HealthDay (11/2, Thompson) reports, “Young adults who are problem drinkers tend to suffer from more health problems later in life than non-drinkers, even if they conquered their alcoholism years earlier,” researchers found after reviewing “the long-term health records of over 600 US male veterans, about half of whom had a drinking problem in their youth.” The findings were published in the November issue of the Journal of Studies on Alcohol & Drugs.

Related Links:

— “Heavy Drinking While Young May Mean Hefty Health Tab Later,” Dennis Thompson, HealthDay, November 2, 2016.

HealthDay (11/2, Thompson) reports, “Subtle feelings of loneliness might warn of impending Alzheimer’s disease in older folks,” researchers say after finding that “healthy seniors with elevated brain levels of amyloid – a type of protein fragment associated with Alzheimer’s disease – seem more likely to feel lonely than people with lower levels of amyloid.”

Healio (11/2, Oldt) points out, “Cognitively normal older adults with higher cortical amyloid burden or apolipoprotein E 4 were more likely to report loneliness, suggesting it may be a neuropsychiatric symptom of preclinical Alzheimer’s disease,” researchers theorized after conducting “cross-sectional analyses of data from the Harvard Aging Brain Study for 79 community-dwelling participants” in which “cortical amyloid burden was measured by Pittsburgh Compound B-positron emission tomography (PiB-PET).”

The findings were published online Nov. 2 in JAMA Psychiatry. The author of an accompanying editorial observed that the study’s conclusions merit “replication in larger samples and longitudinal designs.”

Related Links:

— “Could Loneliness Be an Early Sign of Alzheimer’s?,” Dennis Thompson, HealthDay, November 2, 2016.

Healio (11/1, Oldt) reports, “Rates of violent reoffending were lower among released prisoners in Sweden when they were dispensed antipsychotics, psychostimulants and medication for addictive disorders,” researchers found after analyzing “data from population-based registers for 22,275 released prisoners in Sweden.”

HealthDay (11/1, Preidt) reports, “Antidepressants and antiepileptics” appeared not to “have an effect on violent crime rates, the study found.” While “psychological treatments targeting general criminal attitudes and substance abuse also helped lower the likelihood of violent crimes,” the effects “weren’t stronger than those for medications, the researchers said.” The findings were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Related Links:

— “Psychiatric Drugs May Reduce Ex-Prisoners’ Violent Crime Rate,” Robert Preidt, HealthDay, November 1, 2016.

The New York Times (10/31, A23, De La Cruz, Subscription Publication) reports, “The number of children being hospitalized because of prescription opioid poisoning has risen sharply since 1997, especially among toddlers and older teenagers,” investigators found in a study published online Oct. 31 in JAMA Pediatrics.

The Wall Street Journal (10/31, A3, Whalen, Subscription Publication) reports that children fours years of age and under are especially at risk of being poisoned after swallowing medicines their parents have. Adolescents are also poisoned while abusing opioid medications, and some teens use such medicines as a way of committing suicide, the study revealed.

In “To Your Health,” the Washington Post (10/31, Cha) reports that the study authors arrived at these conclusions after analyzing “discharge papers collected every three years from a representative sample of pediatric hospitals nationwide.” Those data revealed that “13,052 children were hospitalized for poisonings from opioid prescriptions of” medications containing opioids “during six years between 1997 to 2012. Of those, 176 died.”

Related Links:

— “Opioid Poisonings Rise Sharply Among Toddlers and Teenagers,” DONNA DE LA CRUZ, New York Times, October 31, 2016.

In continuing coverage, Kaiser Health News (10/31, Gold) reports, “Acknowledging that ‘there is more work to be done’ to ensure that patients with mental illness and addiction do not face discrimination,” the Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Parity Task Force “made a series of recommendations” in a report (pdf) released last “Friday, including $9.3 million in funding to improve enforcement of the federal parity law.”

According to Kaiser Health News, “the American Psychiatric Association was also on board.” APA CEO and medical director Saul Levin, MD, MPA, said, “Adoption of the Task Force recommendations is essential to achievement of parity for patients with mental illness.” Dr. Levin added, “APA trusts that Congress and the Administration will work together to ensure that the recommendations become reality.”

Related Links:

— “Presidential ‘Parity’ Panel Offers Steps To Treat Mental Illness Like Other Disease,” Jenny Gold, Kaiser Health News, October 31, 2016.