Kids Miss Smoking/Addiction Link
Nearly one-third of children aged 10–12 years believe that they can smoke without becoming addicted, according to a survey of 418 families by the Group Health Cooperative's Center for Health Studies, Seattle. Terry Bush, Ph.D., and colleagues surveyed the preteens on their attitudes and beliefs about smoking over a 20-month period and found that the percentage agreeing with the statement “people can smoke a few cigarettes without becoming addicted” rose from 27% at the beginning of the study to 31% at the end. The percentage agreeing that “if you smoked, you could stop anytime you wanted to” dropped from 27% to 20% during that same period. The researchers found that two factors associated with positive attitudes toward smoking were lack of family cohesiveness and having a parent who smoked. The study appeared in the July/August issue of the American Journal of Health Promotion (2005;19:410–7).
Drinking, Drugging, Driving
One in three adult drivers aged 21–25 years has driven while under the influence of alcohol or drugs in the past year, according to a report from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Using data from the 2002 and 2003 National Surveys on Drug Use and Health, the agency also found that among all adult drivers, 16% drove under the influence of alcohol alone, 4% drove under the influence of drugs alone, and 3% drove under the influence of both. “These new data show just how much work remains to be done to keep impaired drivers off the road,” said SAMHSA Administrator Charles Curie. The report also noted a gender difference: 22% of male drivers aged 21 years or older reported driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs in 2002 and 2003, compared with 11% of females.
APA Critical on Guantanamo Bay
The American Psychiatric Association says it is “troubled” by reports of alleged medical ethics violations in the treatment of prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay facility. The APA “clearly recommends that psychiatric physicians practice in accordance with the APA ethics guidelines,” the organization said in a statement. For example, the guidelines state that “ethical considerations in medical practice preclude the psychiatric evaluation of any person charged with criminal acts prior to access to, or availability of, legal counsel. The only exception is the rendering of care to the person for the sole purpose of medical treatment.” The APA said it expects to come out with more specific policies “in the near future.”
Antipsychotics in Nursing Homes
Physicians are prescribing antipsychotic drugs to nursing home patients at an increasingly high rate, according to a study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine. Becky A. Briesacher, Ph.D., of the University of Massachusetts, Worcester, and her colleagues examined data on more than 1,200 patients from the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey for 2000 and 2001 and found that nearly 28% had received prescriptions for antipsychotic therapy–the highest rate reported in nearly a decade. Of those prescriptions, about one-third were for inappropriate indications such as impaired memory or depression without psychotic features. (Arch. Intern. Med. 2005;165:1280–5). “This study raises questions about the current uses of antipsychotics in nursing homes and the role of prescribing guidelines,” the authors wrote. “Now is an opportune time to evaluate this policy as Medicare readies itself to inherit Medicaid's growing costs and concerns over the widespread prescribing of atypical [antipsychotics] to frail nursing home residents.”
NIH Extends Disclosure Deadline
Officials at the Department of Health and Human Services are giving National Institutes of Health employees more time to report prohibited financial interests and to divest stock. In its announcement of the extension, HHS wrote that the department is considering issuing revisions to its current ethics regulations. In February, the agency issued regulations prohibiting NIH employees from engaging in consulting relationships with organizations that are substantially affected by NIH decisions. NIH employees who are required to file financial disclosure statements also are prohibited from acquiring or holding financial interests, such as stocks, in these affected organizations. NIH employees now have until Oct. 3 to file financial disclosure reports and until Jan. 2, 2006, to divest themselves of prohibited financial interests. This is the second extension offered to NIH employees. “There's no doubt in my mind that at the end of the day the advice that NIH gives has to be completely untainted, completely unimpeachable, and completely trusted,” Director Elias A. Zerhouni, M.D., said during a teleconference sponsored by the Kaiser Family Foundation.