Healio (2/11, Gramigna) reports, “Shorter sleep duration among children was associated with increased risk for depression, anxiety, impulsive behavior and poor cognitive performance,” investigators concluded after examining “data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study, which included structural MRI data from 11,067 individuals aged 9 to 11 years.” The findings were published online Feb. 3 in the journal Molecular Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Children with less sleep experience increased depression, anxiety, decreased cognitive performance, “Joe Gramigna, Healio, February 11, 2020

CNN (2/11, Lamotte) reports that a study published in Lancet Psychiatry suggests that “even light exercise may help protect children against developing depression.” The study “found that 60 minutes of simple movement each day at age 12 was linked to an average 10% reduction in depression at age 18,” with the types of movement ranging “from running and biking to walking, doing chores, painting or playing an instrument.”

HealthDay (2/11, Preidt) reports in the study, “more than 4,200 participants in England wore devices that tracked their movement for at least 10 hours over at least three days when they were ages 12, 14 and 16.”

Related Links:

— “Keep your teen moving to reduce risk of depression, study says, “Sandee LaMotte, CNN, February 11, 2020

HealthDay (2/10, Mundell) reports, “Smartphones, and being on Facebook, Snapchat, TikTok and the like may be taking a big toll on teens’ mental health,” investigators concluded after poring “over dozens of studies.” The findings of the multi-study analysis were published online Feb. 10 in CMAJ.

Related Links:

— “More Evidence Links Social Media Use to Poorer Mental Health in Teens, “E.J. Mundell, HealthDay , February 10, 2020

Reuters (2/10, Rapaport) reports, “Youth suicide rates are dropping in the U.S., but the proportion of teens who have suicidal thoughts or make an attempt remains consistently higher among sexual minorities than among heterosexual young people,” research indicated.

MedPage Today (2/10, Hlavinka) reports, “Substantial recent increases in the percentage of teens and young adults reporting they are not heterosexual were accompanied by a decline in suicide attempts among sexual minority youth,” investigators concluded after examining “survey data” derived from “Massachusetts high schoolers who participated in the federal Youth Risk Behavioral Surveillance Survey” for the years 2009 to 2017. Specifically, those data revealed that “the proportion of adolescents disclosing a minority sexual orientation in 2017 was 14.3%, up from 7.3% in 2009,” while “during the same period, suicide attempts declined among sexual minority as well as heterosexual youth.” Even so, “sexual minorities were still significantly more likely than heterosexual youth to attempt suicide in every year of the study,” research revealed. The findings were published online Feb. 10 in Pediatrics.

Related Links:

— “Suicide rates fall among sexual-minority youth but still outpace heterosexual peers, “Lisa Rapaport, Reuters, February 10, 2020

Medscape (2/10, Yasgur, Subscription Publication) reports, “A national shortage of psychiatric services means a growing number of US emergency departments (ED) are turning to telepsychiatry to fill a critical treatment gap,” data indicate. After surveying “over 5300 EDs,” researchers “found that 20% of those that responded to the survey were utilizing telepsychiatry services, especially in high-volume EDs, those located in rural areas, and those designated as critical access hospitals.” Next, “a second survey of 95 EDs conducted by the same group found that for the majority, telepsychiatry was the only form of emergency psychiatry services, with one quarter receiving such services at least once a day – especially in admission or discharge decisions and transfer coordination.” The authors concluded this suggests that “telepsychiatry fills a critical role by enabling many EDs to access emergency psychiatric services.” The findings were published online Feb. 5 in Psychiatric Services, a publication of the American Psychiatric Association.

Related Links:

— “Telepsychiatry Filling a Critical Gap in US Emergency Care, “Batya Swift Yasgur, Medscape, February 10, 2020