HealthDay (6/26, Thompson ) reports a study found that “children who’ve experienced only a single traumatic event are more than twice as likely to be chronically absent from school due to health problems.” The researchers “analyzed data from parents of more than 10,000 children 6 to 17 collected by the 2021-2022 National Health Interview Survey.” They found that children exposed to traumas such as racial or ethnic discrimination, verbal or emotional abuse, or having a parent who is incarcerated, mentally ill, or has a substance use disorder “were 2.4 times more likely to be chronically absent from school, missing at least 10% of school days due to health reasons.” Furthermore, “for each additional traumatic event they endured, their risk of health-related chronic absenteeism rose by 25%, researchers found.” Notably, exposure to violence “was associated with 2.6 times higher odds of chronic absenteeism.” The study was published in Academic Pediatrics.

Related Links:

— “Education Suffers After Even A Single Brush With Childhood Trauma,” Dennis Thompson, HealthDay, June 26, 2025

STAT (6/26, Facher, Subscription Publication) reports a study found that “compared to white patients, Black and Hispanic patients were 17.1% and 16.2% less likely, respectively, to receive either buprenorphine or naltrexone within 180 days of a health care event related to their substance use, like a nonfatal overdose or addiction-related infection.” The study is the first to “analyze data from multiple payers at once,” as it includes “data from roughly 176,000 health events related to substance use, and tracks receipt of medication based on claims data from Medicaid programs, Medicare Advantage, and private commercial insurers.” In addition, researchers found that “patients using either of the government-backed insurance options – Medicaid or Medicare Advantage – were substantially more likely to receive buprenorphine or naltrexone than those with commercial insurance.” The study was published in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “Black, Hispanic patients significantly less likely to receive key addiction medications, study finds,” Lev Facher, STAT, June 26, 2025

HealthDay (6/25, Gotkine ) reports a systematic review and meta-analysis found that “paternal mental distress is associated with poorer child development.” The researchers “conducted a meta-analytic synthesis of the literature on the association between paternal perinatal depression, anxiety, and stress and offspring development during the first 18 years of life. Of the studies identified, 48 cohorts (from 84 studies) with 674 effect sizes met criteria for quantitative synthesis.” They observed “associations for paternal perinatal mental distress with poorer global, social-emotional, cognitive, language, and physical development in offspring. There was no evidence for adaptive and motor outcomes.” Further, they noted that “generally stronger associations were seen for postnatal than antenatal mental distress, suggesting that a more direct influence on the developing child may be exerted by the father’s mental state after birth.” The review was published in JAMA Pediatrics.

Related Links:

— “Paternal Mental Distress Linked to Poorer Offspring Development,” Elana Gotkine, HealthDay, June 25, 2025

HealthDay (6/25, Thompson ) reports a study found that “people living with an autoimmune disease are nearly twice as likely to suffer from mood problems like depression, anxiety or bipolar disorder.” According to researchers, “the risk of mood disorders is 87% to 97% higher in people suffering from rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, lupus, multiple sclerosis, psoriasis and Graves’ syndrome,” and the “risk remains higher even after accounting for other factors like age, income and family history of psychiatric disorders.” They observed that about 29% of more than 37,800 study participants “with an autoimmune illness said they’d been previously diagnosed with a mood disorder, compared with 18% of the general population.” This figure “included more than 25% versus 15% diagnosed with depression, and 21% versus nearly 13% diagnosed with anxiety. Women with autoimmune diseases were particularly vulnerable to mood disorders, affecting 32% compared with 21% among men, results show.” The study was published in BMJ Mental Health.

Related Links:

— “Autoimmune Diseases Increase Risk Of Mood Disorders,” Dennis Thompson, HealthDay, June 25, 2025

HealthDay (6/23, Thompson ) reports a study found that fewer than one in five children with autism or intellectual disability covered by Medicaid “are receiving recommended genetic testing, even though guidelines urge such tests.” The researchers “analyzed claims data for more than 240,000 children 7 to 17 enrolled in either Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program from 2008 to 2016.” They observed that “genetic testing rates were highest among children with both autism and intellectual disabilities, reaching 26%. But they were just 17% for kids with autism and 13% for those with intellectual disability, results show.” Researchers noted that “rates remained low even as newer and less expensive genetic testing methods gained traction after 2013.” In addition, the study “found that Black children were less likely to receive genetic testing compared with white kids.” The study was published in Genetics in Medicine.

Related Links:

— “Genetic Tests For Autism, Intellectual Disability Not Being Done On Medicaid Kids,” Dennis Thompson, HealthDay, June 23, 2025