavioral or developmental disorder such as anxiety, depression or attention-deficit/hyperactive disorder,” researchers concluded in a research letter published last February in JAMA Pediatrics. However, “less than 20% of these youth receive the care they need, meaning many of them likely go into adulthood with undiagnosed mental illness.” Child psychologist Rebecca Berry, PhD, a “clinical associate professor in the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at New York University Langone Health,” stated, “It is important for parents to notice whether the behaviors are excessive, cause distress, are consistent and unrelenting and lead to problems in key life areas.”

Related Links:

— “Moodiness or more? How to tell if your kid’s suffering from a mental disorder, “Kristen Rogers, CNN, February 27, 2020

Reuters (2/26, Crist) reports that “parents of children with food allergies should acknowledge their kids’ anxiety, as well as their own, a group of allergy experts advises” in an article published in the Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. Dr. Ruchi Gupta, director of Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine’s Center for Food Allergy and Asthma Research and one of the authors of the article, said, “Coping with food allergies impacts relationship skills with peers and classmates, emerging independence and sense of self-efficacy, social skills and confidence, willingness to participate in sports teams, dating and more. Coping is an individual internal experience, too: Feelings of worry and anxiety can color all thinking and generate anxiety about many life experiences.”

Related Links:

— “Allergists offer advice to parents of kids with food allergies, “Carolyn Crist,  Reuters, February 26, 2020

Healio (2/26, Gramigna) reports, “A cognitive test identified individuals aged 100 years or older who had high levels of cognitive performance,” researchers concluded after analyzing data on “340 centenarians” whose cognition was evaluated by using the Mini-Mental State Examination. Investigators then “posited that investigation of these individuals may reveal the mechanisms underlying resilience against cognitive decline risk factors.” The findings were published online Feb. 26 in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “Centenarians with high cognitive test scores may ward off dementia, decline, “Joe Gramigna, Healio, February 26, 2020