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August 26, 2010

CDC Officials Urging Public To Get Flu Shot Sooner This Year.

The Wall Street Journal (8/25, McKay) reports that this year, CDC and other health officials are urging Americans to get the flu shot, which contains protection against three strains, most notably, H1N1, early.

CDC Director Thomas Frieden stated, "I think last year will be a plus rather than a minus in terms of vaccine coverage," and added that the agency is working on new technology that will allow vaccines to be produced faster. Nevertheless, CDC officials are aware that some people are still hesitant to get the vaccine because of concerns that it was not adequately tested, or because they believe H1N1 is not a major health threat.

Related Links:

- This Flu Season's Goal Is More Shots, Sooner ," Betsy McKay, The Wall Street Journal, August 25, 2010.

Posted by admin at 08:24 PM

CBT May Help Adults With AD/HD.

The Los Angeles Times (8/24, Healy) "Booster Shots" blog reported that, according to a study published in the Aug. 25 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), "a form of psychotherapy that focuses on changing patterns of thought and behavior that are counterproductive, can help" adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD). Researchers found that 12 50-minute sessions of CBT "that aimed to educate, coach, and devise strategies to improve and sustain focus, helped subjects live and work more effectively."

The CNN (8/24, Landau) "The Chart" blog reported that investigators randomized "86 adults who had already been taking medications for AD/HD before entering the study...to one of two therapies," either CBT or "training in progressive muscle relaxation and other techniques as applied to AD/HD symptoms." The study authors discovered that "participants who went through cognitive behavioral therapy had significantly better outcomes than those who did the relaxation therapy."

What's more, "the improvements lasted the whole year" in the CBT group, HealthDay (8/24, Gardner) reported. Now, according to the researchers, "the questions are whether patients will go for it and whether insurance companies will pay for it." Reuters (8/25, Pittman) also covers the story, as did WebMD (8/24, Hendrick).

Posted by admin at 08:13 PM

Patients With Psoriasis May Have Increased Risk For Psychiatric Conditions.

Medscape (8/20, Barclay) reported that, according to a study published in the August issue of the Archives of Dermatology, "risk for psychiatric conditions may be increased in patients with psoriasis."

For the study, researchers, "using a General Practice Research Database of data collected as part of patients' electronic medical records from 1987 to 2002...identified 146,042 patients with mild psoriasis, 3956 patients with severe psoriasis, and 766,950 patients without psoriasis." Notably, "compared with control subjects, patients with psoriasis had adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) for diagnoses of depression, anxiety, and suicidality of 1.39 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.37 - 1.41), 1.31 (95% CI, 1.29 - 1.34), and 1.44 (95% CI, 1.32 - 1.57), respectively.

Posted by admin at 08:07 PM

Army Troops Seeking Mental Healthcare More Than 100,000 Times A Month.

Time (8/22, Thompson) reports, "While its combat troops fight two wars," US Army "mental-health professionals are waging a battle to save soldiers' sanity when they come back, one that will cost billions long after combat ends in Baghdad and Kabul."

In fact, "Army troops, Time has learned, are seeking mental help more than 100,000 times a month. That figure reflects a growth of more than 75% from the final months of 2006 to the final months of '09, according to Army data." As a result, "Army Lieut. General Eric Schoomaker, the surgeon general who oversees the mental and physical well-being of the nation's soldiers, concedes he doesn't have the doctors and therapists he needs." Currently, the Army has only 414 psychiatrists to deal with the increased demand.

Fort Hood's Mental-Health System Severely Strained. In a lengthy article, USA Today (8/23, Zoroya) reports, "Nine months after an Army psychiatrist was charged with fatally shooting 13 soldiers and wounding 30, the nation's largest Army base can measure the toll of war in the more than 10,000 mental health evaluations, referrals or therapy sessions held every month." In fact, "about every fourth soldier here, where 48,000 troops and their families are based, has been in counseling during the past year, according to the service's medical statistics. And the number of soldiers seeking help for combat stress, substance abuse, broken marriages or other emotional problems keeps increasing." As a result, Fort Hood's mental healthcare system is in danger of being overwhelmed.

Related Links:

- Invisible Wounds: Mental Health and the Military," Mark Thompson, Time, August 22, 2010.

- Thousands strain Fort Hood's mental health system," Gregg Zoroya, USA Today, August 22, 2010.

Posted by admin at 07:51 PM

Study Examines Effects Of Prenatal And Childhood Exposures To Pesticides.

The Los Angeles Times (8/19, Maugh) "Booster Shots" blog reported that a study published Aug. 19 "in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives examines the effects of both prenatal and childhood exposure to" organophosphate "pesticides, which are widely used in the United States to control insects on food crops." For the study, researchers from the University of California-Berkeley have been following "more than 300 Mexican American children" and their mothers "living in the heavily agricultural Salinas Valley."

The Time (8/19, Blue) "Wellness" blog reported, "When the women were pregnant, the researchers took urine samples and tested them for their level of organophosphate metabolites." At follow-up "five years later, the children born to women with high levels of pesticide traces in their urine were far more likely to have been diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder."

"For each tenfold increase in pesticide metabolites in a mom's system, the risk of an attention disorder rose fivefold in her child," MSNBC (8/19, Carroll) reported.

The San Francisco Chronicle (8/19, Scott) "The Thin Green Line" reported that the study's authors "point to other studies showing that food is a significant source of exposure for the general population." For that reason, "they suggest that pregnant women eat organic produce, or at least wash conventional produce very thoroughly." The UK's Telegraph (8/19, Alleyne), the UK's Daily Mail (8/19, Macrae), and Reuters (8/20) also covered the story.

Related Links:

- More evidence links pesticides to hyperactivity
," Thomas H. Maugh II, Los Angeles Times, August 19, 2010.

- A link between pesticides and attention disorders?," Laura Blue, Time: Wellness Blog, August 19, 2010.

- ADHD risk may be tied to pesticide exposure before birth ," Linda Carroll, MSNBC, August 19, 2010.

- Researchers: Pregnant women should eat organic," Cameron Scott, San Francisco Chronicle, August 19, 2010.

Posted by admin at 07:25 PM

Increasing Number Of Americans With Mental-Health Issues Receiving Medication Alone.

Reuters (8/20, Norton) reports that, according to a paper published online Aug. 4 in the American Journal of Psychiatry, an increasing number of Americans with mental-health issues are receiving medication alone as treatment, compared to 10 years ago.

At the same time, psychotherapy, either on its own or in combination with medication, has become less prevalent, indicating a shift in US outpatient mental healthcare.

Some psychiatrists are concerned about the trend, because combination therapy is often the most successful for patients with depression, while others say that medication makes it easier for some people to get treatment. Some experts suspect that aggressive pharmaceutical company marketing of medications to both physicians and patients may also play a role in the shift toward treatment by medication only.

Posted by admin at 07:20 PM