MedPage Today (8/4, George) reports a study found that “treatment with the antiviral oseltamivir (Tamiflu) was tied to a reduced risk of serious neuropsychiatric events in children and adolescents.” Researchers observed that “compared with untreated flu, the risk of serious neuropsychiatric events was lower in kids treated with oseltamivir during flu exposure periods and post-treatment periods.” Furthermore, the “relative risks of neuropsychiatric events also were low during periods with neither flu exposure nor oseltamivir dispensing and during oseltamivir prophylaxis periods compared with untreated flu.” The findings ultimately “raise questions about warnings on oseltamivir’s label” that states “that some flu patients who receive the drug, particularly pediatric patients, may be at an increased risk of confusion or abnormal behavior early in their illness.” The study authors wrote, “It is important to note that these warnings were placed on the basis of case reports rather than studies on associated risks for these events.” The study was published in JAMA Neurology.

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— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

The Hill (8/4, Migdon) reports New Hampshire Gov. Kelly Ayotte (R) “signed two bills Friday restricting access to transition-related care in the state, which already prohibits rare genital surgeries for minors to transition.” The first bill “prohibits doctors from administering puberty blockers and hormones to transgender youth starting Jan. 1,” while the second “bars adolescents younger than 18 from undergoing certain procedures when they are used to treat gender dysphoria.” The move makes New Hampshire “the first Northeastern state to ban gender-affirming health care for minors.”

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— “New Hampshire becomes first Northeastern state to ban gender-affirming care for minors,”Brooke Migdon, The Hill, August 4, 2025

The AP (8/1, Stobbe) reported a federal health official confirmed last week that experts from “more than a half-dozen of the nation’s top medical organizations” were “disinvited from the workgroups that have been the backbone of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. The organizations include the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Infectious Diseases Society of America.” In a joint statement Friday, the AMA and several organizations said: “To remove our deep medical expertise from this vital and once transparent process is irresponsible, dangerous to our nation’s health, and will further undermine public and clinician trust in vaccine.

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— “AMA and other medical associations are kicked out of CDC vaccine workgroups,”Mike Stobbe , AP, August 1, 2025

HealthDay (8/1, Mundell) reported a study suggests that when a community’s homicide rates rise, “there’s typically a local uptick in suicides a year later.” The researchers “tracked 50 years’ worth of data – from 1968 through 2019 – for homicides and suicides in counties across 48 U.S. states. The main finding: A one-point rise in homicides in a county during one year was linked to an average 3.6% rise in suicides the following year.” Moreover, the trend intensified when homicides and suicides were due to “a gun: A one-point rise in gun-related killings was linked to a 5.7% rise in gun-related suicides the following year. The murder-suicide link was more pronounced in rural versus urban communities, and among white people versus Black Americans, although Black Americans were not unaffected, the researchers said.” The study was published in Social Science & Medicine.

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— “When Local Homicide Rates Rise, Suicides Rise Soon After,”Ernie Mundell , HealthDay, August 1, 2025

Psychiatric News (8/1) reported a study found that “an intervention focused on emotion regulation can help” teens and young adults with autism “significantly reduce their daily impairments to living.” Researchers observed that after 16 weeks, youth who participated in “Emotion Awareness and Skills Enhancement (EASE), a 16-module program rooted in mindfulness that teaches individuals to become more aware of and better regulate their emotions,” had “significantly greater improvements in symptoms related to emotion regulation than the active control group. Overall, 63% of EASE participants showed strong improvements in their daily functioning, compared with 44% receiving the active control.” Furthermore, “EASE participants also showed statistically significant improvements in internalizing and externalizing symptoms from baseline, whereas only the latter improved in the active control group.” The study was published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

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— “Emotion Regulation Therapy Is Effective for Teens and Young Adults With Autism , Psychiatric News, August 1, 2025