The NBC News (1/14, Charles) website reports, “Low levels of marijuana use – as few as one or two times – may change the” brains of adolescents, research suggests.

The Burlington (VT) Free Press (1/14, DeSmet) reports investigators “found an increase in gray matter, ‘in the amygdala, which is involved in fear and other emotion-related processes, and in the hippocampus, involved in memory development and spatial abilities.’” The findings of the 46-teen study were published online Jan. 14 in the Journal of Neuroscience.

Related Links:

— “Even a little marijuana may change teen brain, study finds, “Shamard Charles, NBC News, January 14, 2019

Reuters (1/14, Carroll) reports researchers found that the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s addiction helpline is not well known and gets relatively little publicity compared to the suicide helpline. The findings were published online Jan. 14 in a research letter in JAMA Internal Medicine. Reuters adds that “the Treatment Referral Routing Service, 800-662-HELP provides 24-hour free and confidential treatment referral and information in English and Spanish.”

HealthDay (1/14, Reinberg) reports the researchers compared media mentions of the addiction helpline following the “suspected heroin overdose” of Demi Lovato in July to media mentions of the suicide helpline following the death of Anthony Bourdain the month before.

Related Links:

— “U.S. substance abuse helpline largely unknown, “Linda Carroll, Reuters, January 14, 2019

Healio (1/14, Tedesco) reports, “Patients with young-onset type 2 diabetes have excess hospitalizations and a substantial mental illness burden before age 40 years,” researchers concluded after calculating “the all-cause and cause-specific hospitalization rates of a population-based cohort and registry-based cohort, including a total of 443,794 patients aged 20 to 75 years from Hong Kong, using the Hong Kong Diabetes Registry.”

MedPage Today (1/14, Monaco) reports that “after age 60, cardiovascular disease overtook mental health as the largest driver of hospitalizations, regardless of the onset age of diabetes.” Prior to age 40, “mental illness accounted for nearly 37% of all bed-days for those with young-onset diabetes.” The findings were published online Jan. 15 in the Annals of Internal Medicine. Medscape (1/14, Tucker, Subscription Publication) also covers the study.

Related Links:

— “Young-onset diabetes linked to increased risk for hospitalization, mental illness, “Alaina Tedesco, Healio, January 14, 2019

Medscape (1/14, Brooks, Subscription Publication) reports that after “analyzing data on 4,322 adults,” investigators “have identified five novel subtypes of insomnia, which may lead to more personalized treatments for insomnia.” According to Medscape, these “subtypes are largely unrelated to sleep complaints but rather are differentiated by biologically based traits and life history.” What’s more, the subtypes “are stable over time and are associated with comorbid depression, treatment responses, and findings in encephalographic event–related potentials, the investigators” found. The findings were published online Jan. 7 in The Lancet Psychiatry. The author of an accompanying commentary observed the study “suggests that ‘robust subtyping is possible among a population with insomnia.’”

Related Links:

— Medscape (requires login and subscription)

MD Magazine (1/11, Lutz) reported, “Psychiatric disorders and substance use disorders might reduce the efficacy of antiepileptic” medicines “among patients with epilepsy,” researches concluded after analyzing “data searching for treatment success and comorbid psychiatric diseases, including anxiety, schizophrenia, depression, and bipolar disorder, or substance use disorder including the use of substances, opioids, or cannabis.” The findings of the “more than 175,000”-patient study were presented American Epilepsy Society’s recent annual meeting.

Related Links:

— “Substance Use Disorder Reduces Antiepileptic Medication Success, “Rachel Lutz, MD Magazine, January 11, 2019

MedPage Today (1/14) reports a study funded by the NIH that included a survey of over 5,000 teen-parent pairs suggests that “parents were frequently unaware when their adolescent children had suicidal or morbid thoughts, but when they did believe their children thought about killing themselves, children often denied it.” The findings were published in Pediatrics.

Related Links:

— MedPage (requires login and subscription)

Healio (1/11, Demko) reported researchers found that in a “prospective cohort study” involving 34,552 children, “more than 40% started school with vulnerabilities in social-emotional functioning tied to emerging” mental illnesses. The findings were published online Jan. 4 in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “Many children may start school with social-emotional vulnerabilities, “Savannah Demko, Healio, January 11, 2019

Healio Gastroenterology (1/10, Young) reports, “Women with inflammatory bowel disease [IBD] are at higher risk for developing new-onset psychiatric disorders during the postpartum period, particularly mood and anxiety disorders and substance abuse disorders,” researchers concluded after comparing data on “3,721 women with IBD and 798,908 women without IBD.” The findings were published online Jan. 5 in the journal Gut.

Related Links:

— “Women with IBD at higher risk for postpartum, new-onset psychiatric disorders, “Alex Young, Healio Gastroenterology, January 10, 2019

The CBS News (1/10, Welch) website reports, “A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention” published Jan. 11 in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report “reveals that drug overdose deaths among females aged 30 to 64 have skyrocketed in recent years.”

The NBC News (1/10, Fox) website reports that “deaths from drug overdoses increased by 260 percent among women aged 30 to 64 between 1999 and 2017.” In addition, “the rate of drug overdose deaths from opioids increased by an enormous 492 percent among women aged 30 to 64,” investigators revealed.

CNN (1/10, Howard) reports that for the study, researchers focused on “nationwide mortality data on people living in the United States between 1999 and 2017.” The data used in the study “came from the National Vital Statistics System, which is based on information from death certificates.” The study team closely examined “overdose death rates among women ages 30 to 64 overall and then by drug type: antidepressants, benzodiazepines, cocaine, heroin, prescription opioids and synthetic opioids, excluding methadone.”

Related Links:

— “Drug overdose deaths skyrocket among middle-aged women, “Ashley Welch, CBS News, January 10, 2019

According to Reuters (1/8, Rapaport), children “may be more likely to develop depression and anxiety when their parents are regular drinkers, even when neither parent drinks enough to be considered an alcoholic,” researchers concluded after studying “8,773 children from 6,696 two-parent families.” The findings were published online Jan. 7 in JAMA Pediatrics.

Related Links:

— “Even ‘non-problem’ drinking by parents tied to mental health problems in kids, “Lisa Rapaport, Reuters, January 8, 2019