Psychiatric News (1/6) reported, “Past incarceration may raise the risk of cognitive impairment, mental health conditions, and heavy drinking in older people,” researchers concluded after analyzing “data from 13,462 community-dwelling adults aged 50 years or older who participated in the Health and Retirement Study…in 2012 or 2014.” The study revealed that people “who had been incarcerated had an 80% higher risk of having cognitive impairment or a mental health condition and a 113% higher risk of heavy alcohol use than participants who had not been incarcerated.” The findings were published online Jan. 6 in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “Past Incarceration Linked to Increased Mental Health Risk, Heavy Drinking in Older People, Psychiatric News, January 6, 2023

HealthDay (1/6, Thompson) reported, “Supervised exercise programs are associated with significant reductions in symptoms of depression among children and teenagers,” investigators concluded in the findings of a 21-study systematic review and meta-analysis “involving more than 2,400” children. The findings were published online Jan. 3 in JAMA Pediatrics. Additionally, the systematic review “revealed a greater benefit from exercise among children who had already been diagnosed with depression or another mental illness.” Anish Dube, MD, MPH, Vice Chair of the American Psychiatric Association’s Council on Children, Adolescents, and Their Families, stated that “‘in a sense, physical activity itself is similar to an intervention that we would call behavioral activation,’ in which patients engage in meaningful activities to subvert…depressive lethargy.”

Related Links:

— “Exercise, Sports: A Natural Antidepressant for Teens “Dennis Thompson, HealthDay, January 6, 2023

According to HCPlive (1/6, Walter), “research indicates motor impairment as a child could be a risk factor for” schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. For the study, “investigators used data from 437 children born in Denmark between Sept. 1, 2004 and Aug. 31, 2009 with no, one, or two parents born in Denmark with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.” The study then “assessed motor development and its association with psychotic experiences in children with familial high risk…of schizophrenia or bipolar disorder compared to a control group.” The findings were published online Jan. 4 in The Lancet Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Early Motor Impairment Could Forecast Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder “Kenny Walter, HCPlive, January 6, 2023

MedPage Today (1/5, George) reports, “Some health conditions associated with dementia appeared early and consistently long before diagnosis, while others became significant much later,” investigators concluded in findings published online in the Annals of Neurology. After evaluating “data for 347 people with Alzheimer’s disease, 76 people with vascular dementia, and 811 control participants without dementia,” researchers found that “for people with a subsequent diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease, the earliest and most consistent associations at all time points over a 15-year span included depression, erectile dysfunction, gait abnormalities, hearing loss, and nervous and musculoskeletal symptoms.” For people “eventually diagnosed with vascular dementia, the earliest and most consistent associations across 13 years were an abnormal electrocardiogram…cardiac dysrhythmias, cerebrovascular disease, non-epithelial skin cancer, depression, and hearing loss.”

Related Links:

— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

Psychiatric News (1/5) reports, “Aerobic physical activity may be associated with reduced depressive symptoms in children and adolescents, especially among teens over age 13,” investigators concluded in the findings of a 21-study systematic review and meta-analysis encompassing 2,441 participants. The findingswere published online Jan. 3 in JAMA Pediatrics.

Related Links:

— “Physical Activity Found Effective for Reducing Depression Symptoms in Youth, Psychiatric News, January 5, 2023