The Wall Street Journal (3/25, Reddy, Subscription Publication) reports research suggests that some youngsters who receive an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnosis may actually outgrow the condition. The findings of the 569-child study were published online March 12 in the Journal of Child Neurology. As for why some children appear to outgrow ASD, Stephen Blumberg, of the National Center for Health Statistics, believes that almost all of the kids who supposedly outgrew ASD really had other developmental issues, most likely attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and never had an ASD at all. Michael Kogan, of the Health and Human Services Department’s Health Resources and Services Administration, believes physicians have been diagnosing youngsters with ASD along with other comorbidities just to help get services for these children.

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— “The Autism Diagnosis That Isn’t Always Permanent, “Sumathi Reddy, The Wall Street Journal, March 25, 2019

USA Today (3/22, May) said that a new report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicates an “increasing number of African Americans are dying from fentanyl overdoses – what has long been pegged as a problem primarily for white communities.” The report found fentanyl overdoses “claimed 18,335 lives in 2016, up drastically from 1,663 in 2011,” and that while non-Hispanic “white people remain most affected by overall fentanyl overdoses…African Americans saw the sharpest increase in deaths, rising 140.6 percent each year. Hispanics experienced a jump of 118.3 percent annually.”

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— “African-American, Hispanic deaths by fentanyl overdose rising sharply, “Ashley May, USA Today, March 22, 2019

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (3/22, Pirani) reported the US CDC has found that the US “experienced a nearly 30 percent increase in suicide rates between 1999-2016,” according to new data. The piece added that a study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine “found that increases in state minimum wages in recent years have been associated with decreases in suicide rates.” The piece also said the research is the “first study the authors believe examines the effect of minimum wage changes on suicide rates” and that previous research from the CDC and from the National Institutes of Health shows “individuals with significant debt are generally more likely to report physical health challenges.”

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— “Could increasing minimum wage help reduce the suicide rate?, “Fiza Pirani, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution , March 22, 2019

Reuters (3/22, Rapaport) reported that a review suggests children “with school attendance or truancy problems might be suffering from anxiety.” Investigators came to this conclusion after reviewing “eight previously published studies with a total of almost 26,000 young students from Europe, North America and Asia.” The findings were published online Feb. 27 in Child and Adolescent Mental Health.

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— “Childhood anxiety tied to school absences, “Lisa Rapaport, Reuters, March 22, 2019

Reuters (3/21, Carroll) reports, “People who are terrified of heights may be able to conquer their phobia using a virtual reality [VR] app and an inexpensive set of cardboard VR goggles,” research indicated.

Healio (3/21, Demko) reports there were 193 participants in the randomized study. The findings were published online March 20 in JAMA Psychiatry.

Psychiatric News (3/21) reports, “The strong symptom improvements were maintained at a follow-up assessment three months later.”

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— “Phone app may help conquer fear of heights, “Linda Carroll, Reuters, March 21, 2019

Reuters (3/20, Rapaport) reports that “opioids account for more than 90 percent of the painkillers used after plastic surgery, according to a U.S. study” published in JAMA Facial Plastic Surgery. The study “examined data on 466,677 people who had plastic and reconstructive procedures” from 2007 to 2015, and found that “almost 55 percent of patients received” pain medication “prescriptions afterwards, and 92 percent of the prescriptions filled were for opioids.” The findings also indicated that “patients who filled an opioid prescription shortly before or after surgery were about three times as likely as those who didn’t to still be using opioids up to six months or even a year later

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— “Opioid prescriptions after plastic surgery tied to long-term use, “Lisa Rapaport, Reuters, March 20, 2019

The Washington Post (3/20, Achenbach) reports that “the synthetic opioid fentanyl has been driving up the rate of fatal drug overdoses across racial and social lines in the United States, with the sharpest increase among African Americans, according to a new analysis by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.” Data show the African American death rate “from fentanyl-involved drug overdoses rose 141 percent each year, on average, from 2011 to 2016, the study showed.” Meanwhile, the overdose death rate “for Hispanics rose 118 percent in that period every year on average, and 61 percent for non-Hispanic whites.”

The Los Angeles Times (3/20, Healy) reports that during the study period, 2011 to 2016, “more than 36,000 Americans died with fentanyl in their systems” and the “majority of those deaths – 18,335 – occurred in 2016 alone.” The Times adds that “fentanyl was first approved by the Food and Drug Administration back in 1968.”

NPR (3/21, Bebinger) reports that the study also indicates “men are dying after opioid overdoses at nearly three times the rate of women,” and there is “an especially steep rise in the number of young adults ages 25 to 34 whose death certificates include some version of the drug fentanyl.”

Related Links:

— “Fentanyl drug overdose deaths rising most sharply among African Americans, “Joel Achenbach, The Washington Post, March 20, 2019

TIME (3/20, Park) reports “in one of the largest studies looking at the potential effects of pesticide exposure on still-developing fetuses and newborns, scientists found that exposure to the most commonly used pesticides was linked to higher risk of autism spectrum disorder.” The study “found that women who were pregnant and who lived within a 2,000 meter radius of” an area highly sprayed with pesticides “were anywhere from 10% to 16% more likely to have children diagnosed with autism than women who lived in places farther away from sprayed areas.” The findings were published in BMJ.

Related Links:

— “A Mother’s Exposure to Pesticides During Pregnancy May Raise Children’s Autism Risk, “Alice Park, TIME, March 20, 2019

Reuters (3/20, Emery) reports, “Children and young adults with” attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD) “who are treated with the stimulants amphetamine or methylphenidate face a small but significant risk of developing psychosis, with amphetamine products twice as likely to spark a problem,” researchers concluded. The study revealed that “among 110,923 patients getting amphetamine (Adderall, Adzenys XR-ODT, others), 237 subsequently received a psychosis diagnosis, or 0.21 percent.” Meanwhile, “in the same-sized group prescribed methylphenidate (Concerta, Ritalin, Daytrana, others), there were 106 episodes, or 0.10 percent,” the study revealed. According to HealthDay, 12 years ago, “the U.S. Food and Drug Administration required stimulant manufacturers to warn that their products might unexpectedly cause psychotic or manic symptoms.” The findings were published online March 20 in the New England Journal of Medicine.

MedPage Today (3/20, Hlavinka) reports the author of an accompanying editorial “emphasized this study’s findings ‘should not be considered definitive,’ as it was not possible to exclude certain confounding factors.” For instance, “certain individuals might have lower or higher vulnerabilities to the onset of psychosis when taking stimulants, he wrote.” As a result, “whether psychosis is due to stimulant use, to inherent vulnerability to psychosis, or to the interaction of those two factors remains unclear,’” the editorialist observed. Also covering the story are CNBC (3/20, Bursztynsky), Medscape (3/20, Brauser, Subscription Publication), and HealthDay (3/20, Norton).

Related Links:

— “With ADHD, amphetamine has double the psychosis risk of methylphenidate, “Gene Emery, Reuters, March 20, 2019

HealthDay (3/19, Norton) reports, “Some toddlers thought to have mild autism ‘outgrow’ the diagnosis, but most continue to struggle with language and behavior,” researchers concluded after examining “records for 569 children who were diagnosed with autism at the researchers’ center between 2003 and 2013.” Thirty-eight of these children “no longer met the diagnostic criteria” for autism “four years later.” The findings were published online March 12 in the Journal of Child Neurology.

Related Links:

— “Can Some Children Outgrow Autism?, ” Amy Norton, HealthDay, March 19, 2019