HealthDay (1/7, Thompson ) reports research found that children “with autism who speak more than one language tend to have fewer symptoms from their disorder.” Study results indicate that “being multilingual not only enhances their general cognitive abilities, but also helps them better control their daily thoughts and actions.” The findings were published in Autism Research.

Related Links:

— “Multilingual Children with Autism Show Improved Cognitive Function,” Dennis Thompson, HealthDay, January 7, 2025

The AP (1/6, Johnson) reports, “As U.S. lawmakers debate issues around health care for transgender youth, it’s been difficult to determine the number of young people receiving gender-affirming medications, leaving room for exaggerated and false claims.” Now, the AP says, “a medical journal has published the most reliable estimate yet and the numbers are low, reflecting more clearly on medical practices now being weighed by the U.S. Supreme Court.” The study found that “fewer than 1 in 1,000 U.S. adolescents with commercial insurance received gender-affirming medications – puberty blockers or hormones – during a recent five-year period.” The findings were published in JAMA Pediatrics.

NBC News (1/6, Lavietes ) reports the research, “which analyzed the private insurance claims for more than 5.1 million young patients ages 8 to 17 from 2018 to 2022, also found that no transgender patients under 12 were prescribed gender-affirming hormones.” Investigators “found that the use of puberty blockers and hormones was more common among trans minors who were assigned female sex at birth versus those assigned male at birth.”

Related Links:

— “Fewer than 1 in 1,000 US adolescents receive gender-affirming medications, researchers find,” Carla K. Johnson, Associated Press, January 7, 2025

Healio (1/6, Rhoades) reports, “Genetic predisposition for schizophrenia and frequent use of cannabis both independently corresponded with an increased likelihood of developing psychosis, results of a case-control study showed.” But, “researchers found no evidence of an interaction between genetic predisposition and cannabis use.” The findings were published in Psychological Medicine.

Related Links:

— “Cannabis use, schizophrenia genetic predisposition both independently raise psychosis risk,” Andrew Rhoades, Healio, January 7, 2025

CNN (12/30, Christensen ) reports, “Tiny packets of nicotine have quickly become a big problem for parents and schools.” Sold “under names like Zyn, O! Rogue, Juice Head and VELO,” such “products are supposed to be sold only to people over 21,” but “a growing number of children have reported using these types of smokeless oral nicotine packets.” The packets “have quickly become one of the most-used nicotine products among kids and young adults, according to the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention, second only to vaping.”

Related Links:

— “For young users, tobacco packets like Zyn are a nicotine trend that just won’t quit,” Jen Christensen, CNN, December 30, 2025

ProPublica (12/30, Eldeib , Miller , Berg ) reports, “Many Americans have faced the denial of mental health treatment by their insurance companies – at times despite vivid evidence of the risk such decisions pose.” And while “in most cases patients don’t appeal,” a small percentage of “patients and their families decide to fight the denials in federal court, setting up a David-versus-Goliath battle where insurers frequently have the upper hand.” Such cases, “ProPublica found, expose in blunt terms how insurance companies can put their clients’ health in jeopardy, in ways that some judges have ruled ‘arbitrary and capricious.’” In order “to do so, court records reveal, the insurers have turned to a coterie of psychiatrists and have continued relying on them even after one or more of their decisions have been criticized or overturned in court.”

Related Links:

— “Insurers Continue to Rely on Doctors Whose Judgments Have Been Criticized by Courts,” Duaa Eldeib and Maya Miller, with research by Kirsten Berg, ProPublica, December 30, 2024

The Hill (12/31, Choi ) reported, “A key cost-saving provision of the Inflation Reduction Act goes into effect in the new year, limiting annual out-of-pocket spending on prescription drugs to $2,000 for Medicare beneficiaries.” As of “Jan. 1, 2025, an estimated 19 million Medicare beneficiaries will see their out-of-pocket Medicare Part D spending capped at $2,000 for the year.” The “annual cap will be indexed to the rate of inflation every year going forward.” The Hill added, “An interim spending cap of roughly $3,500 was put in place in 2024.”

Related Links:

— “Medicare’s new drug price cap kicks in Jan. 1,” Joseph Choi, The Hill, December 31, 2024

Psychiatric News (12/31) reported, “One-third of Americans (33%) have made New Year’s resolutions related to mental health heading into 2025, according to the latest APA Healthy Minds Monthly poll.” That “represents a 5% increase over last year and the highest rate since APA began polling on this question in 2021.”

Related Links:

— “More Americans Are Making Mental Health Resolutions for 2025,” Psychiatric News, December 31, 2024

The Los Angeles Times (1/1, Wiley ) reports that “drug overdose deaths in San Francisco plummeted in 2024, according to preliminary data compiled by city health officials.” The Times adds, “San Francisco public health experts attributed the decline in fatal drug use in the city to the widespread availability of naloxone…as well as buprenorphine and methadone, prescription medications that treat opioid addiction long-term.”

Related Links:

— “Drug overdose deaths plummet in San Francisco. What’s changed?,” Hannah Wiley, Los Angeles Times, January 1, 2025

The Washington Post (1/3, A1, Ho , Nirappil ) reported, “Health warning labels on alcohol should be updated to include a cancer risk warning, the U.S. surgeon general said Friday, adding that recommended limits for alcohol consumption should also be reassessed, given the increased risk of certain cancers.” The consumption of alcohol “is the third-leading preventable cause of cancer in the United States behind tobacco and obesity, Vivek H. Murthy said in an advisory [PDF].” Alcohol consumption “contributes to 100,000 cancer cases and 20,000 related deaths each year, he added.”

CNN (1/3, Tinker, Tirrell , Goodman ) reported, “The American Medical Association, which has long recognized alcohol as a cancer risk, cheered the new advisory.” In a statement, AMA President Bruce A. Scott, MD, said, “Today’s advisory, coupled with a push to update the Surgeon General’s health warning label on alcoholic beverages, will bolster awareness, improve health, and save lives.”

Related Links:

— “US surgeon general sounds alarm about link between alcohol and cancer,” Ben Tinker, Meg Tirrell and Brenda Goodman, CNN, January 3, 2025

Psychiatric News (1/3) reported, “Key telehealth service flexibilities will be extended for Medicare beneficiaries until March 31, 2025, as part of the American Relief Act, signed by President Biden on December 21.” Under “the Relief Act, Medicare beneficiaries can continue to receive telehealth services from any location, including their homes.” The bill also “extends the waiver of the requirement for an initial in-person visit prior to a telemental health visit and also continues the extension of telehealth services to federally qualified health centers and rural health centers.”

Related Links:

— “Congress Extends Telehealth Flexibilities for Medicare Beneficiaries,” Psychiatric News, January 3, 2025