The Denver Post (8/10, Seaman) reported, “Teenagers with serious antisocial behaviors and substance-use histories are more likely to die prematurely,” research indicated. After following some “1,463 youths in their mid- to late- teens who had been arrested or referred to counseling for substance abuse or ‘conduct disorder’ for about 15 years,” investigators “found that ‘conduct disorder,’ a mental health disorder that involves aggressive behaviors, such as property destruction, lying and thievery, in youths may be as much of a predictor of early death as substance abuse.” The findings were published online Aug. 9 in the journal Addiction.

Related Links:

— “Teenagers with conduct and substance abuse problems are more likely to die young, Colorado researchers find, “Jessica Seaman, The Denver Post, August 10, 2018.

HealthDay (8/9, Preidt) reports, “As a tool to reduce the public health toll of drinking, higher taxes on alcohol get the most bang for the buck,” researchers concluded. After examining “data from 16 countries to find out which of five alcohol-control strategies would be most cost-effective in reducing alcohol-related harm and deaths,” investigators found that “a 50 percent increase in alcohol excise taxes…would cost less than $100 for each healthy year of life gained in the overall population.” In addition, “it would add 500 healthy years of life for every one million people, the” study found. What’s more, “such a tax increase would be pennies per drink, according to” findings published online Aug. 9 in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.

Related Links:

— “For Pennies a Drink, Higher Taxes Would Help Counter Alcohol’s Toll: Study, “Robert Preidt, HealthDay, August 09, 2018.

Reuters (8/9, Rapaport) reports, “Pregnant women who have both severe obesity and diabetes may be more likely to have children with autism,” attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD), and “other psychiatric disorders than mothers who don’t have either condition during pregnancy,” research indicated.

Healio (8/9, Thiel) reports, “Pregestational diabetes mellitus combined with severe maternal obesity was associated with risk for children’s psychiatric and mild neurodevelopmental disorders, compared with diabetes or obesity separately,” researchers concluded after using “nationwide registry data of all live births in Finland from 2004 and 2014 (n = 649,043).” The findings were published online Aug. 9 in Pediatrics.

Related Links:

— “Obesity, diabetes in pregnancy may raise kids’ risk of psychiatric disorders, “Lisa Rapaport, Reuters, August 09, 2018.

HealthDay (8/8, Preidt) reports, “The agony of severe diarrhea can make some people with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) wish they were dead,” survey findings reveal.

Healio Gastroenterology (8/8, Young) reports that a survey indicates that “more than 10% of patients with diarrhea predominant irritable bowel syndrome admitted to feeling suicidal thoughts.” The findings of the 513-patient survey were published online in the UEG Journal.

Related Links:

— “Severe Diarrhea Can Send IBS Patients Over the Edge, “Robert Preidt, HealthDay, August 08, 2018.

Reuters (8/8, Kelland) reports research reveals that “people who exercise several times a week report having better mental health than those who take no exercise, with team sports and those involving social groups having the most positive effect.” What’s more, “exercising for around 45 minutes three to five times a week was associated with the biggest benefits,” researchers concluded after using “data from 1.2 million adults across all 50 U.S. states who had been asked to estimate how often in the past 30 days they would rate their mental health as ‘not good’ based on stress, depression and emotional problems.”

MedPage Today (8/8, Monaco) reports, “This positive association between exercise and improved mental health was even more pronounced in those who had a previous diagnosis of depression, marked by an average of 3.75 fewer days of poor mental health per month,” the study revealed. The findings were published online Aug. 8 in The Lancet Psychiatry. The author of an accompanying editorial “highlighted that one major drawback to this analysis was the placement of ‘mental health’ into one category.” TIME (8/8, Ducharme) also covers the study.

Related Links:

— “Exercise linked to better mental health – but too much may do harm, “Kate Kelland, Reuters, August 08, 2018.