Pediatrics News

As 2018 draws to a close, Healio Psychiatry has compiled a list of the top stories of the year for psychiatrists and other mental health professionals.

Beginning in sixth grade, boys with co-occurring social, learning, anxiety and conduct problems were at increased risk for aggressive behavior and substance use through eighth grade, according to study findings published in the Journal of Early Adolescence.

Development of emotional problems in early childhood was linked to higher risk for schizophrenia, study findings published in the American Journal of Psychiatry showed.

Home videos 2 minutes long were used to diagnose autism spectrum disorder in children, according to findings recently published in PLoS Medicine.

Although less than 2% of all deaths in the United States in 2016 were in children and adolescents, six of the 10 of the leading causes of death in this age group were caused by intentional and unintentional injuries, according to research published in The New England Journal of Medicine.

An estimated 40.3 million people worldwide were involved in human trafficking in 2016, according to the International Labour Organization. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, based in Virginia, reports that of the 25,000 runaways reported to the agency in 2017, one in seven were likely victims of child sex trafficking.

Younger children were more likely to be physically abused on a Saturday following the release of report cards on a Friday compared with when report cards were released on other days of the week, according to a study recently published in JAMA Pediatrics.

Siblings born to a family after children with autism spectrum disorder or ADHD were more likely to be diagnosed with the same disorder as well as the other disorder, study findings reported.

Youth aged 5 to 24 years beginning antipsychotic therapy who received doses higher than 50 mg chlorpromazine equivalents had a 3.5-fold increased risk for unexpected death, study findings indicated.

Mental health disparities between heterosexuals and sexual minorities were present as early as age 10 years, increased throughout school years and persisted to young adulthood, according to data from an observational study published in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health.