The AP (5/15) reports, In “response to gun violence,” President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden plan to host a mental health conference “June 3 at the White House.” Presidential spokesman Jay “Carney said attendees will include mental health advocates, health care” professionals, “faith leaders, government officials, educators and people who have experienced mental health problems.”

The Washington Times (5/16, Boyer) reports, “Mr. Carney also said the President ordered Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Education Secretary Arne Duncan to initiate a ‘national conversation’ about mental health as part of the administration’s effort to reduce gun violence.”

Related Links:

— “Obama planning June 3 mental health conference, “Associated Press, Boston.com, May 15, 2013.

Medscape (5/16, Harrison) reports, “A 10-minute office visit is not long enough to accurately assess toddlers with early signs of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) because they often display largely typical behaviors during such brief visits and the diagnosis is easy to miss,” according to a study presented at the 12th Annual International Meeting for Autism Research. After working with three groups of youngsters ranging in age from 15 to 33 months, researcher Terisa Gabrielsen, PhD, Center for Autism Research, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, said, “Our findings indicated that within a brief 10-minute window…toddlers with early signs of ASD do show some atypical behaviors, but the vast majority of their behavior was rated as pretty typical.”

The Salt Lake (UT) Tribune (5/16, Whitehurst) reports a study from the University of Utah believes “repeated traumatic brain injuries can significantly increase suicide risk for people in the military and the danger appears to continue throughout the soldier’s lifetime.” The report, published online Wednesday in JAMA Psychiatry, Lead author Craig Bryan, associate director of the National Center for Veterans’ Studies, said, “We’ve know for a while that [traumatic brain injury, or] TBI is associated with increase suicide risk.” He adds that the data shows “having multiple injuries is even more pernicious.” The study found 21.7 percent of service members with more than one TBI had suicidal thoughts. Just seven percent of service members with one TBI thought of suicide, and “down to nothing for those who didn’t have a TBI.”

HealthDay (5/16, Dallas) explains researchers, over the course of six months, followed 161 patients who suffered multiple TBIs while serving in Iraq. The study revealed “that multiple traumatic brain injuries were associated with a significant increase in depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and severity of concussive symptoms. But only the increase in depression severity predicted an increased risk for suicide, the researchers said.” Bryan explained the knowledge TBI may “make patients even more vulnerable provides new insight for tending to military personnel over the long-term, particularly when they are experiencing added emotional distress in their lives.”

Related Links:

— “Multiple Head Injuries Raise Soldiers’ Suicide Risk, Study Finds, “Mary Elizabeth Dallas, HealthDay, May 15, 2013.

In a front-page story, the New York Times (5/16, A1, Dao, Lehren, Subscription Publication) reports on the rise in military suicides, calling the trend “among the most emotionally wrenching – and baffling. Over the course of nearly 12 years and two wars, suicide among active-duty troops has risen steadily, hitting a record of 350 in 2012” – which is “twice as many as a decade before” and more than the number of US troops killed in Afghanistan last year. The Times also says the military may actually be undercounting suicides. But though the Defense Department “has commissioned numerous reports and invested tens of millions of dollars in research and prevention programs, experts concede they are little closer to understanding the root causes of why military suicide is rising so fast.”

A second article in the New York Times (5/16, A14, Dao, Lehren, Subscription Publication) explains the Department of Defense’s defense that the “military’s suicide rate was still lower than the rate for civilians of comparable age, sex and race” may be false. However, Bob Anderson, head statistician for mortality statistics at the CDC, believes the Pentagon’s calculations “underestimate the mortality rate.” By using data counts the active military troops in addition to the number of Guard and reserve troops kept on active duty even for just a day, as the Pentagon does, results in an active military population of 1.67 million in 2009. However, using statistics that require National Guard and reserve troops to serve on active duty for at least six months, the population is reduced to 1.42 million. Using the revised data, it amounts “to be about 21 suicides per 100,000, significantly above the adjusted civilian rate.”

Related Links:

— “Baffling Rise in Suicides Plagues the U.S. Military, “James Dao, The New York Times, May 15, 2013.

HealthDay (5/14, Thompson) reports, “Children in the United States are exposed to a high rate of violence in their everyday lives,” according to the results of a survey published online May 13 in JAMA Pediatrics. “The survey found that children wander through a world of violence that runs the gamut from school bullying and playground assault to sexual abuse and domestic violence.”

MedPage Today (5/14, Walsh) reports, “Although rates of violence against children declined 2.2 percentage points between 2008 and 2011, children continue to be frequently subjected to various types of assault and abuse.” For example, “two of every five children (41.2%) surveyed reported a physical assault during the preceding year, according to David Finkelhor, PhD, of the University of New Hampshire in Durham, and colleagues.” What’s more, “one in ten was actually injured by the attack,” the survey found.

Related Links:

— “Many U.S. Kids Victims of Violence, Abuse: Survey, “Dennis Thompson, HealthDay, May 13, 2013.

The Wall Street Journal (5/14, D1, Reddy, Subscription Publication) discusses cognitive-training games that are designed to improve brain functionality and are the focus of a expanding research examining their ability to thwart cognitive declines that often accompany age. The Journal notes that a government-funded study published this month found that playing the game Double Decision can delay as well as reverse declines in brain function that come with aging, adding to an earlier trial which found that older people who played different cognitive games had better health-related outcomes, driving records, and improved performance of daily tasks such as meal preparation. Such research has prompted groups like AARP to offer discounts for various games that have demonstrated observable benefits.

Related Links:

— “When Computer Games May Keep the Brain Nimble, “Sumathi Reddy, The Wall Street Journal, May 13, 2013.

HealthDay (5/14, Doheny) reports, “Cancer patients who participate in the creative arts – such as music therapy, dance, art therapy and writing – may be helping to reduce the anxiety, depression and pain that can be associated with their diagnosis, according to” research published in JAMA Internal Medicine. The researchers came to this conclusion after looking at data from 27 studies which included approximately 1,500 participants. HealthDay adds, “Taking part in these creative arts ‘is an opportunity for these patients to complement the healing process above and beyond the physical,’ said Timothy Puetz, presidential management fellow at the U.S. National Institutes of Health’s Office of the Director.”

Related Links:

— “Creative Arts May Help Cancer Patients Cope, “Kathleen Doheny, HealthDay, May 13, 2013.

MedPage Today (5/14, Bankhead) reports, “Parent- and teacher-reported rates of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder [AD/HD] do not appear to overestimate the true prevalence of the condition, according to a” research letterpublished online May 13 in JAMA Pediatrics. “The AD/HD prevalence in California was found to be about 6% among children 4 to 17, and 4.7% among insured children ages 5 to 11, using teacher and parent reports, Susanna N. Visser, MS, of the CDC, and co-authors found.” These results “were in line with a recent California study using a large administrative claims database, which found a rate of 4.9% among insured children ages 5 to 11 (JAMA Pediatr 2013; 1o67: 282-288).”

Related Links:

— “Adult-Observed ADHD Reflects True Rate in Kids, “Charles Bankhead, MedPage Today, May 13, 2013.

CQ (5/14, Scully, Subscription Publication) reports that each year, Congress approves “an unknown sum of money” on efforts to reduce the military’s suicide rate, which has doubled over the past decade. However, this means Congress is funding over 900 programs, and now officials are trying to discover which programs are working and which aren’t. Despite efforts to reduce suicides, the “rate has grown from 10.3 to 18.3 out of every 100,000 persons during the past decade.” It is feared that the “shear number of separate suicide prevention initiatives” means the Pentagon or Congress lacks a “coherent strategy to deal with the problem beyond simply throwing money at it.” Defense officials saw a minor decline in suicides to around 300 a year in 2010 and 2011, but “preliminary figures for 2012 indicate that the rate climbed once again to about 349.” The DoD’s Defense Suicide Prevention Office plans to inventory the programs and their costs by Oct. 1.

HealthDay (5/11, Gordon) reported, “Nearly 10 percent of teenagers experience some form of violence in their dating relationships, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Dating violence encompasses physical, emotional and sexual abuse, the CDC notes.” HealthDay added, “A study in the January issue of Pediatrics found that teens who had experienced dating violence were more likely to binge drink, smoke, have depression symptoms, think about suicide and experience additional intimate partner violence than were their peers who’d never experienced dating violence.”

People In Same-Sex Relationships May Also Suffer From Abuse. HealthDay (5/11, Gordon) reported, “Though many teens find it difficult to talk about dating violence or abuse, the shroud of secrecy may be even harder to get through for same-sex couples.” The article went on to recount the experiences of one New York woman who was involved in an abusive relationship with a female partner.

Related Links:

— “When Teen Dating Turns Abusive and Violent, “Serena Gordon, HealthDay, May 11, 2013.