HealthDay (3/8, Preidt) reports that “abuse of AD/HD stimulant drugs…is on the rise, and” research published in Drug and Alcohol Dependence “finds that most teens who abuse the drugs get them from someone else.” About 11,000 US children and teens were surveyed. Approximately “7 percent of the participants said they had used a prescription stimulant drug in the past 30 days, and more than half said their use was non-medical.” The researchers found that nearly “90 percent of the kids who were abusing an AD/HD” medication “said they had used someone else’s medication.”

Related Links:

— “Most Teens Who Abuse ADHD Meds Get Them From Others,” Robert Preidt, Healthy, March 8, 2016.

MedPage Today (3/3) reports, “Staying engaged in activities like reading, crafting, and socializing may stave off the development of mild cognitive impairment (MCI),” research suggests. “In an analysis of data from the Mayo Clinic Study of Aging” to be presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s annual meeting in April, “five ‘mentally stimulating’ activities – playing games, reading magazines, doing crafts, using the computer, and social activities – were each associated with a reduced risk of MCI in patients 70 and up.”

Related Links:

— “Engaged Brain Tied to Lower Cognitive Risk,” Kristina Fiore, MedPage Today, March 3, 2016.

HealthDay (3/3, Thompson) reports, “People diagnosed with psychosis will probably have a longer, harder struggle to maintain their mental health if they’re regular marijuana users,” the findings of a study published online March 3 in the journal BMJ Open suggest. After reviewing “the electronic health records of slightly more than 2,000 people treated for a first episode of psychosis between 2006 and 2013,” researchers also found that patients “who just experienced their first episode of psychotic illness are 50 percent more likely to need subsequent hospitalization for their condition if they use marijuana.”

Related Links:

— “Psychosis Plus Pot a Bad Mix: Study,” Dennis Thompson, HealthDay, March 3, 2016.

In a 3,100-word piece, USA Today (3/3, Szabo) reports that the “Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA, forbids” healthcare professionals “from disclosing a patient’s medical information without consent.” Because many practitioners “don’t understand what HIPAA actually allows them to say,” they “often shut families out, even in circumstances in which they’re legally allowed to share information, says Ron Manderscheid, executive director of the National Association of County Behavioral Health and Developmental Disability Directors.” Former child psychologist Rep. Tim Murphy (R-PA) “wants to change the law itself, creating a special exception to the privacy rule in cases in which the health of people with serious mental illness would suffer if their families aren’t involved in their care.” The American Psychiatric Association has endorsed Murphy’s bill, HR 2646.

Related Links:

— “Mental illness: Families cut out of care,” Liz Szabo, USA Today, February 26, 2016.

In the US News & World Report (3/1) “Policy Dose” blog, psychiatrist Lloyd Sederer, MD, chief medical officer of the New York State Office of Mental Health, writes, “An estimated 8.4 million people in the US care for a loved one with a mental illness.” The National Alliance for Caregiving just issued a report called “On Pins and Needles: Caregivers of Adults With Mental Illness.” Although “the report did not monetize the value of these caregivers’ service, even a low estimate, say $20,000 per year, multiplies to $168 billion annually in caregiver service value, not including financial support and the incalculable other resources and benefits provided (like a place to live and food to eat).” Put another way, “not only are these caregivers at the heart of our service system for people with chronic mental disorders, they may be its greatest source of financial subsidy.”

Related Links:

— “Take Care of Caregivers,” Lloyd Sederer, US News & World Report, March 1, 2016.

Modern Healthcare (3/1, Dickson, Subscription Publication) reports that CMS data indicate Medicaid and CHIP enrollees “are not getting the behavioral and medical care they need.” While the Affordable Care Act “requires the HHS secretary to establish healthcare quality measurement programs for adults and children to obtain standardized data across state Medicaid and CHIP programs,” the ACA “established it as a voluntary reporting program,” so the data are not indicative of all states.

Related Links:

— “Medicaid and CHIP participants not getting behavioral health, chronic-care services,” Virgil Dickson , Modern Healthcare, March 1, 2016.

HealthDay (3/1, Reinberg) reports, “Elderly Americans whose arteries are clear of calcium buildup appear less likely than others to suffer from heart disease or dementia,” research published online Feb. 29 in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology suggests. After examining “data on more than 500 people who took part in a cardiovascular health-cognition (heart health and mental health) study” who were followed “from 1998 through 2013,” investigators found “those without calcium buildup in their arteries developed dementia later than those with high levels of calcium.”

Related Links:

— “Healthier Arteries May Lower Dementia Risk in Old Age,” Steven Reinberg, HealthDay, March 1, 2016.

USA Today (2/29, O’Donnell) reports that on Monday, Federal health officials unveiled a deal which “should make digital health records easier for consumers and regulators to access and address safety issues linked with the data.” Almost all companies which “provide digital health records and 16 of the largest hospitals and health systems agreed to stop the practice of ‘information blocking,’ to adopt a universal language and to improve the systems so patients can easily monitor their health information.”

Commenting on the deal, HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell stated, “It’s great to have an electronic record, but if that record can’t be easily accessed by doctors and patients because of clunky technology, then we aren’t consistently seeing the benefit.” She added that some 75 percent of physicians and almost all hospitals now use “EHRs, which means ‘there is now a digital care footprint for almost everyone in this country.’”

Related Links:

— “Health companies will improve digital records, but safety concerns linger,” Jayne O’Donnell, USA Today, February 29, 2016.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (3/1, Johnson) “Pulse” blog reports that a study published in the Journals of Gerontology: Biological Sciences & Medical Sciences found that “higher education, positive wellbeing, overall good health and higher physical functioning all contribute to women maintaining good memory health after age 80.”

Since 1991, researchers followed over 2,200 older women and found that “factors that influence cognitive function in women over 80 include: age, income, education level, race, diabetes and depressive symptoms.” The study “is part of the Women’s Health Initiative and WHI Memory Study launched by the National Institutes of Health.”

Related Links:

— “MCW researcher finds predictors of good cognitive health in older women,” Mark Johnson, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, February 29, 2016.

On the front of its Business Day section, the New York Times (2/26, B1, Lieber, Subscription Publication) reported on the side effect of a recommendation “that all pregnant women and new mothers be screened for depression,” namely that women found to have postpartum depression may end up paying higher rates for “life and disability insurance” or have difficulty even getting such insurance. The concern among insurers is “the odds of you killing yourself,” or “the likelihood you will not be able to work,” depending on what type of insurance is involved.

Related Links:

— “An Insurance Penalty From Postpartum Depression,” Ron Lieber, New York Times, February 26, 2016.