HealthDay (10/16, Solomon) reports a study presented at the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology Congress found that “women with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) face delayed diagnosis and worse outcomes than men.” The researchers “analyzed differences in ADHD severity, its comorbidity with other psychiatric disorders, and its impact on psychosocial functioning by sex.” They found that “the combined ADHD subtype was the most common, affecting 48.2 percent of participants. Age of symptom onset was similar for men and women, although women were diagnosed significantly later (28.96 versus 24.13 years). Men more frequently had legal problems than women (18.1 versus 6.6 percent). Women with ADHD had worse outcomes, including higher symptom severity, worse psychosocial functioning, and greater disability, as well as higher rates of depression and anxiety.” The study was also published in European Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Women With ADHD Face Later Diagnosis, Worse Outcomes Than Men,”Lori Solomon, HealthDay, October 16, 2025

USA Today (10/16, Alltucker) reports a new survey of LGBTQ+ teens and young adults issued by the Trevor Project found that “68% had anxiety and 54% had symptoms of depression. Those were both increases over 57% who reported anxiety and 48% who had depression when the survey launched in September 2023.” The survey, comprising nearly 1,700 youths between the ages of 13 to 24 and “focused on suicide prevention, also found suicide ideation grew from 41% to 47% over the one-year period while suicide attempts decreased from 11% to 7%.” The results also indicated that “suicide attempts were higher than estimates for cisgender heterosexual peers. Transgender, nonbinary, and gender-questioning youth and survey participants aged 13 to 17 had the poorest mental health and highest risk for suicide, the survey said.”

Psychiatric News (10/16) also provides coverage.

Related Links:

— “Mental health worsens over one year for LGBTQ+ youth, survey finds,”Ken Alltucker, USA TODAY, October 16, 2025

MedPage Today (10/15, George) reports a study found that “older adults with Alzheimer’s disease or dementia who were newly prescribed benzodiazepines or antipsychotic drugs in hospice had higher mortality than those who didn’t get the drugs.” Researchers observed that “starting either benzodiazepines or antipsychotic drugs in hospice was tied to a higher 180-day mortality compared with nonuse.” The findings “were consistent across propensity score-weighted models and as cumulative exposure increased,” which highlight the “need for careful prescribing decisions and dementia-specific hospice prescribing guidelines, the researchers noted.” The study was published in JAMA Network Open.

Psychiatric News (10/15) adds that “researchers found that patients who had begun taking benzodiazepines and antipsychotics had a 41% and a 16% increased risk of dying within 180 days, respectively, compared with their matched peers who did not start the medications. The increased mortality risk remained significant when only including adults with a primary diagnosis of ADRD or only including those taking neither medication upon entering hospice.”

Related Links:

— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

The Washington Post (10/15, A1, Sima) reports a new study “suggests that even light alcohol consumption can increase dementia risk. The finding comes from data of more than 550,000 adults ages 56 to 72, as well as genetics information from 2.4 million study participants.” Specifically, researchers found that “every threefold increase in drinking prevalence upped lifetime dementia risk by 15 percent. That is, increasing intake from one drink to three drinks per week or from three drinks to nine drinks per week was associated with a 15 percent increased risk of dementia. The study also countered previous research that found that alcohol was ‘protective’ or that light to moderate drinkers had the lowest dementia risk, even when compared with nondrinkers.” Overall, it “adds to evidence that even small amounts of alcohol can be harmful to our health, including increasing the risk of cancer or disrupting sleep.” The study was published in BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine.

Related Links:

— “The Washington Post (requires login and subscription)

Healio (10/14, Leiser) reports, “Depression may affect a person’s likelihood of achieving optimal recovery after cancer surgery, according to retrospective study results.” The “analysis of more than 32,000 adults with abdominal cancer showed those with comorbid depression had significantly worse postoperative outcomes.” The findings were published in Psycho-Oncology.

Related Links:

— “Depression linked to poorer outcomes after cancer surgery,”Mark Leiser, Healio, October 14, 2025