Psychiatric News (12/19) reports, “Increasing the amount of green space around schools may lower the odds that children will exhibit attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder” (AD/HD) symptoms, researchers concluded in a 59,754-child study. The findings were published online Dec. 18 in JAMA Network Open.
Related Links:
— “More Green Space Around Schools May Reduce ADHD Symptoms, Study Finds, Psychiatric News, December 19, 2019
Reuters (12/19, Rapaport) reports women with higher dietary glycemic index scores were more likely to have insomnia, according to a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. The researchers examined “food diaries for more than 50,000 women in their mid-60s who had already gone through menopause” and found that “women with the highest dietary glycemic index scores – meaning they consumed more refined carbohydrates like white bread, sweets and sugary soda – were 11% more likely than women with the lowest scores to report insomnia at the start of the study period.” In addition, “they were also 16% more likely to develop new insomnia during the three-year follow-up period.”
Related Links:
— “Sugar and white bread tied to older women’s insomnia, “Lisa Rapaport, Reuters Health, December 19, 2019
The AP (12/19, Perrone) reports the FDA announced that gabapentin and pregabalin “can cause dangerous breathing problems when combined with opioids and certain other drugs.” The agency will “add new warnings to packaging for” the drugs, which “are among the most prescribed in the U.S.”
HealthDay (12/19) reports that “the new warnings” are “based on a review of data from numerous sources, including case reports, observational studies, human trials and animal studies.” While the two gabapentinoids are approved by the FDA for “epilepsy, postherpetic neuralgia (pain following shingles), neuropathic pain associated with diabetic neuropathy, fibromyalgia, generalized anxiety disorder and restless legs syndrome,” they are also commonly prescribed off-label for “insomnia, migraine, social phobia, panic disorder, mania, bipolar disorder and alcohol withdrawal.”
Medscape (12/19, Brooks, Subscription Publication) reports Dr. Douglas Throckmorton, an FDA official, said, “Reports of gabapentinoid abuse alone, and with opioids, have emerged and there are serious consequences of this co-use, including respiratory depression and increased risk of opioid overdose death.”
MedPage Today (12/19, George) also covers the story.
Related Links:
— “FDA warns of breathing risks with popular nerve drugs, “Matthew Perrone, AP, December 19, 2019
The AP (12/18, Johnson) discusses the effectiveness of buprenorphine as a treatment for opioid addiction and withdrawal, and its surprising lack of availability at addiction treatment centers across the country. As an example “in Missouri, some treatment programs had shunned buprenorphine, particularly long-term, in favor of abstinence-based counseling and support groups.” Also, “some believed medications were a crutch that prevented true recovery.” However, “in 2017, with overdose deaths rising, Missouri tied federal grant money to a medication-first philosophy.” As such, “programs would get money only if they started clients on meds rapidly and if they dropped rules about medication time limits and attending counseling.” As a result, “medication treatment increased and more patients stayed in treatment longer.” Despite these results and others, the addiction treatment field is still divided on the benefits of its use as a sustainable recovery method.
Related Links:
— “Walk-in clinics for opioid addiction offer meds first, fast, “Carla K. Johnson, AP, December 18, 2019
MD Magazine (12/18, Walter) reports that benzodiazepines, a class of medication used to treat anxiety, “may be misused and abused by children, leading to increased overdose and fatality rates,” researchers concluded after identifying and analyzing “national trends for pediatric benzodiazepine exposures between 2000-2015 after gathering data from 296,838 pediatric patients,” then procuring “data of benzodiazepine exposures in adolescences under the age of 18 who reported to participating US poison centers.” The findings were online Oct. 15 in the journal Clinical Toxicology.
Related Links:
— “Benzodiazepine Overdose Rates Increasing in Teens, “Kenny Walter, MD Magazine, December 18, 2019
Healio (12/18, Gramigna) reports, “Adolescent girls with anxiety disorders may be at an increased risk for eating disorders,” researchers concluded after analyzing “data for 2,406 female adolescents.” The findings of the “longitudinal cohort study” were published online Dec. 17 in the European Eating Disorders Review.
Related Links:
— “Study finds association between anxiety and eating disorders among adolescent girls, “Joe Gramigna, Healio, December 18, 2019
Healio (12/17, Gramigna) reports, “Black adolescents in the United States reported more than five instances of racial discrimination daily, which led to short-term increases in depressive symptoms,” researchers concluded after surveying “101 black U.S. American adolescents to measure daily racial discrimination and 14-day depressive symptoms slopes.” The findings were published in the January-February issue of the Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology.
Related Links:
— “Black adolescents may experience five daily instances of racial discrimination, “Joe Gramigna, Healio, December 17, 2019
The New York Times (12/18, Richtel) reports, “Teenagers are drinking less alcohol, smoking fewer cigarettes and trying fewer hard drugs, new federal survey data” indicate, but “these public health gains have been offset by a sharp increase in vaping of marijuana and nicotine.” The data come from the Monitoring the Future survey, “a closely watched annual study by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, or NIDA, of eighth, 10th and 12th graders.”
USA Today (12/18, O’Donnell) reports that the data “showed a ‘significant’ increase in the number of 8th through 12th grade students vaping marijuana, and a similarly high jump in daily cannabis use by 8th and 10th graders, while alcohol and opioid use continues to plummet.” In high school seniors, one in five “vaped marijuana in the last year and 14% vaped it in the last month, the National Institute on Drug Abuse reported.” Those “numbers doubled in the past two years.”
The Washington Post (12/17, Bernstein) reports that when students were asked by researchers “why they vaped, nearly 61 percent said to experiment, nearly 42 percent said they enjoyed the flavor, nearly 38 percent said to have a good time with friends and more than 37 percent said to relax or relieve tension.”
Related Links:
— “Teen Marijuana Vaping Soars, Displacing Other Habits, “Joe Gramigna, The New York Times , December 18, 2019
The AP (12/17, Tanner) reports, “Accidental overdoses cause 90% of all U.S. opioid-related deaths while suicides account for far fewer of these fatalities than previously thought,” research indicated. After analyzing data from “death certificates for people aged 15 and older,” researchers “found that suicides accounted for 4% of all opioid-related deaths.” The findings were published online in JAMA.
According to HealthDay (12/17, Preidt), the four percent figure is “far below recent estimates of 20% to 30%, said the” study authors. The findings were published online Dec. 17 in a research letter in JAMA.
Related Links:
— “Most US opioid overdose deaths accidental, 4% are suicide, “Lindsey Tanner, AP, December 17, 2019
HealthDay (12/16, Preidt) reports that about 75 percent “of U.S. teens who use e-cigarettes are vaping addictive or mind-altering substances – more than once suspected,” researchers concluded after analyzing “data from more than 14,500 teens who were part of a 2017 nationwide survey.” The findings were published online in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
Related Links:
— “Youth Vapers Often Use Nicotine or Pot, Not Just Flavoring, “Robert Preidt, HealthDay, December 16, 2019