The Huffington Post (12/18, Maltby) reports that use of medications to treat attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder “is rising rapidly” among women, according to “a groundbreaking report released earlier this year by the prescription management company Express Scripts.” The report also found that “the number of adults in the United States taking AD/HD medications…rose 53 percent from 2008 to 2012.” Additionally, “women are using AD/HD medication at notably higher rates than girls, with those in the 26-to-34 age range posting a staggering 85 percent jump in the use of such drugs in just five years.”

Related Links:

— “The New ADHD Debate Every Woman Should Know About,” Anna Maltby, Huffington Post, December 17, 2014.

Reuters (12/18, Begley) reports that a study conducted by scientists at Harvard School of Public Health and published in the online journal Environmental Health Perspectives found that children whose mothers were exposed to high levels of fine particulate pollution in late pregnancy have as much as twice the risk of developing autism. The study, which involved 116,430 women, found no correlation between autism and fine particulate pollution before, during early pregnancy, or after the child was born. High levels of exposure during the third trimester, however, doubled the risk of autism.

Related Links:

— “Autism risk linked to particulate air pollution,” Sharon Begley, Chicago Tribune, December 17, 2014.

In “Op-Talk” in the New York Times (12/17), Anna North writes that according to a paper published in the American Journal of Public Health, “mental-health screening may not be the best way to prevent mass shootings — and expecting psychiatrists to identify potential shooters may do more harm than good.” In the paper, Jonathan M. Metzl, MD, PhD, and Kenneth T. MacLeish, PhD, “cite research showing that most gun violence isn’t committed by people who are determined to have mental illness — and that most people with mental illness don’t commit violence,” nor can psychiatrists even readily determine which patients may become violent.

Related Links:

— “Can Psychiatrists Stop Gun Violence?,” Anna North, New York Times, December 16, 2014.

The Washington Post (12/16, Bernstein) “To Your Health” blog reported that according to a study on 317 adults in late middle age, those who “exercised five times a week or more had fewer of the age-related changes in the brain that are associated with” Alzheimer’s disease, “and did better on cognitive tests.”

Related Links:

— “More evidence that exercise can help fight Alzheimer’s disease,” Lenny Bernstein, Washington Post, December 16, 2014.

The Los Angeles Times (12/16, Kaplan) “Science Now” blog reports that according to a research letter published online Dec. 15 in JAMA Internal Medicine, “when it comes to longevity, feeling young may be more important than being young.” After analyzing “data on nearly 6,500 English adults,” researchers “found that those who felt at least one year older than their actual age were 41% more likely to die within eight years than were those who felt at least three years younger than the age listed on their birth certificates.”

The AP (12/16, Tanner) reports that “feeling older was a predictor of death even when the researchers accounted for things that could affect death rates, including illnesses, wealth, education, smoking, alcohol intake and physical activity.” The reason for that link is unknown, but it is “possible that health conditions and lifestyle choices that the researchers didn’t study explain why feeling old may help predict death.” Another theory is that “it may be that those who feel younger than their real age have ‘greater resilience, sense of mastery, and will to live,’ the researchers said.”

Related Links:

— “It’s OK to be old if you feel young, study suggests,” Karen Kaplan, Los Angeles Times, December 15, 2014.

The Wall Street Journal (12/16, Silverman, Subscription Publication) reports that a Federal judge has issued an injunction preventing Actavis PLC from removing the older version of the Namenda (memantine) Alzheimer’s medicine in favor of a newer version of the treatment. At issue is a tactic employed by pharmaceutical companies, called product hopping, in which a company releases a newer version of a drug and removes the older version before a generic version becomes available. Effectively, patients are forced into using the newer version.

Related Links:

— “Court Rules on Alzheimer’s Drug,” Ed Silverman, Wall Street Journal, December 15, 2014.

The Washington Post (12/16, Ingraham) “Wonkblog” reports that according to a study published in the December issue of the journal Sleep, people in the US appear to be exchanging sleep time for work. After examining “nearly 125,000 responses to the American Time Use Survey to calculate two things: first, how much sleep we’re getting, and second, what we’re doing instead of sleeping,” researchers found that “compared to normal sleepers, so-called ‘short sleepers’ – those who are getting six hours or less on weeknights – worked 1.5 more hours on weekdays and nearly two hours more on weekends and holidays.” People who worked at multiple jobs got even less sleep.

Related Links:

— “Americans are trading sleep for work, and it’s literally killing us,” Christopher Ingraham, Washington Post, December 15, 2014.

USA Today (12/16, Leger) reports that a national survey conducted by the University of Michigan’s “Monitoring the Future” project found that “marijuana use among teens declined this year even as two states, Colorado and Washington, legalized the drug for recreational use.”

The survey also found “Abuse of all prescription drugs, including narcotic painkillers, sedatives and amphetamines, declined from 16% in 2013 to 14% in 2014 among 12th graders, the survey found. Narcotic painkiller use, in decline since 2009, dropped again from 7% in 2013 to 6% in 2014.

Heroin use, which has grown among adult populations, remained stable for teens.” According to Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, “Teens considered narcotic pain relievers, such as OxyContin and Vicodin, safer than illicit drugs such as heroin and cocaine, because they are prescribed by doctors.”

Related Links:

— “Survey: Teen marijuana use declines even as states legalize,” Donna Leinwand Leger, USA Today, December 16, 2014.

The Dallas Morning News (12/14, Swanson) reported that the number of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) “treatments in Texas has increased 67 percent since 2001, according to figures compiled by the state health department.” The procedure “was used 14,176 times in Texas on 2,243 patients between Sept. 1, 2012, and Aug. 31, 2013, the last available reporting year.” Physicians who perform ECT “attribute its growing use to its success” at treating patients with major depression. Efficacy of the treatment has been recognized both by the American Psychiatric Association and the American Medical Association. Medicare also covers the treatment.

The AP (12/15) reprises the Dallas Morning News piece, reporting that opponents of ECT “say it has always caused, and continues to inflict, brain damage and long-term memory loss.” Three years ago, “the Food and Drug Administration published a survey of medical studies on the treatment, saying the studies generally concluded that it ‘is probably more effective than some anti-depressants.’” In addition, “the FDA says the studies…found that there is no evidence to suggest the treatment causes brain damage.”

Related Links:

— “Texas sees resurgence in use of electroconvulsive therapy,” Doug J. Swanson, Dallas Morning News, December 13, 2014.

The Washington Times (12/13, Klimas) reported that on Dec. 12, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), “said…a bill that veterans groups are trying to get passed before Congress leaves town for the year carries too hefty a price tag for authority that the VA could, in most cases, already exercise.” The Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention for American Veterans Act “would require a report on successful veteran suicide prevention programs and allow the VA to pay incentives to hire psychiatrists,” among other provisions. Coburn, a physician, referred to the proposed measure as “ineffective legislation.”

In response, “Saul Levin, CEO of the American Psychiatric Association, said, ‘Hundreds of additional lives will be lost’ if lawmakers wait until the next Congress to put these reforms into place.” When the article went to press, Coburn had plans to block the measure.

Related Links:

— “Tom Coburn puts hold on veterans suicide prevention bill,” Jacqueline Klimas, Washington Times, December 12, 2014.