One in Three Children Taking Drugs for Chronic Health Problems

One in four children and one in three teenagers in families with health insurance are taking drugs for chronic diseases, according to research from Medco Health Solutions.

The new report links increased consumption of drugs among children to childhood obesity, and concluded that children's prescription drug use is increasing at four times the rate of the general population. People under age 18 years old now represent the leading demographic market for drug companies.

Medco researchers estimate that Americans will spend 18 percent more on drugs within the next two years.

Depressed Preschoolers More Likely to Have ADHD, ODD

Children as young as three years old can be depressed, and one way to tell is they don't enjoy play time, according to new studies from Washington University in St. Louis.

• Dr. Joan Luby found that depressed preschoolers may not necessarily appear sad, but they are more likely to feel guilty, have sleep disorders, and demonstrate little joy.
  
• Her earlier studies found that preschoolers with depression are four times more likely to continue to suffer from it two years later.
  
• Dr. Luby believes that these very young children could benefit from early intervention and treatment.
  
• About 40 percent of depressed preschoolers have Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), 62 percent have Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD), and 42 percent have both disorders.

Dr. Luby's study appeared in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

May Brings High Risk of Suicide for Students

The last few weeks of the school year bring finals, proms, graduation for some and the promise of summer for all. Unfortunately, it also brings stress – stress that is too much for some students.

It's not something that people like to talk about – teen and young adult suicide – because as a society we like to think about happy, carefree, post-graduation summer days with the whole world on a platter and all of life ahead of us. But May is one of the deadliest times of the year for high school and college students alike. [Source: Chicago Sun-Times]

Suicide is the second leading cause of death among college students, and third leading among all young people. Those who are at risk for teen suicide are especially vulnerable during this time of year, when stress upon stress piles up in the sprint to the school-year finish line.

Parents, teachers and other caregivers are urged to pay especially close attention to the moods and behaviors of students, and to intervene if someone appears to be in trouble.

Teens in Sunny Southeast U.S. Suffering from Vitamin D Deficiency

A study of teenagers in Georgia found that almost a third had insufficient levels of vitamin D, a vitamin found in sunlight. The results were troubling in that children in southeastern states such as Georgia live where there is ample sunlight compared to children in northern states.

• Researchers tested 559 children ages 14 to 18 years old and found that 56 percent had vitamin D insufficiency.
  
• However, 29 percent had vitamin D deficiency, which means a level low enough to cause health problems.
  
• African American children were found to be at greater risk for these conditions than were members of other ethnic groups.

The Mayo Clinic website provides the following information about Vitamin D deficiencies:

• In children, vitamin D deficiency causes rickets, which results in skeletal deformities.
• In adults, vitamin D deficiency can lead to osteomalacia, which results in muscular weakness in addition to weak bones.
• Populations who may be at a high risk for vitamin D deficiencies include the elderly, obese individuals, exclusively breastfed infants, and those who have limited sun exposure.

Girls Closing Car Insurance Gender Gap

Girls are closing the gender gap when it comes to how much they have to pay for automobile insurance, according to a new report from Allstate Insurance Company.

Researchers found that although girls are still a better insurance risk than boys, their rates are becoming more similar because they are taking more chances driving.

• A survey of 1063 teenagers performed by Allstate founded 48 percent of girls admitted to speeding compared to only 36 percent of boys.
  
• More than three-fourths of the teenagers in the survey said they felt unsafe in a car driven by a fellow teenager.
• Car fatalities for boys declined by 59 percent since 1975, compared to 38 percent for girls. However, two thirds of teenagers killed in car accidents are boys.

Painkiller, Stimulant Abuse More Common Among Teen Girls than Teen Boys

Teenage girls are abusing opiate painkillers and stimulants at a significantly higher rate than teen boys are, according to a new study from the National Institute of Health's Office of Research on Women's Health.

• Adolescent girls are using stimulant medications prescribed for Attention Deficit Disorder as a way to lose weight and to improve academic performance, said Dr. Vivienne Pinn, research director.
• Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), has stated that the abuse rate for some painkillers and stimulants is 60 to 70 percent higher among girls ages 12 to 17 than among boys in the same age group.
  
• Girls also have higher rates of abusing prescription painkillers such as Viocodin and OxyContin compared to boys their age.

Dr. Pinn noted that these drugs disrupt the ability to feel pleasure and to learn, and they also interfere with the frontal areas of the brain involved with executive control, decision making, judgment, and the ability to control desires and emotions.

Cyber-Bullying Web Page Proves Helpful

Let's Talk About: (http://blogs.cce.cornell.edu/letstalk) is a website launched by the Cornell Cooperative Extension of Orange County that aims to help parents initiate hard, awkward or complicated conversations with their children. The Cooperative’s newest web page – "Let’s Talk About: Cyber-bullying" – has just gone live.

Monroe-Woodbury Middle School PTA President Kelly Stegmann said, "The Cyber-Bullying web page gives parents the tools they need to open the lines of communication about a topic that is not only very real, but also very common – more common than we like to think it is. It gives our kids a chance to talk about the issue, without us being judgmental, which is crucial to open conversation." [Source: Times Herald-Record (Hudson Valley, NY)]

Cyberbullying remains a prevalent form of harassment students throughout the United States, with girls involved in many instances as perpetrators, victims or both.

To Keep Your Children Safe, Maintain a Presence in their Online Lives

Every week or two, it seems there’s another story about cyberbullying, or Facebook "hit lists," or explicit text messages. Often, parents are left wondering when or how to step in and monitor their kids' activities.

One mother advises other parents to overcome their cyber-squeamishness and maintain a regular presence in their children's online lives:

Julianne Doctor doesn't bother sneaking around cyberspace to see what her teenage daughter Hayley is doing. Instead … Doctor wanders in and out of her daughter's cyberspaces and knows who she is hanging around with and what they’re up to.

"I think parents do have an obligation to find out what their kids are doing online. If they are minors, that is part of being a parent," said Doctor. (Source: The Vancouver Sun)

Teenagers and parents alike cringe at the idea of Mom or Dad signing on to Facebook or any of the other cyberworlds in which kids hang out. It is, however, the most effective way for parents to learn about their kids' activities, and know when some re-direction is in order.