New Jersey Bill Outlawing Reparative Therapy Heads To State Senate.

The Asbury Park (NJ) Press (3/31, Racioppi) reported that reparative therapy, also known as conversion therapy, “is on the brink of banishment in New Jersey. A bill outlawing such therapy for those under 18 is headed to the state Senate for a vote after its Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee passed the bill by a 7 to 1 vote March 18.” The piece also noted that the “American Psychiatric Association…and the American Medical Association are among the national organizations that either oppose or warn against reparative therapy.”

Related Links:

— “Conversion therapy exposes gay ‘culture war’, “Dustin Racioppi, The Asbury Park Press, March 31, 2013.

Forum Discusses Factors Preventing Kids With Severe Mental Illnesses From Getting Care.

American Medical News (4/1, Lubell) reports, “Mental health professionals and other participants at a recent congressional forum said a dearth of trained physicians and the presence of too many regulatory barriers are some of the main factors preventing severely mentally ill children from getting the medical help they need.” On March 5, a “bipartisan forum was convened by Rep. Tim Murphy (R, Pa.), who chairs the House Energy and Commerce oversight and investigations subcommittee, to discuss what federal resources might be needed to prevent another incident such as the mass killings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.” In particular, “the forum focused on severely mentally ill individuals who could be prone to violence but who often don’t receive the timely treatments available to those with other medical emergencies.”

Related Links:

— “More trained clinicians, research urged for mentally ill, “Jennifer Lubell, Amednews, April 1, 2013.

Kids With Sleep-Disordered Breathing At Increased Risk For Behavioral Problems.

MedPage Today (4/2, Bankhead) reports, “Children with sleep disordered breathing (SDB) are at significantly increased risk of behavioral problems, including hyperactivity, attention problems, aggressiveness, and reduced social competency,” according to a 263-child study published in the April issue of the journal Sleep. “As compared with children who had no history of sleep disordered breathing, those with the condition were seven times more likely to meet cutoff scores on a validated index of behavioral symptoms and for the hyperactivity subscale,” the study found. In fact, “sleep disordered breathing doubled and tripled the odds of threshold scores on most assessments, including social interaction, communication, self-care, and adaptive behavior, Michelle M. Perfect, PhD, of the University of Arizona in Tucson, and co-authors reported.”

Related Links:

— “Sleep Disordered Breathing Takes Toll on Kids, “Charles Bankhead, MedPage Today, April 1, 2013.

Figures Show 16% Rise In AD/HD Cases Since 2007.

A front-page New York Times analysis of data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows a sharp increase in the numbers of US children being diagnosed for the first time with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD). The figures indicate a 16% increase in AD/HD cases diagnosed since 2007 alone. In addition to the New York Times, one network news segment, numerous print publications and medical journals focus on the story, many of them questioning if overdiagnosis is behind the increased number of cases, and others concentrating on the fact that some medications for AD/HD may be misused or abused.

NBC Nightly News (4/1, story 2, 2:25, Williams) reported, “A stunning new assessment of national numbers came out today. … It’s about “the extraordinary number of cases” of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD) now being diagnosed.” New figures “show a 16% rise in cases just since 2007,” begging the question whether the condition is being overdiagnosed.

Full vaccine schedule safe for kids, no link to autism.

USA Today (3/29, Szabo) reports, “A new study finds that children who receive the full schedule of vaccinations have no increased risk of autism.” The study, which appears “today in the Journal of Pediatrics, is the latest of more than 20 studies showing no connection between autism and vaccines, given either individually or as part of the standard schedule. The paper is the first to consider not just the number of vaccines, but a child’s total exposure to the substances inside vaccines that trigger an immune response.”

Related Links:

— “Full vaccine schedule safe for kids, no link to autism, “Liz Szabo, USA Today, March 29, 2013.

Big differences in medications’ prices found at pharmacies.

ABC News (3/28, Moisse) reports in its “Medical Unit” blog that a study by Consumer Reports found that “a little research can save you a lot of cash on prescription drugs.” After checking over 200 pharmacies, the magazine found that the cost of a month’s supply of Actos (Pioglitazone), Lexapro (Escitalopram), Lipitor (Atorvastatin), Plavix (Clopidogrel), and Singulair (Montelukast) “varied by as much as $749.” Lisa Gill, prescription drugs editor for Consumer Reports, said, “One of the big takeaways is that you have to ask for the best price and see if your pharmacist will work with you.” Tips for getting the best value include getting generics, asking for a better deal, going to rural pharmacies, seeking discounts for multi-month supplies, and checking for discount generic-drug programs.

CBS News (3/29, Jaslow) reports the magazine found “Costco had the lowest prescription prices”; for instance Lipitor cost $17 for a month’s supply there, compared to $126 at CVS. Similarly, “a month supply of generic Lexapro cost $7 a month at Costco and $126 at CVS, with the shoppers also reporting high prices on average at grocery stores, Rite Aid and Walgreens.”

Also covering this story are Reuters (3/29, Sherman), HealthDay (3/29), the Cleveland Plain Dealer (3/29, Suchetka, 315K), and the Puget Sound Business Journal (3/29, Subscription Publication).

Related Links:

— “Cheap Prescription Drug Secrets Revealed By Consumer Group, ” Katie Moisse, ABC News, March 28, 2013.

States Vary In Submission Of Mental Health Records To NICS.

USA Today (3/28, Groppe) reports, “Even as the Senate prepares to take up legislation next month to include private sales among the types of gun purchases that require a background check, there remains a great variation among states on the submission of mental health records to the federal background-check database.” What’s more, “the federal government can’t require states to submit records to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS).” And, while “the Justice Department has distributed grants to states to help them improve record keeping,” the group “Mayors for Illegal Guns said most states aren’t eligible because they haven’t created a way for someone to petition to get their mental health records out of the database.”

Related Links:

— “Checking gun buyers for mental illness hinges on states, “Maureen Groppe, USA Today, March 28, 2013.

Untreated Depression May Negate Benefit Of Certain Healthy Behaviors.

Medscape (3/29, Brooks) reports, “Untreated symptoms of depression can negate the anti-inflammatory benefits typically associated with physical activity and light to moderate alcohol consumption,” according to a study published online March 25 in the journal Brain, Behavior, and Immunity. Researchers arrived at that conclusion after having “assessed the moderating effect of depressive symptoms, using the Beck Depression Inventory, on leisure-time physical activity and light to moderate alcohol intake in 222 healthy nonsmoking men and women aged 18 to 65 years with no history or diagnosis of psychiatric conditions.” Interestingly, “the effect seems to be specific to inflammation as measured by CRP, given that depression did not affect other health markers, such as fasting triglyceride or cholesterol levels, the investigators” noted.

Adults With Diabetes With “Poor Health Literacy” Less Likely To Take Antidepressants.

HealthDay (3/28, Preidt) reports, “Adult diabetes patients who don’t understand basic health information are less likely to continue taking newly prescribed antidepressants,” according to a study published in the March issue of the Journal of General Internal Medicine. “The nearly 1,400 patients in the study were followed for 12 months after being prescribed an antidepressant. Most of the patients filled the prescription at least once, but 43 percent did not refill the prescription and nearly two-thirds had stopped taking their antidepressant medication by the end of the study.” The study authors found that nearly three-quarters (72%) of the patients had difficulties comprehending basic instructions regarding their health, a finding they termed “poor health literacy.” It was this group of patients that had a lesser likelihood of taking antidepressants prescribed for them.

Related Links:

— “Poor ‘Health Literacy’ Keeps Patients From Taking Meds, “Robert Preidt, HealthDay, March 27, 2013.

Study Examines Effects Of TV Viewing On Behavior In Youngsters.

On its website, CBS News (3/27, Jaslow) reports, “Too much television may turn a five-year-old into a real problem child by the time they turn seven, according to a new study” published online March 25 in the Archives of Disease in Childhood. “British researchers looked at a representative sample of over 11,000 kids born between 2000 and 2002, and found those who watched television longer than three hours per day were more likely to develop antisocial behaviors such as fighting, stealing or bullying.”

HealthDay (3/27, Preidt) reports, “For the study, the investigators analyzed data gathered from about 11,000 children in the United Kingdom who were born between 2000 and 2002. When the children were ages five and seven, their mothers filled out a questionnaire designed to assess how well-adjusted the children were, and also provided information about the amount of time their children spent at age seven watching TV and playing computer or electronic games.” Then, “after taking into account other factors, such as parenting and family dynamics, the researchers concluded that there was a significant association between watching TV for three or more hours a day at age five and a ‘very small’ increased risk of antisocial behavior by age seven.”

MedPage Today (3/27, Struck) reports that the researchers found no “link between behavior problems and time spent playing video games,” however. “Further, ‘we did not find strong evidence for effects of TV or electronic games use on attentional problems,’ they wrote.”

Related Links:

— “Over 3 hours of television a day may make kids more antisocial, “Ryan Jaslow, CBS News, March 26, 2013.