USA Today (9/4, Gomez) reports a report released by the Office of Inspector General (OIG) for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) contents that “migrant children who were separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexican border under the Trump administration’s ‘zero tolerance’ policy suffered a wide range of mental trauma, including symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.” Moreover, “the children, many of whom had already endured extreme mental and physical trauma in their home countries, were hit with a second round of distress when they were separated by U.S. officials, according to the report.”

The Wall Street Journal (9/4, Hackman, Subscription Publication) reports the agency found in its report that the migrant children did not receive proper mental healthcare while in US custody. The Office of Refugee Resettlement reportedly claimed it faced difficulties recruiting mental healthcare professionals.

Related Links:

— “Government watchdog: Separated migrant children suffered PTSD, other mental trauma, “Alan Gomez, USA TODAY, September 4, 2019

Psychiatric News (9/4) reports that children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD) “who play sports may be more likely to report a greater number of concussion-like symptoms and perform worse on balance tests when administered a common concussion assessment than those who do not have” AD/HD, research indicated. The findings of the 464-middle school athlete study were published online Aug. 30 in the Journal of Pediatrics.

Related Links:

— “Children With ADHD May Be More Likely to Report Concussion Symptoms, Psychiatric News, September 4, 2019

Healio (9/4, Demko) reports, “Preexisting mood, anxiety and somatoform disorders were linked to an increased risk for bilateral oophorectomy over a 20-year period, even after confirmation of a nonmalignant diagnosis,” researchers concluded after identifying “1,653 cases and 1,653 age-matched controls after reviewing medical records in a population-based records-linkage system,” then calculating “the risk for mood disorders, bipolar disorders, anxiety disorders, schizophrenia, somatoform disorders, personality disorders, dissociative disorders and adjustment disorders” after adjusting for confounding factors. The findings were published online Aug. 30 in the journal Menopause.

Related Links:

— “Psychiatric disorders tied to unnecessary oophorectomy, “Savannah Demko, Healio, September 4, 2019

MedPage Today (9/3, George) reports, “Treating delirium with antipsychotic medications and using haloperidol (Haldol) to prevent it showed little or no benefit over placebo, a pair of systematic reviews published” online Sept. 3 in the Annals of Internal Medicine found. In fact, “across 16 randomized controlled trials and 10 observational studies, haloperidol and second-generation (a.k.a. ‘atypical’) antipsychotics to treat delirium did not differ from placebo for outcomes including sedation status, delirium duration, hospital length of stay, or mortality,” one review found. In addition, “in a separate review of 14 delirium prevention trials,” investigators found that “haloperidol did not decrease in delirium incidence or duration, hospital length of stay, or mortality relative to placebo or other comparators.”

Related Links:

— “Little Benefit for Haldol, Antipsychotics to Treat or Prevent Delirium, “Judy George, MedPage Today, September 3, 2019

Healio (9/3, Demko) reports, “Children of incarcerated parents were more likely to develop a substance use disorder and anxiety disorder as adults,” researchers concluded. The findings of the 1,420-participant, longitudinal study were published online Aug. 23 in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “Parental incarceration linked to adult psychiatric outcomes in offspring, “Savannah Demko, Healio, September 3, 2019