Nature (4/6, Anthes) reports on the number of smartphone apps claiming “to help conditions from addiction to schizophrenia.” Even though “there is some evidence that empirically based, well-designed mental-health apps can improve outcomes for patients, the vast majority remain unstudied.” Psychiatrist John Torous, MD, chairman of the American Psychiatric Association’s Smartphone App Evaluation Task Force, said, “If you type in ‘depression,’ it’s hard to know if the apps that you get back are high quality, if they work, if they’re even safe to use.” Dr. Torous added, “Right now it almost feels like the Wild West of health care.”

Related Links:

— “Mental health: There’s an app for that,” Emily Anthes, Nature, April 6, 2016.

Medscape (4/5) reports two new studies showed that sleep disturbances increased the severity of depression for adolescents, “regardless of the treatment they receive.” The studies were presented at the Anxiety and Depression Association of America Conference 2016.

Related Links:

— Medscape (requires login and subscription)

The Los Angeles Times (4/6, Levey) reports mental health advocates are urging Democrats and Republicans not to abandon a bipartisan push to “modernize the nation’s mental health system amid rising partisan tensions over” election year politics. An estimated 1 in 5 Americans suffered from a mental illness in the past year, per federal data. The US has “long had a patchwork system of mental health care” in place that “leaves tens of millions of people without access to vital services.”

The Senate Health Committee advanced a package of bills last month that should “strengthen a 2008 law that requires health insurers to cover mental health services at the same level they cover treatments for physical health conditions.”

Angela Kimball, policy director for the National Alliance on Mental Illness, said the legislation represented “a significant step in the right direction.” However, a House version of the Senate Bill has “been stalled for months, in part over opposition from some GOP lawmakers to increased funding.”

Related Links:

— “Despite bipartisan support, mental health reform bill could be derailed,” Noam N. Levey, Los Angeles Times, April 6, 2016.

The Wall Street Journal (4/4, Lukits, Subscription Publication) reports that a new study published in Psychology and Aging concluded that compared to women, men experience a more rapid decline in their mental faculties as they age. The study took place at the National Institute on Aging in Baltimore and involved data collected between 1979 and 2013 from over 2,000 participants in a larger study of aging.

Related Links:

— “Male Intellect, Memory May Deteriorate Faster,” Ann Lukits, Wall Street Journal, April 4, 2016.

HealthDay (4/4, Preidt) reports that a “study of 7,550 people found that effective treatment for depression could lower a patient’s heart risks to the same level as those who never had depression, reducing their chances of stroke, heart attack, heart failure and death.” Investigators found that “the risk of major heart problems was: 4.6 percent among those successfully treated for depression: 4.8 percent among those without depression; 6 percent among those with depression who did not respond to treatment; and 6.4 percent among those who developed depression during the study.” The research was presented at the American College of Cardiology meeting.

Related Links:

— “Treating Depression Might Help Stem Heart Woes: Study,” Robert Preidt, HealthDay, April 4, 2016.