Reuters (10/1, Pittman) reports that, according to research published in Pediatrics, hospitalizations due to serious injuries caused by child abuse may be increasing.

The NBC News (10/1, Fox) “Vitals” blog reports that investigators “looked at statistics on children admitted to hospitals for serious injuries.”

MedPage Today (10/1, Phend) reports, “Hospitalization for abuse-related injury rose 4.9% overall among children 18 and under over the 12-year span from 1997 through 2009.” The researchers found that kids “were increasingly likely to die from these injuries before discharge as well.” The authors point out that the findings “are in sharp contrast to data from child protective services,” which indicate that child abuse declined between 1992 and 2009.

Related Links:

— “Injuries due to child abuse on the rise, “Genevra Pittman, Reuters, October 1, 2012.

In a series of reports called “Uncounted Casualties,” the Austin (TX) American- Statesman (9/30) sought to answer the question, “What caused the deaths of hundreds of Texas veterans who had fought in Iraq and Afghanistan?” According to the American-Statesman, the US Department of Veterans Affairs “doesn’t track individual causes of death for its veterans.” The paper said, however, that its reporters “determined causes of death for 266 veterans and consulted with Dennis Perrotta, a former Texas state epidemiologist, to test their methodology and conclusions.”

Kemp Says VA Is Trying To Do More To Gather Suicide Data. In a Monday report for “Uncounted Casualties,” the Austin (TX) American-Statesman (10/1) reports that its “investigation into the deaths of 266 Texans who served during the Iraq or Afghanistan wars show that 45 committed suicide, making it the fourth-leading cause of death behind illness, accidents and drug-related deaths.” In 2008, a “CBS News investigation revealed an ‘alarming’ rate of suicide among veterans and a failure by the VA to gather the nationwide data needed to track the deaths.” But Jan Kemp , who heads VA’s suicide prevention programs, “said the VA is building a joint suicide database with the Defense Department so they can share information.” The American-Statesman also notes that VA has been trying to improve its mental healthcare system.

Researchers Think Warfare Changes Produce High Number Of Psychological Casualties. Another “Uncounted Casualties” story for the Austin (TX) American-Statesman (9/30) said that while “mental health researchers have not been able to pinpoint exactly why the current conflicts are producing seemingly higher numbers of psychological casualties, they point to the changing nature of modern warfare. Raymond Scurfield, a professor of social work at the University of Southern Mississippi and Vietnam veteran who has written extensively about PTSD, singled out multiple deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, which are unique in American military history.” Scurfield “also said the unpredictable violence and sudden bomb blasts that characterize warfare in Iraq and Afghanistan can take a toll on service members’ psyches.”

Related Links:

— “Simple query prompted extensive investigation, “American-Statesman Investigative Team, Statesman.com, September 29, 2012.

Although picked up by only one televised news station, the Food and Drug Administration’s new national campaign to raise awareness about risks associated with purchasing medication from online pharmacies was covered by most of the major print and online media outlets.

ABC World News (9/28, story 6, 2:15, Muir) reported, “Tonight, the FDA is warning that the vast majority, 97% of those online pharmacies, are not legal.” ABC (Avila) added, “It’s a moving target of as many as 40,000 active online pharmacies, a huge majority of them fly by night start-ups, that the FDA warned today sell at a cut-rate price but deliver expired, contaminated and fake drugs that could harm the consumer.” FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg, MD, was shown saying, “You have no assurance of the safety, efficacy or quality of those products.”

The AP (9/28, Johnson) reported that the on Friday, the FDA announced it is launching a campaign to warn “consumers that the vast majority of Internet pharmacies are fraudulent and likely are selling counterfeit drugs that could harm them.” The agency’s said its BeSafeRx campaign aims to “alert the public to the danger, amid evidence that more people are shopping for their medicine online, looking for savings and convenience.”

Related Links:

— “FDA warning public of risks of online pharmacies, “Linda Johnson, Associated Press, September 28, 2012.

USA Today (10/1, Healy) reports on a study appearing in the November issue of Pediatrics, which found that on average, children are exposed to almost four hours of background television every day. The article observes that “the nearly four hours of background TV exposure ‘easily dwarfs’ the 80 minutes of active TV viewing the average child in this age group absorbs daily, says the study.” According to USA Today, Matthew Lapierre, one of the study authors, “suspects that the high rate of background TV among very young children may have to do with parents and caregivers leaving the television on, even when they’re not actively watching, to ‘break up the monotony’ of being with an infant or toddler for long stretches of the day.”

Related Links:

— “U.S. kids exposed to 4 hours of background TV daily, “Michelle Healy, USA Today, October 1, 2012.

HealthDay (9/28, Preidt) reports, “People with psychopathic traits — such as callousness, manipulation, sensation-seeking and antisocial behaviors — are not able to use their sense of smell as well as other people can,” according to a study published online Sept. 18 in Chemosensory Perception. Investigators examined nearly 80 individuals to see whether or not their olfactory function was poor. Participants were also assessed for psychotic behavior and whether they possessed the ability to empathize with the feelings of others. The researchers “found that the people with the most psychopathic traits were more likely to have trouble identifying or distinguishing between smells.”

Related Links:

— “Poor Sense of Smell Linked to Personality Disorder, “Mary Elizabeth Dallas, HealthDay, September 27, 2012.

WebMD (9/28, Goodman) reports, “Seniors who take certain kinds of drugs to treat anxiety or insomnia may be more likely to develop dementia than those who do not,” according to a study published online in the BMJ.

MedPage Today (9/28, Gever) reports, “Older patients who used benzodiazepine anti-anxiety drugs were at substantially higher risk of developing dementia than nonusers,” the study found. “Among 1,063 randomly selected individuals 65 and older in southwest France who agreed to participate in a long-term observational study, the risk of new-onset dementia during follow-up was 60% greater (adjusted odds ratio 1.60, 95% CO 1.08 to 2.38) for those who had used benzodiazepines relative to never-users.” The study authors concluded, “Considering the extent to which benzodiazepines are now prescribed, physicians and regulatory agencies should consider the increasing evidence of the potential adverse effects of this drug class for the general population.”

Related Links:

— “Insomnia, Anxiety Drugs May Raise Dementia Risk, “Brenda Goodman, WebMD Health News, September 27, 2012.

HealthDay (9/28, Preidt) says that “depictions of smoking in top-grossing, youth-rated movies increased in 2011, reversing a five-year decline, a new report” published September 27 in the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention journal Preventing Chronic Disease. This finding “comes just a few months after the US Surgeon General’s office warned that seeing smoking in movies causes young people to start smoking.” According to the article, “the report found that four of the six major Hollywood studios featured more smoking in their youth-rated (G, PG and PG-13) movies in 2011.”

Related Links:

— “Smoking Scenes on Rise in Top-Grossing Youth-Rated Movies: CDC, “Robert Preidt, HealthDay, September 27, 2012.

HealthDay (9/28, Marcus) says that a new report on adoption published online Sept. 24 in the journal Pediatrics “shows that the portrait of adoptive families in the United States is changing and so are the needs of those families, said lead author Dr. Faye Jones, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Louisville.” According to the article, “Jones said the research suggests that families would benefit if their pediatricians were more aware of their unique needs — specialized counseling and emotional support, connections to other adoptive families and tutoring service recommendations, for example.” Additionally, adoption experts suggest that “educating schools and communities would help too.”

Related Links:

— “Families Who Adopt Should Use Extra Health Services, School Support: Experts, “Mary Brophy Marcus, HealthDay, September 27, 2012.

The Baltimore Sun (9/27, Cox) reports that yesterday’s mandatory suicide-prevention training that took place at Fort Meade, MD, “was part of an Army-wide initiative undertaken as the military branch is on pace to reach its highest-ever suicide rate. The number of suicides each year has nearly doubled since 2005, from 87 to 165 last year.” In addition, “the number of monthly suicides doubled from June to July — when suicides outpaced combat deaths of active-duty soldiers.” Efforts such as yesterday’s training are part of the Army’s attempts to change its culture so that soldiers who need mental healthcare experience no stigma in asking for it.

Psychiatrist: Many Troops Who Start PTSD Treatment Do Not Complete It. Medscape (9/27, Brauser) details efforts made by the Department of Defense, Congress, and even the President to stem the tide of psychiatric illnesses, including depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, in active-duty military members. However, “in a presentation at this year’s American Psychiatric Association (APA) annual meeting, Major Gary H. Wynn, MD, research psychiatrist at the Center for Military Psychiatry and Neuroscience at the Walter Reed Army Institutes of Research…said that between 20% and 50% of soldiers who begin treatment for combat-related PTSD walk away before its completion,” citing “a study published in 2011 in Military Psychology that reported key reasons for this lack of follow-through often include mistrust of mental health clinicians, a belief that these types of problems can work themselves out on their own, and an overall belief that seeking treatment should be a last resort.”

Related Links:

— “Army pauses operations for mandatory suicide prevention training, “Erin Cox, The Baltimore Sun, September 26, 2012.

HealthDay (9/26, Preidt) reports, “Many children with autism have interrelated health problems that can have a significant impact on their home and school lives,” according to a study recently published in the Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology. “Researchers looked at nearly 3,000 children with autism and found that nearly one-fourth also had chronic gastrointestinal problems, such as constipation, abdominal pain, bloating, diarrhea and nausea.” The youngsters “with the chronic gastrointestinal problems also had anxiety and so-called ‘atypical sensory responses,’ which are heightened reactions to light, sound or particular textures,” the study found.

Related Links:

— “Many Children With Autism Have Other Health Problems, Study Says, “Robert Preidt, HealthDay, September 25, 2012.