Medscape (3/1, Brauser) reported that “depression should join the ranks of obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and smoking as an official heart disease risk factor, according to an expert panel convened by the American Heart Association (AHA).” This “recommendation is based on an extensive literature review examining the risks for depression conducted by the panel.” According to Medscape, “The AHA Scientific Statement notes that the combined findings support the call to formally “elevate depression to the status of a risk factor” for adverse outcomes, such as all-cause and cardiac mortality, in patients who have acute coronary syndrome (ACS).”

Related Links:

— Medscape (requires login and subscription)

The Boston Globe (3/3, Salahi) reports in “Be Well” that research published in Sleep suggests that “children who often have nightmares or night terrors may be more likely to experience psychotic episodes such as hallucinations by early adolescence.”

HealthDay (3/1, Dallas) reported that investigators “analyzed a group of children six times between the ages of 2 and 9.” The investigators “found that children who had frequent nightmares before age 12 were three and a half times more likely to have psychotic experiences early in their teen years,” with the risk being even higher among those who had night terrors.

BBC News (3/1, Gallagher) pointed out that in the study, “nearly 6,800 people were followed up to the age of 12.”

Related Links:

— “Nightmare frequency linked to later psychotic episodes, ” Lara Salahi, Boston Globe, March 3, 2014.

Reuters (2/21, Jegtvig) reported that in a paper published online in the Journal of Adolescent Health, experts say that night eating syndrome needs further study, as it may be associated with other mental health problems. In a study of approximately 1,600 university students, researchers found that approximately 4 percent met the criteria for night eating disorder. The investigators found that the disorder was more common in those who had a history of anorexia nervosa and in those who used medications for AD/HD. The authors pointed out that night eating disorder is included as a distinct diagnosis in the most recent DSM-5.

Related Links:

— “Night eating disorder needs more study, ” Shereen Jegtvig, Reuters, February 21, 2014.

The Wall Street Journal (2/24, Lagnado, Subscription Publication) reports on the growing debate over how Medicaid and foster care children are medicated, as there has been an increase in the past 15 years in strong antipsychotic medication prescriptions for these children. The Journal notes that the HHS IG has launched an investigation, while the APA has warned against their overuse. Meanwhile, the piece explains that the FDA sanctions the use of atypicals, although physicians can prescribe them off label to deal with children’s behavioral issues.

Related Links:

— “Drugged as Children, Foster-Care Alumni Speak Out, ” Lucette Lagnado, Wall Street Journal, February 23, 2014.

The Time (2/21, Park) “Healthland” blog reports that a study conducted by researchers at the UK’s Warwick Medical School suggests that changing schools, “and the social isolation that comes with it, might be an independent factor in contributing to…psychosis-like symptoms” in some youngsters. After “working with a database of nearly 14,000 children born between 1991 and 1992 and followed until they were 13 years old,” investigators found that “switching schools three or more times in early childhood seemed to be linked to an up to two-fold greater risk of developing psychosis-like symptoms such as hallucinations and interrupting thoughts.”

Related Links:

— “Study: Switching Schools May Give Your Kids Psychotic Symptoms, ” Alice Park, Time, February 20, 2014.

HealthDay (2/21, Preidt) reports that research published online in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, “older adults with slightly elevated thyroid activity may be at increased risk for depression.” Investigators “analyzed data from more than 1,500 people, average age 70, who were depression-free and had their thyroid activity assessed at the start of the study.” The researchers found, during “eight years of follow-up,” that individuals “with thyroid glands that were more active than average – but still within the normal range – were more likely to develop depression than those with lower levels of thyroid activity within the normal range.”

Related Links:

— “Could Thyroid Activity Raise Depression Risk in Seniors?, ” Robert Preidt, HealthDay, February 20, 2014.

The Los Angeles Times (2/21, Zarembo) “Science Now” blog reports that according to a 291-page report commissioned by the Department of Defense and produced by a committee from the Institute of Medicine, “many federal programs aimed at preventing psychological problems in military service members and their families have not been evaluated correctly to determine whether they are working and are not supported by science.” In particular, the report criticized “the Pentagon’s biggest and costliest prevention program, known as Comprehensive Soldier and Family Fitness, which is used throughout the Army.” The report found that the program did not lower rates of depression or of post-traumatic stress disorder.

USA Today (2/21, Zoroya) points out that the report’s findings “come as about 1,000 Iraq- and Afghanistan-era veterans are being diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder each week, according to data from the Department of Veterans Affairs.” The present report “follows an earlier Institute of Medicine review released last year concluding that the Pentagon and Department of Veterans Affairs are struggling to keep pace with a growing number of mental health problems generated by the wars.”

Related Links:

— “Programs to prevent psychological problems in troops questioned, ” Alan Zarembo, Los Angeles Times, February 20, 2014.

Medwire (2/20, McDermid) reports that according to a meta-analysis published online Feb. 14 in the American Journal of Psychiatry, a publication of the American Psychiatric Association, “there are small but robust differences in the effects of different psychotherapies on psychosis symptom.” After examining 48 studies including 3,295 participants, researchers “found that cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), which focuses on reducing positive symptoms through cognitive restructuring, had a larger effect than other therapies on positive symptoms.” For positive symptoms, however, “social skills training, which aims to improve patients’ social functioning to help them cope with social situations, had the largest effect.”

Related Links:

— “Psychotherapies have specific effects on psychosis symptoms, ” Eleanor McDermid, medwireNews, February 20, 2014.

The Los Angeles Times (2/20, Kaplan) reports that headaches may be triggered by stress, but according to study to be presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s annual meeting later this spring, “the more intense a person’s stress, the more time he or she will spend in pain.” For the study, investigators “interviewed 5,159 adults about their headache history and other health factors once every three months from 2010 to 2012.” In addition, “volunteers were asked to rate the intensity of their stress on a 100-point scale.”

The CBS News (2/20, Castillo) website reports the study found “for every 10-point increase on the stress scale, tension-headache sufferers had 6.3 percent more headaches per month or about 3.3 hours more of headaches each month.” People with migraines experienced “a 4.3 percent increase in incidents, or about 4.6 extra headache hours per month.”

Individuals who had “both types of headaches had a 4 percent increase in the length of their headaches, or 3.5 hours per month.

Related Links:

— “Stress makes headaches last longer, study finds, ” Karen Kaplan, Los Angeles Times, February 19, 2014.

The Dallas Morning News (2/20, Benning) reports that yesterday, “former President George W. Bush…called for a fundamental shift in the perception and treatment of one of the country’s most high-profile military injuries: post-traumatic stress disorder [PTSD].” At a summit the former Republican President convened at the George W. Bush Presidential Center to discuss issues faced by veterans, Bush “said that the condition has been mislabeled as a ‘disorder’ and that calling it just ‘post-traumatic stress’ would go a long way in erasing the stigma that affects many vets returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.” The Morning News points out, however, that when the American Psychiatric Association produced its fifth editionRelated Links:

— “Bush wants change in how PTSD is handled, ” Tom Benning, Dallas Morning News, February 19, 2014. of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) last year, the DSM-5 retained “the ‘disorder’ in PTSD.”

CNN (2/20, Caldwell) quotes Bush as saying, “Employers would not hesitate to hire an employee getting treated for a medical condition like diabetes or high blood pressure and they should not hesitate to hire veterans getting treated for post-traumatic stress.”