Reuters (12/14, Crist) reported on research published online in the Journal of the American Osteopathic Association that found seniors “have the highest rates of gun ownership, depression and suicide in the U.S.,” and “are more likely to become victims of their own guns.” The researchers suggest physicians are in a unique position to identify seniors at risk because this population sees physicians regularly.

Related Links:

— “Doctors struggle to help older gun owners, “Carolyn Crist, Reuters, December 14, 2018.

The NBC News (12/15, Compton) website reported that even though “teenage girls attempt suicide more often than teenage boys, according to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, boys are more likely to die by suicide.” In fact, “suicide rates for teenage boys and girls rose steadily from 2007 to 2015,” figures from the CDC reveal.

Related Links:

— “Boys need better access to mental health care. Why aren’t they getting it?, “Julie Compton, NBC News, December 15, 2018.

CNN (12/13, Howard) reports on its website that there were almost 40,000 gun deaths in the U.S. last year, “the highest number…in decades,” according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence first analyzed the data, and then later “CNN replicated that analysis and found that 39,773 people died by guns in 2017, which is an increase of more than 10,000 deaths from the 28,874 in 1999.”

The Hill (12/13, Gstalter) reports the number includes “an estimated 14,542 people…killed in homicides with guns,” “an estimated 23,854 people” who “died from suicide using guns in 2017,” as well as 486 “unintentional” gun deaths, 338 “undetermined” deaths, and 553 that “contributed to legal intervention and operations of war.”

Related Links:

— “Gun deaths in US reach highest level in nearly 40 years, CDC data reveal, “Jacqueline Howard, CNN, December 13, 2018.

USA Today (12/13, O’Donnell, Pitofsky) reports, “A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report covering 2007 through 2017 (pdf) found that 17 percent of high school students are bullied,” and approximately seven “percent attempted suicide.” In fact, “suicide was the 10th leading cause of death for elementary school-aged children in 2014, the CDC reported.” What’s more, almost “13 percent of the children 17 and younger who were hospitalized for suicidal thoughts or attempts between 2008 and 2015 were ages five to 11.” The article interviews experts who discuss complicating factors behind child suicides in addition to bullying, such as depression and family conflict.

Related Links:

— “Child suicides can be linked to bullying, but it’s never the sole cause, mental health professionals say, “Jayne O’Donnell and Marina Pitofsky, USA TODAY, December 13, 2018.

HealthDay (12/12, Preidt) reports, “Extreme dieting behaviors often begin in the teen years and worsen in adulthood,” research indicated. The findings of the 1,455-adult study were published online Nov. 27 in the International Journal of Eating Disorders.

Related Links:

— “Extreme Dieting in Teens Often Intensifies in Adulthood, “Robert Preidt, HealthDay, December 12, 2018.

Reuters (12/12, Carroll) reports, “Female military veterans with traumatic brain injury, post-traumatic stress disorder or depression are more likely to develop dementia later in life than peers without those conditions,” research indicated.

HealthDay (12/12, Salamon) reports that for the study, researchers examined data involving “more than 100,000 older women veterans.” The findings were published online Dec. 12 in the journal Neurology. MedPage Today (12/12, George) also covers the study.

Related Links:

— “Dementia risk increased in female vets with brain injury, PTSD, “Linda Carroll, Reuters, December 12, 2018.

Healio (12/12, Demko) reports, “Youth aged five to 24 years beginning antipsychotic therapy who received doses higher than 50 mg chlorpromazine equivalents had a 3.5-fold increased risk for unexpected death,” researchers concluded after comparing “the risk for unexpected death among children and youth who started treatment with antipsychotic vs. control medications using data from Medicaid enrollees aged five to 24 years in Tennessee who had no diagnosis of severe somatic illness, psychoses, Tourette syndrome or chronic tic disorder.” The findings were published online Dec. 12 in JAMA Psychiatry.

According to Psychiatric News (12/12), the author of an accompanying editorial wrote, “The ‘[r]esults…heighten the already increased caution about prescribing antipsychotics to children and adolescents.’” She added, “Concerns about excess deaths are likely to increase because the prevalence of some disorders for which antipsychotics are prescribed off-label (e.g., attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder) and the number of prescriptions for indicated and off-label use are rising.” Medscape (12/12, Anderson, Subscription Publication) also covers the study.

Related Links:

— “Antipsychotic use may increase risk for unexpected death among youth, “Savannah Demko, Healio, December 12, 2018.

The Washington Post (12/11, Bever) reports that fictional British Secret Service agent James Bond appears to have an alcohol problem, researchers concluded in findings (pdf) published in the Medical Journal of Australia. After analyzing “Bond films from 1962 to 2015 to better understand his patterns of alcohol use,” investigators “found that the British spy met more than half of the criteria for alcohol use disorder as defined by the American Psychiatric Association’s DSM-5 classification system for mental disorders.”

Related Links:

— “Shaken not slurred: James Bond had ‘a severe chronic alcohol problem,’ public health experts say, “Lindsey Bever, The Washington Post, December 11, 2018.

In ongoing reporting on data about drug abuse, the Washington Post (12/12, Zezima) reports that fresh data from the National Center for Health Statistics show that “deaths from cocaine sharply increased from 2011 to 2016 across the United States, adding another dimension to a crisis of fatal overdoses that has primarily been driven by opioids.” Cocaine overdose deaths were up “about 18 percent each year during the five-year period,” while “the data also showed a staggering rise in the number of deaths from fentanyl, with deaths from the powerful synthetic opioid increasing about 113 percent each year from 2013 to 2016.” According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 70,000 people died of drug overdoses last year.

The AP (12/11, Stobbe) reports that the latest CDC data also show “a bigger share of U.S. drug overdose deaths are being caused by methamphetamine,” with that drug’s overdose death toll tripling in the period between 2011 and 2016, “while the percentage of overdose deaths involving meth grew from less than 5 percent to nearly 11 percent.”

Related Links:

— “Cocaine deaths increase amid ongoing national opioid crisis, “Katie Zezima, The Washington Post, December 12, 2018.

The AP (12/10, Ramer) reports, “Nearly half of all New Hampshire adults say they experienced stressful or traumatic events in childhood, and data released” Dec. 10 “show those experiences are hurting their health today.” Even though just “10 percent of adults with no adverse experiences during childhood reported being in fair or poor health, that percentage was 17 percent for those with at least one such experience, according to statistics presented at a news conference by the New Hampshire Department of Public of Health and Spark NH, the governor’s early childhood advisory council.”

Related Links:

— “Data show link between childhood trauma, adult health, “Holly Ramer, AP, December 10, 2018.