Reuters (10/10, Singh) reports, “Roughly 15.5 million U.S. adults have attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, and most of them struggle with gaining access to treatment for the condition, according to data from a U.S. study released on Thursday.” Approximately “one-third of those reporting a diagnosis of ADHD said they had received a prescription for a stimulant drug used to treat it in the previous year, researchers reported in the” CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. The study also found that “nearly three quarters of those with a prescription for a stimulant drug reported difficulty getting it filled because the medication was unavailable.”

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— “More than 15 million US adults have ADHD, new study estimates,” Puyaan Singh, Reuters, October 10, 2024

HealthDay (10/9, Mundell ) reports, “A study tracking almost 10,000 9- and 10-year olds for two years finds a link between time spent watching TV and other screens with…higher odds for ADHD and depression.” Researchers found that “kids with the highest levels of daily time spent staring at screens had…10% higher odds for depression, a 7% higher risk for conduct issues, and a 6% higher risk for ADHD, compared to children with lower rates of screen use.” The findings were published in BMC Public Health.

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— “More Screen Time Tied to Mental Health Risks for Tweens,” Ernie Mundell, HealthDay, October 9, 2024

USA Today (10/9, Rodriguez ) reports research found that “it’s far more common to live through childhood trauma than to grow up without it.” A “study found that 3 in 4 high school students experienced at least one potentially traumatic event involving violence, abuse or exposure to mental health or substance use problems.” The study also found “1 in 5 high school students said they experienced at least four of these potentially traumatic events.” The findings were published in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

HealthDay (10/9, Gotkine ) reports “emotional abuse, physical abuse, and household poor mental health were the most common” adverse childhood experiences (61.5, 31.8, and 28.4 percent, respectively).

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— “Most high school students say they’ve had a traumatic experience as a kid,” Adrianna Rodriguez, USA Today, October 9, 2024

The New York Times (10/8, Ghorayshi ) reports, “About 3.3 percent of high school students identify as transgender and another 2.2 percent are questioning their gender identity, according to the first nationally representative survey on these groups, published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday.”

Gender-questioning and transgender “teenagers reported alarmingly higher rates of bullying at school, persistent sadness and suicidal thoughts and behaviors, according to the survey, which was carried out in 2023.” Roughly “one in four transgender students said they had attempted suicide in the past year, compared with 11 percent of cisgender girls and 5 percent of cisgender boys.” The findings were published in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

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— “The New York Times (requires login and subscription)

Psychiatric News (10/8) reports, “Women with mild to moderate depression or anxiety and no other mental illnesses who discontinue antidepressants during pregnancy do not appear to experience adverse psychiatric outcomes postpartum, according to a study.” Researchers found that “individuals who discontinued their antidepressants during pregnancy also used fewer days of sick leave 1.5 years after childbirth compared with those in the continued use group (45 days vs. 53 days).” The findings were published in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “Stopping SSRIs/SNRIs During Pregnancy Not Tied to Adverse Outcomes in Women With Milder Symptoms,” Psychiatric News, October 8, 2024

Healio (10/8, Mahoney ) reports, “Adults with a schizophrenia spectrum disorder had increased risk for severe infection outcomes while exposed to antipsychotics compared with nonexposure periods, according to a study.” The researchers said, “Based on our findings and in corroboration with previous findings, it seems reasonable to consider recommending pneumococcal (and potentially other anti-infective) vaccination for individuals with a schizophrenia spectrum disorder, who are older than 40 years, and are treated or due to commence treatment with antipsychotic medication.” The findings were published in The Lancet Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Antipsychotic use tied to severe infection risk in patients with schizophrenia,” Moira Mahoney, Healio, October 8, 2024

MedPage Today (10/7, Henderson ) reports, “Cannabis use during adolescence and young adulthood was linked to lower academic performance, a systematic review and meta-analysis suggested.” Researchers found that “among 63 studies that comprised 438,329 participants, moderate-certainty evidence indicated that cannabis use among individuals ages 24 years and younger was likely associated with lower school grades…as well as less likelihood of high school completion…university enrollment…and postsecondary degree.

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— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

The Washington Post (10/7, Ovalle ) reports, “Overdose deaths appear to be declining sharply in the United States, a sign that efforts to combat the scourge of lethal fentanyl may be paying off even as experts caution that the toll remains unacceptably high and could rise again.” Preliminary data that were “compiled by states and released by the” CDC “show a 10 percent drop in deaths during the 12-month period ending in April, with about 101,000 people succumbing to overdoses.”

Researchers and public health officials “said the decline could reflect multiple forces, including widespread availability of the overdose-reversal medication naloxone, greater access to opioid addiction treatment, and law enforcement crackdowns on illicitly manufactured fentanyl, which had become the leading killer of 18-to-49-year-olds.”

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— “The Washington Post (requires login and subscription)

Healio (10/4, Rhoades) reported, “Fatal and nonfatal drug overdoses experienced ‘unprecedented’ decreases of 10% to 20% from last year, which could be due to factors like increased naloxone availability, according to researchers.” The study findings “showed a precipitous decline in state-level overdose-related mortality figures, especially among states in the Eastern region.” The findings were published in a blog post in Opioid Data Lab.

Related Links:

— “Fatal drug overdose deaths down as much as 10%, although reasons why remain unclear,” Andrew Rhoades, Healio, October 4, 2024

Psychiatric News (10/4) said, “Minority youth at high risk of psychosis who live in more diverse neighborhoods tend to have less severe positive symptoms – such as unusual thoughts or grandiose ideas – than those surrounded by less diversity, reports a study.” The investigators “found that part of this association was because youth in diverse neighborhoods experience less perceived discrimination and less peer victimization such as bullying.” The findings were published in Psychiatry Research.

Related Links:

— “Study Finds Neighborhood Diversity May Lessen Symptoms in Youth At Risk of Psychosis,” Psychiatric News, October 4, 2024