The AP (12/12, Eaton-Robb) reports that nearly two years after the Dec. 14, 2012 shootings at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT, “the scope of the psychological damage to children, parents and others is becoming clear, and the need for treatment is likely to persist a long time.”

Many townspeople are “reporting substance abuse, relationship troubles, disorganization, depression, overthinking or inability to sleep, all related to the” shooting rampage that cost 27 lives. Various agencies are putting together a long-term support system bolstered by $15 million in grant monies from the US Justice Department and the US Education Department, along with private donations made to the Newtown-Sandy Hook Community Foundation.

The town school system is putting into place a long-term program to help kids come to terms with what has happened. Meanwhile, the town has been consulting with outside experts to put together long-range plans to meet residents’ mental health needs for the next decade and beyond.

Related Links:

— “IN NEWTOWN, MENTAL HEALTH PROBLEMS STILL EMERGING,” Pat Eaton-Robb, Associated Press, December 11, 2014.

HealthDay (12/11, Preidt) reports on a review of 16 studies by researchers at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, published in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, finding that “restricting the number of locations where alcohol can be sold in a community may help reduce domestic violence.” The study considered “the number of alcohol sales outlets, hours of days of alcohol sales, and alcohol pricing/taxes,” but only the number of outlets had a consistent association with “higher rates of domestic violence.”

Related Links:

— “Fewer Bars and Liquor Stores, Less Domestic Violence: CDC,” Robert Preidt, HealthDay, December 10, 2014.

In continuing coverage, NPR (12/9, Jaffe, Benincasa) reported on its “Morning Edition” program and in its “Shots” blog that restrictions against nursing home residents being prescribed medically unnecessary antipsychotics are rarely enforced. Though they are not FDA-approved for the purpose, antipsychotics are often prescribed to elderly patients as a “chemical restraint” to treat the symptoms of dementia, in violation of the Nursing Home Reform Act. “We haven’t seen any evidence that, in this particular area of antipsychotic drugs, the CMS is taking action against states,” said Toby Edelman, a senior policy attorney with the Center for Medicare Advocacy, referring to the Federal agency in charge of administering Medicare.
Related Links:

— “Nursing Homes Rarely Penalized For Oversedating Patients,” Ina Jaffe and Robert Benincasa, National Public Radio, December 9, 2014.

In continuing coverage, on ABC World News (12/9, story 7, 1:10, Muir), chief medical editor Richard Besser, MD, reported on a study from Express Scripts that looked at 36 million prescriptions and found that “nearly half of those patients who are described a narcotic and took it for more than 30 days, they were still on it three years later.” Dr. Besser said these medicines “are meant for short-term use,” and according to the CDC, “46 people die from narcotic overdose, when they are combined with anxiety medication or sleeping pills” every day.

Related Links:

— “Study: A Nation in Pain,” Express Scripts, December 9, 2014.

The CBS News (12/10, Firger) website reports that according to a study published in JAMA Pediatrics, “children born to mothers who had preeclampsia during pregnancy are as much as twice as likely to develop autism spectrum disorder (ASD).” The study, which “involved 1,000 children age two and three years old,” all of whom had mothers with a history of preeclampsia, revealed that “the sicker a mother was with the disease, the more likely autism may occur in” her child.

Related Links:

— “Preeclampsia during pregnancy raises autism risk,” Jessica Firgir, CBS News, December 9, 2014.