The Washington Post (4/3, Andrews) reports that “depression often goes undiagnosed in the elderly, who feel the stigma of mental illness more acutely than younger people and are often less likely to seek help,” but “the situation may be changing,” because “in October, Medicare began to cover annual depression screening in primary-care settings with no cost sharing for beneficiaries.” The piece notes that “the landscape should change as policymakers and insurers increasingly offer incentives to primary care physicians to transform their practices into medical homes for their patients and reward [clinicians] for better disease control rather than simply running tests and doing procedures.”

Related Links:

— “Depression often goes undiagnosed, but new Medicare benefit may change that,”Michelle Andrews, The Washington Post, April 2, 2012.

The New York Times (4/3, Brody) “Well” blog points out that according to a “report being released Tuesday by Safe Horizon, a victim assistance group that operates child advocacy centers in New York City, and the Childhood Violent Trauma Center at Yale University, children who are abused or neglected are 59 percent more likely than those who were not victimized to be arrested as juveniles, 28 percent more likely to be arrested as adults, and 30 percent more likely to commit a violent crime.” What’s more, these youngsters “face much higher rates of teenage pregnancy and are likelier to abuse or neglect their own children,” the report concludes. However, a special program involving “just four to six structured sessions with trained clinicians” involving both the traumatized children and their caregivers may help ameliorate the children’s symptoms.

Related Links:

— “A Brief Therapy Heals Trauma in Children,”Jane E. Brody, The New York Times, April 2, 2012.

In “Vital Signs,” the New York Times (4/3, D6, Bakalar, Subscription Publication) reports, “Snorting and stopping breathing during sleep are associated with depression, even in people whose symptoms do not meet the criteria for a diagnosis of obstructive sleep apnea,” according to a study published in the April issue of the journal Sleep. After studying “9,714 men and women participating in an ongoing national health survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,” researchers found that “among those with a diagnosis of obstructive sleep apnea, depression was more than twice as common among men and more than five times as common among women, compared with those who did not have the condition.”

Related Links:

— “Hazards: Mild Sleep Disorders Tied to Depression,”Nicholas Bakalar, The New York Times, April 2, 2012.

Bloomberg News (4/3, Ostrow) reports, “The 15 percent of US high school seniors who abuse alcohol and drugs first began using them at age 14 or 15,” according to a study published online April 2 in the Archives of General Psychiatry. Adolescents “whose substance abuse caused problems socially, in school or with the law, started drinking or doing drugs when they were 14 or 15 years old, the research found. By the time kids reach age 18, almost half consumed at least 12 drinks a year and 15 percent were abusers, according to the report.”

HealthDay (4/3, Preidt) points out that after analyzing “data from a US survey of more than 10,000 teens between the ages of 13 and 18,” researchers found that “more than 78 percent of the oldest teens had consumed alcohol, about 47 percent consumed at least 12 drinks a year, and about 15 percent met the criteria for alcohol abuse.” In addition, the study “found that 81.4 percent of the oldest teens reported the opportunity to use illicit drugs, 42.5 percent used drugs, and 16.4 percent were drug abusers.” Reuters (4/3, Seaman) also covers the story.

Related Links:

— “High School Substance Abusers Start Using at Age 14, Study Finds,”Nicole Ostrow, Bloomberg, April 2, 2012.

The Washington Post (4/1, A4, Brown) reported, “Numerous studies have shown that repeated deployment is a ‘risk factor’ for” post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). For example, a study published in the March issue of the American Journal of Public Health “examined the experience of 66,000 Marines who served in Iraq. Those with two deployments had almost twice the rate of PTSD as those deployed once.”

PTSD Susceptibility May Be Partially Determined By Gene Variants. BBC News (4/2) reports, “Susceptibility to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) could be partially determined by gene variants,” according to a study published in the Journal of Affective Disorders. After examining “DNA from 200 members of 12 families who survived the 1988 Armenian earthquake,” researchers found that “those who carried two gene variants which affect the production of serotonin — which affects mood and behaviour — were more likely to display symptoms of PTSD.”

Related Links:

— “Link between PTSD and violent behavior is weak,”David Brown, The Washington Post, March 31, 2012.

MedPage Today (4/1, Smith) reported, “People said they would pay more to avoid some serious medical conditions than they would to avoid severe mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia and depression,” according to survey results published in the April issue of the journal Psychiatric Services. In the survey involving some 1,000 randomly chosen US adults, “respondents recognized that the two mental conditions had a health burden comparable to or higher than diabetes, below-the-knee amputation or partial blindness, according to Dylan Smith, PhD, of Stony Brook University in Stony Brook, NY, and colleagues.” Notably, “for a comparable benefit in terms of quality of life, participants in the study were willing to pay about 40% less to avoid the psychiatric illnesses,” the study authors reported.

Related Links:

— “Mental Illness Devalued in Survey,” Michael Smith, MedPage Today, March 31, 2012.