In a nearly 2,000 word story on its front page, the New York Times (2/7, A1, Belluck, Subscription Publication) reports on new efforts by Federal and state health officials to try to curb smoking in mental health facilities. The article explains that some institutions have banned smoking altogether, while some still allow it, but only outdoors or during scheduled times. However, “occasionally, hospitals that banned smoking have reinstated it to avoid losing patients. Moreover, smoking is so deeply ingrained that smoke-free hospitals can only dent the problem; many patients are now hospitalized only for short stints and resume smoking later.” Recent CDC data show that mentally ill Americans smoke at rates 70% higher than those without illnesses. Demonstrating the ingrained nature of cigarettes in mental health facilities, CDC Director Thomas R. Frieden said, “In my very first job as an aide in a psychiatric hospital. If patients behaved better they got additional cigarettes.” The article also notes that National Institutes on Drug Abuse Director Dr. Nora D. Volkow pointed to a possible scientific link between mental illness and the desire to smoke.

Related Links:

— “Smoking, Once Used to Reward, Faces a Ban in Mental Hospitals, “Pam Belluck, The New York Times, February 6, 2013.

HealthDay (2/9, Preidt) reported, “Attention problems might be seen in six-month-old infants who are later diagnosed with autism,” according to a study published online in the journal Biological Psychiatry. “The study included 67 infants at high risk for developing autism and 50 low-risk infants.” After following the babies’ eye movements as they watched a video of a lady performing everyday actions, researchers found that, “compared to the other infants, those who were later diagnosed with autism spent less time watching the social activities depicted in the video.” Even when the babies did pay attention, they still spent less time observing the lady’s face.

Kids With Autism More Likely To Have Feeding Issues.HealthDay (2/10, Preidt) reported, “Children with autism are five times more likely than other kids to have feeding issues, such as being especially picky eaters or having ritualistic behaviors or extreme tantrums during meals,” according to a study published online in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. “These problems can lead to deficiencies in calcium, protein and other nutrients,” the study found. The investigators “added that there is growing evidence that feeding problems and dietary patterns among children with autism may put them at increased risk for long-term health problems such as poor bone growth, obesity and cardiovascular disease.”

Related Links:

— “Infants’ Inattentiveness Might Signal Later Autism, Study Says, “Robert Preidt, HealthDay, February 08, 2013.

USA Today (2/11, Healy) reports that according to a review published Feb. 11 in the journal Pediatrics, “better studies are needed to identify effective treatments for kids exposed to traumatic events, such as accidents, natural disasters and school shootings.” In fact, “in the analysis of 6,647 research abstracts on psychological and pharmacological therapies, only a few psychological treatments were shown to help kids 17 and under in the short term, and no medications were shown to have benefit.” The article adds, “The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, operated by the US Department of Health and Human Services, commissioned the study ‘to identify gaps in the current scientific literature and highlight important areas for future research,’ according to the journal report.”

The AP (2/11) reports, “According to research cited in the report, about two-thirds of US children and teens younger than 18 will experience at least one traumatic event, including shootings and other violence, car crashes and weather disasters. … Most will not suffer any long-term psychological problems, but about 13 percent will develop symptoms of post-traumatic stress, including anxiety, behavior difficulties and other problems related to the event.” The AP points out “that no one knows which treatments are best, or if certain ones work better for some children but not others.”

Related Links:

— “How best to treat traumatized kids? Research not clear, “Michelle Healy, USA Today, February 11, 2013.

The Hill (2/13, Viebeck) “Healthwatch” blog reports, “The Obama administration is planning a national campaign to encourage the discussion of mental health issues in light of recent mass shootings.” HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced Tuesday that she and Education Secretary Arne Duncan “will lead the effort, which will begin within weeks.” She said, “There is no question that the recent tragedy in Newtown broke the hearts of the nation. But it also gives us an opportunity to address some important issues that have gone unaddressed for too long.”

Related Links:

— “Obama administration to launch mental health dialogue, “Elise Viebeck, The Hill, February 12, 2013.

A new study, published online Feb. 13 in the Journal of the American Medical Association, further suggests the importance of folic acid in fetal neural development. The study received wide coverage from print media and medical websites. Although the websites of the three major US television networks cover the story, only the NBC Nightly News featured an on-air segment devoted to the study.

NBC Nightly News (2/12, story 11, 0:25, Williams) reported that “a new study found that women who take folic acid supplements around the time they become pregnant may be 40% less likely to have children with autism.”

USA Today (2/12, Szabo) reports, “In the new study, which included more than 85,000 Norwegian children, doctors asked pregnant women to fill out a questionnaire about supplement use, both before and during their pregnancies.” Investigators “then followed the children, born between 2002 to 2008, for an average of six years.”

The New York Times (2/13, A20, Rabin, Subscription Publication) reports, “Women taking folic acid, a B vitamin, before pregnancy were less likely to give birth to children with the most severe form of autism.” However, the Times points out that “the absolute risk that a child would have autism disorder was very low: 0.2 percent among women not taking folic acid, versus 0.1 percent among those who did.”

The Los Angeles Times (2/12, Kaplan) “Booster Shots” blog reports, “Among the 85,176 children in the study, 270 (or 0.32%) received an ASD diagnosis – 114 (0.13%) had autistic disorder, 56 (0.07%) had Asperger syndrome and 100 (0.12%) were diagnosed with ‘pervasive developmental disorder-not otherwise specified,’ or PPD-NOS.” These youngsters “were more likely to be born to women who did not take folic acid. In the raw analysis, mothers who skipped the supplement were more than 2.1 times more likely to have a child with autistic disorder compared with mothers who took the supplement.”

Bloomberg News (2/13, Kitamura) reports, “The study was funded by the Norwegian government and the U.S. National Institutes of Health.”

According to MedPage Today (2/13, Neale), “‘The finding that periconceptional supplement use might reduce the risk of autism is encouraging; however, it is important to confirm this finding in other population-based birth cohorts,’ Robert Berry, MD, MPHTM, of the CDC’s Division of Birth Defects and Developmental Disorders in Atlanta, and colleagues wrote in an accompanying editorial. The fact that folic acid supplementation was not associated with an increased risk of autism spectrum disorders is reassuring, they said, and ‘this should ensure that folic acid intake can continue to serve as a tool for the prevention of neural tube birth defects.'”

Also covering the story are Reuters (2/13, Pittman), the Huffington Post (2/13, Pearson), the CNN (2/12, Sloane) “The Chart” blog, the NPR (2/13, Hamilton) “Shots” blog, HealthDay (2/13, Reinberg), Forbes (2/13, Herper), the ABC News (2/13, Lupkin) “Medical Unit” blog, a “MyHealthNewsDaily” feature on the NBC News (2/13, Winters) website, the CBS News (2/13, Castillo) website, and the Daily Mail (UK) (2/13).

Related Links:

— “Association Between Maternal Use of Folic Acid Supplements and Risk of Autism Spectrum Disorders in Children, The JAMA Network, February 13, 2013.