HealthDay (8/18, Goodwin) reported, “For students with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, or AD/HD, making the transition to college can be especially difficult,” according to experts. However, “by adopting certain strategies, such as sticking to a structured daily schedule and tapping into the university’s disability support services, freshman with AD/HD can do well.” Experts at the Steven and Alexandra Cohen Children’s Medical Center of New York and Kansas State University provided specific tips for parents and teens on how to make the “transition to college.”

Related Links:

— “Teens With ADHD May Need Help Making Transition to College, “Jenifer Goodwin, HealthDay, August 17, 2012.

HealthDay (8/18, Dallas) reported, “Girls diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD) are up to four times more likely to attempt suicide as young women,” according to a study recently published online in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. The study of 228 girls also revealed that “girls in the AD/HD-combined group,” that is, with “a combination of hyperactive, impulsive and inattentive symptoms,” were also “much more likely to hurt themselves.”

Related Links:

— “ADHD May Raise Girls’ Risk for Suicide as Young Adults, “Mary Elizabeth Dallas, HealthDay, August 17, 2012.

New recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention regarding hepatitis C testing received a significant amount of coverage, mostly online, as well as on one of last night’s national news broadcasts. CDC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden and Dr. John Ward, who runs the CDC’s viral hepatitis division, were quoted in multiple articles. NBC Nightly News (8/16, story 5, 1:30, Williams) reported that the government has a “health warning…for an entire American generation” regarding hepatitis C.

The AP (8/17, Stobbe) reports, “All baby boomers should get a one-time blood test to learn if they have the liver-destroying hepatitis C virus, US health officials said.” Dr. Frieden, during a call with reporters, said, “Unless we take action, we project deaths will increase substantially.”

Related Links:

— “CDC to baby boomers: Get tested for hepatitis C, “Mike Stobbe, Associated Press, August 17, 2012.

MedWire (8/17, Cowen) reports that according to a study published online Aug. 9 in the Journal of Affective Disorders, “only a small proportion of depressed adolescents with hypomania spectrum episodes will develop bipolar disorder in adulthood.” In the “study of 64 individuals aged 16-17 years who screened positive for depression symptoms and lifetime hypomania spectrum symptoms, only six had experienced another hypomanic episode, or an episode or mania, by the age of 30-33 years.” These “come from a community-based study of 2300 adolescents who were screened for depression and hypomania between 1991 and 1993.”

Related Links:

— “Adolescent hypomania does not predict bipolar disorder, “Mark Cowen, MedWire News, August 17, 2012.

MedPage Today (8/16, Petrochko) reports, “Students who started drinking and getting drunk at an early age were more likely to engage in frequent heavy drinking and associated problems by senior year of college,” according to a study published online Aug. 15 in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research. “A longitudinal analysis of incoming college freshmen showed a significant association not only between younger drinking age and heavy drinking, but also with difficulties in work and school, blackouts, vomiting, and other problems by senior year (P<0.001 for all)," researchers reported. "Those who started drinking and getting drunk at a later age were at a lower risk for heavy drinking and problems overall, but had significantly steeper increases in heavy drinking and associated problems over time (P<0.001 for both)," the study of 1,160 incoming university freshmen found. Related Links:

— “Young Drinking Tied to Drinking Problems Later, “Cole Petrochko, MedPage Today, August 15, 2012.