The Washington Post (10/17, Searing) reports that people taking certain antihypertensives to treat high blood pressure may be at an increased risk of “depression or other mood disorders,” research suggests. Researchers examined medical records of 32,130 people “taking one of four types of drugs to control high blood pressure: beta blockers, calcium channel blockers, angiotensin antagonists (including ACE inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers) and thiazide diuretics.” They followed participants for five years and found that people taking “a beta blocker or calcium channel blocker were twice as likely to have been hospitalized with a mood disorder as those taking an angiotensin antagonist.” The findings were published online in Hypertension.

Related Links:

— “Blood pressure drugs linked to depression and other mental-health disorders,” Linda Searing, Washington Post, October 17, 2016.

The New York Daily News (10/17, Pesce) reports, “Children in the US foster care system suffer significantly higher risks of emotional and physical health problems…such as depression, asthma and obesity,” researchers found. Specifically, investigators “found those in foster care were seven times more likely to be depressed, five times more likely to be anxious, and six times more prone to behavior problems than other kids in the general population.”

MedPage Today (10/17, Bachert) reports that researchers arrived at the study’s conclusions after having “collected data from” the 2011-2012 National Survey of Children’s Health Data, “a nationally representative survey of 95,677 noninstitutionalized children ages 0 to 17 years in the US,” the reviewing “interviews with the adults in the household, usually a parent, regarding the children in the sample.”

Related Links:

— “Science backs how much foster care sucks — kids suffer more health problems ,” Nicole Lyn Pesce, New York Daily News, October 17, 2016.

HealthDay (10/13, Preidt) reports non-heterosexual adults are more likely to use illicit drugs or to have a mental illness than their heterosexual peers, and they are also more likely to seek treatment for drug use or mental illness than their heterosexual peers, according to a report from the US government based on data from the 2015 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Kana Emoto, the deputy principal administrator at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Adminisration, said, “This report offers unprecedented insight into the behavioral health needs of lesbian, gay, and bisexual Americans – people critical to our community whose health concerns have often been overlooked.”Related Links:

— “Mixed News on Drug Abuse Among Lesbian, Gay Americans,” Robert Preidt, HealthDay, October 13, 2016.

On its website, ABC News (10/13, Mohney) reports that natural disasters may cause “an increased risk of substance abuse,” researchers found after examining “data from New Orleans” on people who survived Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Investigators “found that the rate of hospitalizations for substance abuse increased approximately 30 percent, from 7.13 hospitalizations for 1,000 people to 9.65 hospitalizations for every 1,000 people.” The findings were published in Oct. 13 in the CDC’s Preventing Chronic Disease journal.

Related Links:

— “Natural Disasters May Increase Substance Abuse Risk, Study Finds,” GILLIAN MOHNEY, ABC News, October 13, 2016.

HCP Live (10/12, Lutz) reports, “Mental health treatment disparities exist for black and Hispanic children and youth with behavioral and psychiatric problems,” researchers found after reviewing data from “the 2006 to 2012 Medical Expenditure Panel Surveys.” Investigators found that despite similar rates of mental health conditions, “black and Latino children made 37% and 49% fewer visits to psychiatrists, respectively, than white children.” The findings were published online Aug. 12 in the International Journal of Health Services.

Related Links:

— “Ethnic Disparities in Pediatric Psychiatric Treatment Hard to Ignore,” Rachel Lutz, HCP Live, October 12, 2016.

Medscape (10/12, Harrison) reports, “A novel way of delivering healthcare services to” people with severe mental illness “may prevent the predictable downward spiral to homelessness, provided patients have a home where these services can be delivered and a family member who can provide psychosocial support,” researchers found. At the Institute of Psychiatric Services (IPS): The Mental Health Services 2016 Conference, investigators described the success of the Parachute NYC program, which is a “community-based mental health initiative that deploys mobile teams to treat” people with serious mental illnesses “in their homes.”

Related Links:

— Medscape (requires login and subscription)

HCP Live (10/12, Lutz) reports that “less than one-third of adults with depression receive treatment,” researchers found after analyzing “treatment data for approximately 46,000 adults between 2012 and 2013 to characterize the treatment of adult depression.” The findings were published in the October issue of JAMA Internal Medicine.

Related Links:

— “Few Adults with Depression Receive Treatment,” Rachel Lutz, HCP Live, October 12, 2016.

CNN (10/12, Scutti) reports that when selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are taken during pregnancy, the medications may be “associated with a higher risk of language disorders, including dyslexia, in offspring.” Included in the study were “15,596 mothers who purchased SSRIs once or more before or during pregnancy,” another “9,537 mothers who had been diagnosed with depression or another psychiatric disorder but did not purchase antidepressants during pregnancy,” and “31,207 mothers who had never been diagnosed with depression and never purchased antidepressants.” The findings were published online Oct. 12 in JAMA Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Study links antidepressants in pregnancy with language disorders,” Susan Scutti, CNN, October 12, 2016.

The AP (10/11) reports the US Supreme Court will not “hear a dispute between West Virginia health officials and a patient advocacy group over access to medical records.” On Oct. 11, “the justices…let stand a state court ruling that said federal laws protecting health record privacy don’t prevent Legal Aid of West Virginia from reviewing patient files at the state’s two psychiatric hospitals.”

Related Links:

— “JUSTICES WON’T HEAR DISPUTE OVER ACCESS TO HEALTH RECORDS,” Associated Press, October 11, 2016.

Reuters (10/11, Rapaport) reports that research suggests “insomnia patients who focus on behavioral changes may be less stressed and more functional during the day than counterparts relying on medication.” Investigators “offered 160 adults with chronic insomnia six weeks of treatment with cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT); half of them were also randomly selected to take medication in addition to counseling.”

Investigators found, “at the end of this experiment, patients in both groups slept better, but only the people who received therapy alone reported significant reductions in how much sleep impacted their daytime functioning and things like memory, concentration and quality of life as well as declines in anxiety, depression and fatigue.” The findings were published online in Behavior Research Therapy.

Related Links:

— “Behavior therapy linked to less stress from insomnia,” Lisa Rapaport, Reuters, October 11, 2016.