In an over 1,600 word article, Kaiser Health News (10/26, Szabo) reports terminally ill patients who have sought assisted-suicide in states that have legalized the practice are more concerned about “controlling the way” they die “than controlling pain,” according to research on the subject. The article points out that advocates for assisted-suicide laws often argue that the laws allow people to end their pain, but research suggests this is not the primary motivation for many people who have sought assisted suicide. Dr. Lonny Shavelson of Berkeley, California, who specializes in caring for the terminally ill, said, “It’s almost never about pain. It’s about dignity and control.”

Related Links:

— “Terminally Ill Patients Don’t Use Aid-In-Dying Laws To Relieve Pain,” Liz Szabo, Kaiser Health News, October 26, 2016.

HCP Live (10/26, Lutz) reports, “In the three month period after experiencing a stroke, the risk for developing depression is as much as eight times higher,” researchers found after analyzing data on “157,000 patients” who “had a first time hospitalization for a stroke between January 1, 2001 and December 31, 2011,” and a matching “non stroke, hospitalized population” of controls. The findings were published in the October issue of JAMA Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Depression Risk Greater Soon after a Stroke,” Rachel Lutz, HCP Live, October 26, 2016.

Medscape (10/26, Lowry) reports, “A study that examined sexual health in persons aged 15 to 24 years who were attending a mental health clinic for a variety of mental disorders found low rates of contraception and high rates of unplanned pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs),” researchers found. The findings of the 103-participant study were presented at the IEPA 10th International Conference on Early Intervention in Mental Health.

Related Links:

— Medscape (requires login and subscription)

HealthDay (10/25, Preidt) reports, “Earthquakes, floods and other natural disasters may raise dementia risk for seniors forced to leave their homes,” researchers found after examining data on “nearly 3,600 survivors of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan,” all of whom “were 65 and older.” Investigators found that “the rate of dementia in this group was 4.1 percent before the disaster and 11.5 percent two-and-a-half years after the tsunami.”

Related Links:

— “Study Links Disasters to Dementia,” Robert Preidt, HealthDay, October 25, 2016.

Time (10/25, Sifferlin) reports investigators arrived at this conclusion after examining “the results of a study called the Preschool Autism Communication Trial” in which “152 kids from ages two to four were randomly assigned to a year of a parent-led intervention, in which their parents interacted with them and received feedback from a therapist gam), research published online Oct. 25 in The Lancet suggests that “children with autism may be able to work with” their parents “from a young age to help reduce the severity of their symptoms and improve their ability to communicate.”

Related Links:

— “How Parents Can Help Their Children With Autism,” Alexandra Sifferlin , Time, October 25, 2016.