HealthDay (1/29, Doheny) reports that a study published online Jan. 28 in JAMA Psychiatry suggests that “more than 10 percent of preschool-age children diagnosed with autism saw some improvement in their symptoms by age six,” and “20 percent of the children made some gains in everyday functioning.” Researchers arrived at that conclusion after following 421 youngsters “from diagnosis (between ages two and four) until age six, collecting information at four points in time to see how their symptoms and their ability to adapt to daily life fared.”

Related Links:

— “Some Kids With Autism Show Improvement by Age 6: Study,” Kathleen Doheny, HealthDay, January 28, 2015.

In the New York Times (2/3, Ellison) “Well” blog, author Katherine Ellison writes that an increasing number of physicians “who treat the estimated 6.4 million American children diagnosed with” attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD) “are hearing that stimulant medications not only help treat the disorder but may actually be good for their patients’ brains” and may even be “neuroprotective.” Other experts on AD/HD suggest that stimulant medications for AD/HD “may change the brain over time so as to undermine the long-term response to the medication and even exacerbate symptoms when people aren’t taking them.” Meanwhile, “Dr. Peter Jensen, the former associate director of child and adolescent research at the National Institute of Mental Health, cautioned that parents should not try to force children with” AD/HD “to take medication when they don’t want to, adding that ‘most kids don’t want to.’”

Related Links:

— “Can Attention Deficit Drugs ‘Normalize’ a Child’s Brain?,” Katherine Ellison, New York Times, February ,2 2015.

HealthDay (2/3, Preidt) reports that a study published online Feb. 2 in JAMA Internal Medicine suggests that delirium “is common among older hospital patients and raises their risk of falls, physical decline and longer hospital stays.” After reviewing “14 studies that assessed the use of drug-free strategies to reduce delirium in older patients at 12 hospitals around the world,” researchers concluded that “proper nutrition and hydration, adequate sleep, daily exercise, activities to improve thinking and memory and telling patients where they are, and the date and time, every day” seemed to lower the odds of patients experiencing delirium.

Related Links:

— “Non-Drug Options Can Help Curb Delirium in Hospital Patients, Study Finds,” Robert Preidt, HealthDay, February 2, 2015.

The New York Times (2/3, Belluck) “Well” blog reports that a study published in the January issue of The Lancet Psychiatry “has documented unexpected links in the timing and severity of symptoms of maternal depression, which could help mothers and doctors better anticipate and treat the condition.” After following some “8,200 women from 19 centers in seven countries,” researchers found that in women “with the severest symptoms — suicidal thoughts, panic, frequent crying — depression most often began during pregnancy, not after giving birth, as is often assumed.” Women with moderate depression, however, “often developed their symptoms postpartum, and were more likely than severely depressed women to have experienced complications during pregnancy like pre-eclampsia, gestational diabetes or hypertension.”

Related Links:

— “Maternal Depression Often Starts Before Giving Birth, Study Says,” Pam Belluck, New York Times, February 2, 2015.

Medscape (1/30, Anderson) reports that a study published in the January issue of the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence suggests that “as users of heroin and other opioids get older, their risk for overdose death increases dramatically.” Researchers also found that even though “male users had almost double the rate of drug-related poisoning in early adulthood compared with female drug users, the difference narrowed considerably with age.” The investigators came to these conclusions After studying more than 198,000 “men and women actively using or being treated for opioid use in England from April 1, 2005, to March 31, 2009.”

Related Links:

— Medscape (requires login and subscription)