Healio (9/22, Gramigna) reports, “Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids appeared to have a small but significant beneficial effect on perinatal depression,” investigators concluded in a meta-analysis that “included data from 18 randomized controlled trials with 4,052 participants published up to Feb. 18, 2019.” The findingswere published online in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Omega-3 supplementation offers small but significant effect on perinatal depression “Joe Gramigna, Healio, September 22, 2020

STAT (9/22, Gopalakrishna) reports, “A large new study finds that mental health care for many children in the U.S. falls far short, particularly when it comes to the follow-up treatment they receive.” Investigators arrived at that conclusion after examining “insurance claims from children between the ages of 10 and 17 covered by Blue Cross Blue Shield.” Out “of the more than 2 million children included in the study, nearly one in 10 had a claim related to mental illness between 2012 and 2018,” but “only 71% of the children received treatment in the three months that followed an initial insurance claim.” The findings were published online Sept. 21 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Related Links:

— “New research shows many children with mental health conditions don’t get follow-up care “Pratibha Gopalakrishna, STAT, September 22, 2020

CNN (9/21, Prior) reports a smartphone app based on the idea that people trying to quit smoking can benefit from acknowledging and accepting their cravings may help stop smoking, according to a study published in JAMA Internal Medicine. Jonathan Bricker of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, the study’s lead author, said, “The problem is that when you try to avoid what you’re feeling and what you’re thinking, you paradoxically create more of what you’re trying to avoid.”

Healio (9/21, Miller) reports that in the study, the iCanQuit smartphone app, which is based on acceptance and commitment therapy, was more effective at helping people quit smoking than NCI’s QuitGuide, a “clinical practice guidelines app based on avoidance of smoking triggers.”

Related Links:

— “Quitting smoking apps that help you acknowledge your triggers work better, study shows “Ryan Prior, CNN, September 21, 2020

MedPage Today (9/21, Hlavinka) reports, “Transgender youth who presented to a clinic for gender-affirming care in early adolescence had fewer mental health problems than adolescents who first sought care when older, or in later stages of puberty,” investigators found in a study that revealed that “among 300 teens seeking gender-affirming care, a significantly higher proportion of adolescents older than 15 reported experiencing mental health problems compared with children under 15.” The findings were published online Sept. 16 in Pediatrics.

Related Links:

— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)

Psychiatric News (9/18) reported, “Hospitals and emergency services should be prepared for a possible influx of adolescents and young adults with alcohol-related emergencies as their localities open up after COVID-19 lockdowns,” investigators concluded after analyzing “data on ED visits of patients aged 13 to 24 years that occurred during…the last three weeks of lockdown, April 10, 2020, to May 3, 2020,” and “the first three weeks after reopening, May 4, 2020, to May 27, 2020.” The study revealed that “the proportion of alcohol-related emergency department (ED) visits to two Italian hospitals jumped for this population in the weeks following the end of this spring’s lockdown compared with the same time frame in 2019.” The findings were published online Sept. 15 in the Journal of Adolescent Health.

Related Links:

— “Researchers Warn of Post-Lockdown Influx of Alcohol-Related Emergencies Among Youth, Psychiatric News, September 18, 2020