ABC World News (5/20, story 11, 0:20, Muir) reported that a new study suggests there may be “a link between depression and Parkinson’s disease.”

The New York Times (5/21, Bakalar) “Well” blog reports that the study published online May 20 in Neurology “compared 140,688 people with depression with 421,943 controls without” depression, then followed both groups from seven to 25 years. Researchers found that “the rate of Parkinson’s disease among people with depression was almost three times that of people without it.”

The New York Daily News (5/21, Pearson) reports that people “with more serious cases of depression were more likely to develop Parkinson’s – people who were hospitalized five or more times were 40% more likely to develop the disease than those who had been hospitalized only once,” the study found.

Related Links:

— “Nicholas Bakalar,” , New York Times, May 20, 2015.

MedPage Today (5/20, Smith) reports, “A general predisposition to mental illness, rather than any specific condition, is the major risk factor for suicide attempts,” according to research presented at the American Psychiatric Association’s annual meeting and published May 18 in Molecular Psychiatry. During a follow-up period lasting three years, “mental disorders were linked to the risk of suicide attempts” in an “analysis of the first two waves (in 2001-2002 and 2004-2005) of the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions, a nationally representative face-to-face survey of the US adult population.”

Related Links:

— “Suicide Attempts Linked to General Mental Illness,” Michael Smith, MedPage Today, May 19, 2015.

Reuters (5/20, Kelland) reports that a study published online May 20 in the journal Psychological Medicine suggests that people who are bullied in childhood have an increased likelihood of becoming obese or overweight as adults and may also have a greater risk of developing diabetes or heart disease. Included in the study were 7,102 people who had been bullied in childhood and who were tracked until they became 45 and were examined for obesity and blood markers for inflammation.

Related Links:

— “Bullied kids have higher risk of adult obesity and heart disease,” Kate Kelland, Reuters, May 19, 2015.

HealthDay (5/20, Preidt) reports that a review published May 19 in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggests that “antidepressants seem to help women deal with postpartum depression.” Researchers arrived at that conclusion after examining the results of “six studies that included nearly 600 women with postpartum depression,” then focusing “their analysis on 72 women with postpartum depression from three of the studies.”

Related Links:

— “Antidepressants Ease Postpartum Depression, Study Finds,” Robert Preidt, HealthDay, May 19, 2015.

The Columbus (OH) Dispatch (5/19, Ockerman) reports that “a bill proposed by Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, would require mental-health assessments for incoming recruits to establish a baseline and then also mandate assessments when service members leave the military.” The senator “joined Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-NM, in introducing the Medical Evaluation Parity for Servicemembers Act in March to help detect mental illness among veterans earlier and more effectively.”

Related Links:

— “Portman finds support for military mental-health screening,” Emma Ockerman, Columbus Dispatch, May 18, 2015.

HealthDay (5/19, Doheny) reports that according to a study due for presentation at a medical meeting, “men with undiagnosed, severe obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) had more than double the risk of depression compared to those without sleep apnea.” The 860-man study also revealed that “men who had both undiagnosed, severe apnea and excessive daytime sleepiness had” up to a “five times greater” risk of depression.

Related Links:

— “Sleep Apnea May Boost Depression Risk in Men, Study Finds,” Kathleen Doheny, HealthDay, May 18, 2015.

The New York Times (5/19, A14, Tavernise, Subscription Publication) reports that the “suicide rate among black children has nearly doubled since the early 1990s, while the rate for white children has declined,” a study published online May 18 in JAMA Pediatrics found. The findings, covering children ages five to 11, surprised researchers, as “suicide rates are almost always lower among blacks than among whites of any age.”

The AP (5/19, Tanner) reports that the study authors theorize that “black kids may experience more violence, stress or school discipline than whites, and are less likely to seek help for depression and other difficulties, but whether those factors explain the results is not known.”

Related Links:

— “Rise in Suicide by Black Children Surprises Researchers,” Sabrina Tavernise, New York Times, May 18, 2015.

In the US News & World Report (5/15) “Policy Dose” blog, Renee Binder, MD, incoming president of the American Psychiatric Association, and Riki Hokoma, president of the National Association of Counties, write that addressing the need to keep people with mental illnesses out of jail “requires bringing together state and county policymakers, heads of behavioral health programs and leaders in the criminal justice system to create the structure to support change.” For that reason, “we partnered with the Council of State Governments Justice Center to launch ‘Stepping Up: A National Initiative to Reduce the Number of People with Mental Illnesses in Jails.’”

Now, “with support from the US Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance and guidance from several national groups dedicated to these issues, counties across the country are joining a call to action and taking specific, research-driven actions to reduce the number of people with mental illnesses in county jails.” The American Psychiatric Foundation is one of the initiative’s collaborators.

Related Links:

— “A Crisis in Our Jails,” Riki Hokama and Renee Binder, U.S. News & World Report, May 14, 2015.

HealthDay (5/15, Dotinga) reports “people with short-term debt, such as overdue bills or credit card debt, are more likely to be depressed than those who carry long-term debt through mortgages and other big loans,” according to a study published in the May issue of the Journal of Family and Economic Issues. For the study, researchers “relied on a national survey of more than 13,000 Americans in 1987-1989 and follow-up interviews of about 10,000 of those people in 1992-1994,” focusing on adults of working age. Investigators found that “a 10 percent increase in short-term debt was associated with a 24 percent increase in depression symptoms.” The study’s lead author suggested that “providing people with protection from debt might lead to mental health benefits.”

Related Links:

— “Short-Term Debt Can Depress More Than Your Finances,” Randy Dotinga, HealthDay, May 14, 2015.

The Huffington Post (5/15, Gregoire) reports that a study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry found that with only one exception, there appears to be “no association between most psychiatric disorders and future violent behavior in delinquent youth.” After analyzing “data from over 1,800 adolescents between the ages of 10 and 18 who were arrested and detained in the Chicago area between 1995 and 1998,” then following the study participants over a number of years after they were detained, researchers discovered that even though “some youth suffering from mental illness were violent – young men with mania, a symptom of bipolar disorder, were twice as likely to report violent behavior as those without mania – their illnesses were not predictive of future violence.”

Related Links:

— “The Link Between Mental Illness And Violence Is More Complicated Than You Might Think,” Carolyn Gregoire, Huffington Post, May 15, 2015.