Reuters (4/11, Rapaport) reports, “Middle-aged people with risk factors for heart attacks and stroke are also more likely to develop changes in the brain that can lead to Alzheimer’s disease,” researchers concluded after examining “data from 346 adults who had been evaluated for vascular risk factors since the late 1980s, when they were 52 years old on average and none of them had dementia.” Then, more than 20 years “later, when participants were around 76 years old, they had brain scans that looked for evidence of Alzheimer’s” in the form of amyloid plaques.

According to MedPage Today (4/11, Fiore), “unlike midlife vascular risk factors, late-life vascular risk factors were not associated with brain amyloid deposition on late-life PET scans,” the findings revealed. The study, which was “supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute,” was published April 11 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Related Links:

— “Risk factors for heart disease and stroke also tied to Alzheimer’s,” Lisa Rapaport, Reuters, April 11, 2017.

MD Magazine (4/10, Colwell) reports, “A Mediterranean-style diet has the potential to treat major depression,” researchers found in a randomized 67-participant study, the findings of which were published Jan. 30 in BMC Medicine.

Related Links:

— “Mediterranean Diet Shows Benefit for Depression,” Carolyn Colwell, MD Magazine, April 10, 2017.

Medscape (4/10, Melville) reports, “Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in middle-aged women is linked with significant cognitive impairment, with the effect stronger in those with comorbid depression,” researchers found after evaluating “data on 14,029 women from the Nurses’ Health Study II.” The findings were presented at the Anxiety and Depression Association of America Conference 2017.

Related Links:

— Medscape (requires login and subscription)

HealthDay (4/10, Preidt) reports, “Having a mental health disorder doesn’t mean a person will develop Alzheimer’s disease later” in life, researchers found after examining “long-term data from nearly 60,000 people in Finland with and without Alzheimer’s disease.” The findings were published online April 4 in European Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Past Psychiatric Ills Don’t Raise Alzheimer’s Risk: Study
,” Robert Preidt, HealthDay, April 10, 2017.

Kevin Breel didn’t look like a depressed kid: team captain, at every party, funny and confident. But he tells the story of the night he realized that — to save his own life — he needed to say four simple words. This talk was presented to a local audience at TEDxKids@Ambleside, an independent event. (See “Continue reading…” to view video.)
Continue reading→

The Boston Globe (4/10, Weisman) reports critics warn that the Food and Drug Administration “may sacrifice patient safety” in an effort to accelerate drug approvals. Public Citizen’s health research director Michael Carome says the process is “already too fast,” and believes that the agency can’t “make it any faster without compromising public health.” Others say there is “no evidence the FDA is a bottleneck,” and call the efforts “wrongheaded.”

Related Links:

— “Critics worry faster FDA drug reviews could compromise safety,” Robert Weisman, Boston Globe, April 10, 2017.

Healio (4/7, Bortz) reported, “Rural children from small communities exhibited a higher prevalence of mental, behavioral, and developmental disorders than children living in cities and suburbs,” researchers found after analyzing “data collected from the National Survey of Children’s Health.” The findings were published March 17 in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Related Links:

— “Developmental, behavioral issues more common among rural children,” Lara R. Robinson, PhD, Healio, April 7, 2017.

HealthDay (4/7, Mozes) reported, “Opioid treatment programs for low-income Americans are in short supply in areas where they’re needed the most,” researchers concluded, with a “lack of affordable access…particularly apparent across the Southeast.” Investigators arrived at the study’s findings are examining “data on approximately 1,150 opioid treatment programs” that “were located in 465 counties in 48 states and Washington, DC.” The findings were published online March 27 in Health Services Research.

Related Links:

— “Rehab Services Lacking in States Hit Hard by Opioids,” Alan Mozes, HealthDay, April 7, 2017.

Healio (4/5, Oldt) reports, “Individuals who deliberately self-harmed were more likely to commit violent crime,” researchers found after conducting “a population-based longitudinal cohort study among all Swedish citizens aged 15 years and older (n = 1,850,252).” The findings were published online April in JAMA Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Deliberate self-harm increases risk for violent crime,” Hanna Sahlin, MSc, Healio, April 5, 2017.

Scientific American (4/5, Zamzow) runs a Spectrum article reporting, “Most children with autism go undiagnosed until after age three, and many of these children remain undiagnosed until after they reach school age,” researchers found in a large study published in the April issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Screening Status Quo Misses Most Children with Autism,” Rachel Zamzow, Scientific American, April 5, 2017.