The AP (9/18) writes that “a new report says substance use and misuse among troops and their families has become a ‘public health crisis’ and that Pentagon methods for dealing with it are out-of-date.” The study, conducted by the Institute of Medicine, was requested by the Defense Department. Among its findings, “about 20 percent of active-duty service members reported they engaged in heavy drinking in 2008, the latest year for which data was available;” “Binge-drinking increased from 35 percent in 1998 to 47 percent in 2008;” and “the rate of medication misuse is rising.” Perhaps most troubling, the report also noted that “the armed forces’ programs and policies have not evolved to effectively address medication misuse and abuse.” One change the report suggested was the use of FDA-approved medication designed to combat addiction.

Related Links:

— “Study: Level of military substance abuse now a ‘public health crisis,’ Pentagon care outdated,”Associated Press, The Washington Post, September 17, 2012.

CNN (9/15, Enayati,) reported that “several recent studies underscore how critically important it is for those fighting” cancer “to learn how to combat stress.” For instance, in a study recently published in PLoS ONE, “a team of researchers led by Lorenzo Cohen, professor of general oncology and director of the Integrative Medicine Program at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, found that symptoms of depression among a group of patients with late-stage renal cell carcinoma were associated with an increased risk of death.” The primary “suspects in Cohen’s study: cortisol — also known as the ‘stress hormone’ — and inflammatory pathways.”

Related Links:

— “Stress, depression may affect cancer survival, “Amanda Enayati, CNN, September 14, 2012.

HealthDay (9/14, Dallas) reports that adolescents who are “new smokers suffer nearly all of the same negative psychological effects when they try to quit as people who’ve smoked for years,” according to an analysis published online Sept. 4 in the journal Nicotine and Tobacco Research. Scientists at Brown University Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies divided the study population, which ranged in “age from 13 to 19,” into three groups: “22 nonsmokers, 27 smokers who did not change their habit, and 47 smokers who avoided cigarettes for almost a full day.” They noted that the “teen smokers had about nine cigarettes each day for about two years”; and after quitting the habit, the researchers found that the teens “experienced the same withdrawal symptoms, smoking urges, negative mood swings and intense cravings as those recorded in adults.”

Study Links Secondhand Smoke To Memory Problems. HealthDay (9/14, Dallas) reported that secondhand smoke “has a negative effect on brain function,” according to a study published online “recently” in the journal Addiction. Over four and a half years, researchers at Northumbria University in the UK “compared a group of smokers” with one group of nonsmokers “exposed to secondhand smoke either at home or in a ‘smoking area’ for an average of 25 hours a week” and one group of nonsmokers not exposed to secondhand smoke. An “event-based memory test, which focuses on memory for future intentions” showed that nonsmokers in the secondhand smoke group “forgot almost 20 percent more” than did the other nonsmoking group; and smokers forgot “30 percent more than those who were not exposed to secondhand smoke.”

Related Links:

— “Quitting Smoking Just as Hard for Teens: Study, “Mary Elizabeth Dallas, HealthDay, September 14, 2012.

HealthDay (9/15, Dallas) reported that a new study appearing in the recent issue of the journal Medical Care found that “people who visit multiple doctors and pharmacies to get medications are at greater risk of dying from” a prescription medication overdose. According to the article, the researchers said that “drug-monitoring programs might help identify patients who engage in what’s known as ‘doctor shopping’ or ‘pharmacy shopping.'” Researchers in the study “identified nearly 700 people aged 18 and older who had died,” and “of these, about 25 percent were doctor shoppers, and nearly 17.5 percent were pharmacy shoppers.”

Related Links:

— “‘Doctor Shopping’ Tied to Fatal Prescription Drug Overdoses, “Mary Elizabeth Dallas, HealthDay, September 14, 2012.

MedPage Today (9/14, Phend) reports, “Cognitive behavioral therapy to tackle depression in heart failure patients can improve outcomes for both conditions, research” according to a study presented at the Heart Failure Society of America meeting. Investigators found that “talk therapy with biofeedback was associated with a 1.8-fold lower risk of cardiac hospitalization or death during 12 months of follow-up compared with usual care in a trial.” The researchers reported that “the difference in rates was substantial at 28.2% versus 38.2% with usual care and 39.7% with an extra attention control group.”

Related Links:

— “Depression Tx Boosts HF Outcomes, “Crystal Phend, Medpage Today, September 13, 2012.

HealthDay (9/14, Dotinga) reports, “New research suggests that Hispanic children with developmental delays often are undiagnosed, and both Hispanic and non-Hispanic kids who are diagnosed with developmental delays often actually have autism.” Investigators looked at data on more than 1,000 California children. The researchers found that, “of the Hispanic kids in the study, 6.3 percent had signs of developmental delay compared with 2.4 percent of non-Hispanics.” The investigators reported that, “of the children overall, about 19 percent who had been diagnosed with developmental delay actually appeared to have autism.” The findings are published in the journal Autism.

Related Links:

— “Improved Developmental Screening Urged for Hispanic Kids, “Randy Dotinga, HealthDay, September 13, 2012.

Medscape (9/14, Brauser) reports that “new research suggests that long-term psychotherapy can decrease defensiveness” in patients with psychiatric disorders. “The observational study, which included 21 adults with anxiety, depression, or personality disorders, showed significant changes in the participants’ defensiveness after roughly 2.5 years of dynamic psychotherapy.” The researchers reported that “these changes were then significantly associated with improvements in both symptoms and overall functioning 2.5 years later.”

HealthDay (9/14) reports, “Although depression affects about one-third of all stroke victims, male stroke survivors are more likely to become depressed than females, a small new study suggests.” Investigators followed “36 people who had a first stroke within the previous” three years. The researchers found that “uncertainty about health was strongly associated with greater depression for both men and women,” with the association being “stronger for the men.”

Related Links:

— “Men More Prone to Depression After Stroke: Study, “Mary Elizabeth Dallas, HealthDay, September 13, 2012.

HealthDay (9/13, Dallas) reports, “People who take medication for anxiety, depression or insomnia may be at greater risk of having a car accident than drivers not taking psychotropic” medications, according to a study published Sept. 13 in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology. After comparing medication “use in nearly 5,200 people involved in major car accidents with that of more than 31,000 similar people with no record of serious accidents,” the researchers concluded that physicians “should think about advising patients not to drive while taking these medications.”

Related Links:

— “Psych, Sleep Meds May Affect Driving, “Mary Elizabeth Dallas, HealthDay, September 12, 2012.

MedWire (9/13, Cowen) reports, “Higher levels of perceived stigma are associated with poorer functioning in patients with bipolar disorder (BD),” according to a study published in the Oct. Issue of the Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing. After studying “60 outpatients (73% women) with BD who were aged an average of 48 years,” researchers “also found that increased depressive symptoms, older age at diagnosis, and older age at onset of treatment were significantly associated with poorer functioning in patients with the mood disorder.”

Related Links:

— “Stigma impacts functioning in bipolar disorder, “Mark Cowen, MedWire News, September 13, 2012.