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As with any new drug, parents and doctors may worry that the use of GLP-1 weight-loss meds by children and teens might raise psychiatric risks, including the risk for suicide and suicidal thoughts. But a new study involving more than 54,000 U.S. adolescents found no such link. In fact, obese kids who used the drugs had a 33% decline in their risk for thoughts of suicide and suicide attempts compared to adolescents who didn’t, Israeli researchers reported. There could be many reasons driving the boost in mental outlook that comes with the use of drugs like Wegovy (semaglutide), said a team led by Dr. Liya Kerem, of Hadassah University Medical Center in Jerusalem. One is pretty straightforward: “Obesity during adolescence, by itself, is associated with diminished quality of life and increased risk for psychiatric disorders,” the researchers noted. So, as GLP-1 medications help teens shed pounds, their risk for thoughts of suicide may recede. The findings were published Oct. 14 in the journal JAMA Pediatrics. Sales of GLP-1 weight-loss medications like Wegovy and Zepbound (tirzepatide) have boomed among adults, and with 1 in every 5 U.S. children now obese, the drugs’ uptake by adolescents is also surging. However, Kerem’s team said the data on whether or not GLP-1 meds might trigger depression and other psychiatric issues has been mixed. “Suicide is the second most prevalent… read on > read on >

Alison Burke wanted to be there for her daughter following the girl’s diagnosis with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Then she noticed that a lot of what she was learning about ADHD sounded awfully familiar. “As I took her through that process and learned more about it, it was definitely like a light bulb moment,” Burke recalled. “I thought, I think a lot of this sounds familiar.” Burke is one of a growing number of adults who suspect they might have undiagnosed ADHD. About 25% of adults think they have ADHD that hasn’t been detected by a doctor, according to a new national survey by Ohio State University. However, only 13% have shared their suspicions with a doctor, the survey found. Doctors are concerned that these folks are diagnosing themselves and seeking out ineffective or quack treatments for ADHD. “Anxiety, depression and ADHD — all these things can look a lot alike, but the wrong treatment can make things worse instead of helping that person feel better and improving their functioning,” said psychologist Justin Barterian, a clinical assistant professor in Ohio State’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health. Burke believes that undiagnosed ADHD severely affected her self-worth. “I really struggled with feeling like I could be good at anything because it just felt like it took so much energy to get it accomplished,” Burke said in an… read on > read on >

A child’s risk of asthma can be cut by nearly half if their mother regularly works out while expecting, a new study says. Exercising three or more times a week while pregnant reduces a child’s risk of asthma by about 46%, researchers reported Oct. 9 in the journal Med. This level of protection is akin to an expecting mother or father quitting smoking while she’s pregnant, thus reducing her exposure to cigarette smoke, researchers noted. The results jibe with earlier studies that showed newborns have stronger lung function if their mothers regularly exercised during pregnancy, researchers noted. “This is the first time we are observing an association between maternal exercise and the development of asthma in the child,” said lead investigator Emma-Reetta Musakka, a doctoral student with the University of Eastern Finland. For the study, researchers analyzed data on nearly 1,000 mother-child pairs in Finland. The mothers were asked whether they’d exercised during pregnancy, and how often they worked out. The most common exercises were walking (34%), jogging (32%), strength training (29%) and group exercise classes or working out at home (22%). Mothers whose kids developed asthma tended to work out fewer than three times a week, results showed. The lower asthma risk associated with regular exercise held even after researchers accounted for other factors like a mom’s weight, stress or illness; family exercise habits… read on > read on >

Friendships forged during a person’s turbulent teenage years lay the essential foundation for their happiness later in life, a new study suggests. Being broadly accepted by peers in early adolescence and forming close connections as an older teen both predict how well-adjusted a person will be in adulthood, researchers found. “Friendships during the teenage years provide youth with one of their first forays into intimate consensual relationships,” said researcher David Szwedo, an associate professor of clinical and school psychology at James Madison University. “Because friends may come and go, friendships are a context in which teens must develop skills to maintain and grow the friendship or risk its loss,” he added in a news release. “These skills are likely to be subsequently helpful for forming future friendships and longer-term romantic relationships.” For the study, researchers interviewed 184 U.S. students at 13 and 14 and 17 and 18 years of age to measure the quality of their friendships and social acceptance. The team then caught up with the group at 28 to 30 years of age, asking about their health, careers and personal lives. Adults who thought their peers liked them as teens reported lower levels of anxiety and aggression, better physical health, more social connection, and higher satisfaction in their professional and romantic lives. The study also found that different types of friendship benefitted people… read on > read on >

More than 15.5 million U.S. adults have been diagnosed with ADHD, and nearly three-quarters of those taking medication to treat it say drug shortages are hampering their ability to get help, a new report finds. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a national survey conducted last fall found that 6% of adults have a current diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and just over half (about 56%) received that diagnosis in adulthood. Many aren’t receiving treatment to control the inattention, impulsivity and hyperactivity that characterize the condition. “Approximately one half of adults (50.4%) with ADHD were prescribed medications to treat their ADHD during the previous 12 months,” noted a team led by Brooke Staley of the CDC’s National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities. The vast majority of drug treatments involved stimulant medications such as Ritalin, Vyvanse, Concerta or Adderall. However, recent shortages of these meds are affecting most adult ADHD patients, the study also found. “Among adults who reported taking a stimulant medication, 71.5% reported difficulty getting their ADHD prescription filled during the previous 12 months because their medication was not available,” the CDC team said. That can lead to real problems for patients, because proper medication is tied to “reduced social and emotional impairment, unintentional injuries, substance use disorders, and the risk of death to unnatural… read on > read on >

A new study finds persistent loneliness taking a toll on aging brains and significantly raising a person’s odds for dementia. Research funded by the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health tracked self-reports of loneliness and the neurological health of more than 600,000 people worldwide. The study found loneliness was linked to a 31% rise in the likelihood that a person would go on to develop any form of dementia. Loneliness also raised the chances of cognitive impairment in people by 15%. According to study co-author Dr Páraic Ó Súilleabháin, of the University of Limerick, in Ireland, “These are very important findings and indicate that loneliness is a critically important risk factor in the future development of dementia.” The study was published Oct. 9 in the journal Nature Mental Health. In 2023, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy published a report on loneliness and isolation among Americans, labeling it an “epidemic.” The effects of loneliness on physical and mental health are already well known. “Our laboratory has found that loneliness is critical to future health in a variety of different ways, including our longevity — i.e. how long we live,” noted Ó Súilleabháin, who directs the Personality, Individual Differences and Biobehavioral Health Laboratory at the Irish university. “Loneliness is critically important for cognitive health, in that loneliness leads to the future development of dementia, vascular dementia,… read on > read on >

A study tracking almost 10,000 9- and 10-year olds for two years finds a link between time spent watching TV and other screens with a higher odds for ADHD and depression. “Screen use may replace time spent engaging in physical activity, sleep, socializing in-person and other behaviors that reduce depression and anxiety,” reasoned study lead author Dr. Jason Nagata, of the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). HIs team published its findings Oct. 7 in the journal BMC Public Health. As Nagata’s group noted, mental health issues have been on the rise among adolescents. “Adolescents are 50% more likely to experience a major depressive episode and 30% more likely to commit suicide today than they were 20 years ago,” according to a UCSF news release. At the same time, the average U.S. tween spends 5.5 hours per day looking at a screen, the researchers said, and that rises to 8.5 hours for teenagers. Could there be a link? To find out, Nagata’s team tracked data for 2016 through 2018 for 9,538 adolescents ages 9 and 10 enrolled in a major child brain development study. The children’s daily screen time and their rate of diagnoses for conduct disorders, depression, ADHD and other mental health issues were monitored. The study couldn’t prove cause-and-effect, but the team did find small but significant associations. “Higher total screen time was associated with… read on > read on >

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday finalized a rule that will require the removal of all lead pipes from the country’s water systems. “We’ve known for decades that lead exposure has serious long-term impacts for children’s health. And yet, millions of lead service lines are still delivering drinking water to homes,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan said in an agency news release announcing the finalization of the rule. “With the Lead and Copper Rule Improvements and historic investments in lead pipe replacement, the Biden-Harris Administration is fulfilling its commitment that no community, regardless of race, geography or wealth, should have to worry about lead-contaminated water in their homes.” Experts welcomed the change. “The EPA’s new lead rule will begin to reverse the massive public health disaster of lead-contaminated tap water that has affected generations of our children. Every person has a right to safe and affordable drinking water, no matter their race, income or zip code,” Manish Bapna, president and CEO of Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), said in the EPA news release. But one advocacy group noted the change falls short because it doesn’t also require water utilities to halt the contamination of lead in schools’ drinking water. “In setting a 10-year deadline for most utilities to replace lead pipes, the Biden administration is taking the most significant step to protect our drinking water from lead in… read on > read on >

“Black Box” warnings added to antidepressants might have contributed to an increase in suicide attempts and deaths among young people, a new evidence review claims. The warnings say that antidepressants might be associated with suicidal thoughts and behaviors in children and teens, and were intended to prompt doctors to more closely monitor young people prescribed the drugs, researchers said. Instead, the warnings caused doctors to think twice before prescribing antidepressants to youth, possibly prompting a decline in mental health among kids and teens, results show. “The sudden, simultaneous and sweeping effects of these warnings — the reduction in depression treatment and increase in suicide — are documented across 14 years of strong research,” said lead researcher Stephen Soumerai, a professor of population medicine at Harvard Medical School’s Pilgrim Health Care Institute. Since 2003, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has advised that antidepressants could be linked to suicidal thoughts and behaviors in young people. The FDA required that a Black Box warning be placed on antidepressants in 2005, notifying doctors of this possible effect in kids younger than 18. In 2007, the FDA expanded the warning to include young adults up to age 24. To see how the warning might have affected treatment of depression, researchers analyzed the pooled data from 11 studies between 2003 and 2022. The data show that fewer than 5% of… read on > read on >

Light therapy: It’s long been a go-to therapy for seasonal affective disorder (SAD), a kind of depression that can beset some people when winter looms and days shorten. But new research is suggesting that time spent in front of light box might ease other forms of depression as well. The new review of data was led by Artur Menegaz de Almeida, of the Federal University of Mato Grosso in Sinop, Brazil. His team noted that, right now, light therapy’s effectiveness has only been proven against SAD. However, “Bright light therapy has been studied as a potential adjunctive treatment for major depressive disorder, as light exposure is well understood to affect human mood and cognitive function,” he said in a news release from the American Psychiatric Association. Reporting Oct. 2 in the journal JAMA Psychiatry, the Brazilian team pored through data from 11 randomized clinical trials involving a total of 858 patients. These people had diagnoses of nonseasonal forms of major depression or bipolar depression. Some patients used light therapy in addition to whatever medication they had been prescribed. Therapy was defined as sitting in front of fluorescent 10,000 lux-powered light box for at least 30 minutes, with treatment lasting for between 1 and 6 weeks. Their outcomes were compared to those of patients on other adjunct treatments, such as air ionizers or dim red light. A… read on > read on >