The AP (4/29, Tanner) reports a study showed “suicides among U.S. kids aged 10 to 17 jumped to a 19-year high in the month following the release of a popular TV series that depicted a girl ending her life,” called “13 Reasons Why.” The findings were published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Though the study does not prove the show is the cause of the spike, “there were 195 more youth suicides than would have been expected in the nine months following the show’s March 2017 release, given historical and seasonal suicide trends, the study estimates.” Meanwhile, “Lisa Horowitz, a co-author and researcher at the National Institute of Mental Health, noted that suicide is the second leading cause of death for U.S. teens and called it ‘a major public health crisis.’”

Reuters (4/29, Serjeant) reports “the TV show was associated with a 28.9 percent increase in suicide rates among U.S. youth ages 10-17 in April 2017, the…study said.”

Related Links:

— “Study: Kids’ suicides spiked after Netflix’s ’13 Reasons’, “Lindsey Tanner, AP, April 29, 2019

HealthDay (4/25, Reinberg) reports on a study published online in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs which found that overdoses in people aged 15 through 24 rose from “eight in every 100,000 people” in 2006 “to nearly 10 per 100,000 in 2015.” Among this age demographic, “death rates from prescription painkillers and opioids including heroin increased nearly 5% on average each year from 2006 to 2015, but jumped by more than 15% each year from 2013 to 2015.”

Related Links:

— “Fatal Drug ODs Surging Among Young Americans, ” Steven Reinberg, Healthday, April 25, 2019

Reuters (4/25, Rapaport) reports that in the aftermath of “violent events like mass shootings or natural disasters, people who watch the most media coverage of the story are more likely to show post-traumatic stress symptoms months later,” researchers concluded. For the study, investigators “repeatedly surveyed more than 4,000 U.S. adults who hadn’t been involved in” either the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing or the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, FL. The study revealed that “repeated exposure to explicit violent content may exacerbate fear about future traumatic events, which in turn fuels more consumption of media coverage about the next bombing or shooting.” The findings were published online April 17 in the journal Science Advances.

Related Links:

— “News coverage of violent events may contribute to ‘cycle of distress’, “Lisa Rapaport, Reuters, April 25, 2019

The Washington Times (4/24, Meier) reports that a bipartisan group of legislators will introduce a new bill addressing “a recent spate of high-profile veteran suicides and an uptick in suicide rates.” The bill “will require a review of the current training, workload and staffing at VA centers,” after three military veterans died of suicide on VA properties in Georgia and Texas “over the span of five days earlier this month.” Rep. Anthony Brindisi (D-NY), one of the lawmakers responsible for the bill, said, “Twenty veterans die by suicide every day. This is wrong and unacceptable, and we must do more.”

Related Links:

— “Lawmakers roll out new bill to stop veteran suicides on VA properties, “Lauren Meier, The Washington Times, April 24, 2019

Science Daily (4/23) reports new research suggests women “with the dissociative subtype of PTSD, a serious variant of the disorder that can disrupt one’s sense of self and surroundings,” may be more prone to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) than others. Researchers from the University of Missouri found these women “experienced a more pronounced alteration in both cortisol and oxytocin levels, indicating the body’s stress-response system functioned less effectively in these women.” The findings were published in the Archives of Psychiatric Nursing.

Related Links:

— “Some women could be more susceptible to PTSD than others, according to new study, Science Daily, April 23, 2019

MD Magazine (4/23, Kunzmann) reports, “A retroactive analysis of patients referred to a psychiatry consultation clinic often by primary care physicians with an initial schizophrenia diagnosis found that about half of all such diagnoses were inaccurate upon further review,” researchers reported after conducting “a retroactive chart review of 78 patients who has been referred…with an early psychosis diagnosis.” The study revealed that “the most common patients to be misdiagnosed with schizophrenia were in their teens and 20s with symptoms of anxiety.” The findings were published in the March issue of the Journal of Psychiatric Practice.

Related Links:

— “Patients Are Commonly Misdiagnosed with Schizophrenia, “Kevin Kunzmann, MD Magazine, April 23, 2019

Healio (4/23, Demko) reports, “Implementing prevention programs and other interventions during and after pregnancy may decrease the number and severity of manic episodes in women at high risk for bipolar disorder, according to a personal view published” online April 9 in The Lancet Psychiatry. Verinder Sharma, MBBS, of the departments of psychiatry and obstetrics and gynecology at Western University, and the Parkwood Institute, London, Ontario, Canada, and colleagues wrote, “The postpartum period is ideally suited for primary and secondary prevention of bipolar disorder.” They added, “Women are routinely under the care of health professionals during and after pregnancy. Some of the putative risk factors of bipolar disorder such as sleep loss, substance use, and use of antidepressants or psychostimulants can be easily targeted.”

Related Links:

— “Early intervention key for postpartum women at risk for bipolar disorder, “Savannah Demko, Healio, April 23, 2019

Perri Klass, MD, writes in the New York Times’ (4/22, Klass) “The Checkup” blog that “researchers looking to find a biomarker that may help with the early diagnosis of autism have seized on the question of how young children react to hearing their names called.” Geraldine Dawson, the director of the Duke Center for Autism and Brain Development, “was the corresponding author on a study in April in the journal Autism which used computer vision analysis to look at the reactions of toddlers from 16 to 31 months old, in response to hearing their names called.” Toddlers “with autism spectrum disorder took significantly longer to look away from a video and orient toward the person who had called.” Klass adds that “‘the signs and symptoms [of autism] for most children are there between 12 and 24 months,’ said Dr. Paul S. Carbone…a co-author of ‘Autism Spectrum Disorder: What Every Parent Needs to Know,’ published by the American Academy of Pediatrics.”

Related Links:

— “The Search for a Biomarker for Early Autism Diagnosis, “Perri Klass, M.D., The New York Times, April 22, 2019

MedPage Today (4/22, George) reports, “Neurofilament light (NfL) levels in blood corresponded with hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease progression, an analysis of” 1,583 “older adults in North America” indicated. The study revealed that “longitudinal NfL levels were linked to baseline cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers, MRI measures, PET imaging, and poor cognitive performance among Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative Study (ADNI) participants.” The findings were published online in JAMA Neurology

Related Links:

— “Blood Test Tracks Alzheimer’s Progression, “Judy George, MedPage Today, April 22, 2019

USA Today (4/20, Garrison) reported that on Friday, the FDA “announced…that it permitted marketing for the first medical device to treat” attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD). Known as “the Monarch external Trigeminal Nerve Stimulation (eTNS) System, the prescription-only device is for children ages 7 to 12 who are not taking…prescription medication” for the disorder. In a statement, Carlos Peña, director of the Division of Neurological and Physical Medicine Devices in the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health, said, “This new device offers a safe, non-drug option for treatment of” AD/HD “in pediatric patients through the use of mild nerve stimulation, a first of its kind.”

CNN (4/20, Lamotte) reported that “the device should not be worn by children under the age of seven, or any child on an insulin pump, pacemaker or implanted neurostimulator.” The device “should also not be used near a cell phone, the FDA said, because the phone’s low levels of electromagnetic energy may interrupt the therapy.”

The Hill (4/20, Axelrod) reported that “eTNS, which is designed to fit inside one’s pocket, is connected by wire to a patch that is placed on the forehead while sleeping and delivers a “tingling” electrical impulse to branches of the trigeminal nerve.” The FDA said, “While the exact mechanism of eTNS is not yet known, neuroimaging studies have shown that eTNS increases activity in the brain regions that are known to be important in regulating attention, emotion and behavior.”

Related Links:

— “FDA signs off on first medical device for treating ADHD in children, “Joey Garrison, USA Today, April 20, 2019