USA Today (3/15, Zoroya) reports Army Secretary John McHugh and Gen. Ray Odierno, the Army chief of staff, have issued a directive ordering “inspections of all 54 of the service’s substance abuse clinics” following allegations made by the USA Today that “half of out-patient treatment centers are operating at substandard levels” and soldiers are being denied services they need. The articles notes that the inspections, which are to be allowed “unfettered access to ‘Army activities, personnel, locations, organizations and documents,’” are to be concluded within 90 days.

Related Links:

— “Army probes failing program following USA TODAY report,”Gregg Zoroya, USA Today , March 14, 2015.

On its front page, the Wall Street Journal (3/16, A1, Elinson, Subscription Publication) reports, in a nearly 2,500-word story, on the increasingly higher rates at which 76 million aging baby boomers are abusing prescription medicines, getting arrested, and dying from accidental overdoses. The Journal adds that this particular population abused substances at higher rates than any other generation during their youth. The trend has attracted the attention and concern of Federal health officials, including those from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). Wilson Compton, Deputy Director of NIDA, is quoted as saying, “As the baby boomers have aged and brought their habits with them into middle age, and now into older adult groups, we are seeing marked increases in overdose deaths.”

Related Links:

— “Aging Baby Boomers Bring Drug Habits Into Middle Age,”Zusha Elinson, The Wall Street Journal, March 16, 2015.

Major newspapers, wire sources and media outlets cover the release of a report yesterday by the Institute of Medicine suggesting that raising the legal age to purchase cigarettes to age 21 in the US would greatly reduce the number of people who take up smoking and would also prevent a large number of deaths and health issues.

USA Today (3/13, Szabo) reports that a report released March 12 by the Institute of Medicine and requested by the Food and Drug Administration suggests that “raising the legal age to buy cigarettes to 21 would slash the smoking rate and save hundreds of thousands of lives by the end of the century.” According to USA Today, “the report stems from the 2009 law” called the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act “that gives the Food and Drug Administration authority to regulate tobacco.” Under the law, the FDA was forbidden “from setting a legal buying age for tobacco older than 18, but required…to study the consequences of such a change.”

Related Links:

— “Raising tobacco age would save lives, report says,” Liz Szabo, USA Today, March 12, 2015.

The NBC News (3/13, Fox) reports that a study published online March 11 in the journal Hippocampus suggests that adolescents “who use marijuana heavily grow up to have poor memories and also have brain abnormalities.” The 97-participant study revealed that “daily marijuana users had an abnormally shaped hippocampus,” the “part of the brain used in storing long-term memories,” and “performed about 18 percent more poorly on long-term memory tasks.”

The Fox News (3/13, Carstensen) reports that the study, which “used MRI scans to analyze changes in the hippocampus,” also revealed that teens “who smoke regularly but then kick the habit in a couple of years may see their long-term memory take a hit.” The study “found that two years after abstaining, those who abused the substance scored worse on tests that assessed their long-term memory.” According to Fox News, “none of the study participants reported taking any drugs besides marijuana, and researchers adjusted for nicotine and verbal IQ differences.”

Related Links:

— “Hazy Heads: Heavy Teen Pot Use Linked to Weaker Memories,” Maggie Fox, NBC News, March 12, 2015.

HealthDay (3/11, Dotinga) reports that research to be published in Psychological Science “raises the prospect that people in their 40s and 50s do a better job of translating emotional signals from other people, while seniors have more overall knowledge.” The study also found that “young adults…think faster and have more short-term memory.” These “findings are based in part on an analysis of the responses of slightly over 48,500 people who took online tests on the websites gameswithwords.org and testmybrain.org.”

Related Links:

— “Brainpower Peaks in Different Ways as People Age, Study Finds,” Randy Dotinga, HealthDay, March 10, 2015.

HealthDay (3/11, Preidt) reports that research published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics suggests that “depression may increase the risk of poor nutrition and obesity among Americans receiving food assistance.” Investigators followed “more than 600 people who were the main food shoppers in low-income families living in ‘food deserts’ in Pittsburgh.” The study found “a strong link between depression, poor nutrition and high body-mass index.”

Related Links:

— “Depression May Worsen Problem of Obesity Among the Poor,” Robert Preidt, HealthDay, March 10, 2015.

TIME (3/11, Worland) reports that research published in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes suggests that “intense stress and depression in people with coronary heart disease creates a ‘perfect storm’ that can increase the risk of death.”

Reuters (3/10, Doyle) reports that investigators looked at data on approximately 4,400 individuals with coronary heart disease who were at least 45 years old.

HealthDay (3/11, Reinberg) reports that “over an average six years of follow-up, 1,337 participants died or had a heart attack.” The investigators found that “the risk was 48 percent higher for those with stress and serious depression than those not feeling emotionally drained, but only for the first 2.5 years.”

Related Links:

— “Depression and Stress Could Be ‘Perfect Storm’ for Heart Disease Patients,” Justin Worland, Time, March 10, 2015.

The Huffington Post (3/7, Couch) reports that a study published March 3 in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggests that “providing homeless people with housing first and foremost is vital in getting them off the streets for good.” The two-year study involved “nearly 1,200 homeless individuals” with a mental illness who lived in Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver and Winnipeg, Canada. Researchers followed “two groups of homeless people with mental illness – one (the ‘intervention’ group) was given rent supplements to access stable housing, as well as provided with case management services, while the other (or ‘usual care’ group) only had access to existing housing and support services in their communities.)” People in the intervention group ended up staying in stable housing some 73.2 percent of the time, whereas those getting usual care stayed in stable housing only 23.6 percent of the time, the study found.

Related Links:

— “This Critical Step Could Keep Homeless People With Mental Illness Off The Streets,” Robbie Couch
, Huffington Post, March 6, 2015.

The NPR (3/6, Jaffe) “Morning Edition” program and “Shots” blog report that “antipsychotics are much less effective than non-drug treatments in controlling the symptoms of dementia, according to a” review (3/6) published March 4 in the British Medical Journal. Researchers arrived at that conclusion after examining “more than two decades of scientific studies.” The review’s authors “say the treatments that showed the best results were the ones that trained caregivers how to communicate calmly and clearly, and to introduce hobbies or other activities for the patient.” The piece also notes that the FDA has warned that “antipsychotics increase the risk of death for people with dementia.”

Related Links:

— “Behavioral Therapy Helps More Than Drugs For Dementia Patients,” Ina Jaffe, National Public Radio, March 5, 2015.

HealthDay (3/6, Preidt) reports that research to be presented at the American College of Cardiology’s annual meeting suggests that “treating depression with antidepressants may have an added bonus: reducing heart risks.” Investigators looked at data on approximately 5,300 individuals “with moderate to severe depression.” The researchers found that those “who took antidepressants alone had a 53 percent lower risk of death, heart disease and stroke over three years than those who did not take antidepressants or statins.”

Related Links:

— “Easing Depression May Boost Heart Health, Study Finds,” Robert Preidt, HealthDay, March 5, 2015.