HealthDay (8/7, Preidt) reports on a new study that found “adults whose childhood included having a family member in prison are about 15 percent more likely to have poor physical and mental health than those who didn’t.” Researchers say this finding only suggests that the high rate of imprisonment in the US “may be contributing to long-term health problems in some families,” but concede that “they were not able to show that having relatives in jail during one’s youth was a direct cause of poor health later in life.”

Related Links:

— “Children With Jailed Family Members More Likely to Have Poor Health Later,” Robery Preidt, HealthDay, August 6, 2014.

The CBS Evening News (8/6, story 8, 1:45, Pelley) reported that a new study appears to link “vitamin D deficiency to a higher risk of Alzheimer’s and dementia.”

The Washington Post (8/7, Kunkle) reports that in the study (8/6) published online Aug. 6 in the journal Neurology, “researchers studied vitamin D blood levels in 1,658 people age 65 and older who were able to walk, free of dementia, and without a history of cardiovascular disease or stroke.” For the next six years, “medical personnel tracked the subjects…using brain scans, cognitive tests, medical records and other diagnostic tools, to see how many developed Alzheimer’s disease or other forms of dementia.” Investigators “found that adults who suffered from a moderate deficiency of vitamin D had a 53 percent higher risk of some form of dementia, while the risk increased 125 percent in those with severe deficiencies.”

Related Links:

— “Researchers say Vitamin D deficiency raises Alzheimer’s risk,” Frederick Kunkle, Washington Post, August 6, 2014.

The CBS Evening News (8/5, story 7, 5:55, Pelley) reported, “Tonight, we have a CBS News investigation into the use of electric shocks to change harmful behaviors in children and adults with developmental disabilities, including autism.” The FDA is now “considering a ban” on the practice which is currently used only at the Judge Rotenberg Center in Canton, MA. CBS News correspondent Anna Werner explained that the center insists that “a program of electric shocks, shocks they compared to a bee sting, works better than medication to stop people with severe disabilities from injuring themselves or others.”

The CBS News (8/6, Burkholder) website reports that Jennifer Msumba, who spent seven years at the Rotenberg Center, was “shocked multiple times before she left…in 2009.” In April, “Msumba provided testimony to a US Food and Drug Administration panel” which had convened “to discuss a ban on using electrical stimulation devices to modify aggressive or self-injurious behavior in people with severe emotional problems and developmental disorders.” Msumba described the practice of being shocked as “being underground in Hell.”

Related Links:

— “Controversy over shocking people with autism, behavioral disorders,” Amy Burkholder, CBS News, August 5, 2014.

HealthDay (8/5, Reinberg) reports that a study published online Aug. 4 in JAMA Neurology that followed nearly “14,000 people found that high blood pressure in those aged 48 to 67 was tied to a late-life drop in mental ability.” Over two decades, people with midlife hypertension “experienced a modest but significant 6.5 percent decline in scores on tests of mental function, compared with people with normal blood pressure.”

MedPage Today (8/5, Phend) reports that an accompanying editorial noted that “guidelines do recommend blood pressure lowering for middle-age and younger seniors as useful for prevention of late-life dementia.”

Related Links:

— “High Blood Pressure in Middle Age, Weaker Brain Later?,” Steven Reinberg, HealthDay, August 4, 2014.

HealthDay (8/5, Dallas) reports that according to a study published July 1 in the American Journal of Psychiatry, a publication of the American Psychiatric Association, preschoolers may also be affected by depression. The study, which involved 246 youngsters ranging in age from three to five, also revealed that “preschoolers who are depressed are two and a half times more likely to continue to experience symptoms in elementary and middle school.”

Related Links:

— “Preschoolers Can Suffer From Depression, Too,” Mary Elizabeth Dallas, HealthDay, August 4, 2014.