MedPage Today (5/2, Fiore) reports the American Psychiatric Association has issued a new guideline recommending that “physicians…be judicious about their use of antipsychotics to treat agitation or psychosis in patients with dementia,” giving “a level 1B recommendation that these drugs should only be used if a dementia patient’s symptoms are severe, dangerous, or cause them significant distress.” In a statement, APA president Renee Binder, MD, said, “A decision should be made only after thorough assessment and review of potential benefits and harms of antipsychotic treatment as well as other possible treatment options.” The new guideline was published online in the American Journal of Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “APA Urges Cautious Use of Antipsychotics in Dementia,” Kristina Fiore , MedPage Today, May 2, 2016.

In a 20,000-word article on its front page, the New York Times (5/1, A1, Kleinfield, Subscription Publication) chronicled the experience of Geri Taylor, 72, since her 2012 diagnosis of “mild cognitive impairment, a common precursor to Alzheimer’s disease.” The Times added that “as she crossed the pitted terrain of Alzheimer’s,” Taylor “would find surprises” both “disturbing” and “uplifting.”

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— “,” N. R. Kleinfield, New York Times, May 1, 2016.

HealthDay (4/30, Preidt) reported, “A combination of face-to-face taunting and cyberbullying may greatly increase the risk that victims will become bullies themselves,” research presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies annual meeting suggests.

After analyzing “data from US students aged 10 to 17,” researchers found that “kids who experienced either in-person or online bullying were more likely to display aggressive behaviors, such as physical fighting, verbal hostility, property damage and peer coercion.”

The risk, however, of such “behaviors was more than twice as high among victims of both types of bullying, the study authors said.”

Related Links:

— “Bullying Can Turn Victims Into Bullies,” Robert Preidt, HealthDay, April 30, 2016.

HealthDay (4/30, Preidt) reported that according to the findings of a 1,400-child study presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies annual meeting, about “one-third of children on the autism spectrum engage in wandering behaviors.”

Medical Daily (4/30, Dovey) pointed out that the study looked at children ranging in age from six to 18. “The study authors believe,” however, “that eliminating parents of children younger than age five from questioning may have underestimated the true extent of elopement within the” population of children with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Nevertheless, “the study does highlight the urgency of the problem and the need to develop more effective solutions to preventing it.”

Related Links:

— “‘Wandering’ a Hazard for More Than a Third of Kids With Autism,” Robert Preidt, HealthDay, April 30, 2016.

TIME (4/30, Sifferlin) reports that research presented the Pediatric Academic Societies 2016 meeting “finds a correlation between the aerial spraying of pesticides to kill mosquitoes and an increased risk of developmental delays and autism among kids.”

Newsweek (4/30, Schlanger) reported that after examining “rates of autism diagnoses in eight ZIP codes where aerial spraying of pyrethroids, a common class of insecticides, happens in the summer months, and” then comparing “them with those in 16 surrounding ZIP codes where mosquito control is done primarily through pellets distributed on the ground,” investigators “found a 25 percent higher rate of autism among the plane-sprayed group.”

Related Links:

— “The Link Between Mosquito Spraying and Autism,” Alexandra Sifferlin, Time, April 30, 2016.