In its “Shots” blog, NPR (1/27, Rancano) reports that a study published online Jan. 27 in the journal Pediatrics found, among three-year-olds, 50 percent fewer children showed signs of hyperactivity after receiving pediatric care in which a professional “filmed each mother and child reading or playing together for a few minutes” and then “talked to the mother about the positive things she did with her child.” NPR adds that “improving a child’s ability to focus, regulate behavior and cooperate with other kids can help a child learn.” The study also touted the benefits of “using pediatric checkups as a way to engage parents.”

Related Links:

— “Teaching Parenting Skills At Doctor Visits Helps Children’s Behavior,” Vanessa Racaño, National Public Radio, January 27, 2016.

US News & World Report (1/28, Miller) reports that an article published this month in ​ the journal Military Medicine examines pregnancy rates among US servicewomen. Even though oral contraceptives and “some other forms of contraception are covered by the military (women are allowed a 180-day supply prior to deployment), access can be spotty, according to a 2013 study in the journal Contraception that found one-third of the 281 active duty servicewomen surveyed couldn’t get the type of birth control they wanted before deploying, and 41 percent had trouble refilling prescriptions on duty.

It is estimated that “rates of unintended pregnancies among active duty servicewomen range between 50 percent and 62 percent – the same as the civilian population, the Military Medicine article reports.” Retired colonel and forensic psychiatrist Elspeth Cameron Ritchie, MD, MPH, “urges the military to take birth control ‘much more seriously’ by better educating service members during basic training and counseling women on long-term birth control options like IUDs.” ​

Related Links:

— “Military Fertility: It’s Complicated,” Anna Medaris Miller, US News & World Report, January 28, 2016.

HealthDay (1/28, Preidt) reports that even though “fewer Americans are smoking, the rates of psychiatric disorders among those who do – particularly more recent smokers – are on the rise,” the findings of a study published online Jan. 26 in Molecular Psychiatry suggest. After analyzing “data from 25,000 people born in the 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s and 1980s,” researchers found that “nicotine-dependent smokers who began smoking in the 1980s were more likely than older smokers to have psychiatric conditions such as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, bipolar disorder or antisocial personality disorder.”

Related Links:

— “Mental Disorders Increasing for Younger Smokers,” Robert Preidt, HealthDay, January 28, 2016.

According to Reuters (1/29, Rapaport), a study published online Jan. 29 in Pediatrics reveals that women who are obese while pregnant may have nearly double the likelihood of giving birth to a child with autism. When expectant mothers are both obese and diabetic, the risk for autism in their offspring may be quadrupled. Researchers arrived at these conclusions after examining data on some 2,734 pairs of mothers and babies tracked between 1998 and 2014.

Related Links:

— “Maternal obesity, diabetes tied to increased autism risk in kids,” Lisa Rapaport, Reuters, January 29, 2016.

CNN (1/25, Grinberg) reports that the American Psychiatric Association “has called for the development and testing of better methods to identify high-risk individuals who should be denied gun access, implying that current criteria under federal law related to mental illness are inadequate to serve as a basis for gun disqualification.”

In a position statement, the APA points out that “while research shows most people diagnosed with serious mental health conditions are never violent toward others, and most violent individuals do not suffer from these major mental disorders, merely having a diagnosis of a psychiatric disorder should not be the only basis for disqualification from firearms.”

Some “common mental health conditions – including personality disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder and alcohol use disorder – tend to be associated with the risky mix of pathological anger with gun access,” the APA has found.

Related Links:

— “Gun violence not a mental health issue, experts say, pointing to ‘anger,’ suicides,” Emanuella Grinberg, CNN, January 25, 2016.