Healio (11/25, Monostra) reports a study suggests that “women who have thyroid dysfunction both before and during pregnancy may have increased risk for having a child diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder.” Researchers observed that “women who had both chronic and gestational thyroid dysfunction had higher risk for offspring with autism spectrum disorder than women with normal thyroid function. Similarly, women with both chronic and gestational hypothyroidism had increased risk for children with autism spectrum disorder than women with normal thyroid function.” They noted that “each additional trimester of thyroid dysfunction during pregnancy raised the risk for offspring with autism spectrum disorder for women with gestational hypothyroidism only and those with both chronic and gestational hypothyroidism. The risk for having offspring with autism spectrum disorder was highest among women who had gestational hypothyroidism through all three trimesters of pregnancy.” The study was published in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

Related Links:

— “Thyroid dysfunction during pregnancy linked to higher autism risk for offspring,”Michael Monostra, Healio, November 25, 2025

NBC News (11/25, Bush) reports researchers say that for the first time they have “identified four distinct turning points between…phases in an average brain: at ages 9, 32, 66 and 83. During each epoch between those years, our brains show markedly different characteristics in brain architecture, they say.” The study results, “published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications, suggest that human cognition does not simply increase with age until a peak, then decline. In fact, the phase from ages 9 to 32 is the only time in life when our neural networks are becoming increasingly efficient, according to the research.” They observed that “during the adulthood phase, from 32 to 66, the average person’s brain architecture essentially stabilizes without major changes, at a time when researchers think people are generally plateauing in intelligence and personality. And in the years after the last turning point – 83 and beyond – the brain becomes increasingly reliant on individual regions as connections between them begin to wither away.”

Related Links:

— “Human brains have 5 distinct ‘epochs’ in a lifetime, study finds,”Evan Bush, NBC News, November 25, 2025

The AP (11/25, Ungar) reports researchers estimate that cannabis use disorder “affects about 3 in 10 pot users and can be mild, moderate or severe.” While experts agree that “it’s an addiction – despite the common misconception” that it is not possible with marijuana – few people “who are addicted seek help for it.” A study published in Substance Use & Misuse earlier this year found that “the share of people who got treatment for cannabis use disorder from their nationally representative sample dropped from 19% in 2003 to 13% in 2019.” An earlier study “also found a marked decline and pointed to reasons that include ‘expanding cannabis legalization and more tolerant attitudes.’ Experts said people need to be educated that pot, like alcohol, can be misused and can cause real harm.”

Related Links:

— “More people are addicted to marijuana, but fewer of them are seeking help, experts say,”Laura Ungar , AP , November 25, 2025

MedPage Today (11/24, Rudd) reports, “Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination slashed cervical cancer incidence, reduced the risk of precancerous lesions and anogenital warts, and did so without increasing serious side effects, according to two large meta-analyses.” In a “meta-analysis of 225 observational studies with more than 132 million people, females ages 16 years or younger who received HPV vaccines were 80% less likely than their unvaccinated counterparts to develop cervical cancer (RR 0.20, 95% CI 0.09-0.44).” The other meta-analysis, which “included 60 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) with 157,414 participants,” found that “in females ages 15-25 years, vaccination was linked to a 30% reduction in CIN2+ after 6 years regardless of HPV type (RR 0.70, 95% CI 0.56-0.88),” while “CIN2+ risk from vaccine-matched HPV types fell 60% after 6 years (RR 0.40, 95% CI 0.30-0.54).” The findings were published in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews.

Related Links:

— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

Medical Economics (11/24, Littrell) reports, “Hospitals with stronger nurse staffing and healthier clinical work environments tend to have physicians who are less burned out, less dissatisfied, and less likely to plan their departure, according to a large international study.” Investigators came to this conclusion after surveying “more than 6,400 physicians and 15,000 nurses across the United States and six European countries.” The findings were published in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “Investing in nurses tied to lower physician burnout, international study finds,”Austin Littrell, Medical Economics , November 24, 2025

The New York Times (11/24, Barry) reports a study found that “dialing down the use of social media for a week reduced symptoms of anxiety, depression and insomnia in young adults.” The participants were “instructed to stay off social media as much as possible,” and “on average reduced it to a half-hour per day from just under two hours. Before and after, the participants answered surveys measuring depression, anxiety, insomnia, loneliness and a number of problematic social media behaviors.” Researchers observed positive changes among the cohort. On average, “symptoms of anxiety dropped by 16.1 percent; symptoms of depression by 24.8 percent; and symptoms of insomnia by 14.5 percent. The improvement was most pronounced in subjects with more severe depression. At the same time, there was no change in reported loneliness – perhaps, the authors wrote, because the platforms play a constructive social role.” The study was published in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— The New York Times (requires login and subscription)

HealthDay (11/21, Gotkine) reported, “Mindfulness-based interventions may reduce burnout among nurses and midwives and among a mixture of health care professionals (HCPs), but professional coaching appears to be most effective for reducing burnout among physicians, according to a review.” Investigators came to this conclusion after examining “the effectiveness of all interventions to mitigate burnout among HCPs in a review of 93 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and six cluster RCTs evaluating individual-level interventions (9,330 participants).” The findings were published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Related Links:

— “Review Compares Interventions for Burnout in Health Care Professionals,”Elana Gotkine, HealthDay, November 21, 2025

Psychiatric News (11/21) reported a study suggests that “for every 22 soldiers who receive an intervention designed to modify their attention bias prior to deployment, one case of postcombat PTSD could be prevented.” For the study, “501 male combat-bound Israeli soldiers received one of the three interventions during their basic training.” Researchers observed that “one year after study participants were exposed to combat, fewer than 1% of those who received response-time-based attention bias training self-reported PTSD symptoms significant enough to be considered probable PTSD. By comparison, 2.7% of soldiers who received an eye-tracking-based attention intervention and 5.3 % who received a sham intervention reported probable PTSD.” Researchers noted that “the difference between the response-time intervention and sham was statistically significant, with a number-needed-to-treat estimate of 22.” The study was published in The American Journal of Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Could Cognitive Training Before Deployment Prevent PTSD in Soldiers?, Psychiatric News, November 21, 2025

HealthDay (11/20, Thompson) reports a study found that “the opioid addiction medication buprenorphine can dramatically lower risk of overdose among teenagers and young adults – but only if taken long-term.” According to researchers, “those who kept taking buprenorphine as prescribed for at least a year were much less likely to suffer an overdose or require hospitalization due to opioid use.” Study results showed that young people 13 to 26 “who quit buprenorphine within 3 to 9 months had an 82% higher risk of overdose compared to those who stayed on the med for a year. Likewise, those who stopped in less than 3 months had a 76% higher risk of overdose.” Researchers also found that it “mattered if patients took their buprenorphine as directed. Those who stayed on buprenorphine for a year but had spotty adherence had a 46% higher risk of OD, compared to those who stuck to their prescribed regular dose.” The study was published in Pediatrics.

Related Links:

— “Buprenorphine Lowers Opioid OD Risk, But Only If Taken As Directed Long-Term,”Dennis Thompson, HealthDay, November 20, 2025

HealthDay (11/20, Solomon) reports a study published in the Journal of Periodontology links antidepressant use “to a lower prevalence of periodontitis.” Investigators “found that the overall prevalence of periodontitis was 35.3 percent for moderate and 11.1 percent for severe cases, with antidepressant use associated with reduced odds of developing periodontitis across most definitions.” The identified “association was particularly strong for severe cases.”

Related Links:

— “Antidepressant Use Tied to Lower Prevalence of Periodontitis,”Lori Solomon, HealthDay, November 20, 2025