The Pittsburgh Business Times (11/2, Mamula, Subscription Publication) reported that new research from the University of Pittsburgh and the VA Pittsburgh Medical Center shows that “more than one in four older veterans in nursing homes were taking antipsychotic medications,” while 40 percent of those on the medications had no related diagnosis. That finding, lead author Walid Gellad said, shows that “VA is not immune” to the trend of overuse of such medications in nursing home settings. Gellad and colleagues “collected data on all veterans age 65 and older who were admitted for 90 or more days to one of the 133 VA Community Living Centers between January 2004 and June 2005.” The data suggested “veterans in dementia units had 66 percent greater odds of receiving an antipsychotic and residents with aggressive behavior had nearly three times greater odds of receiving an antipsychotic.”

Related Links:

— “Inappropriate drug use found at VA, “Kris B. Mamula, The Pittsburgh Business Times, November 2, 2012.

The New York Times (11/5, A15, Carey, Subscription Publication) reports, “The rate of suicide in the United States rose sharply during the first few years since the start of the recession,” according to a report published online Nov. 5 in The Lancet. After examining data on suicide and death rates collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “researchers found that the rate between 2008 and 2010 increased four times faster than it did in the eight years before the recession. … Without the increase in the rate, the total deaths from suicide each year in the United States would have been lower by about 1,500, the study” found.

“From 1997 to 2007, the rate of increase in suicides was 0.12 per 100,000 people, but from 2008 to 2010 it jumped to 0.51 per 100,000 people,” HealthDay (11/5, Reinberg) reports. The study authors “estimated that about 25 percent of these additional suicides can be blamed on rising unemployment.”

Related Links:

— “Increase Seen in U.S. Suicide Rate Since Recession, “Benedict Carey, New York Times, Nevember 4, 2012.

The Orlando (FL) Sentinel (11/2, Jameson) reports, “Getting regular exercise and drinking coffee have both been shown to reduce the risk of dementia in seniors, and two recent studies released Thursday help show why.” In one study, published in the November issue of the Journal of Nuclear Medicine, researchers used PET scans to find that “typical caffeine doses result in a high A1 adenosine receptor occupancy,” which may explain why caffeine appears to be protective against neurodegenerative diseases.

Focusing on the second study, HealthDay (11/2, Reinberg) reports, “Older people who exercise regularly may reduce their risk of dementia and help keep their minds sharp,” according to a study published online Nov. 1 in the journal Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association. Researchers “had more than 600 men and women in their 60s and 70s undergo brain scans at the start and end of the study to look for changes that indicate declining mental function. Almost two-thirds of the participants took exercise classes, walked or biked for 30 minutes a day three times a week.”

MedPage Today (11/2, Neale) reports, “Even after adjustment for white matter changes seen on MRI and history of stroke, those who met criteria for physical activity had significantly lower risks of developing any cognitive impairment, any dementia, and vascular dementia over a three-year period,” the study found. “The relationship between physical activity and vascular dementia remained significant after further adjustment for baseline cognitive function (HR 0.49, 95% CI 0.26 to 0.94), the researchers reported.” Important to note, however, is that “physical activity was not…related to Alzheimer’s disease risk.”

Related Links:

— “Exercise and coffee may ward off dementia, studies say,”Marni Jameson, Orlando Sentinel, November 1, 2012.

Medwire (11/2, Cowen) reports, “Caregiving strain is associated with depressive symptoms among family members of patients with bipolar disorder [BD],” according to astudy published in the November issue of the journal Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica. Researchers arrived at this conclusion after having “studied 149 male (n=55) and female (n=94) caregivers of patients enrolled in the Systemic Treatment Enhancement Program for Bipolar Disorder — a national longitudinal study evaluating treatment effectiveness and outcomes in patients with the mood disorder.” Each caregiver was “evaluated for depression, caregiver burden (strain), and rumination using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale (CES-D), the Social Behavior Assessment Scale (SBAS), and a 10-item shortened form of the Ruminative Style Questionnaire (RSQ).”

Related Links:

— “Caregiver strain link to depression mediated by rumination,”Mark Cowen, Medwire News, November 02, 2012.

MedPage Today (11/1, Petrochko) reports, “Cancer survivors may be cured of their disease, but they are still more likely to report a poorer quality of physical and mental health than adults who have not had cancer,” according to a study published online Oct. 30 in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers, & Prevention. Investigators found, “in a national survey on health-related quality of life, 24.5% of cancer survivors reported poor physical quality of life and 10.2% said they had poor mental quality of life.” This “compared with 10.2% and 5.9%, respectively, among adults with no history of cancer, a significant difference.”

Related Links:

— “Cancer Survivors Report Lower Quality of Life,”Cole Petrochko, MedPage Today, October 31, 2012.

HealthDay (11/1, Preidt) reports, “Boys may be more likely than girls to abuse over-the-counter drugs,” according to a study presented at the annual meeting of the American Public Health Association in San Francisco. Investigators “looked at over-the-counter (OTC) drug abuse among students in grades 7 through 12 in 133 schools across greater Cincinnati who took part in a 2009-2010 survey.” Early data indicated that about one in ten of those surveyed said that they had abused an OTC medication. The researchers found that “boys had a higher risk of longtime use of over-the-counter drugs compared with girls.”

Related Links:

— “Boys More Prone to OTC Drug Abuse Than Girls, Study Suggests,”Robert Preidt, HealthDay, October 31, 2012.

On the front of its Business Day section, the New York Times (11/1, B1, Thomas, Subscription Publication) reports, “The Food and Drug Administration said it was looking more closely at the way generic companies made extended-release drugs after it found one such medicine failed to work as well as its brand-name counterpart.” That “is a rare departure for the agency, which for years has insisted that generic drugs are just as effective as their brand-name versions.” So far, “regulators have said the episode appears to be limited to one dosage level of a single drug,” that is “a 300-milligram dose of bupropion…manufactured by Impax Laboratories.” Dr. Gregory P. Geba, director of the FDA’s Office of Generic Drugs, said, “This has actually prompted us to change our policy.” The change “has provided fodder to some longtime critics, who say the FDA and generic drug companies have been reluctant to acknowledge that sometimes generics don’t work as well as the brand-name originals.”

Related Links:

— “An Increase in Scrutiny for Generics,”Katie Thomas, The New York Times, October 31, 2012.

Medscape (10/30, Harrison) reports, “Psychotic symptoms greatly increase the risk for suicidal behavior in adolescents in the general population as well as those with diagnosable psychiatric disorders,” according to a study published online Oct. 29 in the Archives of General Psychiatry. The large study “found that psychotic symptoms, primarily auditory hallucinations, increased the risk for any suicidal behavior by 10-fold in both early and mid adolescence.” Teens “with depressive disorders who also experienced psychotic symptoms were nearly 14-fold more likely to express severe suicidal behavior, including suicide plans and acts, compared with adolescents with depressive disorders who did not experience psychotic symptoms.”

The New York Times (10/30, B8, Rhoden, Subscription Publication) reports, “For all of the current focus on traumatic brain injury as a result of concussions, mental illness, often overlooked, exists at every level of sports.” In fact, “sports too often is a masking agent that hides deeply rooted mental health issues. The better the athlete, the more desperate to reach the next level, the less likely he or she will reach out for help. The gladiator mentality remains a primary barrier.” Many athletes pride themselves on being mentally tough, making it very difficult for them to admit they need help.

Related Links:

— “With No One Looking, a Hurt Stays Hidden, “William C. Rhoden , The New York Times, October 29, 2012.

Medscape (10/26, Boughton) reports, “One of the largest studies to date on exercise and psychological distress shows that the optimal amount of physical activity for improved mental health may be from 2.5 to 7.5 hours of activity per week.” But, “the cross-sectional observational study also showed that individuals who exercised more than 7.5 hours per week had diminished mental health.” The study, which was based on data on some 7,674 adults, was published online Sept. 7 in the journal Preventive Medicine.

Healthy Lifestyle Habits In Midlife May Lead To Successful Aging. HealthDay (10/26, Preidt) reports, “Healthy lifestyle habits in midlife improve the chances that you’ll remain healthy as you get older,” according to a study published Oct. 22 in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. After following “5,100 healthy British men and women, aged 42 to 63, for 16 years,” researchers found that people in the successful aging group were those who maintained “good mobility, lung function, mental health, and thinking and memory skills, and [had] no chronic diseases such as diabetes, cancer, heart disease, stroke or disability at age 60 or older.”

Related Links:

— “Study IDs 4 Key Habits of Successful Aging,”Robert Preidt, HealthDay, October 25, 2012.