Healio (12/11, Weldon) reports, “A rise in child suicides in the United States may be connected to the nation’s opioid crisis, according to a study.” The research “found 48,063 deaths designated as suicides for the 10- to 17-year-old population in the U.S. from 1980 to 2020.” According to the “study, areas of the U.S. that had more exposure to reformulated OxyContin [oxycodone hydrochloride] ‘experienced sharper growth in child suicide rates.’” The findings were published in Demography.

Related Links:

— “Study links ‘shocking’ rise in child suicide rates to opioid crisis,” Rose Weldon, Healio, December 11, 2023

Healio (12/11, Weldon) reports, “A rise in child suicides in the United States may be connected to the nation’s opioid crisis, according to a study.” The research “found 48,063 deaths designated as suicides for the 10- to 17-year-old population in the U.S. from 1980 to 2020.” According to the “study, areas of the U.S. that had more exposure to reformulated OxyContin [oxycodone hydrochloride] ‘experienced sharper growth in child suicide rates.’” The findings were published in Demography.

Related Links:

— “Study links ‘shocking’ rise in child suicide rates to opioid crisis,” Rose Weldon, Healio, December 11, 2023

Youth With ASD More Likely To Be Restrained When Hospitalized, Research Suggests
Psychiatric News (12/11) reports, “Children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are more than twice as likely as those without ASD to be restrained while hospitalized, according to a report.” The findings were published in Pediatrics.

Related Links:

— “Youth With Autism More Likely to Experience Restraint in Hospital,” APA Psychiatric News Alert, December 11, 2023

CNN (12/8, Musa) reported that “with growing attention on traumatic brain injury and chronic traumatic encephalopathy, known as CTE, in sports, clinicians and researchers from across the country, including” physicians “from the NFL, are offering guidance on how to prevent further harm in athletes.”

Experts in the fields of “athletic brain injury and long-term cognitive disorders gathered at a summit Friday at the Cantu Concussion Center at Emerson Health in Concord, Massachusetts, ‘to gather and share their findings, with a goal of identifying gaps in current research that need to be addressed,’ according to a consensus statement from the group.”

Related Links:

— “Experts in concussion, NFL leaders gather to identify gaps in knowledge, offer guidelines on preventing brain injuries,” Amanda Muse, CNN, December 8, 2023

Psychiatric News (12/8) reported “skipping breakfast and eating a diet high in foods associated with inflammation (for example, foods fried in oil) may raise the risk of depression, a study” found. Study “participants who ate a pro-inflammatory diet had 1.42 times the odds of having depressive symptoms compared with those who ate an anti-inflammatory diet.” The findings were published in the Journal of Affective Disorders.

Related Links:

— “Skipping Breakfast, Pro-Inflammatory Diet Linked to Depressive Symptoms,” APA Psychiatric News Alert, December 8, 2023

Psychiatric News (12/7) reports, “Magnetic seizure therapy appears to be as effective as electroconvulsive therapy at achieving lasting antidepressant effects in people with major depression and may be less disorienting.” The findings were published in JAMA Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Magnetic Seizure Therapy for Depression Found as Effective as ECT,” APA Psychiatric News Alert, December 7

CNN (12/6) reports “about half of hypertension cases in middle-age and older adults are shared or ‘concordant’ within couples, a new study suggests, meaning if one spouse has high blood pressure, their partner does, too.” Among heterosexual couples in China, England, India and the United States, “the women who were married to men with high blood pressure were more likely to also have hypertension themselves than those whose husbands did not have high blood pressure, according to the study.”

Furthermore, “the men who had wives with hypertension were more likely to have hypertension compared with the men whose wives did not have hypertension.” The findings were published in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

Related Links:

— “If your spouse has high blood pressure, you’re more likely to have it too, study suggests,” Jacqueline Howard, CNN, December 6, 2023

Pulmonology Advisor (12/6, Goldberg) reports, “Severity of depression is positively correlated with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), asthma, and respiratory symptoms, according to study findings.” These findings were published in Respiratory Medicine.

Related Links:

— “Depression Severity Linked to Respiratory Symptoms, Asthma, and COPD,” Ron Goldberg, Pulmonology Advisor, December 6, 2023

The Washington Post (12/6, Sima) reports that postpartum depression “has commonly been linked to the hormonal fluctuations of pregnancy,” but now “scientists say that the immune system may play a much larger role than previously known.” The Post notes that findings from emerging research “could one day identify mothers most at risk, so that support and treatment could begin before symptoms occur.”

Related Links:

— “The Washington Post (requires login and subscription)

CNN (12/6, Holcombe) reports, “Clinicians, researchers and activists have stressed the need for better treatment and services of people with eating disorders who don’t fit the stereotypical patient profile – and recent data suggests a growing need.” A study tracked pediatric eating disorder hospitalizations in Ontario between April 2002 and March 2020, finding that “hospitalizations generally increased over that time, rising by 139% from 2002 to 2019.” The findings were published in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “Pediatric eating disorder hospitalizations are rising. Who is affected may surprise you,” Madeline Holcombe, CNN, December 6, 2023