The Hill (3/21, Marcos) “Floor Action” blog reported that the Medical Evaluation Parity for Service Members Act, introduced in the House of Representatives last week, “would require new military recruits to undergo a mental health assessment.” The two sponsors of the measure, Rep. Glenn Thompson (R-PA) and Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH), “said it would help the military identify behavior issues early before they manifest into serious psychological problems like Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).” Companion legislation has been introduced into the Senate by Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA).

Related Links:

— “Bill would require mental health evaluations of new military recruits,”Cristina Marcos, The Hill, March 20, 2015.

The AP (3/20, Warren) reports that across the US, “as police face increased scrutiny for violent encounters…many of which involve people with mental illnesses, law enforcement and advocacy groups are pointing to how the nation treats” people with mental health disorders, noting “a revolving door of emergency room visits and incarceration that they say is ineffective and costly.” While “police crisis intervention efforts and diversion courts are helpful in stemming the violence,” mental health professionals “on the front lines say states need innovative programs and more must be done to” provide preventive “care to curtail explosive moments of crisis.”

Related Links:

— “Police Shootings of Mentally Ill Reveal Gaps in Care,”David Warren, AP, March 19, 2015.

The Los Angeles Times (3/20, Zarembo) “Science Now” blog reports that a study published online March 19 in the journal European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry suggests that “California high school students who have a parent in the military are far more likely than those from civilian families to have recently attempted suicide,” with “11.7%” of those students saying they had tried to commit suicide within the past year. The study’s “findings are based on a survey of ninth and 11th graders at 261 schools across the state” and include data “collected in 2012 and 2013.” The study takes into account only attempted suicides, not completed ones.

Related Links:

— “Military children more likely to have a history of suicide attempts,”Alan Zarembo, Los Angeles Times, March 19, 2015.

HealthDay (3/20, Reinberg) reports that a study published online March 19 in the American Journal of Public Health suggests that “children conceived through assisted reproductive technology [ART], such as in vitro fertilization, are twice as likely to have autism as those conceived without assistance.” Investigators “only found an association, which may be explained by multiple births and other risks, not the infertility treatment itself, experts said.”

Medical Daily (3/20, Dovey) reports, “The study is the largest to date to investigate the relationship between ART and autism, and involved 5,926,251 live births, including 48,865 infants conceived via ART and 32,922 cases of autism diagnosed by the [California] Department of Developmental Services.” The article also points out, “Individuals with autism are categorized with social impairments and behavioral patterns, according to the National Institutes of Health.”

Related Links:

— “IVF Kids May Have Higher Odds of Autism, Study Finds,”Steven Reinberg, HealthDay, March 19, 2015.

The Los Angeles Times (3/20, Kaplan) reports that a study published in the March issue of the journal Preventing Chronic Disease, a publication of the CDC, suggests that “jobless adults under 25 were three times more likely to be depressed than their counterparts with jobs.” About “12% of Americans between ages 18 and 25 were deemed to be depressed based on their answers to eight questions that were part of a survey conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and state health departments.” However, “within this age group, those who were unemployed were 3.17 times more likely to be depressed than their counterparts with jobs.”

Related Links:

— “For younger adults, unemployment may triple the risk of depression,”Karen Kaplan, Los Angeles Times, March 19, 2015.