HealthDay (6/27, Preidt) reports that research “finds no evidence that degenerative brain disorders can be transmitted via donated blood.” Investigators looked at data on approximately 40,000 patients, all of whom “had received blood transfusions between 1968 and 2012 from people who were later diagnosed with any form of dementia or Parkinson’s disease.” The researchers also looked at data on more than 1.4 million other patients.

The study indicated that “patients in both groups had exactly the same chance of developing a neurodegenerative disorder, which clearly shows that these diseases cannot be transmitted through blood transfusion, the researchers said.” The findings were published in Annals of Internal Medicine.

Related Links:

— “Donated Blood Won’t Transmit Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s Disease,” Robert Preidt, HealthDay, June 27, 2016.

USA Today (6/27, Shedrofsky) reports that in a report released Monday, the American Academy of Pediatrics suggests that family physicians “should screen teens for suicide risks in the wake of new information that shows suicide is the second leading cause of death among teens.” The group uses the report to provide “pediatricians with guidelines on how to identify and assist at-risk teens between the age of 15 to 19.” And, because “firearms in the home are associated with a higher risk of adolescent suicide,” the group “AAP urges parents of at-risk teens to remove guns and ammunition from their homes.”

Related Links:

— “Pediatricians urged to screen for suicide risks among teens,” Karina Shedrofsky, USA Today, June 27, 2016.

Medscape (6/24, Davenport) reported, “For adolescents, living with parents who have chronic migraine has a negative effect on activities of daily life and on school performance and is associated with increased rates of anxiety,” research suggests. The findings of the 1,411 parent-adolescent dyad study were presented at the American Headache Association’s annual meeting.

Related Links:

— Medscape (requires login and subscription)

USA Today (6/25, Park) reported on the nonprofit Crisis Text Line, “which has brought the 1-800 support line into the age of texting.” The text line offers 24-hour, seven-day-per-week trained counselors to “respond to people in need with SMS texts” that are both “anonymous and confidential.” USA Today also pointed out, “As suicide rates have climbed to alarming levels – the highest in three decades – public health and CDC researchers agree that suicide prevention needs more resources.” For example, “in 2013, more than 41,000 people in the” US “committed suicide, according to statistics collected by the US Department of Health and Human Services.”

Related Links:

— “Crisis Text Line takes suicide prevention into the age of texting,” Madison Park, , June 25, 2016.

HealthDay (6/24, Preidt) reports that National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism issued the results of a study, published in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, showing that the rate of US adults who “reported nonmedical use of addictive opioids in 2012-2013” was more than 4 percent, more than double the less than 2 percent rate a decade earlier. National Institute on Drug Abuse director Dr. Nora Volkow said the rise in opioid misuse “poses a myriad of serious public health consequences.” NIAAA director George Koob cautioned against the “potent interaction of opioids with alcohol and other sedative-hypnotic drugs – an interaction that can be lethal.”

Related Links:

— “Opioid Update: Painkiller Misuse in U.S. Doubled in Decade,” Robert Preidt, HealthDay, June 24, 2016.