Medscape (1/2, Lowry, Subscription Publication) reports, “Food insecurity stems from limited financial resources, yet paradoxically, it is associated with binge eating disorder (BED) and excess weight,” researchers concluded. The findings of the 1,251-participant study were published online Dec. 19 in the International Journal of Eating Disorders.
Related Links:
— Medscape (requires login and subscription)
According to Healio (1/2, Demko), after evaluating “data from a large community sample of more than 7,000 youth, researchers found a high rate of obsessive-compulsive symptoms, particularly in females and after puberty.” What’s more, “these symptoms were linked to higher rates of obsessive-compulsive disorder, depression, psychosis and suicide ideation,” the study found. The findings were published online Nov. 23 in the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.
Related Links:
— “Obsessive compulsive symptoms common in community youth, “Savannah Demko, Healio, January 2, 2019
On its front page, the New York Times (12/31, A1, Singer) reported, “Facebook has computer algorithms that scan the posts, comments and videos of users in the” US and elsewhere “for indications of immediate suicide risk.” Whenever “a post is flagged, by the technology or a concerned user, it moves to human reviewers at the company, who are empowered to call local law enforcement.” But, “in a forthcoming article in a Yale law journal,” health law scholar Mason Marks contends that “Facebook’s suicide risk scoring software, along with its calls to the police that may lead to mandatory psychiatric evaluations, constitutes the practice of medicine.” Marks argues that “government agencies should regulate the program, requiring Facebook to produce safety and effectiveness evidence.”
Related Links:
— “In Screening for Suicide Risk, Facebook Takes On Tricky Public Health Role, ” Natasha Singer, , December 31, 2018.
The Wall Street Journal (1/1, A1, Hopkins, Subscription Publication) reports that a new analysis from Rx Savings Solutions shows pharmaceutical companies are increasing prices on hundreds of drugs this year. According to the analysis, more than three dozen drugmakers raised prices on hundreds of medicines Tuesday. The Journal adds that overall, the price increases are in excess of inflation. Drugmaker Allergan increased prices by almost 10 percent on some two dozen medications, an analysis showed.
Related Links:
— “Drugmakers Raise Prices on Hundreds of Medicines, “Jared S. Hopkins, The Wall Street Journal, January 01, 2019.
The Hill (12/28, Bowden) reported “opioid-related deaths among teens and young children have nearly tripled since 1999.” The findings (12/7) were published in JAMA Network Open.
ABC News (12/28, Bracho-Sanchez) reported on its website that researchers “examined data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)” and found that “almost 9,000 children and young adults have died from opioid poisonings in the past 20 years.”
Related Links:
— “Opioid deaths in children, teens on the rise: study, “John Bowden, The Hill, December 28, 2018.
Psychiatric News (12/28) reported that on Dec. 26, “the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a final order…to downgrade the risk category for certain uses of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT).” This particular change was one “for which APA had strongly advocated, saying it could greatly expand access to safe, effective treatment for individuals with serious and persistent psychiatric disorders.
Related Links:
— “FDA Downgrades Risk Category for Certain Uses of ECT, Psychiatric News, December 28, 2018.
HealthDay (12/27, Mozes) reports, “Teens who are often bullied may be left with shrinkage in key parts of their brain, increasing their risk for mental illness,” researchers concluded after analyzing “brain scans of nearly 700 14- to 19-year-olds.” The study revealed that teens who were chronically bullied had at age 19 “reduced size in two key regions of the brain, compared to age 14” in the putamen and the caudate. The findings were published online Dec. 12 in Molecular Psychiatry.
Related Links:
— “Being Bullied May Alter the Teen Brain, “Alan Mozes, HealthDay, December 27, 2018.
The AP (12/26, Irvine) reports on a 12-step meeting focused on helping people for whom “tech gets in the way of daily functioning and self-care.” According to the AP, “an American Academy of Pediatrics review of worldwide research found that excessive use of video games alone is a serious problem for as many as nine percent of young people.” Just this past “summer, the World Health Organization also added ‘gaming disorder’ to its list of afflictions,” and “a similar diagnosis is being considered in the” US.
Related Links:
— “‘Hi, my name is ___, and I’m addicted to tech’, “Martha Irvine, AP, December 26, 2018.
HealthDay (12/26, Mozes) reports research indicates that “older folks can cut their depression risk by 32 percent simply by going to cultural activities every few months.” According to HealthDay, the “results are based on a decade-long tracking analysis that stacked cultural engagement – plays, movies, concerts and museum exhibits – against depression risk among approximately 2,000 men and women over the age of 50,” all of whom were “participants in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA).”Related Links:
— “Head to the Movies, Museums to Keep Depression at Bay, “Alan Mozes, HealthDay, December 26, 2018.
U.S. News & World Report (12/21, Levine) reported, “Bullying…harms children who witness it,” researchers found after examining “data from nearly 4,000 Quebec high school students.” The findings were published in the December issue of the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. Gabrielle Shapiro, MD, “professor of psychiatry at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City,” who also chairs “the American Psychiatric Association’s Council on Children, Adolescents, and Their Families,” said that when people who witness bullying “are feeling empathy for a victim but don’t speak up, they can feel sad and anxious and bad themselves. They are struggling with moral issues of right and wrong.” And, “according to the website StopBullying.gov, managed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, more than a quarter of U.S. students in grades six to 12 say they have been bullied at school, and” almost “71 percent of young people say they have witnessed bullying at school.”
Related Links:
— “Why Bullying Harms More Than Just the Victim, “David Levine, U.S. News & World Report, December 21, 2018.