The CBS News (1/10, Welch) website reports, “A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention” published Jan. 11 in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report “reveals that drug overdose deaths among females aged 30 to 64 have skyrocketed in recent years.”

The NBC News (1/10, Fox) website reports that “deaths from drug overdoses increased by 260 percent among women aged 30 to 64 between 1999 and 2017.” In addition, “the rate of drug overdose deaths from opioids increased by an enormous 492 percent among women aged 30 to 64,” investigators revealed.

CNN (1/10, Howard) reports that for the study, researchers focused on “nationwide mortality data on people living in the United States between 1999 and 2017.” The data used in the study “came from the National Vital Statistics System, which is based on information from death certificates.” The study team closely examined “overdose death rates among women ages 30 to 64 overall and then by drug type: antidepressants, benzodiazepines, cocaine, heroin, prescription opioids and synthetic opioids, excluding methadone.”

Related Links:

— “Drug overdose deaths skyrocket among middle-aged women, “Ashley Welch, CBS News, January 10, 2019

According to Reuters (1/8, Rapaport), children “may be more likely to develop depression and anxiety when their parents are regular drinkers, even when neither parent drinks enough to be considered an alcoholic,” researchers concluded after studying “8,773 children from 6,696 two-parent families.” The findings were published online Jan. 7 in JAMA Pediatrics.

Related Links:

— “Even ‘non-problem’ drinking by parents tied to mental health problems in kids, “Lisa Rapaport, Reuters, January 8, 2019

HealthDay (1/7, Reinberg) reports that research published online Jan. 7 in the journal Cancer looked into suicide risk after a new cancer diagnosis. After examining “data on U.S. cancer patients in a national database between 2000 and 2014,” investigators found that the “risk is most pronounced in the year following the diagnosis.” They also found that “the risk for suicide among newly diagnosed cancer patients…varies by the type of cancer,” with the “greatest risk” seen among patients “with pancreatic and lung cancer.”

Related Links:

— “Suicide Risk Rises Following Cancer Diagnosis, “Steven Reinberg, HealthDay, January 7, 2019.

Medscape (1/7, McNamara, Subscription Publication) reports, “Adults with cerebral palsy (CP) are more likely to experience symptoms of depression and/or anxiety compared with adults without the motor disorder,” research indicated. The study revealed that “the risk for depression among 1705 adults with CP was 43% higher compared with a group of 5115 adults without CP.” In addition, people with CP “had a 40% increased risk for anxiety,” the study revealed. The findings were published online Dec. 28 in JAMA Neurology.

Related Links:

— Medscape (requires login and subscription)

The New York Times (1/4, Kaplan) reported that the Food and Drug Administration “is accusing Juul and Altria of reneging on promises they made to the government to keep e-cigarettes away from minors.” FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, M.D., “is drafting letters to both companies that will criticize them for publicly pledging to remove nicotine flavor pods from store shelves, while secretly negotiating a financial partnership that seems to do the opposite.” He “plans to summon top executives of the companies to F.D.A. headquarters to explain how they will stick to their agreements given their new arrangement.”

Related Links:

— “FDA accusing Juul, Altria of backing off plan to keep e-cigarettes away from minors, “Sheila Kaplan, The New York Times, January 4, 2019