MedPage Today (9/28, Frieden) reports that at a Sept. 27 hearing of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, “several senators said” that the “Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has made good strides in reducing suicides among former military personnel, but much more still needs to be done.” For example, Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) said, “VA data suggest that approximately 20 veterans commit suicide every day,” but “on average, only six were enrolled in VA healthcare.” Hearing witness Craig Bryan, PsyD, executive director of the National Center for Veterans Studies at the University of Utah, emphasized the importance of “treatment…done properly.” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) said, “What I am hearing…is that suicide rates are increasing among veterans who lack access, either because of geographic difficulties or because of less-than-honorable discharges.”

Related Links:

— “Much Work Remains to Reduce Veterans’ Suicide Rates,” Joyce Frieden, MedPage Today, September 28, 2017.

According to Healio (9/28, Oldt), “middle-aged adults had the highest increases in suicide death rates from 1999 to 2014 compared with other age groups,” Kathryn D. Piscopo, PhD, of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, found after analyzing “data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health and the National Vital Statistics System (NVSS) Mortality file for adults aged 45 to 64 years.” The report is available here.

Related Links:

— “Suicide death more common in middle-aged adults,” Kathryn D . Piscopo , PhD, Healio, September 28, 2017.

STAT (9/27, Samuel) reports that children with autism often are attracted to bodies of water and can end up drowning. In fact, “drowning is the most common fatal injury” among youngsters with autism. Now, “a study published in September in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders offers preliminary evidence that even children with severe autism can learn techniques to avoid drowning.” The study abstract points out that seven kids with “moderate to severe” autism spectrum disorder took part in the study.

Related Links:

— “Lakes and pools can be deadly for children with autism. But tailored swim lessons can save lives,” LEAH SAMUEL, STAT, September 27, 2017.

Healio (9/27, Bortz) reports, “Female children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder [ASD] are more likely to have younger siblings also diagnosed with the disorder, with higher rates observed in younger male siblings regardless of the older sibling’s sex,” researchers found after analyzing data on “1,583,271 families participating in commercial health care insurance plans.” The findings were published online Sept. 25 in JAMA Pediatrics.

Related Links:

— “Autism risk associated with gender of older sibling,” Palmer N, et al., Healio, September 27, 2017.

The New York Times (9/26, Schonbek, Subscription Publication) reports on an innovative program called Family Treatment Court in Chautauqua County, New York. The program provides personalized treatment programs tailored to each participant’s needs, including caseworkers and a presiding judge who tracks their progress as they complete drug and alcohol treatment, keeps them out of the criminal justice system, and helps keep their children out of the foster care system. There are 370 such centers across the country. The article profiles a recovering young woman, Samantha Coleman, who has completed treatment and was able to keep custody of her two daughters through the program.

Related Links:

— “Courts That Save Opioid Victims’ Family Life,” Amelia Schonbek, New York Times, September 26, 2017.

HealthDay (9/26, Thompson) reports, “Postpartum depression occurs 27 to 46 times more frequently during subsequent pregnancies for mothers who experienced it after their first birth,” researchers found after analyzing “data from Danish national registries on more than 457,000 women who delivered their first child between 1996 and 2013 and had no prior medical history of depression.” According to HealthDay, “postpartum depression generally takes hold of a new mother within days of delivery, although sometimes depression develops during pregnancy, according to the US National Institute of Mental Health.” The findings were published online Sept. 26 in PLOS Medicine.

Related Links:

— “Postpartum Depression Likely to Recur With Future Pregnancies
,” Dennis Thompson, HealthDay, September 26, 2017.

The Washington Post (9/25, McGinley) reports that the Food and Drug Administration “targeted more than 500 websites it said were illegally selling unapproved versions of prescription medications, including opioids, antibiotics and injectable epinephrine products.” The agency’s crackdown was a part of “a global operation called Pangea X, led by the international police organization Interpol.” The effort “involved police, customs and regulatory officials from 123 countries and resulted in the seizure of millions of doses of dietary supplements, pain reduction [drugs], epilepsy medication, erectile dysfunction [drugs] and antipsychotic medication, Interpol said.” In a statement, FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said, “The ease with which consumers can purchase opioid products online is especially concerning to me, given the immense public health crisis of addiction facing our country.”

Reuters (9/25, Clarke) reports that the FDA issued warning letters and seized “nearly 100 website domain names, including buyhydrocodoneonline.com and buyklonopin.com.” Gottlieb “said the agency has tripled its international mail inspectors and doubled its cybercrime and port of entry agents” as “part of a broader plan the FDA is developing to intercept illegal drugs.”

Additional coverage is provided by MedPage Today (9/25, Fiore).

Related Links:

— “FDA targets hundreds of ‘rogue’ websites illegally selling opioids and other prescription drugs,” Laurie McGinley, Washington Post, September 25, 2017.

HealthDay (9/25, Preidt) reports that research suggests “depression is common, though often overlooked, in people with cancer.” Investigators “assessed depression in 400 patients treated for cancer between 2013 and 2016.” The study indicated that “depression was found in 40 percent of the patients, and 3 out of 4 of those patients were never diagnosed or treated for it.” The findings were presented at the annual meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology.

Related Links:

— “Cancer Patients May Have Undiagnosed Depression,” Robert Preidt, HealthDay, September 25, 2017.

HealthDay (9/22, Preidt) reported, “Lack of paid sick leave can cause mental distress for workers when they’re ill because they’re afraid of losing wages or their jobs,” researchers concluded after studying “nearly 18,000 workers, ages 18-64,” 40 percent of which had no paid sick leave. The findings were published online in the American Journal of Orthopsychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Workers Without Paid Sick Leave Suffer Ill Effects,” Robert Preidt, , September 22, 2017.