The New York Times (9/29, Luo, McIntire, Subscription Publication), a 5,300-word feature highlighted the incidence of accidental shootings in US homes when children find weapons in the house and play with them. The paper reviewed “hundreds of child firearm deaths” and discovered that such accidental shootings are happening at about twice the rate officially recorded. This higher rate of accidental gun deaths is said to be caused by “idiosyncrasies in how such deaths are classified by the authorities.” Earlier this year, the National Rifle Association cited the official numbers in its fact sheet stating the group’s opposition to “safe storage” laws. Using the number the Times found, the NRA’s assertion that falls, poisoning, or environmental factors were more likely to kill children than guns would be “incorrect.” Currently, less than 20 states have implemented laws holding adults criminally responsible if their guns aren’t stored safely.

Related Links:

— “Children and Guns: The Hidden Toll, “Michael Luo, The New York Times, September 28, 2013.

The New York Times (9/28, BU1, Abelson, Subscription Publication) reported on continuing battles patients fight to have mental healthcare covered by insurers, a situation the Times says is unlikely to get better until Federal regulators write the rules for parity under the Affordable Care Act. Until then, the effect of the law is “still unclear.” Despite the earlier Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008, which is generally agreed to have “fallen short of its goal,” patients often owe thousands for treatment of serious mental illness. The Times says that’s partly because there’s little agreement or generally accepted standards of care for “how mental illness should be treated – and at what cost.”

Related Links:

— “Lacking Rules, Insurers Balk at Paying for Intensive Psychiatric Care, “Reed Abelson, The New York Times, September 27, 2013.

MedPage Today (9/27, Neale) reports that research presented at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes meeting suggests that people “who have both diabetes and depression have an increased likelihood of having a myocardial infarction (MI).” The likelihood “of having an MI compared with individuals without either condition were greatest among those ages 45 to 64, with the strongest association seen in women (OR 7.1, 95% CI 6.1-8.2), according to Karin Rådholm, of Linköping University in Sweden.” Meanwhile, “the corresponding odds ratio for men in that age group was 2.8 (95% CI 2.5-3.2), Rådholm reported.”

Related Links:

— “Diabetes and Depression Combo Hikes MI Risk, “Todd Neale, MedPage Today, September 26, 2013.

Medscape (9/27, Mulcahy) reports that research presented here at the American Society for Radiation Oncology 55th Annual Meeting suggests that a brief “2-question survey can effectively screen cancer patients for depression.” The test, called “PHQ-2 [Patient Health Questionaire-2], asks how often, in the past 2 weeks, the patient has felt ‘little interest or pleasure in doing things,’ and how often the patient has felt ‘down, depressed, or hopeless.’” Researchers found that “the quick quiz identified patients at risk for depression as well as or better than longer surveys did.” The study included 455 patients.

All three broadcast networks opened their Wednesday evening newscasts with coverage of newly released footage of Washington Navy Yard shooter Aaron Alexis during his killing spree. ABC World News called it “a haunting new video, a killer roaming the halls of the Washington Navy Yard looking for targets.” On NBC Nightly News, Pete Williams reported, “Cameras inside the Navy Yard building show Aaron Alexis carrying the sawed-off shotgun he used to shoot most of his victims.” TheCBS Evening News reported the FBI said Alexis “was driven by the delusional belief that he was being controlled or influenced by electromagnetic waves beamed into his body.”

The AP (9/26, Marot) reports that the National Athletic Trainers Association (NATA) “outlined a set of broad guidelines[pdf]…that it believes should be adopted in an effort to help” student “athletes cope with everything from depression to suicidal thoughts.” The group’s “recommendations include using athletic trainers and team physicians to help with early detection of potential mental illnesses, provide advice and make treatment referrals while maintaining patient confidentiality.”

Reuters (9/26, Pittman) notes that the new guidelines were published online Sept. 25 in the Journal of Athletic Training. The article also points out that, according to the US Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, approximately 30 percent of university-aged young people said they had some kind of mental illness during the years 2010 and 2011.

Related Links:

— “Trainers Group Makes Mental Health Recommendations, “Michael Marot, Associated Press, September 25, 2013.

On its front page, the Wall Street Journal (9/26, A1, Fields, Phillips, Subscription Publication) reports on the huge number of persons with mental illness incarcerated in jails and prisons, noting that the country’s largest jail systems, those of New York City, Los Angeles County, and Cook County, IL, are the de facto biggest treatment facilities for mental illness in the US. Deinstitutionalization in the 1970s, during which many state psychiatric hospitals were downsized or closed, coupled with the lack of mental healthcare in community settings, has led to this situation. Having large numbers of prisoners with serious mental health disorders poses a strain on Federal, state, and local lock-ups which lack facilities, budgets and mental healthcare professionals to provide proper treatment.

Related Links:

— “The New Asylums: Jails Swell With Mentally Ill, The Wall Street Journal, September 25, 2013.

HealthDay (9/26) reports, “Only some of the physical and mental health problems previously associated with preterm birth are actually caused by it,” according to a study published In JAMA Psychiatry. Investigators “analyzed the medical records of 3.3 million children born in Sweden between 1973 and 2008, and confirmed the strong link between preterm birth (generally classified as before 37 weeks’ gestation) and the risk of infant and young adult death, autism and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD).” But, the researchers “also concluded that many other problems that have been linked with preterm birth – such as severe mental illness, learning problems, suicide and poverty – may instead be more closely related to other factors that people share with other family members.”

Related Links:

— “Preemies’ Woes Sometimes Due to Heredity, Study Says, “Robert Preidt, HealthDay, September 25, 2013.

HealthDay (9/26, Preidt) reports that a brain scan study published Sept. 24 in the journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience reveals why “psychopaths feel a lack of empathy when other people are in pain.” For the study, investigators “used functional MRI to observe brain activity in 121 inmates at a medium-security prison in the United States who were divided into three groups based on the levels of their psychopathy.” The inmates were shown pictures depicting physical pain and were then asked to imagine the pain happening to themselves and then to others. Scans revealed that inmates with a high level of psychopathy displayed little activity in brain regions associated with empathy for pain in others and above average activity for pain in themselves. What’s more, “when imagining other people in pain, highly psychopathic inmates showed increased activity in a brain area known to be involved in pleasure.”

Related Links:

— “Brain Scans Show Why Psychopaths Don’t Feel Your Pain, “Robert Preidt, HealthDay, September 25, 2013.

USA Today (9/26, A1, Zoroya, Hoyer) reports on its front page that, according to data released by the Pentagon in response to queries from USA Today, “post-traumatic stress disorder, substance abuse and other mental illnesses accounted for more days spent by troops in the hospital than any other medical condition in the military in 2012, including war wounds, injuries and illness.” Army Lt. Col. Catherine Wilkinson, a spokesperson for Pentagon health affairs, attributed the rise in hospitalizations for mental health reasons to the “exposure of servicemembers to stressful events” tied to deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan. However, according to Lt. Col. Christopher Ivany, Army chief of behavioral health, “days spent in mental health wards are projected to decline 15% in the Army” in 2013, partly because of better treatment through outpatient care.

Related Links:

— “Troops Flooding Into Hospitals For Mental Health Care, “Gregg Zoroya, USA Today, September 25, 2013.