USA Today (5/17, Zoroya) reports that the US Army is “launching a servicewide review of mental health cases dating back to 2001 to ensure that soldiers suffering a behavioral health illness were not denied appropriate medical retirement benefits. The move by Army Secretary John McHugh and Gen. Raymond Odierno, Army chief of staff, comes after findings this year that several” post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) diagnoses at Madigan Army Medical Center “were wrongfully reduced to lesser illnesses during medical retirement evaluations.”

The Washington Post (5/17, Vogel) reports, “The Army’s review of 400 cases” at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, where Madigan Army Medical Center is located, “has led to more than 100 service members having their PTSD diagnoses restored. The controversy stems from the work of a special forensic psychiatric team that in 2007 began evaluating mental health diagnoses of service members preparing to leave the military. The screening team reversed at least 290 PTSD diagnoses made by the military or the Department of Veterans Affairs.”

Related Links:

— “Army reviews mental health cases going back to 2001,”Gregg Zoroya, USA Today, May 17, 2012.

The Huffington Post (5/16, Ruiz) reports, “Drew McWilliams, a clinician and the Chief Operating Officer at Morrison Child and Family Services in Portland, Ore.,” reported that “his clinic has seen an increasing number of children suffering anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder” as their families endure “the stress borne of persistent financial insecurity.” The National Institute of Mental Health’s Christopher Sarampote said, “Kids who face adversity have highs and lows, strengths and weaknesses,” adding, “Parents can really be strong agents of change.” Sarampote also “cautions that the research is emerging and much remains unknown.”

Related Links:

— “Children’s Mental Health At Risk From Chronic Financial Instability,”Rebecca Ruiz, Huffington Post, May 16, 2012.

USA Today (5/16, Hellmich) reports, “Education may not only improve a person’s finances, it is also linked to better health habits and a longer life,” according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics. Individuals “who have a bachelor’s degree or higher live about nine years longer than those who don’t graduate from high school, according to” the report. According to Amy Bernstein, the lead author of the report and a health services researcher for the National Center for Health Statistics, “Highly educated people tend to have healthier behaviors, avoid unhealthy ones and have more access to medical care when they need it.” Bernstein added, “All of these factors are associated with better health.”

Related Links:

— “Higher education linked to longer life, CDC report shows,”Nanci Hellmich, USA Today, May 16, 2012.

MedWire (5/16, Cowen) reports that a study published in the May issue of the journal Bipolar Disorders indicates that “patients with bipolar I disorder (BD I) experience more severe major depressive episodes (MDEs) than those with bipolar II disorder (BD II), who, in turn, experience more severe episodes than patients with major depressive disorder (MDD).” These “findings come from a study of 935 individuals with BD I, 494 with BD II, and 5,695 with MDD who participated in the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (2001-2002) — a nationally representative survey of more than 43,000 US adults.”

Related Links:

— “Research supports continuum of depressive clinical syndromes,”Mark Cowen, MedWire News, May 16, 2012.

The announcement of the first National Alzheimer’s Plan sparked very heavy coverage in print and online news sources, with at least one story appearing on a national newspaper’s front page. In addition, the story led two of the major nightly broadcasts, with nearly 8 minutes of total coverage. Reporters highlighted positive reaction to the plan from lawmakers, scientists, and experts.

The CBS Evening News (5/15, lead story, 2:50, Pelley) reported, “Good evening, Alzheimer’s disease cannot be cured but can it be prevented? Today the government announced a major study to test a prevention drug in just one family. Prevention is almost impossible to measure because scientists can never know which healthy people will develop the disease. But now they have found one family in which nearly everyone develops Alzheimer’s.”

NBC Nightly News (5/15, lead story, 3:15, Williams) reported, “Today the government announced the details of a national plan to confront the affliction that threatens to overwhelm the nation’s health and social services.” Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services, was shown saying: “The breakthroughs leading to treatments have been slow in coming. We’ve yet to harness the right formula for drug development. And clinical trial results continue to be disappointing.”

ABC World News (5/15, story 3, 2:20, Sawyer) reported, “A race to save generations now has a deadline — 2025. And the government will spend millions to test treatments.” Dr. Francis Collins, Director, National Institutes of Health: “We’ve learned more about this disease in the last couple of years than probably ever before. Now the goal is to take that and translate it into interventions.”

The AP (5/16) reports that HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on Tuesday announced the first National Alzheimer’s Plan that, among other things, includes a new website for families seeking information about dementia and places to get help in their communities. Sebelius said, “What we know is a lot more needs to be done and it needs to be done right now, because people with Alzheimer’s disease and their loved ones and caregivers need help right now.” National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Francis Collins “told a meeting of the world’s top Alzheimer’s scientists — gathered to decide the top priorities to help meet that ambitious goal of better treatments, perhaps even ways to stall the disease, by 2025.” For example, the NIH “will spend an extra $50 million on Alzheimer’s research this year, and among the new studies of possible therapies is a nasal spray that sends insulin straight to the brain.”

Related Links:

— “Obama administration unveils timeline to improve Alzheimer’s care,”Associated Press, Detroit Free Press, May 15, 2012.

The New York Times (5/12, A11, Urbina, Subscription Publication) reported that “psychiatrists and other specialists who are rewriting the manual that serves as the nation’s arbiter of mental illness have agreed to revise the definition of addiction, which could result in millions more people being diagnosed as addicts and pose huge consequences for health insurers and taxpayers.” The new “revision to the manual, known as the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or DSM, would expand the list of recognized symptoms for drug and alcohol addiction, while also reducing the number of symptoms required for a diagnosis, according to proposed changes posted on the website of the American Psychiatric Association, which produces the book.” The Times added, “The broader language involving addiction, which was debated this week at the association’s annual conference, is intended to promote more accurate diagnoses, earlier intervention and better outcomes, the association said.”

Related Links:

— “Addiction Diagnoses May Rise Under Guideline Changes,”Ian Urbina, The New York Times, May 11, 2012.

MedWire (5/12, Mahendra) reported, “Sixteen-year-olds are at the highest risk for misusing prescription pain relievers,” according to a study published online May 7 in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. After analyzing data on some 119,877 teens and young adults, researchers found that “that approximately one in 60 individuals aged between 12 and 21 years used prescription pain relievers for extramedical purposes.” Notably, “the peak risk for extramedical pain reliever prescription use was highest at the age of 16 years in all participants, with approximately one in 30-40 using pain relievers to get high.”

Related Links:

— “Pain-reliever abuse risk highest among 16-year-olds,”Piriya Mahendra, MedWire News, May 11, 2012.

The AP (5/9) reported, “A new public education campaign in Iowa is warning teenagers and their parents of the dangers of synthetic drugs, which are created to mimic marijuana, cocaine and other illegal substances. Officials from law enforcement, public health and drug control policy announced the Speak Out Against Synthetic Drugs campaign on Monday.” Indeed, the state “bans several forms of synthetic drugs, but new varieties that skirt the state’s definition and retain all the potent effects continue to pop up.”

Related Links:

— “Campaign warns of dangers of evolving synthetic drugs,”AP , Omaha World Herald, May 9, 2012.

The AP (5/9) reports, “New York regulators have fined 15 insurers $2.7 million for failing to notify small businesses they were eligible to buy special coverage for mental illnesses and children with serious emotional disturbances. Superintendent of Financial Services Benjamin Lawsky says they are the first fines under Timothy’s Law,” which “requires insurers give small employers the option of purchasing the mental health benefits when they buy or renew basic health insurance plans.”

The Buffalo (NY) News (5/10, Epstein) reports, “State insurance regulators have fined 15 health insurers — including two in Western New York — a total of $2.7 million for failing to comply with the state’s Timothy’s Law requirement that they tell small businesses about mental health coverage options.” These are “the first-ever such penalties against insurers for violating the five-year-old mental health parity law, which became effective in 2007.” The companies “were cited by the Department of Financial Services because they didn’t inform clients that they could buy special insurance coverage for mental illnesses and children with serious emotional disturbances,” which is “a requirement of Timothy’s Law.”

Related Links:

— “NY fines 15 insurers over mental health notices,”AP, The Wall Street Journal, May 8, 2012.

Numerous publications, including the Los Angeles Times and the MSNBC website, run positive stories noting that Veterans Affairs is involved with a Facebook campaign that aims to prevent suicides in the veteran populations.
For example, the Los Angeles Times (5/10, Maltais) reports, “Facebook is connecting with military-support and service organizations to offer customized suicide-prevention services for veterans, active service members and their families.” In “conjunction with the Department of Veterans Affairs and the nonprofit organization Blue Star Families, Facebook has unveiled a literal lifeline within the site, with informational and response tools customized for service members and their families.”

On its website, MSNBC (5/10, Golijan) reports that Facebook will offer, “among other things, ways to reach the Veterans Crisis Line, which connects veterans (and their friends and families) to qualified” VA “responders via phone, online chat or text messaging.”

On its website, WRC-TV Washington (5/10, Roberts) points out, however, that “Facebook had already provided suicide prevention measures in the past through the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, but did not have the customized services that are now available to military families, personnel, and veterans.”

Related Links:

— “Facebook offers suicide-prevention lifeline for military families,”Michelle Maltais, Los Angeles Times, May 9, 2012.