MedPage Today (2/7, George) reported researchers found that “people who had three or more adverse childhood experiences – physical or psychological abuse, family psychopathology, or loss of a parent – had twice the risk of developing dementia in later years as other older adults, even after taking into account economic hardship, demographics, education, and nutritional environment.” The findings were published in JAMA Network Open

Related Links:

— “Adverse Childhood Events Tied to Dementia, “Judy George, MedPage Today, February 7, 2020

Psychiatric News (2/7) reported, “Family conflict and low parental supervision are associated with suicidality in children, according to a study published today in JAMA Network Open.” The research showed that “overall, 6.4% of the children had a lifetime history of passive suicidal ideation; 4.4% had nonspecific active suicidal ideation; 2.4% had active ideation with a method, intent, or plan; 1.3% had a past suicide attempts; and 9.1% had a NSSI.”

Healio (2/7) reported that “according to the researchers, little is known about suicidal behaviors and ideation in children,” and “to address this research gap, they assessed the overall prevalence of suicide attempts, suicidal ideation and nonsuicidal self-injury, as well as family-related factors associated with self-injury and suicidality, among 11,814 participants aged 9 to 10 years of the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study.”

Medscape (2/7, Swift, Subscription Publication) also reported.

Related Links:

— “Family Conflict, Low Parental Supervision Risk Factors for Suicidality in Children, Study Finds, Psychiatric News, February 7, 2020

Reuters (2/6, Rapaport) reports a study published in The BMJ suggests that “the top 1% of opioid prescribers in the U.S. are responsible for 49% of all opioid doses and 27% of all prescriptions.” Researchers “examined data on 8.9 million opioid prescriptions for 3.9 million patients from 2003 to 2017, based on records from an average of 669,495 providers each year,” and found that “by 2017, the top 1% of providers prescribed a yearly average of 748,000 ‘morphine-milligram equivalents’ (MMEs), a standardized way of describing doses of different types of opioids,” which “was roughly 1,000 times more than the providers in the middle percentiles.”

Related Links:

— “Just a few hundred prescribers responsible for half of U.S. opioid doses, “Lisa Rapaport, Reuters, February 6, 2020

HealthDay (2/6, Reinberg) reports that a new study has found that “survivors of the 2001 terrorist attack on New York City’s World Trade Center who developed PTSD have a lasting risk of premature death.” The study involved “nearly 64,000 emergency responders and civilians” and “found that the longer the post-traumatic stress disorder lingered, the more likely they were to die early from any cause.” The study results “were published online Feb. 5 in JAMA Network Open.”

Related Links:

— “9/11 Study Shows PTSD Tied to Earlier Death, “Steven Reinberg, HealthDay, February 6, 2020

Reuters (2/6, Carroll) reports, “Children who participate in obesity treatment programs get a benefit over and above weight loss: they may also start seeing themselves more positively, a new study suggests. Based on an analysis of data from 64 previous studies, researchers concluded that obesity treatment programs appeared to boost kids’ self-esteem and improve body image – and not just because the kids lost weight.” The study was published online in Pediatric Obesity.

Related Links:

— “Obesity treatment programs may boost kids’ self-esteem, body image, “Linda Carroll, Reuters, February 6, 2020