The Salt Lake (UT) Tribune (4/30, Lyon) reports that neuropsychologist Sam Goldstein, PhD, of Salt Lake City, UT, has expressed “skepticism for recent findings that one in 47 children in Utah and one in 88 children in the nation fall on the autism spectrum. The study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, he believes, is ‘extremely flawed.'” He may not be alone in his skepticism. “Critics question whether increased awareness accounts for the jump, or the expanded definition of autism spectrum disorders. Children may be being misdiagnosed, or parents may be seeking the diagnosis to access services.” Still other experts believe many youngsters may have always displayed such behaviors, but their behavior was not considered as a disability.

Related Links:

— “Are increases in autism rates in Utah, U.S. truly real?,”Julia Lyon , The Salt Lake Tribune, April 29, 2012.

On its front page, in the first part of a two-part story, the Boston Globe (4/30, A1, Lazar, Carroll) reports, “Federal data show that roughly 185,000 nursing home residents in the United States received antipsychotics in 2010 contrary to federal nursing home regulators’ recommendations — often elderly people…who have Alzheimer’s or other dementias.” The medications, “which are intended to treat severe mental illness such as schizophrenia, can leave people in a stupor.” What’s more, “the US Food and Drug Administration has issued black-box warnings — the agency’s most serious medication alert — about potentially fatal side effects when antipsychotics are taken by patients with dementia.”

A separate Boston Globe (4/30, Carroll) piece explains the methodology used by the Globe in arriving at its conclusions. “The Boston Globe examined data on more than 15,600 nursing homes across the nation for its investigation of antipsychotic drug overuse. The information was supplied by the US Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, 19 months after a Freedom of Information Act request was submitted.” The first set of data involved “the percentage of long-term residents without a psychosis or related condition who received antipsychotics contrary to federal nursing home regulators’ recommendations,” while “the characteristics of each home, such as staffing levels, number of patients on Medicaid, and the number reported by staff to have behavioral problems” made up the second set of data.

According to the USA Today (4/30, Eversley) “On Deadline” blog, “At more than one in five US nursing homes, anti-psychotic drugs are administered to people who do not have a condition that warrants their use, the Globe reports.” However, “members of the nursing-home industry…told the Globe the drugs are sometimes necessary to keep people from hurting themselves and/or others.” In fact, “Frank Grosso, vice president of pharmacy services at Genesis Health Care, owner of more than 200 nursing homes, told the news organization that sometimes patients are given lower doses than someone with a psychosis and the data do not reflect that.”

Related Links:

— “Use of antipsychotic drugs raises alarm,”Kay Lazar , The Boston Globe, April 29, 2012.

MedWire (4/27, Cowen) reports, “The use of progestin-only contraceptives is associated with an increased risk for current mood disorders in women, while the use of combined estrogen and progestin contraceptive agents is associated with a reduced risk,” according to a study published online April 24 in the Journal of Affective Disorders. In 498 Australian women of childbearing age, all of whom were evaluated for mood disorders, researchers found that “women taking progestin-only contraceptives were more likely to have a current mood disorder than those who were not taking progestin-only agents, at an odds ratio of 3.0.” In comparison, “women taking combined contraceptive agents were less likely to have a mood disorder than those who were not taking such agents, at an OR of 0.3.”

Related Links:

— “Contraceptive use linked to current mood disorder risk in women,”Mark Cowen , MedWire News, April 27, 2012.

MedWire (4/27, Grasmo) reports, “Adolescents who use methamphetamine or methylenedioxy-methamphetamine (MDMA) are at risk for developing subsequent depressive symptoms,” according to a study published online April 19 in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. After following some 3,880 Canadian secondary-school children for five years, researchers found that “both MDMA and methamphetamine use significantly increased the likelihood for having elevated depressive symptoms in the following year (odds ratio [OR]=1.7 and 1.6, respectively).” What’s more, “individuals who used both MDMA and methamphetamine, but not those who used just one of the drugs, were significantly more likely than nonusers to report elevated depressive symptoms the following year (OR=1.9).”

Related Links:

— “Methamphetamine, MDMA use increases risk for depressive symptoms,”Ingrid Grasmo , MedWire News, April 27, 2012.

HealthDay (4/27, Goodwin) reports that “nearly two-thirds of US children with an autism spectrum disorder have been bullied at some point — according to a recent survey of nearly 1,200 parents by the Kennedy Krieger Institute’s Interactive Autism Network.” The story quotes Connie Anderson, community scientific liaison for the Interactive Autism Network, saying, “Part of the reason the children are so vulnerable is that the heart of autism is a social disability. It’s really hard for them to read the social world, to interpret what’s going on, to make an appropriate response, something most people do naturally.” Bullying is said to reach its height in grades 5-8.

Related Links:

— “Battling the Bullying of an Autistic Child,”Jenifer Goodwin , HealthDay, April 26, 2012.

ABC World News (4/26, story 8, 0:35, Sawyer) reported, “The Centers for Disease Control announced today a staggering number of Americans, 30% of us, are not getting enough sleep.”

NBC Nightly News (4/26, story 6, 1:45, Guthrie) reported that according to the CDC’s Dr. Ileana Arias, “Unfortunately, what we found is that about a third of working adults get only six or fewer hours every day of sleep.” NBC News chief science correspondent Robert Bazell, said, “Among health care workers, just over half said they don’t sleep enough. For those in the transportation and delivery business, it was 70%.”

MSNBC /MyHealthNewsDaily (4/27, Rowan) reports, “When the results were broken down by age group, the findings showed people in the middle of their working years were most likely to report less than six hours of sleep a night: about 32 percent of people between the ages of 30 and 64, compared with 26.5 percent of those ages 18-29, and 21.7 percent of those 65 and older.” Meanwhile, “there were also differences among races. Black workers (38.9 percent) and Asian workers (33.2 percent) were significantly more likely to report short sleeps than white workers (28.6 percent) or Hispanic workers (28.8 percent), the report said.”

HealthDay (4/27, Reinberg) reports, “About 44 percent of night shift workers get too little sleep, compared to about 29 percent of people working the day shift.”

WebMD (4/27, Mann) reports, “Others who are not getting enough sleep include people who hold down more than one job, widows, divorcees, or recently separated partners.” These “findings are based on data from the 2010 National Health Interview Survey.” The report is published in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. The Minneapolis Star Tribune (4/27, Peifer) “Health Check” blog also covers the story.

Related Links:

— “One-third of US workers don’t get enough sleep,”Karen Rowan , MyHealthNewsDaily, April 27 , 2012.

On its front page, the Boston Globe (4/27, A1, Landergan) reports that the first episode of bipolar disorder (BD) in young adults may be triggered by “the late nights, flexible schedule, and socialization of college, with more than 50 percent of all cases starting between the ages of 15 and 25, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness.” Even though some institutions of higher education do offer “a variety of services for afflicted students,” many “believe the help is not enough. They say that these young people can feel a deep stigma if others find out about their disorder and that few of the students’ peers have a real understanding of their affliction.” The Globe points out that medications taken for BD may cause weight gain and other side effects that are distressing for young adults. The Globe also explains how BD makes it difficult, albeit not impossible, for students to finish their course of study.

Related Links:

— “College students vulnerable to bipolar disorder,”Katherine Landergan , The Boston Globe, April 27, 2012.

HealthDay (4/14, Preidt) reports, “Receiving emotional support and acceptance from parents benefits the long-term health of lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) adults,” according to a study published in the Journal of Homosexuality. Investigators found that “about three-quarters of lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) adults aged 18 to 64 surveyed in Massachusetts said they had revealed their sexual orientation to their parents, typically when they were about 25 years old.” The story adds, “Rates of mental health and substance-abuse problems were significantly lower among those who received support from their parents than among those who felt rejected, the study found.”

Related Links:

— “Gay Adults Rejected by Parents Have Worse Health, Study Finds,” Robert Preidt , HealthDay, April 13, 2012.

The Huffington Post (4/14, Chan) reported, “Exercise could be the secret weapon to help breast cancer patients combat common side effects of cancer and cancer treatments,” according to research presented at a Society of Behavioral Medicine meeting.

HealthDay (4/14, Preidt) reported, “University of Miami researchers examined the physical activity levels and mental/physical health of 240 women with non-metastatic breast cancer…who were recruited for the study four to 10 weeks after surgery.”

WebMD (4/14, Boyles) reported, “Half the women took part in a 10-week, group-based behavioral therapy program aimed at reducing stress, while the other half participated in a much less intensive, single-day educational session.” The investigators “found that women who increased the time they spent engaged in physical activity between the time of surgery and other treatments had less fatigue-related disruptions in everyday activities.” The researchers reported that “women in both groups who exercised more also experienced less depression and scored higher on tests measuring quality of life.”

Related Links:

— “Exercise Could Lower Fatigue And Depression In Breast Cancer Patients: Study,” Amanda L. Chan , The Huffington Post, April 13, 2012.

HealthDay (4/14, Preidt) reported, “Adults with mental illness are more likely to have certain types of chronic physical health problems than those without mental illness,” according to a report (pdf) issued April 5 by the US Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). “The report said adults aged 18 and older who had any type of mental illness in the past year had higher rates of high blood pressure, asthma, diabetes, heart disease and stroke.” In addition, “people with mental illness had higher rates of emergency-department use and hospitalization,” the report found.

“Those with any mental illness, serious mental illness, or a major depressive episode also had greater use of healthcare resources,” MedPage Today (4/14, Neale) pointed out. “Among those with any mental illness, for example, the rate of emergency department use was 38.8% (versus 27.1% for those who reported no mental illness) and the rate of hospitalization was 15.1% (versus 10.1%).”

Related Links:

— “Mental Illness Tied to Higher Rates of Physical Problems: Report,”Robert Preidt , HealthDay, April 13, 2012.