The New York Times reports that VA and NIMH researchers have “developed a database they say can identify veterans with a high likelihood of suicide, in much the same way consumer data is used to predict shopping habits.” The database, detailed in a study published June 11 in the American Journal of Public Health, uses a “computer algorithm using hundreds of variables” that has showed success in testing. While “many of the risk factors, such as being hospitalized for a psychiatric condition or making a previous suicide attempt, may seem obvious, said” Michael Schoenbaum, PhD, of the NIMH, one of the study’s authors, investigators “found that these high-risk patients, who should have been flagged by doctors and other health care staff under traditional suicide prevention protocols now in place, were not.” Schoenbaum said, “The database is so overwhelmingly better than just guessing, which is what we’ve been doing.”

USA Today (6/12, Zoroya) reports, “Using records from more than 3,000 patients who committed suicide between 2008 and 2011,” researchers “identified a range of factors from age, gender and race to service-connected disabilities, homelessness and hospitalizations that could be part of formula for singling out groups of veterans most at risk for suicide.” Next, investigators “used the formula to identify about 600 veterans whose suicide rates were 60 to 80 times higher than other VA patients, or only 1/100th of 1%.” The study revealed “a group – 1/10th of a percent of the veteran population – who were 30 to 39 times more likely to take their lives.”

Related Links:

— “Database May Help Identify Veterans on the Edge,” Dave Phillips, New York Times, June 11, 2015.

Modern Healthcare (6/11, Robeznieks, Subscription Publication) reports that Rep. Doris Matsui (D-CA) “has introduced a new bill aimed at ending…privacy concerns” that make it impossible for mental health professionals “to share patients’ information with their family and caregivers even when it was in their best interest to do so.” The measure enjoys “the support of a wide spectrum of mental health advocacy groups” and the American Psychiatric Association.

The congresswoman “said that her bill will codify the content of a 2014 guidance (PDF) issued by HHS’ Office for Civil Rights without amending the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.” According to Modern Healthcare, APA CEO and medical director Saul Levin, MD, MPA, “in a letter to Matsui expressing the organization’s support of her bill, wrote that the Including Families in Mental Health Recovery Act facilitates family and caregiver assistance to individuals with mental illness.”

Related Links:

— “Bill aims to clarify mental health record-sharing under HIPAA,” Andis Robeznieks, Modern Healthcare, June 10, 2015.

TIME (6/11, Park) reports that research published online June 10 in the journal Neurology suggests that “people who report higher levels of intellectual stimulation throughout their lifetimes don’t actually exhibit lower levels of protein plaques and other signs of Alzheimer’s compared to those who don’t.” The study did reveal, however, that “staying mentally and socially active can push back the appearance of memory problems and other symptoms of Alzheimer’s.”

Related Links:

— “Mental and Social Activity Delays the Symptoms of Alzheimer’s,” Alice Park, Time, June 10, 2015.

USA Today (6/11, Pager) reports that results of a study by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration released today reveals that “underage drinking among all US residents from age 12 through 20 dropped 6.1%” over the years from “2002 to 2013.” During that same period of time, “underage binge drinking decreased 5.1%.” SAMHSA researchers “used data from the National Survey for Drug Use and Health, which measures drinking rates among those 12 and older,” in arriving at these conclusions.

The Washington Post (6/11, Gebelhoff) points out that “Federal and local governments have been encouraging parents to talk to their children about alcohol use at an early age.” The Post adds that “SAMHSA developed a campaign called ‘Talk. They Hear You,’ featuring a mobile app with interactive games to help parents prepare for conversations with their” kids. Frances M. Harding, director of SAMHSA’s Center for Substance Abuse Prevention, said, “Our target is to change social norms.” Harding added, “Have norms been changed? Absolutely.”

Related Links:

— “Underage drinking, binge boozing by minors is on the decline,” Tyler Pager, USA Today, June 11, 2015.

The Washington Post (6/10, Phillip) reports in its Wonkblog that a study has found more children are being accidentally exposed to marijuana in places where it is legal. The study conducted by researchers at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and published in the journal Clinical Pediatrics concluded that between 2006 and 2013, the rate of children who were reported to have been exposed to marijuana increased by 147.5 percent. Exposure also went up in states where medical marijuana use isn’t legal, though not as much as in states where it was legal. Study co-author Henry Spiller said in a statement, “The high percentage of ingestions may be related to the popularity of marijuana brownies, cookies and other foods.” How to keep marijuana away from children has been a “persistent problem” for legalization advocates, “but it is unclear how to make edibles less likely to fall into the wrong hands.”

According to TIME’s (6/10, Iyengar) website, the “total number of reported cases — 1,969 children between 2000 and 2013 — is not large,” but researchers believe the “rapid escalation in the rate of exposure is a cause for concern. More than 75% of the children who were exposed to marijuana were under 3 years old.” Gary Smith, a senior author of the study and director of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, said, “Any state considering marijuana legalization needs to include child protections in its laws from the very beginning.”

Related Links:

— “More and more little kids are finding mom and dad’s (legal) marijuana stash,” Abby Phillip, Washington Post, June 9, 2015.