In continuing coverage, the Wall Street Journal (1/31, Kesling, Subscription Publication) detailed the veterans’ suicide-prevention bill named for former Marine Sgt. Clay Hunt. The measure would help veterans with mental health problems get help sooner, would enable them to have access to support following separation from military service, and provide the VA with the ability to hire more mental healthcare professionals. Also included in the measure is up to $30,000 annually in student loan forgiveness for psychiatrists who decide to work for the VA.

The AP (2/2, Daly) reports today, the US Senate “is expected to take up” the measure, which is “aimed at reducing a wave of suicides that claims the lives of 22 veterans every day.” If the Senate passes the bill as expected, it goes to President Obama for his signature.

Related Links:

— “Congress Moves to Bolster VA’s Mental-Health Services,” , Wall Street Journal, January 31, 2015. [Subscription/Login Required]

On its front page, the New York Times (1/29, A1, Belson, Subscription Publication) reports that a study published online Jan. 28 in the journal Neurology suggests that “NFL retirees who began playing tackle football before they turned 12 were at increased risk of developing memory and thinking problems compared with players who began when they were 12 or older.” While “both groups scored below average on many memory and cognitive tests…there was a roughly 20 percent difference between the two groups on several measures.”

The Washington Post (1/29, Hobson) reports, “While the study’s authors cautioned their subject group was limited – all former NFL players who have complained of cognitive, behavioral or mood problems – their findings suggest football is unsafe for children.” One of study authors said, “This study supports the idea…that there may be later life consequences associated with childhood exposure to repetitive head impacts.” He added, “Regardless of the results, it makes logical sense that children whose brains are rapidly developing should not be hitting their heads over and over again.”

The AP (1/29, Golen) reports that the study has limitations in that “it only looked at former NFL players; the conclusions cannot be generalized to a broader population.”

Related Links:

— “To Allay Fears, N.F.L. Huddles With Mothers,” Ken Belson, New York Times, January 28, 2015.

HealthDay (1/29, Doheny) reports that a study published online Jan. 28 in JAMA Psychiatry suggests that “more than 10 percent of preschool-age children diagnosed with autism saw some improvement in their symptoms by age six,” and “20 percent of the children made some gains in everyday functioning.” Researchers arrived at that conclusion after following 421 youngsters “from diagnosis (between ages two and four) until age six, collecting information at four points in time to see how their symptoms and their ability to adapt to daily life fared.”

Related Links:

— “Some Kids With Autism Show Improvement by Age 6: Study,” Kathleen Doheny, HealthDay, January 28, 2015.

In the New York Times (2/3, Ellison) “Well” blog, author Katherine Ellison writes that an increasing number of physicians “who treat the estimated 6.4 million American children diagnosed with” attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD) “are hearing that stimulant medications not only help treat the disorder but may actually be good for their patients’ brains” and may even be “neuroprotective.” Other experts on AD/HD suggest that stimulant medications for AD/HD “may change the brain over time so as to undermine the long-term response to the medication and even exacerbate symptoms when people aren’t taking them.” Meanwhile, “Dr. Peter Jensen, the former associate director of child and adolescent research at the National Institute of Mental Health, cautioned that parents should not try to force children with” AD/HD “to take medication when they don’t want to, adding that ‘most kids don’t want to.’”

Related Links:

— “Can Attention Deficit Drugs ‘Normalize’ a Child’s Brain?,” Katherine Ellison, New York Times, February ,2 2015.

HealthDay (2/3, Preidt) reports that a study published online Feb. 2 in JAMA Internal Medicine suggests that delirium “is common among older hospital patients and raises their risk of falls, physical decline and longer hospital stays.” After reviewing “14 studies that assessed the use of drug-free strategies to reduce delirium in older patients at 12 hospitals around the world,” researchers concluded that “proper nutrition and hydration, adequate sleep, daily exercise, activities to improve thinking and memory and telling patients where they are, and the date and time, every day” seemed to lower the odds of patients experiencing delirium.

Related Links:

— “Non-Drug Options Can Help Curb Delirium in Hospital Patients, Study Finds,” Robert Preidt, HealthDay, February 2, 2015.

The New York Times (2/3, Belluck) “Well” blog reports that a study published in the January issue of The Lancet Psychiatry “has documented unexpected links in the timing and severity of symptoms of maternal depression, which could help mothers and doctors better anticipate and treat the condition.” After following some “8,200 women from 19 centers in seven countries,” researchers found that in women “with the severest symptoms — suicidal thoughts, panic, frequent crying — depression most often began during pregnancy, not after giving birth, as is often assumed.” Women with moderate depression, however, “often developed their symptoms postpartum, and were more likely than severely depressed women to have experienced complications during pregnancy like pre-eclampsia, gestational diabetes or hypertension.”

Related Links:

— “Maternal Depression Often Starts Before Giving Birth, Study Says,” Pam Belluck, New York Times, February 2, 2015.

Medscape (1/30, Anderson) reports that a study published in the January issue of the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence suggests that “as users of heroin and other opioids get older, their risk for overdose death increases dramatically.” Researchers also found that even though “male users had almost double the rate of drug-related poisoning in early adulthood compared with female drug users, the difference narrowed considerably with age.” The investigators came to these conclusions After studying more than 198,000 “men and women actively using or being treated for opioid use in England from April 1, 2005, to March 31, 2009.”

Related Links:

— Medscape (requires login and subscription)

HealthDay (1/30, Preidt) reports that research published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine “supports the notion that repeated blows to the head in boxing or the martial arts can damage the brain.” Investigators studied “93 boxers and 131 mixed martial arts experts,” as well as 22 individuals who had never suffered a head injury. “MRI brain scans and tests of memory, reaction time and other intellectual abilities showed that the fighters who had suffered repeated blows to the head had smaller brain volume and slower processing speeds, compared to non-fighters.”

Related Links:

— “More Evidence That Boxing Can Lead to Brain Damage,” Robert Preidt, HealthDay, January 30, 2015.

The CBS News (1/30, Firger) website reports that a study suggests that “people who binge-watch television tend to be among the most depressed and lonely.” In the study, investigators “surveyed 316 young people about their television-viewing habits.” In addition, “the study participants, all between the ages of 18 and 29…answered questions about how frequently in life they experienced feelings of depression and loneliness.”

Newsweek (1/30, Kutner) reports that researchers at the University of Texas “discovered a correlation between binge-watching and loneliness, depression, and having self-regulation deficiency, which is an inability to control compulsions.”

Related Links:

— “Depression, loneliness linked to binge-watching TV,” Jessica Firger, CBS News, January 29, 2015.

The Washington Post (1/24, Johnson, Weiner) reports a “wave of heroin overdoses” that is killing dozens of people in Maryland and Virginia “inner-city neighborhoods, suburbs and rural enclaves.” Maryland Governor Larry Hogan (R) and Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe have scrambled to make fighting the latest heroin surge afflicting their states. The Post says the “governors’ actions reflect mounting concern among public officials up and down the East Coast about the escalation in overdoses, which some say has become a public health epidemic.” The Post adds that experts say there is “no simple or inexpensive cure for heroin addiction — and there are differing views on which approach to try first.”

Related Links:

— “Overdose deaths from heroin galvanizing leaders in Maryland and Virginia,” Jenna Johnson and Rachel Weiner, Washington Post, January 24, 2015.