The AP (3/5, Tanner) reports researchers found that a growing number of minors in the US are being hospitalized because of opioid poisonings or overdoses, according to a study published in Pediatrics. The study found that such “hospitalizations were most common among kids aged 12-17 and those aged 1 to 5.”

CNBC (3/5, Lovelace) reports that the researchers found that “the number of pediatric opioid hospitalizations requiring intensive care nearly doubled to 1,504 patients between 2012 and 2015, from 797 patients between 2004 and 2007.”

HealthDay (3/5, Norton) reports that Dr. Sheryl Ryan, the chief of adolescent medicine at Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, wrote in an accompanying commentary, “This epidemic is not limited to adults.” Ryan advised parents to store prescription opioids appropriately and to dispose of unused opioids, so they could not be accidentally ingested or abused by their children.

Additional coverage is provided by: NBC News (3/5, Fox), CNN (3/5, Lieber), TIME (3/5, MacMillan), Newsweek (3/5, Lee), and Medscape (3/5, Hackethal).

Related Links:

— “Opioid poisonings, overdoses send more US kids to hospitals,” LINDSEY TANNER, Associated Press, March 5, 2018.

The Wall Street Journal (3/5, Bernstein, Subscription Publication) reports that in an effort to help parents discern whether their adolescent children are depressed or merely moody, the American Academy of Pediatrics updated its guidelines in February to recommend that youngsters age 12 and older be screened by their pediatricians for depression. The Journal also points out that depression can manifest itself in teens as physical ailments such as headaches or in anger or irritability. Teens who are having difficulty in several areas of their life and who don’t seem to be getting any enjoyment out of anything may be suffering from depression.

Related Links:

— “How to Spot Teenage Depression,” Elizabeth Bernstein, Wall Street Journal, March 5, 2018.

In a perspective piece in the Washington Post (3/1, Morris) “Health & Science” blog, Nathaniel Morris, MD, a resident physician in psychiatry at the Stanford University School of Medicine, wrote that “evidence suggests that gun availability is a far better explanation for mass shootings than mental illness and that gun regulations targeted exclusively toward people with mental health issues will have minimal impact on the American epidemic of gun homicides.” Dr. Morris concluded that “when it comes to the link between guns and mental illness, gun-related suicides are an overlooked issue that takes more than 20,000 lives each year.”

Related Links:

— “We need to rethink mental health laws. But not because of mass shootings.,” Nathaniel Morris, Washington Post, March 2, 2018.

The AP (3/3, Rathke) reported that last month, the Agri-Mark dairy cooperative sent “a list of mental health services and the number of a suicide prevention hotline” to its 1,000 New England and New York farmer members who are under financial and psychological stress due to falling milk prices. According to the article, “a 2016 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report” found that “people working in farming, fishing and forestry had the highest rate of suicide.”

Related Links:

— “Milk co-op mailing highlights suicide risk for dairy farmers,” LISA RATHKE, Associated Press, March 3, 2018.

Medscape (3/2, Anderson) reported that “central hearing loss may share the same mechanism of neurodegeneration with cognitive decline,” research indicated. The 1,604-participant “study showed that patients with central hearing loss, or central presbycusis, were twice as likely to have mild cognitive impairment (MCI) as those with no hearing loss, but there was no association between age-related hearing loss, or peripheral presbycusis, and cognitive impairment.” The study is scheduled for presentation during the upcoming American Academy of Neurology 2018 Annual Meeting.

Related Links:

— Medscape (requires login and subscription)

Medscape (3/1, Brooks) reports, “Researchers have identified a novel gene variant involved in opioid addiction, a finding that may aid efforts to develop novel pharmacologic approaches to the treatment of opioid dependence.” Medscape reports that in a genome-wide association study, “investigators found that a variant on chromosome 15 (rs12442138) near the repulsive guidance molecule A (RGMA) gene was associated with opioid dependence at a ‘genome-wide significant’ level.” The study was published online in Biological Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— Medscape (requires login and subscription)

The Hartford (CT) Courant (3/1, Rosner) reports, “The number of privately insured women nationwide between the ages of 15 and 44 who filled a prescription for an” attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder AD/HD “medication soared 344 percent from 2003 to 2015, from 0.9 percent to 4 percent, according to” data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Amphetamine salts, lisdexamfetamine, and methylphenidate are the three commonly filled AD/HD prescriptions, according to the CDC, and all three of those drugs are classified as Category C drugs by the FDA, which means that “studies on animals have shown an adverse effect on a fetus and there are no adequate and well-controlled studies in humans, but potential benefit may warrant their use in pregnancy despite potential risks.”

Related Links:

— “ADHD Drug Use Rises Sharply Among Young Women,” Cara Rosner, , March 1, 2018.

Healio (3/1, Demko) reports that “due to the substantial, unmet need for mental health services and care in the military, many service members seek care in the civilian sector,” researchers found after examining data on “233 military clients located throughout the U.S., Afghanistan, South Korea and Germany who received care between 2013 and 2016 from a network of volunteer civilian practitioners.” The findings were published online Feb. 27 in the journal Military Medicine.

Related Links:

— “Service members’ mental health needs unmet, some seek civilian care,” Waitzkin H, et al., Healio, March 1, 2018.

The Hill (3/1, Weixel) reports that advocates for mental health are now “seizing on the new spotlight on their issue after the Florida shooting, as President Trump and congressional Republicans focus on mental health as a solution to gun violence.” Some mental health advocacy “groups want to use the renewed attention on mental illness to push for more resources to address what they see as major gaps in the country’s mental health system.” Groups mentioned in the article are Mental Health America and the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

Related Links:

— “Mental health groups push for policy changes after shooting,” NATHANIEL WEIXEL, The Hill, March 1, 2018.

The AP (3/1) reports that officials in Phoenix, AZ, “are launching an interagency push to reduce suicide among military service personnel, veterans and their families.” The initiative, which is “sponsored by the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs,” has the goal of increasing “support” and developing “a response plan for detection of warning signs and timely intervention.”

Related Links:

— “Phoenix launching interagency initiative to prevent suicide,” Associated Press, March 1, 2018.