Medscape (5/9, Canavan) reports that according to the results of a 524-patient study presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies’ annual meeting, “nearly a third of children and adolescents screened in an emergency department program are at risk for suicide, and of these, 17% report knowledge of a gun in or around their home.” The study’s author, Stephen Teach, MD, of the Children’s National Medical Center, stated, “Nearly half of youth suicides involve firearms, and 90% of individuals who attempt suicide with guns kill themselves.”

Reuters (5/7, Seaman) reports that according to a study published online May 6 in JAMA Neurology, the offspring of people who are long-lived appear to develop symptoms of dementia later than other people. Nevertheless, by the time people reach their nineties, the rate of Alzheimer’s appears to be about the same percentage as those from families that are not so long-lived.

HealthDay (5/7, Reinberg) reports that researchers “followed more than 1,800 participants (1,510 family members and 360 spouses as “controls”) in the US-Danish Long Life Family Study, which is evaluating genetic and non-genetic factors associated with extreme longevity.” Next, investigators “looked at the onset of Alzheimer’s disease among blood relatives within long-living families and compared that with similar data on their spouses.” Notably, the “sons and daughters, average age 70, of exceptionally long-lived people had less than half the risk of Alzheimer’s disease than their similarly aged spouses.”

Related Links:

— “Could family longevity protect against dementia?, “Andrew M. Seaman, Reuters, May 6, 2013.

HealthDay (5/6, Preidt) reports, “About 16 percent of US high school students are victims of cyberbullying, according to a” study presented yesterday at the Pediatric Academic Societies’ annual meeting. After analyzing “data collected from more than 15,000 public and private high school students who took part in a yearly survey on risky youth behaviors in 2011,” researchers also found that “girls were more than twice as likely to be targeted than boys – about 22 percent versus 11 percent – and whites were more than twice as likely to be victims as blacks.”

Related Links:

— “16 Percent of U.S. High Schoolers Victims of Cyberbullying: Study, “Robert Preidt, HealthDay, May 6, 2013.

HealthDay (5/6, Preidt) reports that participation in school sports “may reduce teen girls’ likelihood of being involved in violence and some teen boys’ risk of being bullied,” according to a study presented yesterday at the Pediatric Academic Societies’ annual meeting. Researchers arrived at that conclusion after examining “data from about 1,800 high school students, aged 14 to 18, who took part in the 2011 North Carolina Youth Risk Behavior Survey.” The study’s lead author stated, “Perhaps creating team-like environments among students such that they may feel part of a group or community could lead to less bullying.”

Related Links:

— “School Sports May Cut Rates of Violence, Bullying Among Teens, “Robert Preidt, HealthDay, May 6, 2013.

American Medical News (5/3, Lubell) reported, “In refusing to discuss mentally ill patients’ conditions with family members or caretakers, physicians could be misinterpreting federal privacy rules, witnesses told a House panel April 25. There’s a concern that the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act is compromising patient care and public safety by interfering with these discussions, said Rep. Tim Murphy (R, Pa.), who chairs the House Energy and Commerce oversight and investigations subcommittee.” In fact, “in instances where patients may pose imminent and serious threats to themselves or others, health care professionals may invoke their ethical ‘duty to warn’ by alerting family members, enforcement officials or perhaps even the targets of those threats…said” Leon Rodriguez, director of the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Civil Rights.

Related Links:

— “Misreading HIPAA privacy law blocks mental health discussions, “Jennifer Lubell, American Medical News, May 3, 2013.

HealthDay (5/6, Gordon) reports, “Significantly more US children have a neurodevelopmental or mental health disability than did a decade ago,” according to research presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies’ annual meeting. Researchers arrived at that conclusion after having “reviewed data from two National Health Interview Surveys conducted by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). They included more than 102,000 parents of children from infancy through” age 17.

Related Links:

— “More Kids Diagnosed With Mental Health Disabilities, Study Finds, “Serena Gordon, HealthDay, May 5, 2013.

HealthDay (5/5, Preidt) reported, “About 90 percent of pediatric specialists who diagnose and manage attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD) in preschool children do not follow treatment guidelines published recently by the American Academy of Pediatrics, according to a” study presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies’ annual meeting. “Some prescribe medications too soon, while others do not give the young patients drugs even as a second-line treatment, according to study author Dr. Andrew Adesman.” The study also found that even though “methylphenidate (Ritalin) is recommended as the first drug to try when medications are warranted, many doctors prescribed other types of” medications.

Related Links:

— “Most Docs Don’t Follow ADHD Treatment Guidelines for Preschoolers: Study, “Robert Preidt, HealthDay, May 4, 2013.

The CBS Evening News (5/2, story 9, 2:35, Pelley) reported, “The Centers for Disease Control said suicides are now the tenth-leading cause of death in this country. In 2010, more than 38,000 Americans took their own lives and that is nearly 5,000 more than died in traffic accidents.”

On its front page, the New York Times (5/3, A1, Parker-Pope, Subscription Publication) reports, “Suicide rates among middle-aged Americans have risen sharply in the past decade, prompting concern that a generation of baby boomers who have faced years of economic worry and easy access to prescription painkillers may be particularly vulnerable to self-inflicted harm,” according to findings published in the May 3 issue of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Related Links:

— “Suicide Rates Rise Sharply in U.S., “Tara Parker-Pope, The New York Times, May 2, 2013.

Medwire (5/1, McDermid) reports, “Patients with bipolar disorder [BD] are more likely to adhere to their medication if they have a positive perception of their relationship with their psychiatrist,” according to a study published online April 19 in the Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology. “A range of positive factors in the Helping Alliance Questionnaire were significantly associated with medication adherence in the 3,337 patients with bipolar disorder who participated in the six-year study. These were being dependent on the psychiatrist, having a good relationship with them, respecting their views, and having meaningful exchanges with them.” Patients also had a higher likelihood of adhering to their medication if they felt understood by their psychiatrists.

Related Links:

— “Therapeutic alliance influences bipolar disorder medication adherence, “Eleanor McDermid, Medwire News, May 1, 2013.

The New York Times (5/1, A10, Schwarz, Subscription Publication) reports that “dozens of colleges [are] tightening the rules on the diagnosis of” attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD) “and the subsequent prescription of amphetamine-based medications” to treat it. “Some schools are reconsidering how their student health offices handle AD/HD, and even if they should at all. Various studies have estimated that as many as 35 percent of college students illicitly take these stimulants to provide jolts of focus and drive during finals and other periods of heavy stress.”

Lawsuit Filed Against Harvard Spotlights Issues Involving AD/HD Diagnosis. In a related story, the New York Times (5/1, A12, Schwarz, Subscription Publication) reports that a lawsuit filed against Harvard University “provides rare detail on the issues involving a diagnosis of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder [AD/HD] from a student-health department.” The case centers around a rising sophomore who had been prescribed a medication for AD/HD “after a single examination at Harvard University Health Services.” The young man went on to commit suicide about half a year later after he received a prescription for antidepressants. The father of the victim “contends, among other accusations, that his son had never had AD/HD and that Harvard’s original diagnostic procedure, and subsequent prescriptions for Adderall [amphetamine mixed salts], did not meet medical standards.”

Related Links:

— “Attention-Deficit Drugs Face New Campus Rules, “Alan Schwarz, The New York Times, April 30, 2013.