Reuters (9/13, Seaman) reports that, according to a review published online Sept. 11 in The Cochrane Library, exercise may help modestly alleviate depressive symptoms. Researchers arrived at that conclusion after examining data from 35 studies.

MedPage Today (9/13, Bankhead) reports that “when compared with no treatment or control interventions, exercise was associated with a treatment effect of -0.62.” While the effect is modest, the study authors “recommended research aimed at identifying specific types of exercise that offer the greatest clinical benefit, as well as the number and duration of exercise sessions associated with the greatest benefit.”

Related Links:

— “Exercise may help alleviate depression: review, “Andrew M. Seaman, Reuters, September 12, 2013.

Medwire (9/12, McDermid) reports that, according to a study published online Sept. 4 in the Journal of Affective Disorders, “the presence of residual depressive symptoms may result in patients with bipolar disorder [BD] being nonadherent to their medication.” The 582-patient study revealed that “residual depressive symptoms and drug side effects were the only two factors to remain associated with total Medication Adherence Rating Scale (MARS) score after adjusting for multiple confounders and correcting for multiple testing.”

Related Links:

— “Depression highlighted as nonadherence risk in bipolar patients, “Eleanor McDermid, Medwire News, September 12, 2013.

Medscape (9/12, Cassels) reports that, according to a study published in the September issue of the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, “negative working conditions, including low job satisfaction, little control, and a lack of appreciation by employers, are responsible for a sizeable proportion of depression in middle-aged adults.” Researchers arrived at this conclusion after analyzing “the relationship between a large number of working conditions and depressive symptoms on the basis of four waves of data collection during a period of 15 years in 1889 US workers aged 25 years and older.”

HealthDay (9/12, Preidt) reports that, according to a study published online Sept. 11 in JAMA Psychiatry, “irritability and anger in people with major depression are associated with greater severity of depression and other problems.” After examining data on some 500 people followed for as long as three decades as part of a National Institute of Mental Health depression study, researchers also found that anger and irritability were tied to “poorer impulse control, higher rates of lifetime substance abuse and anxiety disorder, more antisocial personality disorders, reduced life satisfaction and a higher rate of bipolar disorder in relatives.”

Related Links:

— “Depression May Be Worse When Accompanied by Anger, Irritability, “Robert Preidt, HealthDay, September 11, 2013.

HealthDay (9/11, Preidt) reports that, according to a study published Sept. 10 in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, “when high school students learn how their thinking affects their well-being, they may boost their grades and reduce their risk of obesity, severe depression and substance use.” In a study of 800 high school students, half of whom were randomized to a control group and the other half to a “program based on the concepts of so-called cognitive behavioral therapy, with an emphasis on skills building,” researchers found that the teens assigned to the Creating Opportunities for Personal Empowerment Program “were less likely to be overweight, had better social behaviors, higher health class grades, lower levels of depression and drank less alcohol.”

Related Links:

— “Boosting Teens’ Mental Well-Being Is Goal of New Skills Program, “Robert Preidt, HealthDay, September 10, 2013.

NBC Nightly News reported that “a growing number of retired Americans are in for a shock from some of America’s largest companies,” who are telling them that “they will have to buy their own health insurance.” For example, “IBM is turning its healthcare coverage for 110,000 retirees over to a private Medicare exchange in which insurers compete for the retiree’s business,” and 40 million Americans are predicted to “be on similar plans” by 2018.

According to the National Institute on Aging, about 5.1 million Americans have Alzheimer’s and the number is expected to increase as the population ages, CNBC (9/6) reported on its website. Many families and individuals are “overwhelmed” and “unprepared to deal with the consequences, financial and otherwise,” of “caring for a loved one with Alzheimer’s.” Experts suggest that families research their options and “consult with a financial advisor.”

Related Links:

— “Money matters: A road map for Alzheimer’s patients, “Sharon Epperson, CNBC, September 6, 2013.

MedPage Today (9/9, Walsh) reports that research published in Pediatrics indicated that “teens who were adopted in early childhood had approximately four times the risk for attempted suicide in late adolescence compared with offspring living with their biological parents.” Researchers found, “among 1,165 adolescents whose mean age was 18, the odds ratio for a reported suicide attempt was 4.23 (95% CI 2.06-8.68, P<0.001) for those who were adoptees.” The study indicated that, “even after adjustment for multiple factors that could exacerbate risk, such as psychiatric disorders, family difficulties, and problems in school, the adopted teens still had an almost four-fold increase in risk (OR 3.70, 95% CI 1.70-8.04, P<0.001). Related Links:

— “Adopted Teens Face High Suicide Risk, “Nancy Walsh, MedPage Today, September 9, 2013.

USA Today (9/9, Healy) reports on new research, published online in the journal Pediatrics, which found that teens who were previously overweight or obese “are at a significant risk of developing an eating disorder as they lose weight.” Moreover, “identification and treatment of the condition is often delayed because of their weight history.”

Related Links:

— “Teens who beat obesity at risk for eating disorders, “Michelle Healy, USA Today, September 9, 2013.

The Washington Post (8/30, Dennis) reports that, according to a study (8/30) published Aug. 30 in the journal Science, “poverty consumes so much mental energy that people struggling to make ends meet often have little brainpower left for anything else, leaving them more susceptible to bad decisions” that just make their plight worse.

The AP (8/30, Borenstein) reports that after administering intelligence tests to 400 New Jersey shoppers and to 464 farmers in India, researchers found that individuals worried “about having enough money to pay their bills tend to lose temporarily the equivalent of 13 IQ points.”

The Huffington Post UK (8/29) reports that people “overwhelmed with worries about rent, feeding and clothing children, and paying household bills can suffer a genuine mental handicap,” which “in turn may lead to poor decisions, such as racking up debt” and making matters worse. One of the study authors suggested that services aimed at helping the poor “should take account of the mental effect of poverty” by making it easier for people to get assistance.

Related Links:

— “Poverty strains cognitive abilities, opening door for bad decision-making, new study finds, “Brady Dennis, The Washington Post, August 29, 2013.