February 8, 2010 6:26 am
posted by Aric Thorpe, MHR
High BMI associated with late onset of puberty in boys
Since the 1960s the instance of obesity in American girls and boys has nearly tripled. Many scientists are worried about the relationship between obesity and proper development in children and adolescents. A variety of studies have examined the association between early onset of puberty in girls and obesity. However, a new study reported online in the Feb. 1 issue of the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine has found an association between high BMI and puberty in boys. Contrary to what is found in girls, boys with a higher BMI are found to have a later onset of puberty. Specifically, the longitudinal study examined a sample of boys at 11.5 years old and found that boys with the highest body mass index were 165% more likely to be prepubertal. According to Joyce M. Lee, MD, MPH, of the University of Michigan, and colleagues, “This longitudinal study provides further evidence that higher BMI during early and middle childhood is not associated with earlier pubertal onset in boys, contrary to what is seen in girls… in fact, higher BMI in earlier childhood may be associated with and precede later onset of puberty among a population-based sample of U.S. boys.” Click here to read an article from Endocrine Today that discusses this study more.
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February 5, 2010 8:39 am
posted by Aric Thorpe, MHR
Aerobic exercise may have benefits for patients with chronic schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a chronic disease associated with a decrease in the size of the hippocampus and an inhibiting of the production of new neurons. The hippocampus plays an important part in spatial navigation and memory; researchers theorize that schizophrenia is chronic in part due to the brain’s apparent limited ability to produce new neurons in this population. According to a study published in the February Archives of General Psychiatry, aerobic exercise may have benefits for patients with chronic schizophrenia. The study found that participants with schizophrenia, after three months of aerobic exercise, experienced a significant increase in the volume of the hippocampus. According to Frank-Gerald Pajonk, MD, of Dr K. Fontheim’s Hospital for Mental Health in Liebenburg, Germany, and colleagues, the increase in volume was also accompanied by slight increases in markers of neuron production and short-term memory. While it is too early to speculate whether or not incorporating aerobic exercise into treatment programs would cause a decrease in symptoms associated with schizophrenia, the researchers all agreed that the clinical benefits of aerobic exercise in this population should be examined more closely. Click here to read an article from Modern Medicine that discusses this study more.
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February 3, 2010 12:04 pm
posted by Aric Thorpe, MHR
Fish Oil to the Rescue
According to a study published in the February Archives of General Psychiatry, high risk psychiatric patients were less likely to have psychotic episodes when taking fish oil / omega-3 (w-3) polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs). The small randomized clinical trial found that less than 5% of patients that were given fish oil had psychotic episodes, compared to 25% of patients who were given placebo. The authors of the study relayed the obvious; a preventative measure with such little risk to the patient should be seriously considered despite the need for further research. According to G. Paul Amminger, MD, of the Medical University of Vienna in Austria, and co-authors, “The present trial strongly suggests that w-3 PUFAs may offer a viable prevention and treatment strategy with minimal associated risk in young people at ultra-high risk of psychosis, which should be further explore… [fish oil] is an ideal candidate for indicated prevention in young people at risk of psychosis, in whom the use of antipsychotic medication is controversial.” Click here to read an article from the BBC that discusses this study more.
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February 2, 2010 7:01 am
posted by Aric Thorpe, MHR
Childhood difficulties have adverse effects on mental health in later life
According to findings from an analysis of the National Comorbidity Survey Replication, childhood difficulties have adverse effects on mental health in later life. According to Ronald C. Kessler, PhD, of Harvard, and colleagues, adversities faced during childhood potentially explain 32.4% of all psychiatric disorders. The study, reported in the February issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry, found that childhood sexual abuse, neglect, substance-abusing parents and adversities related to family dysfunction had the strongest link to the onset of persistent psychiatric disorders. According to the authors, “Childhood trauma upsets the orderly psychological and biological cascades of development, leaving the affected individual at increased risk of a wide range of adverse mental health outcome… It is unrealistic to think that we could protect all children from all adversities, but can we identify factors that bolster resilience and focus our efforts on the most vulnerable subgroups.” Click here to read an article from Medpage Today that discusses this study more.
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January 29, 2010 5:44 pm
posted by Aric Thorpe, MHR
Is cyber therapy worth it?
Ubaldo Leli, MD, an analyst in private practice in New York City who is vice president of the China American Psychoanalytic Alliance (CAPA), conducted his first online analysis of a patient in China in 2004 via Skype while stateside. Since then Dr. Leli regularly uses the program to work with clients in China as well as to train clinicians there. Although this method of communication may be seen as inappropriate by many conservative clinicians, cyber therapy is becoming more and more prevalent. However, individuals like Dr. Leli openly admit that there are issues that arise. In particular, difficulties surrounding language barriers as well as cultural interpretation can be difficult in a setting where subtle inflections of voice and changes in body language cannot be as easily observed. “You have to pay more attention to the word the person uses and what exactly they mean by it,” Ralph Fishkin, DO, who is also on CAPA’s board, said. “You have to ask yourself if you’re precisely understanding their feelings.” Perhaps questions defining the debate should be centered around whether inconsistencies in communication during cyber therapy are worth the gains of reaching individuals in remote areas where services are not readily available. Click here to read an article from Medpage Today that discusses this idea more.
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January 26, 2010 6:36 am
posted by Aric Thorpe, MHR
Are physicians too quick to medicate for ADHD?
Between the year 1990 and 1998 the number of children and adults diagnosed with ADHD rose dramatically. In 1990 those diagnosed were estimated to be around 900,000; this number is now approaching 5 million. Many psychologists feel that these numbers are reflective of tendencies of physicians to be too quick to medicate. According to Esther Fine, PhD, a psychoanalyst in private practice in Los Angeles, the etiology of the disease is not understood well enough; while it may be that there are a variety of instances where neurological causes are central to cases of ADHD, children may be just as, or more, responsive to psychotherapy. According to Fine, “Unfortunately, it is now a prevalent notion that it is no longer necessary or relevant to understand the unconscious meaning of psychological symptom… It’s becoming a popular idea to consider psychoanalysis, and even psychotherapy, ‘dinosaurs’ in the treatment of mental disorders.” Mark D. Smaller, PhD, a psychoanalyst in private practice in Chicago, commenting, relayed that he felt much of the problem was due to the desire of parents and teachers to have a quick fix for unwanted child and adolescent behaviors. Click here to read an article from Medpage Today that discusses this study more.
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January 15, 2010 7:04 am
posted by Aric Thorpe, MHR
30% of nursing home residents prescribed antipsychotics in 2006
According to a study published in the January 11th Archives of Internal Medicine, 30% of nursing home residents were prescribed antipsychotic drugs in the year 2006, one year after the FDA issued a mortality warning about prescribing these drugs to the elderly; approximately 1/3 of this population had no indication that the drugs were necessary. According to Yong Chen, MD, of the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester, among nursing homes where antipsychotic drug use rates were the highest, residents had a risk ratio of 1.37 (95% CI 1.24 to 1.51) for receiving at least one antipsychotic drug. According to Nancy Walsh, writer for Medpage Today, “This elevated risk associated with facility-level prescribing was seen for patients with dementia but no psychosis (RR 1.40, 95% CI 1.23 to 1.59), and in residents with neither psychosis nor dementia (RR 1.54, 95% CI 1.24 to 1.91)…” Click here to read the entire article from Medpage Today.
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January 14, 2010 12:23 pm
posted by Aric Thorpe, MHR
Army wives pay a significant price when spouses have lengthy deployment
According to a study reported in the January 14th issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, army wives pay a significant price related to emotional health when spouses are deployed for long periods of time. According to the study, the longer the soldiers spent in Afghanistan or Iraq, the likelihood that their wives would seek out psychiatric treatment increased. These numbers were significantly higher when spouses were deployed for a year or more. The study found that some individual diagnoses were sometimes as high as threefold among wives of soldiers with long deployments. According to Alyssa J. Mansfield, PhD, MPH, of RTI International in Research Triangle Park, N.C., “Overall, our data suggest that the mental health effects of current operations are extending beyond soldiers and into their immediate families… without persuasive evidence that male spouses had a similar pattern of effects, it was not appropriate to generalize these results to husbands and wives. Therefore, we opted to be conservative and restrict our analyses to wives (approximately 95% of the complete sample); this limited the generalizability of our results according.” Click here to read an article from Modern Medicine that discusses this study more.
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January 13, 2010 5:03 pm
posted by Aric Thorpe, MHR
50% reduction of antipsychotic drug use among older patients with dementia
According to information reported in the January Archives of Internal Medicine, doctors have decreased the instance of prescribing antipsychotic drugs to older patients with dementia after warnings from the FDA. According to the investigators, from 2004 to 2008 the use of antipsychotic drugs among older patients with dementia decreased by 50%; however, a review of antipsychotic drug use during the same period revealed that aging patients with dementia still accounted for 10% of those prescribed this type of drug. According to E. Ray Dorsey, MD, of the University of Rochester in New York, and colleagues, “Without clinical data, the appropriateness of this use is uncertain… targeting specific segments of patients and physicians and further customizing and evaluating the impact of regulatory actions may improve their impact at minimizing the risks associated with select prescription medications.” Click here to read an article from Business Week that discusses these findings more.
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January 12, 2010 12:19 pm
posted by Aric Thorpe, MHR
Morphine may help to prevent PTSD in combat injured military personnel
According to findings published in the January 14th issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, the use of morphine may actually help to prevent posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) developments in combat injured military personnel. According to Lisa Holbrook, PhD, of the Naval Health Research Center in San Diego, and colleagues, “our findings suggest that the use of morphine after serious injury may be a first-line defense against the development of PTSD… the logical conclusion to be made on the basis of these data is that a reduction in perceived pain levels through the use of morphine or other opiates as part of trauma care may lower the rate of PTSD onset after major trauma.” Previous studies had found that the use of pharmacology served as a good secondary prevention of PTSD; it interfered with fear response and the consolidation of memory associated with trauma. Click here to read a blog from NPR that discusses these findings more.
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