MedPage Today (2/3, George ) reports “headache diagnoses were persistently associated with an increase in attempted and completed suicides, a population study of more than 100,000” patients with headache “in Denmark showed.” Researchers found that “across four types of headache – migraine, tension-type headache, post-traumatic headache, and trigeminal autonomic cephalalgia – the association was robust.” The findings were published in JAMA Neurology.

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— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

Psychiatric News (2/3) reports “kindergarten-ag e children who have fathers with depression are more likely than children not exposed to paternal depression to have behavioral problems and poor social skills several years later, a study” found. The researchers said their findings “suggest the need for interventions supporting school-aged children exposed to paternal depression. … Pediatricians, with their frequent contact with families, are well-positioned to address these important needs.” The findings were published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

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— “Fathers’ Depression May Affect Children’s Behavior, Psychiatric News, January 3, 2025

HealthDay (1/31, Thompson ) reported, “A mom’s health during pregnancy is not likely to influence her child’s risk of autism, a new study argues.” Numerous “previous studies have reported such a link, but researchers say nearly all these associations can be explained by other autism risk factors – genetics, pollution exposure, access to health care and the like.” One researcher said, “Our study shows that there is no convincing evidence that any of these other diagnoses in the mother can cause autism.” The findings were published in Nature Medicine.

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— “No Link Between Maternal Health During Pregnancy and Autism, Researchers Say,”Dennis Thompson, HealthDay , January 31, 2025

HealthDay (1/31, Thompson ) reported, “Calorie labels on restaurant menus are harming people with eating disorders, a new evidence review claims.” Individuals “diagnosed with eating disorders tend to respond poorly when presented with a menu featuring calorie labels, researchers reported.” Investigators found that “unhealthy responses included avoiding restaurants altogether, triggering harmful thoughts associated with eating disorders, and obsessing over the calorie counts.” The findings were published in BMJ Public Health.

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— “Calorie Labels Harmful For People With Eating Disorders,”Dennis Thompson, HealthDay , January 31, 2025

Medscape (1/30, Larkin , Subscription Publication) reports, “Physical activity reduces chronic disease risks, improves function, and extends lifespan, thus supporting clinicians’ use of exercise prescriptions as a health intervention, new research suggests.” The “review of the effects of physical activity for older adults documented specific benefits, such as preventing or reducing the risks for > 30 chronic conditions including coronary artery disease, heart failure, type 2 diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, osteoporosis, depression, dementia, and cancer.” The findings were published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

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— Medscape (requires login and subscription)

Medscape (1/30, Brooks , Subscription Publication) reports, “A new study released this week adds to mounting evidence that suggests climate change, with extreme hot and cold temperatures, threatens not only physical health but also mental well-being.” By “analyzing data from two population-based birth cohorts in Europe, researchers found that ambient temperature has distinct associations with psychiatric symptoms in adolescents, with cold exposure in the Netherlands associated with more internalizing symptoms and heat exposure in Spain associated with more attention problems.” The findings were published in JAMA Network Open. Joshua Wortzel, MD, Chair of the APA Committee on Climate Change and Mental Health, said that it is “novel to have these kinds of rich datasets (both mental health measures and temperature data) with large sample sizes. However, interpreting these data [is] difficult.”

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— Medscape (requires login and subscription)

Healio (1/30, Rhoades) reports, “Approximately one-third of high school girls surveyed in the United States in 2021 identified themselves as lesbian, gay, bisexual or questioning their sexuality, according to results of a cohort study.” That marks “a dramatic and significant increase from previous polling just 2 years earlier that showed 22% of high school aged girls identifying as LGBQ.” This change “is occurring alongside increases in suicidal thoughts, planning and attempts among women, with significant upticks among those identifying as LGBQ, researchers reported.” The findings were published in Educational Researcher.

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— “Increasing LGBQ identification may contribute to surge in suicide among high school girls,”Andrew (Drew) Rhoades, Healio, January 30, 2025

Psychiatric News (1/29) reports, “Patients with treatment-resistant depression may only receive a modest, short-term benefit from using intranasal esketamine as an add-on treatment, according to a meta-analysis.” Additionally, “the analysis reveals almost no benefit from esketamine for suicidality compared with placebo.” The findings were published in the American Journal of Psychiatry.

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— “Meta-Analysis Reveals Disappointing Efficacy for Esketamine in Depression, Suicidality, Psychiatric News, January 29, 2025

STAT (1/29, Gaffney , Subscription Publication) reports, “In July 2022, 988 launched as the number anyone across the country could dial in a mental health crisis.” The phone number is “one entryway to a sprawling system of mental health care options, but new research shows that since then, critical crisis services have not become more available – a key objective of the nationwide rollout, designed to strengthen an underfunded, patchwork system that left many people alone in times of crisis.” Although “calls to the national hotline have continued to increase, fewer psychiatric facilities are offering emergency psychiatric walk-in services, mobile crisis response units, and suicide prevention services, according to a study.” The findings were published in JAMA Psychiatry.

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— “Since 988 launch, mental health crisis services have faltered,”Theresa Gaffney, STAT, January 29, 2025

Healio (1/28, Herpen) reports, “Among post-9/11 United States military veterans, mild traumatic brain injury was associated with unfavorable long-term outcomes, such as severe PTSD, when occurring around a traumatic event, researchers wrote.” The investigators found “that those with peritraumatic mTBI experienced greater trauma exposure compared with non-peritraumatic and no TBI groups…while those in the peritraumatic cohort registered more lifetime TBI compared with those who sustained non-peritraumatic mTBI.” The findings were published in JAMA Network Open.

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— “Mild TBI outcomes in US veterans worse if sustained during traumatic event,”Robert Herpen, Healio, January 28, 2025