Reuters (6/19, Emery) reports that research published online in the New England Journal of Medicine suggests that women who take antidepressants during pregnancy may not have a higher risk of giving birth to a child with a heart defect.

On its website, TIME (6/19) reports that investigators analyzed data on “949,504 pregnant women, 64,389 of whom used antidepressants during the first trimester.” The researchers found that “the rate of heart defects in newborns was similar between the groups.” The article points out that “concerns about the risks of the drugs, primarily selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), on the developing fetus prompted the Food and Drug Administration in 2005 to add warnings about the risk of heart defects in babies born to moms taking antidepressants.”

Related Links:

— “Antidepressants in pregnancy pose little heart risk for fetus: study,” Gene Emery, Reuters, June 18, 2014.

USA Today (6/19, Painter) reports that according to a study published online June 18 in the BMJ, boxed “warnings that antidepressant medications might prompt suicidal thinking in some young people may have backfired, resulting in more suicide attempts.” While the study is “not the first to show that antidepressant use by young people fell sharply after warnings from the Food and Drug Administration and subsequent media coverage in 2003-04,” it appears to be “the first to link the change to an increase in suicide attempts among teens and young adults, researchers say.”

Related Links:

— “Warnings on antidepressants may have backfired,” Kim Painter, USA Today, June 18, 2014.

Medscape (6/18, Anderson) reports that according to a report published online June 16 in JAMA Pediatrics, there appear to be “no adverse cognitive effects on six-year-old children who were exposed to antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) in the womb and then breast-fed while their moms continued this therapy.”

The study, which “included 177 mothers and 181 children for whom data were available on both cognitive assessment at age six years and breast-feeding status,” revealed that “these school-aged children scored higher on IQ tests than their non–breast-fed counterparts and had enhanced verbal abilities, even after adjustment for other factors related to child cognitive outcomes, such as maternal IQ.”

Related Links:

— Medscape (requires login and subscription)

In an entry for the Washington Post (6/17) “Wonkblog,” Harold Pollack asked, in light of several recent mass shootings, including Elliott Rodger’s shooting rampage in Isla Vista, CA, if “mental health and law enforcement authorities could mount a better, more systematic response when a potentially dangerous person comes to their attention.”

In a piece in the Los Angeles Times, Renee Binder, MD, president-elect of the American Psychiatric Association, wondered whether a restraining order would also have been helpful in the Rodgers case. In light of the “concerns expressed by Rodger’s parents, a judge would have had the authority to temporarily seize his weapons, examine the relevant evidence, and perhaps connect some of dots that were missed in the original investigation.”

A judge might have also “temporarily prohibited Rodger from possessing firearms if it were determined that he posed a credible (though perhaps not immediate) risk.”

Related Links:

— “Why law enforcement missed Elliot Rodger’s warnings signs,” Harold Pollack, Washington Post, June 17, 2014.

The Los Angeles Times (6/17, Macvean) reports that a new study published in Pediatrics suggests that “delinquent youth are at risk of early violent death in adulthood, regardless of race, and females are especially vulnerable.” According to the researchers, “girls detained by authorities had nearly five times the rate of violent death as females in the general population – in part because of low rates of violent death for females in general.” Lead author Linda Teplin, a professor of psychiatry and behavior sciences at Northwestern University’s medical school, commented, “Our findings are shocking.”

HealthDay (6/17, Preidt) quotes Teplin, who said, “Prevention is key. We need to reduce the likelihood that youth will become delinquent. And, if they are arrested and detained, we need interventions to reduce violence. Otherwise, perpetrators often become victims.”

Related Links:

— “Delinquent youth more likely to die violently as adults, study says,” Mary Macvean, Los Angeles Times, June 16, 2014.

The Pittsburgh Business Times (6/16, Subscription Publication) reports that research suggests that individuals “with Type 1 diabetes have a higher risk of premature death as their symptoms of depression increase.” For each “one point increase on a 32-point depression measurement scale, study participants showed a 4 percent increase in risk for mortality, even after controlling for such things as age, gender, smoking and cholesterol, lead author Cassie Fickley said.”

Related Links:

— “Depression increases risk of premature death for diabetics,” Kris B. Mamula, Pittsburgh Business Times, June 16, 2014.

The New Orleans Times-Picayune (6/17, Castellano) reports a recent study published in Pediatrics indicates family violence can incite “critical DNA changes that could hasten mental and physical illness” in children. After studying children in the New Orleans, Louisiana, area, “Children ages five to 15 who witnessed family violence, experienced a family member’s suicide or had a family member incarcerated were more likely to undergo cellular aging as evidenced by a shortening of the tips of their chromosomes, the study showed.” The article notes the NIH provided lead study author Dr. Stacy Drury with “$2.4 million to study how families can help prevent such health declines in children related to violence.”

Related Links:

— “Childhood family violence alters DNA, Tulane study of New Orleans kids shows,” Rebecca Catalanello, New Orleans Times-Picayune, June 16, 2014.

In a 2,000-word article, the New York Times (6/17, D1, Belluck, Subscription Publication) reports that “many women” suffering from maternal mental illness “have been afraid to admit to terrifying visions or deadened emotions, believing they should be flush with maternal joy or fearing their babies would be taken from them.” However, “advocacy groups on maternal mental illness are” now “springing up, and some mothers are blogging about their experiences with remarkable candor.” Meanwhile, “a dozen states have passed laws encouraging screening, education and treatment.”

Related Links:

— “After Baby, an Unraveling: A Case Study in Maternal Mental Illness,” Pam Belluck, New York Times, June 16, 2014.

The Burlington (VT) Free Press (6/12, Hemingway) reports that over the “past 15 months, Vermont has been on a mission to quell a growing heroin addiction problem in the state.” Efforts to do so have “involved busting up drug rings importing heroin to the state, vastly expanding opiate addiction treatment programs with collaboration of treatment hubs and local doctors and arming cops and ambulance workers with a drug that can reverse the effects of an opiate overdose.” Back in January, Gov. Peter Shumlin (D-VT) “devoted his entire State of the State message to the Legislature to the heroin problem and what to do about it.”

Related Links:

— “In Vermont, on the front lines of war on heroin,” Sam Hemingway, Burlington Free Press via USA Today, June 12, 2014.

USA Today (6/12, Smith, DeMio) reports on the growth of heroin addiction, saying that “there are medicine-based treatments available today that can give addicts a fighting chance.” The story cites Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, saying that “the stigma attached to drug addiction has dragged down development and investment in better treatment options.”

The story mentions methadone and buprenorphine as possible means of controlling heroin cravings, and naltrexone. It also says that researchers are trying to develop “vaccines.” Volkow is quoted saying, “Multiple targets look promising, but we cannot move them (forward) because research on medication development is terribly expensive,” adding, “the pharmaceutical companies have been resistant to get into the space.”

Related Links:

— “Heroin addicts left trapped; families, heartbroken,” Carrie Blackmore Smith and Terry DeMio, Cincinnati Inquirer via USA Today, June 12, 2014.