USA Today (11/1, Rodriguez) reports research indicates “recreational screen time for teens skyrocketed” throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. According to USA Today, “using data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study, a large, long-term study of brain development,” investigators “compared 5,412 participants’ screen time from 2016 to their screen time in May 2020” and found “screen time outside of virtual school among teenagers doubled from pre-pandemic estimates of 3.8 hours per day to 7.7 hours.” The findings were published Monday in JAMA Pediatrics.

Related Links:

— “Screen time among teenagers during COVID more than doubled outside of virtual school, study finds “Adrianna Rodriguez, USA TODAY, November 1, 2021

HCPlive (11/1, Walter) reports, “While more and more prediction models for psychiatric disorders are being developed, particularly for pediatric patients, the results still do not show the models are ready for clinical use,” investigators concluded after conducting a 100-study “systematic review of new prediction models for child and adolescent mental health.” The findings were published online Sept. 24 in JCCP Advances.

Related Links:

— “Pediatric Psychiatric Forecasting Models Not Ready For Clinical Use “Kenny Walter, HCPlive, November 1, 2021

Healio (11/1, Gramigna) reports, “Patients with severe mental illness, particularly those with schizophrenia who are insured by Medicaid, have significant social risk factors that may adversely affect overall health,” investigators concluded after analyzing “registry data of 1,038,075 commercial and 1,234,371 Medicaid-managed care patients aged 18 years or older between July 1, 2016, and Dec. 31, 2018.” The findings were presented at the Psych Congress 2021.

Related Links:

— “Social determinants of health adversely affect outcomes in severe mental illness “Joe Gramigna, Healio, November 1, 2021

The New York Times (10/29, Mueller) reported, “A new studyby the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests that vaccination provides stronger and more reliable protection against the coronavirus than a past infection does, the agency said.” Unvaccinated individuals “who had previously recovered from a coronavirus infection were five times as likely to get COVID as people who had received both shots of the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines, the CDC said.”

Related Links:

— “Vaccination offers more protection against Covid than prior infection, a C.D.C. study suggests “Benjamin Mueller, The New York Times, October 29, 2021

Healio (10/29, Gramigna) reported, “Untreated perinatal anxiety disorders and related stress or depression among mothers pose risks to offspring, according to a” virtual presentation given at the Psych Congress by Kimberly Brandt, DO, PMH-C, “a perinatal psychiatrist at the University of Missouri School of Medicine.” In her presentation, Dr. Brandt “said the benefits of treating these disorders outweigh potential risks.” That is because “untreated anxiety and depression, or both, can cause increased risk for early labor, decreased birth weight, increased reactivity to stress and some fetal brain structural changes,” Dr. Brandt said.

Related Links:

— “Benefits of treating perinatal anxiety disorders ‘greatly outweigh’ risks “Joe Gramigna, Healio,October 29, 2021