In a front-page article, the Washington Post (3/4, A1, Bernstein) reports the rights of those suffering from mental disabilities to receive transplants is “emerging [as an] ethical issue” in medicine. Currently, physicians, “nurses, psychologists and social workers at 815 US transplant programs are free to take neurocognitive disabilities such as autism into consideration any way they want,” which the Post says has led to a wide range of variation across these programs.

A spokesperson for Health and Human Services said in a statement that the department has been working “to clarify the obligations of covered entities participating in the transplant process and to provide equal access to their programs to individuals with disabilities.”

Related Links:

— “People with autism, intellectual disabilities fight bias in transplants,” Lenny Bernstein, Washington Post, March 4, 2017.

HealthDay (3/6, Norton) reports that research published in Pediatrics suggests kids “with certain mental or behavioral disorders” may have higher “risk of abuse or neglect.” Investigators found that “overall…children with autism, Down syndrome or certain birth defects, such as spina bifida, were not at heightened risk of abuse.”

However, kids “with intellectual disabilities were,” as were “kids who fell into the broad category of ‘mental or behavioral disorder’ – which included problems ranging from depression and anxiety to developmental delays to personality disorders.” Data on nearly half a million Australian children were used in the study.

Related Links:

— “Disabled Kids at Higher Risk of Abuse, Study Finds,” Amy Norton, HealthDay, March 6, 2017.

HealthDay (3/6, Preidt) reports, “Mental health patients are more likely to reject treatment if it involves only” medication, researchers found after analyzing “186 studies of patients who sought help for mental health conditions.” Investigators found that “overall, the average treatment refusal rate was more than eight percent.” The findings were published online March 6 in Psychotherapy.

Related Links:

— “Patients Often Reject Drug-Only Psychiatric Treatment,” Robert Priedt, HealthDay, March 6, 2017.

Reuters (3/2, Crist) reports that research suggests kids “under age 5 are more likely to accidentally get injured if their mothers are having a depression or anxiety episode.” Investigators found that “the rates of child poisonings, small fractures and minor burns increased during these episodes – with poisonings more than doubled when mothers suffered both depression and anxiety – but there was no link to more severe injuries such as third-degree burns or femur fractures.” Investigators came to this conclusion after looking at “hospitalization data for more than 200,000 children.” The findings were published online in Injury Prevention.

Related Links:

— “Children of depressed mothers at risk for unintentional injuries,” Carolyn Crist, Reuters, March 3, 2017.

MedPage Today (3/1, Walker) reports a study published in Occupational & Environmental Medicine found “young children whose mothers were exposed to pyrethroid insecticides while pregnant showed increased rates of behavioral difficulties.”

Researchers from the French national research institute INSERM determined that, “after adjusting for certain potential confounders, there was a positive association between high prenatal concentrations in maternal urine of certain neurotoxic chemicals found in insecticides, on one hand, and on the other, internalizing behavioral difficulties at age 6 in offspring.”

The report explains that “there was a more than twofold increased risk of abnormal or borderline social behavior” for children showing the highest exposure levels.

Related Links:

— “Insecticide Exposure Linked to Behavioral Problems in Kids — Associations found for both pregnant women, young children,” Molly Walker , MedPage Today, March 1, 2017.