The New York Times (7/16, Marshall) reports that “Netflix has deleted a graphic scene from the first season of ‘13 Reasons Why’ in which a teenage girl kills herself, more than two years after the episode premiered.”
        
Reuters (7/16, McKay) reports that a study found that “suicides by young Americans rose by almost a third in the month following the 2017 streaming debut of the popular Netflix television series.” The AP (7/16) also covers the story.

Related Links:

— “Netflix Deletes ‘13 Reasons Why’ Suicide Scene, “Alex Marshall, The New York Times, July 16, 2019

According to Healio (7/16, Miller), “women who took sleep medications were at a slightly higher risk for Alzheimer’s disease,” researchers concluded after analyzing “data from 3,656 residents of a Utah county without dementia at baseline (women, 57.8%) that assessed risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease and cognitive decline.” The findings were presented at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference.

Psychiatric News (7/16) reports investigators found that participants “who reported taking sleeping medication ‘often’ or ‘almost always’ were 43% more likely to develop dementia than those who reported ‘never’ or ‘rarely’ taking sleep medications.” Further analysis found that “the increased dementia risk among the frequent users was observed only among the white participants (hazard ratio=1.79).”

Related Links:

— “Sleep medications tied to slightly higher risk for Alzheimer’s disease in women, “Janel Miller, Healio, July 16, 2019

CNN (7/15, Nigam) reports, “As the opioid crisis swept across the” U.S., the number of children “entering the foster care system” increased. Investigators found that “from 2000 to 2017, there was a 147% increase in foster care entries due to parents’ drug use.”

NPR (7/15, Neilson) reports that for the study, investigators “analyzed data from the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS).” The researchers examined almost five “million instances of children entering foster care between 2000 and 2017 and analyzed how many times foster children were removed from their homes due to their parents’ drug use each year.” The findings were published online in a research letter in JAMA Pediatrics.

Related Links:

— “There was a dramatic rise in kids entering foster care due to parents’ drug use, study says, “Minali Nigam, CNN, July 15, 2019

CNN (7/15, Howard) reports, “For every additional hour young people spend on social media or watching television, the severity of depressive symptoms they experience goes up,” research indicated. The study revealed that “high levels of social media use over four years was associated with increased depression – and each one-hour increase in the average time students said they spent on social media was associated with an increase in the severity of depression symptoms within that same year.” CNN adds, “The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that parents place consistent limits on how many hours per day their preteens or teens spend using screens.” Child and adolescent psychiatrist Gary Maslow, MD, “said in January that he often points his patients’ families to the American Academy of Pediatrics for tips on how to establish healthy social media habits at home.”

MedPage Today (7/15, Hlavinka) reports, “In a group of 3,826 adolescents, those with high levels of social media use had a 0.64-unit increase in depression symptoms (95% CI 0.32-0.51) on a scale of 0 to 28, and on the individual level, each hour of increased social media use within a year was associated with a 0.41-unit increase in depressive symptoms,” the study revealed. The findings were published online July 15 in JAMA Pediatrics. Also covering the study are MD Magazine (7/15, Campbell) and HealthDay (7/15, Preidt).

Related Links:

— “Increasing social media use tied to rise in teens’ depressive symptoms, study says, “Jacqueline Howard, CNN, July 15, 2019

HealthDay (7/12, Preidt) reported, “Teens who take prescription opioid” analgesics “to get high could be taking a step toward heroin use,” researchers concluded after studying some “3,300 students at 10 Los Angeles-area high schools who were followed from freshman year to senior year.” The findings were published online in JAMA Pediatrics.

Related Links:

— “Teens’ Opioid Abuse May Be Gateway to Heroin, “Robert Preidt, HealthDay, July 12, 2019