The Los Angeles Times (5/8, Karlamangla) reports some physicians are referring to their patients to peer support groups to help them cope with chronic diseases that can affect their lifestyles. The article highlights one such group in Los Angeles for patients with diabetes, and points out that the Department of Health and Human Services’ Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality recommends peer groups as a way to address concerns that might not be given adequate attention during a short visit with a physician.

Related Links:

— “Doctors turn to the power of peer groups to help diabetics,” Soumya Karlamangla, Los Angeles Times, May 8, 2017.

Healio (5/5, Polhamus) reported that President Trump’s proposed 2018 budget “would all but eliminate funding for the Office of National Drug Control Policy [ONDCP], the agency spearheading the fight against the national opioid epidemic, according to a report from Politico.” As it stands now, “the White House’s budget proposal allots $24 million for fiscal 2018, a 95% decrease from the $388 million in federal funds the office received in 2017.”

Related Links:

— “White House budget proposal slashes funding for drug control office by 95%,” Andy Polhamus, Healio, May 5, 2017.

HealthDay (5/8, Miller) reports that research suggests “a child bullied in fifth grade is more likely to show signs of depression in seventh grade, and abuse substances like alcohol, marijuana or tobacco in 10th grade.” Investigators came to this conclusion after studying approximately 4,000 children. The findings were published in Pediatrics.

Related Links:

— “Bullied in 5th Grade, Prone to Drug Abuse by High School,” Gia Miller, HealthDay, May 8, 2017.

In continuing coverage, the Washington Post (5/8, Andrews) reports in “Morning Mix” that “from 2008 to 2015, the percentage of children ages 5 to 17 hospitalized for suicidal thoughts or actions more than doubled,” researchers found after examining “data on suicidal or self-harm diagnoses from 32 children’s hospitals across” the US. Included in the study were data on some 118,363 instances. The findings were presented at the 2017 Pediatric Academic Societies Meeting.

Related Links:

— “Percentage of teens and young children hospitalized for suicidal thoughts doubled from 2008 to 2015, study finds,” Travis M. Andrews, Washington Post, May 8, 2017.

Medscape (5/8, Brooks) reports, “Updated quality measures for the care of patients with dementia encourage physicians to disclose the diagnosis to patients and” those who provide their care. In a press release, the American Psychiatric Association acknowledged, “This is an ‘especially important and potentially controversial’ new addition to the measures on high-quality dementia care.”

The article quotes Robert Paul Roca, MD, MPH, “chair of the APA Council on Geriatric Psychiatry and co-chair of the working group that updated the dementia quality measures,” who said, “There is reluctance on the part of physicians to have this conversation because we really have no definitive disease-altering treatments, so physicians are concerned about the impact of the diagnosis on patients and caregivers.”

He added, “But we know that people want to know what ails them. They don’t want diagnoses withheld from them, so we felt it was important to include a measure that would prompt people to disclose the diagnosis,” he said.

The updated quality care measures were published online May 1 in the American Journal of Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— Medscape (requires login and subscription)