CNN (3/14, Powell) reports on its website “that the rate of Americans who died from dementia has more than doubled from 30.5 deaths per 100,000 people in 2000 to 66.7 in 2017,” according to a report from the National Center for Health Statistics. Dr. Ellen Kramarow, the report’s lead author, said that part of the increase is due to the population aging, “If people live longer, they don’t die of other causes, so they live to the point where the risk for dementia is higher.”

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (3/14, Pirani) reports that CDC Director Dr. Robert R. Redfield said, “Early diagnosis is key to helping people and their families cope with loss of memory, navigate the health care system, and plan for their care in the future.”

Related Links:

— “Deaths from dementia have more than doubled in US, report says, “Denise Powell, CNN, March 14, 2019

Reuters (3/13, Carroll) reports researchers found that people with “second- or third-degree relatives with Alzheimer’s” disease may have an increased risk of developing the disease themselves. The findings were published in Neurology.

Additional coverage is provided by HealthDay (3/13, Gordon), Healio (3/13, Demko), Newsweek (3/13, Gander), and the Telegraph (UK) (3/13, Knapton).

Related Links:

— “Great-grandparents or cousins with Alzheimer’s linked to higher risk for the disease, “Linda Carroll, Linda Carroll, March 13, 2019

The Philadelphia (PA) Inquirer (3/13, Giordano) reports, “In a new program developed at the Yale Child Study Center called SPACE, or Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions,” adults “are being taught to help their kids manage anxiety by reducing – lovingly and supportively – the accommodations the adults make for their children’s symptoms.” A 124-child study published online March 6 “in the Journal of the American Academy of Childhood and Adolescent Psychiatry…found this admittedly old-school approach of limiting accommodations was not only effective but appeared to work as well as…cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT).” The Inquirer adds, “Nearly a third of adolescents have had an anxiety disorder, and more than eight percent of them experience severe impairment, according to the National Institute of Mental Health.”

Related Links:

— “Childhood anxiety treatment may best be targeted at parents, study finds, “Rita Giordano, The Philadelphia Inquirer, March 13, 2019

Two public service announcements about suicide awareness and prevention which were produced by high school students in Montgomery County, Maryland, are being played in local movie theaters. From the article at Patch.Com:

Two student-produced public service announcements about suicide awareness and prevention will be shown at local movie theaters.

The students created the PSAs for a contest aimed at preventing teen suicide, which — according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — is the second leading cause of death for youth between the ages of 10 and 19.

Read more here: Suicide PSA By High School Students To Play In Local Theaters

HealthDay (3/12, Preidt) reports that taking medications to treat attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD) will not raise the risk of seizures in people with epilepsy, researchers concluded after analyzing “data from thousands of epilepsy patients in Sweden.” The findings were published online Jan. 25 in the journal Epilepsia. HealthDay adds, “Approximately nine percent of children aged two to 17 have had” a diagnosis of AD/HD, “according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”

Related Links:

— “ADHD Meds Safe With Epilepsy, Study Finds, “Robert Preidt, HealthDay, March 12, 2019