HealthDay (7/22, Preidt) reports researchers found that survival times following the diagnosis of dementia was similar for “patients of all ages,” but “varied depending on the type of dementia: 6.4 years for frontotemporal lobe degeneration; 6.2 years for Alzheimer’s disease; 5.7 years for vascular dementia; 5.1 years for dementia with Lewy bodies; and 3.6 years for rarer causes of dementia.” The findings were presented at the Alzheimer’s Association annual meeting.

Related Links:

— “Life Is Short After Dementia Diagnosis, No Matter Your Age, ” Robert Preidt, HealthDay, July 22, 2018.

Healio (7/19, Demko) reports that “heightened performance monitoring evident in early childhood was associated with the onset of obsessive-compulsive disorder during adolescence and smaller right dorsal anterior cingulate cortex volume,” researchers concluded in a 292-child study that also involved magnetic resonance imaging among some of the participants. The findings were published online July 18 in JAMA Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Heightened performance monitoring in early childhood linked to OCD,”Savannah Demko, Healio, July 19, 2018.

USA Today (7/18, Pitofsky) reports, “The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline saw calls double from 2014 to 2017, an increase that coincides with rising” US suicide rates. Last year, “the lifeline answered more than two million calls…up from one million calls in 2014, according to its latest figures.” Figures released June 7 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reveal a 25 percent increase in suicide rates “from 1999 to 2016.”

Related Links:

— “‘Like a busy emergency room’: Calls to suicide crisis centers double since 2014, “Marina Pitofsky, USA Today , July 18, 2018.

The New York Post (7/18, Wooller) reports researchers found that “nitrates used to cure” meats may increase the risk of mania. The researchers found that “people who ended up in the hospital diagnosed with mania were 3.5 times more likely to regularly eat nitrate-cured meats, compared to people with no history of serious psychiatric disorders.” The findings were published online July 18 in Molecular Psychiatry.

MedPage Today (7/18, Monaco) reports that included in the study were “1,101 individuals with or without a history of psychiatric illness.” In addition, rats were also studied.

Also covering the story are Newsweek (7/18, Gander) and HealthDay (7/18, Preidt).

Related Links:

— “Nitrate-Cured Meats Linked to Manic Episodes, “Kristen Monaco, MedPage Today , July 18, 2018.

TIME (7/17, Park) reports Bill Gates has pledged to dedicate funding to an award of “more than $30 million to the Diagnostics Accelerator, a project with the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation (ADDF), that will focus on creating new strategies for diagnosing” Alzheimer’s disease. Gates said the goal is to spur “developments of a ‘real product for real patients’ by the medical community.”

Medscape (7/17, Brooks, Subscription Publication) reports Gates is joined by Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation (ADDF) co-founder Leonard Lauder and “other philanthropists, including the Dolby family and the Charles and Helen Schwab Foundation.” The coalition aims to “develop novel biomarkers” for an Alzheimer’s disease and dementia diagnostic test.

Reuters (7/17, Steenhuysen) reports the investment will be awarded over three years, and Gates’ pledge “follows an announcement in November of [his] personal investment of $50 million in the Dementia Discovery Fund.” Reuters notes that the US FDA “has said that it would consider Alzheimer’s drug trials based on biological markers rather than clinical symptoms, paving the way for drugs to be tested far earlier in the disease process.”

Forbes (7/17, Tindera) and a Bloomberg News (7/17) online video also offer coverage.

Related Links:

— “It’s Nearly Impossible to Diagnose Alzheimer’s Disease in Living People. Bill Gates Wants to Change That, “Alicia Park, TIME Health., July 17, 2018.

The Wall Street Journal (7/17, Hernandez, Morris, Subscription Publication) reports that frequent use of digital media by adolescents may be associated with an increased risk for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD), researchers concluded after following some 2,500 teenagers over two years. The findings were published July 17 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

CNN (7/17, Howard) reports that the study’s “results ‘affirm the 2016 American Academy of Pediatrics guidelines to prioritize activities that promote adolescent executive functioning and well-being, including sleep, physical activity, distraction-free homework, and positive interactions with family and friends,’ wrote” Jenny Radesky, MD, “who was a lead author of the academy’s guidelines for young children.” In an accompanying editorial, Radesky observed that “although not directly addressed by this study, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommendations for parent involvement in their adolescent’s media use – including discussions about prosocial uses of media, digital citizenship, misinformation, and persuasion awareness – are relevant to the cognitive and emotional reactions to digital media of adolescents.”

According to Newsweek (7/17, Gander), “the American Psychiatric Association states five percent of children have” AD/HD, but “the figure could be higher according to the Centers for Disease Control” and Prevention.

Also covering the story are a USA Today (7/17) video, USA Today (7/17, Suppe), Reuters (7/17, Rapaport), the NBC News (7/17, Fox) website, the NPR (7/17, Chatterjee) “Shots” blog, HealthDay (7/17, Norton), MedPage Today (7/17, Hlavinka), and Healio (7/17, Demko).

Related Links:

— “Frequent Technology Use Linked to ADHD Symptoms in Teens, Study Finds, ” Daniela Hernandez and Betsy Morris, The Wall Street Journal, July 17, 2018.

MedPage Today (7/18, Monaco) reports, “Apathy was tied to a heightened risk for incident dementia in older adults,” researchers concluded after examining data from 16 “studies with 7,299 individuals that used a validated apathy definition.” The findings of the review were published online July 18 in JAMA Psychiatry. Healio (7/18, Demko) also covers the story.

Related Links:

— “Apathy Tied to Higher Dementia Risk in Memory Clinic Patients, “Kristen Monaco, MedPage Today , July 18, 2018.

Medscape (7/16, MacReady, Subscription Publication) reports, “Mobile apps that offer advice on managing mental health may ‘medicalize’ normal ups and downs and encourage the overdiagnosis of certain conditions,” researchers concluded after conducting “a qualitative content analysis of advertising materials for 61 popular mental health apps to determine how the apps frame the issues of mental health and illness, and how that in turn shapes perceptions of the pattern, causation, and management of mental health problems.” The findingswere published in the July/August issue of the Annals of Family Medicine.

Related Links:

— Medscape (requires login and subscription)

Healio (7/16, Demko) reports that “depression and anxiety disorders remain underrecognized in patients with heart failure and may lead to adverse outcomes,” researchers concluded in the findings of a 36-study review published in the July issue of the Harvard Review of Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Anxiety, depression tied to adverse outcomes in patients with heart failure, “Savannah Demko, Healio, July 16, 2018.

According to Healio (7/13, Demko), the findings of a 12-study “systematic review” published online June 5 “in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry revealed a link between recent cannabis use and negative long-term symptoms and treatment outcomes among people with anxiety and mood disorders.”

Related Links:

— “Cannabis use may negatively impact people with anxiety, mood disorders, “Savannah Demko, Healio, July 13, 2018.