In an over 3,300 word article, NBC News (12/20, Einhorn) reported on its website about the effectiveness of “brain training” to treat AD/HD, anxiety, autism, and other disorders in children. The article said that there is “a fast-growing industry” that promises “permanent changes to the human mind” through after-school brain training programs for children with AD/HD and/or autism. The industry is “based on the premise that targeted games and exercises can rewire the brain to boost memory, sharpen thinking or decrease the challenges associated with anxiety, autism, ADHD and other disorders.” However, that premise “has faced significant criticism from doctors and scientists who warn that some are making dubious claims.” In addition, some families have gone into debt paying for these programs that “can cost $12,000 or more for six months of training, three days a week.”

Related Links:

— “Parents pay thousands for ‘brain training’ to help kids with ADHD and autism. But does it work?, “Erin Einhorn, NBC News, December 20, 2019

The AP (12/21, Aljas, Little) reported that there were “48 jail suicides since the 2017 launch of a sweeping Texas law aimed at reducing such deaths through better screening and monitoring.” The Sandra Bland Act “hasn’t made a dent in the number of suicides, and experts blame its failure to address one of the most significant factors: the lack of staff to watch troubled inmates.” The AP “and the University of Maryland’s Capital News Service compiled a database of more than 400 lawsuits in the last five years alleging mistreatment of inmates in U.S. prisons and jails” and found nearly “40 percent involved suicides in local jails – 135 deaths and 30 attempts,” while “all but eight involved allegations of neglect by the staff.”

Related Links:

— “Ambitious Texas law fails to make dent in jailhouse suicides, “Riin Aljas and Ryan E. Little, AP, December 21 2019

Psychiatric News (12/20) reported, “Alcohol use may raise the short-term risk of suicide in patients who receive outpatient mental health treatment,” researchers concluded after analyzing data “from the electronic health records of more than 44,000 adults who had outpatient visits to a mental health professional between January 2010 and June 2015.” The findings were published online Dec. 18 in the journal General Hospital Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Heavy Alcohol Use Associated With Higher Risk for Suicide, Psychiatric News, December 20, 2019

MD Magazine (12/20, Rosenfeld) reported, “A motivational interviewing intervention did not initially drive at-risk adolescents to seek mental health treatment following an emergency department (ED) visit,” research indicated. Specifically, “adolescent patients who presented at the ED for nonpsychiatric concerns but screened positive for suicide risk did not significantly benefit from the Suicidal Teens Accessing Treatment After an Emergency Department Visit (STAT-ED) intervention,” the study revealed. The findings of the 168-patient randomized trial were published online Dec. 20 in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “Intervention Did Not Improve Adolescents Seeking Mental Healthcare, “Samara Rosenfeld, MD Magazine, December 20, 2019

HealthDay (12/19, Thompson) reports researchers found that “obesity in middle age is associated with an increased risk of dementia later in life” for women. In the study published in Neurology, the researchers found that women “who were obese in their mid-50s had 21% greater risk of being diagnosed with dementia 15 or more years later, compared with women who had a healthy weight.”

Related Links:

— “Obesity in Middle Age Could Raise Odds for Alzheimer’s Later, “Dennis Thompson, HealthDay, December 19, 2019

NBC News (12/19, Charles) reports on its website that the “suicide rate for black youth is rising faster than for any other racial and ethnic group, now making it the second-leading cause of death for black children aged 10 to 19, according to a congressional report released this week.” The 38-page report “was conducted by a task force of the Congressional Black Caucus and found a sharp rise in the rate of suicides and attempts among black youth.” It also “found that suicide attempts rose 73 percent from 1991 to 2017 for black adolescents of both sexes, and injuries from attempted suicides rose 122 percent for black boys in the same time period.”

Related Links:

— “Suicide rate rising fast for black youth, report finds, “Nick Charles, NBC News, December 19, 2019

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