MedPage Today (10/16, Henderson) reports, “A substantial proportion of young kids from low-income families had elevated levels of emotional and behavioral health problems seen in pediatric primary care, researchers” concluded in findings published online in JAMA Pediatrics. In the “retrospective cohort study of 15,218 children ages two to six years, fully one-third of children had screening tool scores reflecting clinically elevated levels of emotional and behavioral problems over time.” Additionally, “relative to those whose scores remained low over time, kids in the elevated score groups were more likely to be male, white, have public insurance, have had a social need, and a caregiver with depression,” the study revealed.

Related Links:

— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

Reuters (10/13, Steenhuysen) reported, “U.S. health officials on Friday lifted curbs on reimbursement of a non-invasive imaging test called amyloid PET used to diagnose Alzheimer’s, ending a once-per-lifetime limitation that clears the way for its use to determine eligibility for new treatments.” These new medications “include Eisai and Biogen’s Leqembi [lecanemab], and an experimental drug from Eli Lilly known as donanemab, which work by removing a protein called beta amyloid from the brain.” The protein clumps “are considered an early hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease that gradually destroy memory and thinking skills. Previously, amyloid positron emission tomography, or PET, scans were only accessible for use in a clinical trial or patient registry.”

Related Links:

— “US removes coverage curb on PET scans for Alzheimer’s patients,”Julie Steenhuysen, Reuters, October 13, 2023

HealthDay (10/13, Solomon) reported, “Internalizing symptoms among Latinx youth during early adolescence relate to health behaviors and outcomes underlying cardiometabolic risk during middle and late adolescence,” investigators concluded in the findings of a 547-Hispanic adolescent survey study published online in the Journal of Adolescent: “ Kathleen M. Roche, Ph.D., from the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., and colleagues examined how Latinx youth’s internalizing symptoms during early adolescence are related to sleep problems, overweight/obesity, sedentary behavior, physical activity, healthy diet, and hypertension or diabetes risk during middle and late adolescence.”

Related Links:

— “Internalizing Symptoms in Early Teens Tied to Later Cardiometabolic Risk Factors,”Lori Solomon, HealthDay, October 13, 2023

Healio (10/12, Martin) reports, “The prevalence of neuropsychiatric symptoms in patients with systemic autoimmune rheumatic diseases is significantly ‘higher and more wide-ranging’ than previously recognized, according to” findings published online in the journal Rheumatology. After analyzing data from the INSPIRE project, investigators concluded that “barriers to reporting neuropsychiatric symptoms in patients with systemic autoimmune rheumatic diseases include limited knowledge and subjectivity.” What’s more, “most patients reported not being asked about their mental health by physicians.”

Related Links:

— “Psychiatric symptom burden in SARDs higher, ‘more wide-ranging’ than previously recorded,”Erich Martin, Healio , October 12, 2023

The Washington Post (10/12, Johnson) reports researchers on Thursday released “the most detailed and complex portrait yet of the human brain in a dazzling catalog of more than 3,000 types of brain cells that collectively give rise to emotion, thought, memory and disease.” The findings, developed under the Brain Research Through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies initiative and published in 21 studies in Science and other journals, “are starting to open up the black box of the brain by providing an initial parts list for the most complex organ scientists have ever studied.”

Related Links:

— “The Washington Post (requires login and subscription)