On its front page, the Wall Street Journal (8/12, A1, Lagnado, Subscription Publication) reports that the office of the inspector general at the US Department of Health and Human Services has launched an investigation into the use of antipsychotic medications in youngsters within the Medicaid system. In addition, HHS agencies are now asking officials in each state to clamp down on prescription oversight of these medications in kids and teens on Medicaid. Currently, youngsters on Medicaid receive prescriptions for antipsychotic medications at a rate four times that of children with private health insurance. Some newer antipsychotics, which have received approval from the Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of autism-associated irritability and bipolar disorder in youngsters, as well as schizophrenia, are being inappropriately used to treat behavioral problems in troubled kids, according to some physicians and policy analysts.

Related Links:

— “U.S. Probes Use of Antipsychotic Drugs on Children, The Wall Street Journal, August 11, 2013.

The Kansas City (MO) Star (8/10) reported that recently, “the American Psychiatric Association…recommended further research into a condition it labeled Internet Gaming Disorder.” In the fifth edition of the APA’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), “the group pointed to warning signs in Asia, where too much gaming has landed kids in hospitals.” However, the “mental health community is far from sold that the Web itself is fueling addiction.” After all, pornography and gambling have been problematic long before the Internet existed.

Related Links:

— “Digital addiction: Is it real or a symptom of other problems?, “Rick Montgomery, The Kansas City Star, August 10, 2013.

On its website, NBC News (8/6, Linn) reports that according to a study published online Aug. 5 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, some mothers “reacted to the recession that ran from 2007 to 2009 by yelling at their kids more, and perhaps even doing more physically aggressive things like grabbing or spanking their children.” Interestingly, harsh parenting was not limited to those mothers who had been personally affected by the recession. Instead, the study found that overall, certain “moms became harsher parents once the general economy started to deteriorate.”

Related Links:

— “The Great Recession made some moms scream at their kids more, “Allison Linn, NBC News, August 5, 2013.

Reuters (8/6, Seaman) reports that children who were born into families with an inherent cigarette smoking culture, are more likely to take up smoking themselves during pre-adolescence or adolescence, according to a study published online Aug. 5 in the journal Pediatrics. The researchers from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, analyzed 23 years of smoking pattern data and found that 23 percent of the children whose parents had smoked as adolescents became smokers themselves, regardless of whether their parents ultimately quit or reduced their smoking habits.

On its website, CBS News (8/6, Castillo) adds that the study also found that among families in which the “oldest child smoked, younger siblings were six times more likely” to take up smoking; and the older siblings were “15 times more likely to smoke if they were in a household where one of their parents smoked compared to a home where no parent smoked.”

Related Links:

— “Parental smoking tied to kids’ risk of lighting up, “Andrew M. Seaman, Reuters, August 5, 2013.

Medwire (8/9, Lyford) reports that according to a study published online Aug. 5 in the journal Bipolar Disorders, adversity in childhood may be “associated with an increased risk for psychopathology in the offspring of people with bipolar disorder [BD] or major depressive disorder (MDD).” After studying “320 parents with mood disorders (bipolar I disorder, bipolar II disorder, or MDD) and their 679 children, of whom…125 had MDD” and 35 had BD, researchers also found that “for every 10 years of earlier onset of mood disorder in the parent, there was a 29% increase in the risk for transmission of a mood disorder to the child.”

Related Links:

— “Childhood adversity raises psychopathology risk, “Joanna Lyford, Medwire News, August 9, 2013.

Medscape (8/9, Cassels) reports that a study published in the August issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry has suggested that certain risk factors may identify adolescents “at greatest risk of developing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) following potentially traumatic experiences (PTE).” The study, which “included data on 6,483 adolescent-parent pairs aged 13 to 17 years,” found that “the strongest vulnerability factors for PTSD included female sex, events involving interpersonal violence, and pre-existing anxiety and mood disorders before exposure to the worst traumatic stressor.”

HealthDay (8/9, Preidt) reports that a “simple test” may help predict hospital patients at risk for delirium, according to a study published online Aug. 7 in the Journal of Hospital Medicine. In a study involving 374 hospital patients over the age of 50, researchers tested a new tool “called AWOL, which stands for age (A), unable to spell ‘world’ backward (W), not fully oriented to place (O), and moderate to severe illness (L).” Those patients whose AWOL scores were higher had a higher likelihood of developing delirium. The study suggested that patients with higher AWOL scores could “receive specialized care” to prevent them from becoming delirious.

Related Links:

— “Quick Test May Help Prevent Hospital Delirium, Researchers Say, “Robert Preidt, HealthDay , August 8, 2013.

HealthDay (8/9, Doheny) reports that encouraging a partner to diet may “trigger unhealthy habits such as fasting and taking diet pills – measures that can then lead to severe eating disorders,” according to a study published in the July/August issue of the American Journal of Health Promotion. After surveying some 1,300 young adult Minnesotans in relationships during the years 2008 and 2009, researchers found that “binge eating nearly doubled among women whose partners encouraged dieting ‘very much’ compared to ‘not at all.’” What’s more, 14% of men “who experienced constant urging to diet engaged” in binge-eating behavior, the study found.

Related Links:

— “Urging Your Partner to Diet May Backfire, “Kathleen Doheny, HealthDay, August 8, 2013.

The New York Times (8/9, A10, Tavernise, Subscription Publication) reports that according to data (pdf) released yesterday by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, part of the Department of Health and Human Services, there has been a four-fold increase “in the number of young adults” seeking care in the emergency department after abusing or misusing stimulant medications normally used for the treatment of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. The SAMHSA data reveal that the number of ED visits “related to stimulants among people ages 18 to 34 increased to 23,000 in 2011, from 5,600 in 2005,” with the rise “particularly pronounced among 18- to 25-year-olds.” The stimulant medications noted in the report include Ritalin (methylphenidate) and Adderall (amphetamine, dextroamphetamine mixed salts), among others.

Related Links:

— “New Sign of Stimulants’ Toll on Young, “Sabrina Tavernise, The New York Times, August 8, 2013.

The Los Angeles Times (8/8, Pandika) “Science Now” blog reports that according to a study published online Aug. 7 in the journal Neurology, cocoa appears to “help improve brain health and thinking skills in the elderly.” Researchers found that seniors “who initially performed poorly on a memory and reasoning test and also had reduced blood flow to their brains showed improvement after drinking two cups of cocoa every day for a month.”

The Cleveland Plain Dealer (8/8, Townsend) reports that researchers studied 60 seniors whose average age was 73. At study start, no participant had dementia, but 18 participants “had impaired blood flow.” During the study, all participants “drank two cups of hot cocoa per day,” but only half of the participants drank cocoa containing high levels of flavonol, an antioxidant. For the duration of the study, the participants’ only source of cocoa was what they were drinking. No other forms of cocoa or chocolate were consumed.

Related Links:

— “Chocolate may help keep brain healthy, sharp in old age, study says, “Melissa Pandika, Los Angeles Times, August 7, 2013.