Reuters (11/25, Kelland) reports that an intervention review published online Nov. 25 in the Cochrane Library calls attention to side effects of the stimulant medication methylphenidate for the treatment of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD) in children, such as lack of appetite and loss of sleep. The review also concludes that evidence on the use of the medicine in youngsters is of low quality. Researchers arrived at these conclusions after analyzing data from 185 studies encompassing some 12,000 children and teens in the UK, the US, and Canada.

Related Links:

— “Research raises questions over ADHD drug effects,” Kate Kelland, Reuters, November 24, 2015.

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (11/24, Venteicher) reports that HR 2646, “a mental health reform proposal from US Rep. Tim Murphy [R-PA], would start to counter a 50-year trend of moving treatment to patients’ homes and communities, rather than hospitals.” The American Psychiatric Association supports the measure, “saying hospitalization and outpatient treatment can benefit people with serious mental illnesses such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.” APA president Renee Binder, MD, “said hospitals are better equipped than community-based programs to stabilize someone having a mental health crisis.”

Related Links:

— “Mental health bill would allow doctors to inform families

Read more: http://triblive.com/news/healthnews/9481966-74/mental-bill-health#ixzz3uUhIuhWp
Follow us: @triblive on Twitter | triblive on Facebook,” Wes Venteicher, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, November 23, 2015.

NBC News (11/24, Fox) reports a study by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), using data from 2002 to 2012, found that US women are drinking more while men are drinking a little less. This is an “especially clear trend among college students.” NIAAA researcher Aaron White said, “Males still consume more alcohol, but the differences between men and women are more diminishing.” The percentage of women who had an alcoholic drink in the past 30 days increased from 45 to 48 percent, while the percentage of men decreased from 57.4 to 56 percent. The number of days women consumed alcohol also increased from 6.8 days to 7.3 days on average, while men drank on 9.5 days, down from 9.9 days a month.

The Connecticut Post (11/24, Cuda) adds that White and his team found that binge drinking by 18 to 25 year olds in college did not change during the decade, but “among 18 to 25 year olds not in college, there was a significant increase in binge drinking among females and a significant decrease among males, effectively narrowing the gender gap in binge drinking in this age group.” The NIAAA also found that among 18 to 25 year old male drinkers, the behavior of mixing alcohol with marijuana increased 15 to 19 percent, while the percentage among female drinkers remained at about 10 percent.

Researchers noted that the rates of alcohol use disorder and driving under the influence did not increase for women during the decade, LiveScience (11/24, Miller) reports. Medical Daily (11/24, Smith) says the study was published in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research.

Related Links:

— “Male, Female Drinking Habits Becoming More Similar: Study,” Maggie Fox, NBC News, November 23, 2015.

The Washington Post (11/24, Bernstein) reports that nearly four in 10 Americans “know someone who has been addicted to prescription painkillers, including 25 percent who say it was a close friend or family member and two percent who acknowledge their own addiction, according to a new poll” released today by the Kaiser Family Foundation. The survey also found that 16 percent of people say they know someone who has died from an opioid overdose. The Post adds that by “a margin of 77 percent to 58 percent, those polled say it is easy to get non-prescribed painkillers than say it is easy for people who medically need the drugs to get them.”

Bloomberg News (11/24, Tozzi) reports that the demographics of those “touched by the crisis skew white, higher-income, college-educated, younger, and male.” According to the article, overdoses “are eclipsing car crashes as a leading cause of accidental death for American adults.”

Related Links:

— “Four in 10 say they know someone who has been addicted to prescription painkillers,” Lenny Bernstein, Washington Post, November 24, 2015.

HealthDay (11/21, Preidt) reported that research published in the Journal of Abnormal Psychology suggests that “daughters who were born to older mothers may be at increased risk for stress, anxiety and depression when they reach young adulthood.” Investigators “followed 1,200 Australians born between 1989 and 1991 for two decades.” The researchers “found that daughters born to mothers who were aged 30-34 had higher levels of stress at age 20 compared with those born to younger mothers.”

Related Links:

— “Depression More Common in Daughters of Older Mothers, Study Suggests,” Robert Preidt, HealthDay, November 20, 2015.