Thursday, May 19, 2005

Managing maternal depression during pregnancy presents significant challenge to clinicians University of Pittsburgh Medical Center press release - "Women who take antidepressants during the final trimester of pregnancy through delivery increase the risk of 'neonatal behavioral syndrome,' a constellation of symptoms and behaviors largely related to drug withdrawal or side effects, University of Pittsburgh researchers conclude in a review of medical literature. Such findings reveal an additional challenge for clinical management of depression during pregnancy, Eydie Moses-Kolko, M.D., assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and her colleagues write in the May 18 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association." See also the free abstract at JAMA.  
  

Child Abuse Death Risk High in Military Families HealthDay story at Yahoo - "Children from military families are twice as likely to die from severe abuse as other children are, according to a North Carolina study. Based on the findings, the pediatric experts who led the study are calling on officials at the Pentagon to do more to investigate the reasons children growing up in military households face such risks. The study was presented Tuesday at the Pediatric Academic Societies annual meeting, in Washington, D.C. Researchers at the North Carolina Child Advocacy Institute examined cases of child abuse murders in North Carolina from 1985 to 2000.  
  

Drug Firms Plan One-Stop Website for Trials Data Reuters Health story at Medscape - "The pharmaceutical industry plans to launch a global website in September, pooling information on ongoing and completed clinical trials, as it steps up a campaign to reassure patients about medicine safety. The Geneva-based International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations said on Monday that IBM would develop the Internet search portal, which will tap into information held in industry trial registries and databases. Drugmakers in the United States, Europe and Japan agreed in January on a voluntary code to publish detailed clinical trials data and said at the time they were exploring ways to make this information available through a single 'window'. The new portal will establish links to company websites and other commercial and government-sponsored websites containing information provided by firms." [Viewing Medscape resources requires registration, which is free].  
  

Psychiatric Aspects of HIV: Optimizing Care for Patients Article in Psychiatric Times - "Mental illness occurs more frequently among people infected with HIV. In addition, individuals with mental illnesses are at greater risk for contracting HIV. Therefore, psychiatry has a great deal to offer in the management of patients with HIV--whether through proper patient education or safe and effective psychopharmacology."  
  

Atypical Antipsychotic Use Does Not Lead to Poor Pregnancy Outcomes Reuters Health story at Medscape - "Pregnant women who take atypical antipsychotics do not appear to be at increased risk of having offspring with major malformations, Canadian investigators report. 'Optimal control of the psychiatric disorder should be maintained throughout the pregnancy and the postpartum period,' they say. Nonetheless, 'All pregnancies in which a woman requires an antipsychotic medication should be considered high risk because of the mother's diagnosis, and both mother and fetus should be carefully monitored throughout the pregnancy and thereafter,' the researchers advise in the April issue of the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry." [Viewing Medscape resources requires registration, which is free].  
  

Medical Journals Are an Extension of the Marketing Arm of Pharmaceutical Companies Article in PLoS Medicine on the influence of pharmaceutical companies on published research - "... By 2003 it was possible to do a systematic review of 30 studies comparing the outcomes of studies funded by the pharmaceutical industry with those of studies funded from other sources. Some 16 of the studies looked at clinical trials or meta-analyses, and 13 had outcomes favourable to the sponsoring companies. Overall, studies funded by a company were four times more likely to have results favourable to the company than studies funded from other sources."  
  

Mothers' Antidepressants Could Harm Newborns Scripps Howard story reprinted at PsycPORT - "Newborns of women who took antidepressant drugs during the final three months of pregnancy face an increased risk of behavioral and respiratory problems, a new report shows. 'Neonatal behavior syndrome' is the name for symptoms and behaviors thought to be related to drug withdrawal or side effects. They include tremors or jitteriness, stiffened muscle tone, irritability, feeding or digestive problems, excessive crying, sleep disturbances or breathing problems. While most problems related to the drugs are mild and usually end within about two weeks of birth, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine found some cases severe enough to require hospitalization in a neonatal intensive care unit. "