Reuters (1/3, Rapaport) reported, “Children may learn from an early age when it’s appropriate to drink and how many drinks are okay from watching all the adults in their lives,” investigators concluded after asking “75 fathers and 83 mothers how common it would be for adults to drink in a range of situations like during a party, at work, while watching television or while driving,” then asking “359 unrelated children, ages 4 to 8, in which situations they thought it was common or appropriate for adults to drink.” The study also revealed that as children grew “older, they became increasingly aware of social norms surrounding alcohol consumption,” but “familiarity with alcohol might make kids more likely to start drinking earlier in life or lead to more frequent drinking.” The findings were published online in the journal Alcohol and Alcoholism.

Related Links:

— “Kids see you when you’re drinking, “Lisa Rapaport, Reuters, January 3, 2020

Reuters (1/3, Chander) reported, “People with mental illness get screened for cancer at much lower rates than the general population, which may contribute to higher rates of cancer deaths among the mentally ill, researchers say.” The disparities were found to be “greatest among women with schizophrenia, who were roughly half as likely as women in the general population to be screened for breast cancer.” The results were published online in The Lancet Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “People with mental illness less likely to get cancer screening, “Vishwadha Chander, Reuters Health, January 3, 2020

U.S. News & World Report (1/2, Newman) reports US adults “diagnosed with arthritis commonly reported frequent mental distress and depression in 2017, according to a new federal study.” Patients in Kentucky “reported the highest frequency of mental distress, those in Oklahoma had the highest history of depression, and those in Hawaii had the lowest prevalences for both.” Researchers “used the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s 2017 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System data to ‘estimate state-specific prevalence of frequent mental distress and history of depression among adults with arthritis’ in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, according to the study” published in CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Related Links:

— “Mental Distress Most Common Among Arthritic Adults in Appalachia, South, ” Katelyn Newman, U.S. News, January 2, 2020

The AP (1/1) reports that CMS has “approved Indiana’s request to use Medicaid funding to provide expanded services to residents diagnosed with serious mental illnesses.” The agency “authorized the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration to use those funds to pay for short term care for patients admitted at large institutions for mental disease, rather than continuing to limit treatment to facilities with fewer than 16 beds.”

Related Links:

— “US OKs Medicaid funds for large mental health facilities, AP, January , 2020

The Christian Science Monitor (12/31, Kuz) reported that currently, nearly “70% of veterans who take their own lives use a firearm…and one-third of former service members store guns loaded and unlocked in their homes.” Because of this, “the VA has sought to promote firearm safety as part of its campaign to reduce suicide risk, urging veterans to consider precautions that include gun locks, removing a gun’s firing pin, or storing firearms outside the home.” Such “safety measures can slow a person’s ability to follow through on suicidal thoughts and preempt an irrevocable choice, explains Matt Miller, the VA’s acting director for suicide prevention.”

Related Links:

— “Can veterans lead the way on preventing suicide?, ” Martin Kuz , The Christian Science Monitor, December 31, 2019