Bloomberg Law (12/20, Lopez, Subscription Publication) reports, “Suicide prevention, addiction treatment, mental health, and the Covid-19 pandemic are the subjects of significant focus in a proposed government spending package released Tuesday, teeing up the Biden administration’s health department to tackle major initiatives in the year ahead.” Overall, “$209.9 billion in base discretionary funding is included in the FY 2023 Labor/HHS/Education appropriations bill,” which is “a 7.1% increase over the 2022 level.”

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— “Addiction, Mental Health, Covid Top HHS List in Spending Push “Ian Lopez , Bloomberg Law, December 20, 2022

The Washington Post (12/19, Rowan) reports “taking on a new hobby as one ages might provide an important defense against dementia, some experts say.” According to Pacific Brain Health Center Director and Geriatric Psychiatrist David Merrill, “activities that demand focus and industry are the whetstone to keeping cognition sharp.” He adds, “‘Use it or lose it’ is not just a hypothesis, it’s a basic biologic fact that holds as true for our brains as our muscles or our bones.”

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— “The Washington Post (requires login and subscription)

The Wall Street Journal (12/19, Mosbergen, Subscription Publication) reports an analysis of data from children’s hospitals found that the incidence of firearm injuries in the US among children rose sharply between April 2020 and December 2021. A separate study found that homicides for children trended upward between 2013 to 2020. Both studies were published in JAMA Pediatrics.
       
The New York Times (12/19, Rabin) reports the rate of homicide for children in the US “rose by about 28 percent in 2020,” researchers found in the second study. The findings also revealed “a majority of the homicides were among Black children, and almost half were among children in the southern United States,” and “older children and boys of all ages were more likely to be victims of gun violence than younger children and girls.”

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— “Gun Injuries Among Children Surged During Pandemic, Study Says “Dominique Mosbergen, The Wall Street Journal, December 19, 2022

Healio (12/16, Foster) reported, “Exposure to antipsychotics during pregnancy may not increase risk for birth defects,” researchers concluded in a study that “included a total of 6,455,324 unexposed pregnancies (mean maternal age, 24-31 years), 21,751 pregnancies with exposure to atypical antipsychotics (mean maternal age, 26-31 years) and 6,371 with exposure to typical antipsychotics (mean maternal age, 27-32 years).” The findings were published online Dec. 7 in JAMA Psychiatry.

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— “Antipsychotic agents not linked to birth defects “Melissa Foster, Healio, December 16, 2022

Psychiatric News (12/16) reported, “Excessive screen time watching videos and playing video games is associated with an increased risk of children developing obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD),” researchers concluded after analyzing “data from 9,208 children who participated in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study.” The findings were published online Dec. 12 ahead of print in the Journal of Adolescent Health.

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— “Too Much Screen Time Associated With Increased Risk of OCD in Children, Psychiatric News, December 16, 2022