MedPage Today (2/13, George) reported, “A lifetime enriched with intellectually stimulating activities – including reading, writing, or frequently visiting museums – was associated with lower risks of Alzheimer’s disease dementia and mild cognitive impairment in late life, longitudinal research showed.” Researchers found that “over nearly 8 years of follow-up, each 1-point increase in lifetime cognitive enrichment correlated with a 38% lower risk of Alzheimer’s dementia,” while “the risk of developing mild cognitive impairment also was reduced by 33%.” The findings were published in Neurology.

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— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

HealthDay (2/13, Thompson) reported a study found that “depression, sleep problems, ADHD, substance use, suicidal behaviors and conduct problems all were more likely among 11- to 12-year-olds with problematic digital habits.” The researchers “analyzed data from more than 8,000 children participating in an ongoing federally funded study of teenage development.” Study results “showed that problematic mobile phone, social media and video game use is associated with depression, ADHD, conduct problems, suicidal behavior and sleep problems. Tweens addicted to their mobile phones or social media also were more likely to drink, smoke or use weed, researchers found.” The study was published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

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— “Tween Screen Addiction Linked To Mental Health Problems, Substance Use,”Dennis Thompson, HealthDay , February 13, 2026

Oncology Nurse Advisor (2/12, Garlapow) reports a systematic review of 30 studies found that “alienation is a profound and multidimensional consequence of childhood and adolescent cancer that warrants clinical recognition alongside physical morbidity.” The review included data “derived from 980 respondents aged 1 to 29 years and encompassed diverse cancer types, most commonly leukemia, lymphoma, central nervous system tumors, sarcoma, and other solid tumors.” The meta-aggregation yielded 4 synthesized findings and 13 categories: environmental alienation, self-alienation, interpersonal alienation, and social alienation. Researchers concluded that pediatric healthcare professionals “should adopt a person-centered approach that values the ‘voices’ of children and adolescents, supports the rebuilding of social connections and the continuity of identity, and promotes meaningful societal participation during and beyond cancer treatment.” The review was published in the Journal of Adolescence.

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— “Addressing Alienation Can Improve Psychosocial Outcomes in Pediatric Cancer,”Megan Garlapow, PhD, Oncology Nurse Advisor, February 12, 2026

HealthDay (2/12, Thompson) reports a study presented at The Pregnancy Meeting suggests that “pregnant women who quit their antidepressants are nearly twice as likely to experience a mental health emergency compared to those who keep taking their meds.” The researchers “tracked insurance health records for nearly 4,000 women who gave birth in 2023 and 2024. All were diagnosed with depression or anxiety prior to pregnancy.” They found that “of those patients, 37% entered pregnancy with a prescription for an antidepressant. About 18% had no prescription fills during their pregnancy, and 65% had a gap of more than 60 days in fills.” Study results indicated that “women who quit their antidepressants had nearly double the risk for a mental health problem such as suicidal thoughts, substance overdose or psychosis. The risk peaked in the first and ninth months of pregnancy, researchers found.”

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— “Antidepressant Discontinuation By Pregnant Patients Linked To Higher Mental Health Emergency Risk, Study Suggests,”Dennis Thompson , HealthDay , February 12, 2026

HealthDay (2/12, Neff) reports a study “suggests that wearable trackers can detect the subtle signs of a depression relapse weeks or even months before an actual episode.” The study followed 93 Canadian adults with “a diagnosis of major depressive disorder and had previously recovered from a depression episode” for up to two years. The participants “wore a research-grade device similar to a Fitbit or Apple Watch around the clock and had regular in-person visits for depression assessment and data download.” Researchers observed that “a person’s daily rhythms tell a story. Specifically, people with irregular sleep schedules had nearly double the risk of falling back into a depressive episode. The most telling sign wasn’t just how long someone slept, but how different their day was from their night.” Specifically, “when the data showed less of a difference between daytime movement and nighttime rest, a relapse was often right around the corner.” The study was published in JAMA Psychiatry.

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— “Smartwatches May Soon Predict a Depression Relapse,”Deanna Neff, HealthDay , February 12, 2026

MedPage Today (2/11, Firth) reports, “Drug overdoses, homicides, and suicides accounted for more than a quarter of all deaths among pregnant and postpartum women, an analysis of maternal deaths from 2018 through 2023 showed.” Researchers found that “among 7,901 maternal deaths over this 6-year period, the leading cause was unintentional drug overdose, accounting for 1,152 deaths (5.2 deaths per 100,000 live births), followed by violence, defined as homicide or suicide (866 deaths; 3.9 deaths per 100,000 live births).” They noted that “altogether, homicides accounted for 68% of all violent deaths, and firearms were involved in 77% of homicides and 39% of suicides.” Furthermore, “violence and overdose accounted for 2,018 deaths, while the next four most common causes of death – cardiovascular causes, hypertension, infection, and hemorrhage – together accounted for 2,141 deaths.” The findings were published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

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— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

Rheumatology Advisor (2/10, Kuhns) reports, “Greater everyday discrimination is associated with worse patient-reported lupus activity and symptom burden, but these relationships are mediated by depression and anxiety symptoms, according to study results.” Investigators came to this conclusion after conducting an analysis that “included data collected between 2020 and 2021 from adults with physician-confirmed SLE in the San Francisco Bay Area.” The findings were published in The Journal of Rheumatology.

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— “Discrimination Worsens SLE Symptom Burden Through Depression and Anxiety,”Lisa Kuhns, PhD, Rheumatology Advisor, February 10, 2026

Neurology Advisor (2/10, Saha) reports, “Pregnancy and breastfeeding are associated with less later-life cognitive decline, according to” research. Investigators came to this conclusion after conducting “a longitudinal secondary analysis of 2 Women’s Health Initiative cohorts: the Women’s Health Initiative Memory Study (WHIMS; n=7427) and the Women’s Health Initiative Study of Cognitive Aging (WHISCA; n=2304).” The findings were published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia.

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— “Pregnancy, Breastfeeding Linked to Reduced Cognitive Decline in Older Age,”Rajan Saha, Neurology Advisor, February 10, 2026

MedPage Today (2/10, Jeffrey) reports, “Exercise effectively reduced symptoms of depression and anxiety, comparable to results seen with pharmacological or psychological interventions, according to a systematic umbrella review with a meta-meta-analysis of randomized trials.” Researchers observed that “exercise had a medium-sized effect on reducing depression symptoms (standardized mean difference [SMD] -0.61, 95% CI -0.69 to -0.54), while it had a small-to-medium effect on reducing anxiety symptoms (SMD -0.47).” They noted that “while exercise was effective across all age groups, the greatest benefits of exercise on depression were seen in adults ages 18 to 30 years (SMD -0.81), as well as among postnatal women (SMD -0.70).” The review was published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

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— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

Psychiatric News (2/9) reports a study of Swedish registry data found that “the male-to-female ratio of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may be more equal than commonly believed.” The research team “analyzed nearly 2.8 million individuals born in Sweden between 1985 and 2020 – identifying 78,522 (2.8%) who were diagnosed with ASD by the end of 2022. Across the whole cohort, the male-to-female ratio of ASD was 1.6:1 – though the data showed that the yearly gap has been shrinking over time.” They noted the “average age of ASD diagnosis was 14 years – among males, diagnoses peaked between ages 10 to 14 while in females diagnoses peaked between ages 15 to 19. In 2022, the ASD male-to-female ratio at age 10 was 3:1 – but by age 20, the ratio dropped to 1.2:1.” The findings “show a pattern of significant ‘catch-up’ in recognizing ASD in females over the past 40 years in Sweden.” The study was published in The BMJ.

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— “Is Autism a Predominantly Male Disorder?, Psychiatric News , February 9, 2026