The New York Times (5/6, Belluck ) reports, “Scientists are proposing a new way of understanding the genetics of Alzheimer’s that would mean that up to a fifth of patients would be considered to have a genetically caused form of the disease.” The concept “involves a gene variant called APOE4. Scientists have long known that inheriting one copy of the variant increases the risk of developing Alzheimer’s, and that people with two copies, inherited from each parent, have vastly increased risk.”

The AP (5/6, Neergaard ) reports that now, “research published Monday suggests that for people who carry not one but two copies of the gene, it’s more than a risk factor, it’s an underlying cause of the mind-robbing disease.” Additionally, for these patients, “symptoms can begin seven to 10 years sooner than in other older adults who develop Alzheimer’s.” Around “15% of Alzheimer’s patients carry two copies of APOE4.”

Reuters (5/6, Steenhuysen) reports, “The reclassification could change Alzheimer’s research, diagnosis and approaches to treatment, according to the researchers, whose study was published in the journal Nature Medicine.”

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— “The New York Times (requires login and subscription)

Healio (5/6, Young) reports, “A literature review revealed that clinicians more often assigned psychotic and childhood disorder diagnoses to Black vs. white patients, according to a poster presented at the American Psychiatric Association annual meeting.” Investigators “found that clinicians more often assigned psychotic and childhood disorder diagnoses to Black patients vs. white patients, and that white patients were more likely diagnosed with adjustment disorder or ADHD.” The “researchers wrote that ‘unconscious bias and underlying societal structures’ may lead to Black patients receiving more severe diagnoses than their white counterparts.”

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— “More research needed on racial bias in diagnosing oppositional defiant disorder,”Kate Young, Healio, May 6, 2024

CNN (5/6, Rogers ) reports, “A daily spoonful of olive oil could lower your risk of dying from dementia, according to a new study by Harvard scientists” published in JAMA Network Open. Among “more than 92,000 adults observed over 28 years, consuming at least 7 grams – a bit over half a tablespoon – of olive oil daily was linked with a 28% lower risk of dementia-related death, compared with those who never or rarely ate olive oil, found the study published Monday.”

MedPage Today (5/6, George ) says, “The relationship remained significant after adjusting for diet quality, including adherence to a Mediterranean diet, and after accounting for APOE4 gene status, the researchers reported.” Additionally, “replacing 5 g (about 1 teaspoon) of margarine and mayonnaise with the equivalent amount of olive oil daily was associated with an 8-14% lower risk of dementia mortality, they noted. Substitutions for other vegetable oils or butter were not significant.”

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The New York Times (5/4, Baumgaertner ) reported, “Thanks to advancements in medicine and insurance, mortality rates for children in the United States had been shrinking for decades. But last year, researchers uncovered a worrisome reversal: The child death rate was rising.” Now, “a new study, published Saturday in The Journal of the American Medical Association, revealed growing disparities in child death rates across racial and ethnic groups.” Specifically, “Black and Native American youths ages 1 to 19 died at significantly higher rates than white youths – predominantly from injuries such as car accidents, homicides and suicides.”

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CNN (5/4, McPhillips ) reported, “Deaths from drug overdoses and firearm-related injuries have reached record levels in the United States in recent years, and it’s created a ‘double burden’ for children who face an increased risk of losing their parents and of dying themselves, according to the authors of a new study” published in JAMA. Over “1 million children have lost a parent to a fatal drug overdose or gun violence over the past two decades, according to the study, published Saturday…and the burden has increased significantly over time.” Almost “100,000 children lost parents to a drug overdose or gun violence in 2020 alone – almost three times more than in 1999, the study found. These two causes of death accounted for 23% of all parental loss in 2020, nearly double the share from 1999.”

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— “Nearly 100,000 children in the US lost a parent to a drug overdose or gun violence in 2020, study finds,”Deidre McPhillips, CNN, May 4, 2024

Psychiatric News (5/3) reports, “There is still not enough evidence to support the use of pharmacogenetic tests in the treatment of depression, according to updated recommendations from APA’s Workgroup on Biomarkers and Novel Treatments.” For the recommendations published in AJP in Advance, “the workgroup examined data from 11 pharmacogenetic clinical trials conducted between 2017 and 2022, as well as six meta-analyses that combined individual results.” Workgroup members wrote in the updated recommendations, “Despite expert opinions, warnings, and policy statements regarding their limitations for predicting antidepressant treatment response, the popularity of [pharmacogenetic] testing products has grown, with at least 35 U.S. commercial entities providing them by 2020.”

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— “Evidence Base for Pharmacogenetic Tests Still Lacking, APA Workgroup Finds, Psychiatric News, May 3, 2024

Medscape (5/3, Bender, Subscription Publication) reports, “Serious mental illness (SMI), including bipolar disorder or schizophrenia spectrum disorders, is associated with a twofold increased risk for comorbid physical illness, results of a new meta-analysis showed.” Researchers “conducted a meta-analysis of 82 observational studies comprising 1.6 million individuals with SMI and 13.2 million control subjects to determine the risk for physical or psychiatric multimorbidity.”The results were published in The Lancet Psychiatry.

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The New York Times (5/2, Philipps) reports that a “120-millimeter heavy mortar…unleashes enough explosive force to hurl a 31-pound bomb four miles,” and “the heads of the soldiers who fire it are just inches from the blast.” Yet, “the military says that those blasts are not powerful enough to cause brain injuries.” Meanwhile, “soldiers say that the Army is not seeing the evidence sitting in its own hospital waiting rooms.” In more than two dozen interviews, the Times found that “soldiers who served at different bases and in different eras said that over the course of firing thousands of mortar rounds in training, they developed symptoms that match those of traumatic brain injury, including headaches, insomnia, confusion, frayed memory, bad balance, racing hearts, paranoia, depression and random eruptions of rage or tears.” However, nothing was reported.

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CNN (5/1, Holcombe ) reports, “Does it ever feel as if your anger courses through your veins? Well, that isn’t too far off, according to new research.” Angry feelings “adversely affect blood vessel health, according to a study published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Heart Association.” In the study, “researchers divided 280 participants and gave them a task that made them recall feelings of anger, sadness, anxiety or neutrality for eight minutes. Before and several times after the task, the researchers took measures of the individuals’ vascular health.”
NBC News (5/1, Mantel ) reports, “The researchers found blood vessels’ ability to dilate was significantly reduced among people in the angry group compared with those in the control group. Blood vessel dilation wasn’t affected in the sadness and anxiety groups.” Impairment of blood vessel dilation “is an early marker for atherosclerosis, which is the buildup of fats and cholesterol, called plaque, on artery walls that make the arteries stiff. Atherosclerosis can lead to coronary heart disease, heart attack, stroke and kidney disorders.”

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— “Anger can harm your blood vessel function, study shows,”Madeline Holcombe , CNN, May 1, 2024

Psychiatric News (5/1) reports, “Forty-three percent of US adults said that they feel more anxious now than they did last year, compared with 37% in 2023 and 32% in 2022, according to APA’s 2024 annual mental health poll” based on responses from 2,204 adults surveyed online. The poll found “70% of respondents said they were somewhat or very concerned about current events, especially the economy (77%), the upcoming US election (73%), gun violence (69%), hate speech/crimes (65%), and climate change (56%).”

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— “Many U.S. Adults Anxious Over Election, Other Current Events, APA Poll Finds, Psychiatric News, May 1, 2024