Antipsychotic Drugs Raise Risk of Heart-Failure Death

A study of a new family of antipsychotic drugs found that they are less safe than doctors previously thought, and raises concerns about prescribing such drugs to children and elderly people.

Risperdal, Zyprexa, and Seroquel are frequently prescribed for schizophrenia, autism, and dementia. However, this new study from Vanderbilt University found these drugs double the risk of death by heart failure. The risk remains low, however, occurring in only three percent of patients who use the drugs for ten years or more, or three deaths per 1,000 patients using the drug for at least a year.

Researchers analyzed through medical records of 276,907 people ages 30 to 74 years old to determine the risks. The study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Early Drug, Alcohol Use Increases Pregnancy Risk for Teen Girls

Researchers with the University of California, Irvine, have determined that girls who use alcohol or other drugs before their 15th birthday are at increased risk of becoming pregnant by age 21.

The UCI study, which was published in the October 2008 edition of the journal Psychological Science, also revealed that teens who use alcohol and other drugs before age 15 are more likely to contract a sexually transmitted infection, drop out of school, and develop a substance-abuse problem.

According to an Oct. 20, 2008 article by the Agence France Presse (AFP) news organization, the researchers reached these conclusions after evaluating data that had been collected on 1,037 study subjects over a 29-year period (from the time the subjects were 3 years old until they turned 32).:

At ages 13 and 15, the youngsters were asked if they had sniffed glue, gasoline or other inhalants, or if they had used illegal drugs or drunk alcoholic beverages in the past year.

The children were also assessed for conduct disorders - fighting, bullying, destroying property, telling lies, truancy and stealing - before their teen years, and their family history, including whether either parent had a criminal record and whether the child was mistreated.

Children who tried alcohol or drugs early on "were two to three times more likely than non-early-exposed adolescents to be substance dependent, to have herpes infection, to have had an early pregnancy, and to have failed to obtain educational qualifications," the study showed.

Youngsters who were exposed to drugs and alcohol before 15 also had "significantly more criminal convictions" than those who were not.

"Findings from this study are consistent with the message that early substance use leads to significant problems in adolescents' future lives," the study's lead author, Candice Odgers, told AFP. "Even adolescents with no prior history of behavioral problems or family history of substance abuse problems were at risk for poor health outcomes if they used substances prior to age 15."

'Ophelia Project' Targets Relational Aggression Among Young Girls

On television and in the movies, the role of the "bully" is often played by an oafish boy who targets undersized victims for physical abuse and associated acts of personal terrorism. But in many modern American schools, young girls are engaging in a devious form of emotional cruelty known as "relational aggression."

According to the Ophelia Project - a national nonprofit organization that is dedicated to the establishment of safe social climates in America's schools and workplaces - relational aggression is defined as "behavior that is intended to harm someone by damaging or manipulating his or her relationships with others."

The Ophelia Project divides this type of aggression into two distinct types of behaviors:

• Proactive behaviors are a means for achieving a goal (e.g., a girl excludes someone to maintain her own social status). Example: A girl is mad at another girl for being "more popular" so she spreads a sexual rumor about her to ruin her reputation.
• Reactive relational aggression is a defensive response to provocation with intent to retaliate. Example: A child is being teased repeatedly in school and then becomes a teaser himself for protection.

This type of bullying is most prevalent among girls in grades five through eight, though it is not unheard of for younger and older students to engage in acts of relational aggression.

Though the majority of research into bullying focuses on male perpetrators, bullying by girls has come under increased scrutiny in recent years, fueled in part by a few high-profile cases in which young victims either committed suicide or endured particularly horrific acts of mental and physical abuse.

In addition to raising awareness about relational aggression, the Ophelia Project provides educational resources and conducts conferences and training to create environments "where people are protected, respected, encouraged and held accountable for their actions [and which foster] inclusion, healthy relationships and civility."

Experts Explore Failings in Medical Treatment of Teens, Tweens

Though many Americans are of the opinion that modern young people are members of history's most coddled generation, a number of adolescent health experts are arguing that the medical establishment is falling short in its efforts to give today's teens and adolescents the attention they deserve.

According to a Jan. 27 article by Associated Press writer Lauran Neergaard, failing to adequately treat young people now could result in significantly larger problems in years to come:

Adolescents aren't just big kids, and too many start falling through cracks in the health-care system when they pass the stage of preschool shots and summer camp checkups - what a major report calls missed opportunities to shape the next generation's well-being.

The period between ages 10 and 19 is unique, bringing more rapid biological changes than perhaps any age other than infancy. Even though most of the nation's 42 million adolescents seem to be thriving, it is a time of risk-taking and pushing boundaries in ways that can mean immediate consequences: car crashes, experimenting with alcohol or drugs, teen pregnancy, sexually transmitted disease.

"They are quite literally our future. If we don't take good care of them, there's a strong likelihood when they're running the ship they're not going to have a good time running the ship," says Dr. Frank Biro of Cincinnati Children's Hospital's long-running adolescent-medicine program.

In spite of indications that as many as 50 percent of all adult deaths can be attributed to unhealthy behaviors that began during adolescence, Neergaard noted that a recent report by the National Research Council and Institute of Medicine (NRCIM) found that the health care system's approach to teen health is "fragmented and poorly designed." As a result, she wrote, conditions that could have been treated during adolescence instead evolve into considerable problems during the patients' adult lives.

"A 10-year-old is probably the healthiest person in America," wrote Dr. Frederick Rivara, one of the NRCIM report's co-authors. "Something happens between age 10 and age 25."

Study Links Teen Smoking with Adult Weight Gains

Finnish researchers have given weight-conscious young women one more reason to say no to tobacco: Teen girls who smoke are at increased risk for developing obesity as adults.

According to a Jan. 6 article on the ScienceDaily website, researchers with the Helsinki Department of Public Health reached this conclusion after an extensive study of more than 4,000 twins who were born between 1975 and 1979:

Girls who smoke 10 cigarettes per day or more are at greatest risk, particularly for abdominal obesity. Their waist sizes are 1.34 inches larger than nonsmokers' waists are as young adults, according to the study in the February 2009 issue of the American Journal of Public Health. ...

Half of the participants had never smoked, and 12 percent were former smokers in adolescence. About 15.5 percent of men and 9.4 percent of women smoked at least 10 cigarettes daily.

By the time participants reached their 20s, weight problems became evident. By age 24, roughly 24 percent of men and 11 percent of women were overweight. ...

The young women who smoked more than 10 cigarettes per day were 2.32 times more likely to become overweight than nonsmokers, according to the study.

The researchers are not sure why the smoking-obesity connection is so much stronger in women than it is in men. But Sherry Pagoto, an assistant professor of clinical psychology at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, told ScienceDaily that the association may have as much to do with behavior as it does with tobacco.

"My hunch is that women are more likely to smoke for weight control, especially in adolescence," Pagoto said. "When people do quit smoking, one of the reasons they gain weight is that they increase their consumption of foods. They'll start snacking at the times they used to smoke."

Study: Girls Who Are Bullied Suffer Longer than Boys Do

Researchers with two British universities have determined that girls who are bullied are much more likely to be victimized for longer periods of time than are boys who suffer similar fates at the hands of their peers.

According to a Jan. 13 article by Times Online writer Joanna Sugden, experts from the University of Warwick and the University of Hertfordshire believe that the long-term bullying may be reflective of the fact that girls form tighter bonds with a smaller group of friends at an earlier age than boys do:

"Once a girl is out of that network and a victim of bullying, it's much more difficult to get back in and be integrated, and they are more likely to become a victim of stable or chronic bullying," Dieter Wolke, who carried out the research, said.

The experiences of bullying encountered by 663 children were tracked at 6 and again at 10. Bullying was defined as experiencing physical or verbal abuse at least once a week over a period of six months.

The research also suggested that as children grow-up, they tend to suffer emotional rather than physical or verbal abuse. Only 10 per cent of the children said that they had endured emotional bullying, including exclusion from a friendship group, at [age] 6. By [age] 10, that figure had jumped to 25 per cent.

The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry reports that as many as 50 percent of all students are bullied at least once during their academic careers, with about one in 10 believed to suffer from regular, ongoing bullying.

"Children who are bullied experience real suffering that can interfere with their social and emotional development, as well as their school performance," the AACAP reported in a May 2008 article on the organization's website. "Some victims of bullying have even attempted suicide rather than continue to endure such harassment and punishment."