Psychiatric News (8/12) reports, “Older adults who were physically active reported significantly slower cognitive decline compared with sedentary adults,” investigators concluded after examining “data from 1,159 participants (63% women and 60% African American) in the Chicago Health and Aging Project, a population-based cohort study that followed adults over 65 years of age from four Chicago communities between 1993 and 2012.” The study also revealed that “the association between physical activity and cognitive function was most dramatic among adults who had elevated levels of the Alzheimer’s-associated tau protein in their blood.” The findings were published online Aug. 11 in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “Physical Activity Linked to Slower Cognitive Decline in Adults With Elevated Tau Levels, Psychiatric News, August 12, 2021

HealthDay (8/12, Preidt) reports research indicates that “death, injuries, abuse and mental health disorders are among the many harms faced by children whose parents are heavy drinkers.” Investigators arrived at this conclusion after reviewing “91 studies of hospital and other centralized records to provide a more accurate assessment of how a family member’s drinking can affect children.” The scoping review “identified several consequences among kids whose parents drank heavily – including death during infancy or childhood, mental health disorders and criminal convictions later in life.” In addition, these youngsters “more likely to do poorly in school, to suffer abuse and/or neglect, to wind up in foster care and be hospitalized for physical illness and injury.” The findings were published online in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.

Related Links:

— “Kids of Heavy Drinkers Face Multiple Threats to Health “Robert Preidt, HealthDay, August 12, 2021

Healio (8/12, Gramigna) reports research indicates that “suicidal behaviors were common among U.S. veterans, especially among young veterans,” and that “nearly two-thirds of veterans who had current suicidal ideation were not receiving mental health treatment.” Investigators arrived at both conclusions after analyzing “data of 4,069 U.S. veterans who participated in the National Health and Resilience in Veterans Study, a representative survey conducted between 2019 and 2020.” In their “analyses, the researchers estimated the prevalence of current suicidal ideation, lifetime suicide plans and lifetime suicide attempts; pinpointed related sociodemographic, military, DSM-5 psychiatric and other risk correlates; and assessed mental health treatment utilization among veterans with suicidal ideation, suicide plans or suicide attempts.” The findings were published online Aug. 10 in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Suicidal behaviors common in U.S. veterans, yet most receive no mental health care “Joe Gramigna, Healio, August 12, 2021

Healio (8/11, Downey) reports, “Preterm and early term birth were associated with a significantly increased risk for autism spectrum disorder [ASD] in both boys and girls in a study that included more than four million children born over a 40-year period in Sweden.” The study revealed that ASD prevalence “was 2.1% for all preterm births, 1.6% for early term births and in 1.4% for term births.” The findings were published online in Pediatrics.

Related Links:

— “ “Ken Downey Jr., Healio, August 11, 2021

Healio (8/11, Gramigna) reports, “Individuals with schizophrenia had lower COVID-19 vaccination rates than the general population despite having higher hospitalization and mortality risk,” research indicated.

MedPage Today (8/11, Grant) reports investigators arrived at this conclusion after examining data from “Clalit Health Services, a large Israeli healthcare system, amassing a large sample of 51,078 participants – 25,539 with schizophrenia and 25,539 controls.” The findings of the longitudinal cohort study were published online Aug. 5 in The Lancet Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “COVID-19 vaccination rates lower among those with schizophrenia despite increased risks “Joe Gramigna, Healio, August 11, 2021