Reuters (9/27, Rapaport) reports that giving stimulants to children with AD/HD “may not help them complete homework or get better grades,” according to a small study published in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. Researchers randomly assigned 75 children “to receive either behavioral treatment that included daily report cards for kids and coaching parents to help with homework or a long-acting stimulant.”

Children “were around 8 years old on average, but ranged from 5 to 12” and all had a diagnosis of AD/HD. The results suggest that medication “had no significant effects on homework completion or accuracy, compared with a placebo,” whereas children receiving behavioral treatment “got 10 percent to 13 percent more homework problems finished and completed 8 percent more problems accurately than they did without the treatment.”

Related Links:

— “ADHD drugs no help with homework,” Lisa Rapaport, Reuters, September 27, 2016.

HealthDay (9/27, Preidt) reports that research suggests high utility bills may “cause anxiety and depression in low-income families.” Researchers studied “72 families in the Boston area with annual incomes of $32,000 or less.” The investigators found that “the inability to pay utility bills caused mental health problems such as anxiety and depression.” The findings were published online in Social Science and Medicine.

Related Links:

— “High Utility Bills Strain More Than the Budget,” Robert Preidt, HealthDay, September 27, 2016.

USA Today (9/26, Nelson) reports on the opioid epidemic citing a report from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration that found 2.1 million people abused prescription opioids in 2012. Tom Hill, a senior adviser on addiction and recovery at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s Substance Abuse Treatment Center, has “said that addiction affects everyone.”

Related Links:

— “The opioid addict next door: Drug abuse where you least expect it,” Samantha Nelson, USA Today, September 27, 2016.

The AP (9/26, Daly) reports the House is expected to vote on a bill that would require the Department of Veterans Affairs to “ensure that all telephone calls, text messages and other communications received by the crisis line are answered in a timely manner by an appropriately qualified person.” The article reports that according to a former director of a suicide hotline for veterans, more than one-third of the calls received “are not being answered by front-line staffers because of poor work habits and other problems at the Department of Veterans Affairs.”

The New York Times (9/24, SR5, Velasquez-Manoff, Subscription Publication) reported that “when taken during pregnancy, acetaminophen may increase the risk that children will develop asthma or” even attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD). For example, research recently published “in the International Journal of Epidemiology found that prenatal acetaminophen use increased seven-year-olds’ risk of asthma by 13 percent.” Moreover, a JAMA Pediatrics study “noted that a mother’s use of the pain reliever in midpregnancy increased seven-year-olds’ risk of hyperactivity by 31 percent.”

Related Links:

— “The Trouble With Tylenol and Pregnancy,” MOISES VELASQUEZ-MANOFF, New York Times, September 24, 2016.