The AP (3/31, Stobbe) reports that on Thursday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a surveillance summary showing “no change in how common autism is among US children.” Currently, approximately one “in 68 school-aged children” appears to “have autism or related disorders,” the same figure “as it was when health officials checked two years earlier,” the report published April 1 in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report reveals. It is “too soon,” however, to determine if “the number is stabilizing, said Daisy Christensen,” PhD, the report’s lead author.

According to CNN (3/31, Manella), data for the report were “collected from the CDC’s Autism and Development Disabilities Monitoring Network, which is a tracking system that provides estimates of the prevalence and characteristics of autism among eight-year-old children in 11 communities” across the US.

Related Links:

— “NO CHANGE IN HOW COMMON AUTISM IS IN US KIDS: ABOUT 1 IN 68,” Mike Stobber, Associated Press, March 31, 2016.

Modern Healthcare (3/29, Dickson, Subscription Publication) reports “CMS has finalized a rule that provides states and plans no flexibility in meeting requirements to provide Medicaid enrollees and children the same level of benefits for mental health or substance-abuse treatment that they provide for medical and surgical care.” The rule was created to apply the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 to Medicaid managed-care plans and CHIP.

Related Links:

— “States, plans get no flexibility under final mental health parity rule,” Virgil Dickson, Modern Healthcare, March 29, 2016.

Modern Healthcare (3/29, Dickson, Subscription Publication) reports “CMS has finalized a rule that provides states and plans no flexibility in meeting requirements to provide Medicaid enrollees and children the same level of benefits for mental health or substance-abuse treatment that they provide for medical and surgical care.” The rule was created to apply the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 to Medicaid managed-care plans and CHIP.
Continue reading→

HealthDay (3/25, Pallarito) reported that research suggests kids “with severe psychiatric problems often have lengthy waits before they’re transferred from a hospital emergency department to a psychiatric hospital due to insurance companies’ ‘prior authorization’ requirements.” Investigators looked at data on more than 200 patients. The researchers found that “mental health workers at one Rhode Island hospital spent an average of an hour on the telephone seeking insurance companies’ approval.” However, insurers eventually approved all of the admissions, which “suggests that prior authorization appears to serve ‘more as an administrative hurdle,’ the study authors wrote.”
Continue reading→

The AP (3/25, Pane, Swanson) reported that 62% of Americans “said that at least one type of substance use was a serious problem in their communities,” while 43% “said they have a relative or close friend with substance abuse issues,” according to a survey by the Associated Press and the NORC Center for Public Affairs Research at the University of Chicago. The AP described the survey results as demonstrating “a feeling that drugs are a pervasive problem, with many seeing friends or relatives ravaged by drugs and believing that treatment options need to be improved for addicts while punishment needs to be fierce for dealers.”

Related Links:

— “AP-NORC POLL: MOST AMERICANS SEE DRUGS AS A BIG PROBLEM,” Lisa marie Pane and Emily Swanson, Associated Press, March 25, 2016.

Medscape (3/24, Brooks) reports, “National guidelines encourage emergency department (ED) physicians to ask suicidal patients whether they have access to guns or other lethal means of ending their lives, but only about half do ask,” the findings of a study published online March 17 in Depression and Anxiety suggest. Researchers arrived at this conclusion after interviewing “1,358 patients from eight EDs in seven states” who “had experienced suicidal ideation or had attempted suicide.” Funding for the study came from the National Institute of Mental Health.

Related Links:

— Medscape (requires login and subscription)

HealthDay (3/24, Mozes) reports, “The more time young adults spend using popular social media, the greater the link to depression,” the findings of a 1,800-participant study funded by the National Institutes of Health and published in the April 1 issue of the journal Depression and Anxiety suggest. Researchers found that “when social media patterns were stacked up against depression status…those who used social media the most were about 2.7 times more likely to be depressed than those who used such forums the least.”

Related Links:

— “Could Lots of Time Spent on Social Media Be Tied to Depression?,” Alan Mozes, HealthDay, March 24, 2016.

The New York Times (3/23, B9, Belson, Subscription Publication) reported that “with the expectation that more N.F.L. players will suffer dementia from repeated head hits, businesses that cater to people with memory loss are gearing up for what could be droves of new clients in the near future.” The article notes that “an actuarial report commissioned by the N.F.L. found that 28 percent of all players would be found to have one of the compensable diseases included in a settlement with retired players who had accused the league of hiding from them the dangers of concussions.” Among the diseases were Alzheimer’s, dementia, Parkinson’s, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and chronic traumatic encephalopathy.

Related Links:

— “Dementia Care, Tailored to N.F.L. Retirees,” Ken Belson, New York Times, March 22, 2016.

HealthDay (3/23, Mozes) reports that selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressants appear not “to raise the risk for heart trouble among young and middle-age patients,” the findings of a 238,963-patient study published online March 22 in the BMJ suggest. After examining data on “different types of antidepressants, as well as dosage and duration,” researchers “concluded there was ‘no significant association’ between SSRIs and an increased risk for heart attack, stroke or an irregular heartbeat.”

Related Links:

— “Study Finds No Heart Risk From SSRI Antidepressants,” Alan Mozes, HealthDay, March 23, 2016.

Newsweek (3/23, Main) reports new research revealed that those “who smoke marijuana on a regular basis for years and those who are dependent on it are significantly more likely to have economic and social problems at midlife than those who use it only occasionally or not at all.” Researchers analyzed data from nearly 1,000 people in New Zealand who were interviewed regularly from birth to age 38. The findings were published in the journal Clinical Psychological Science.

Related Links:

— “REGULAR MARIJUANA USE LINKED TO ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS,” Douglas Main, Newsweek, March 23, 2016.