I have a voracious and varied appetite for medical research but two things came up recently that I thought I just had to share:
Energy Drinks Increase Suicide Risk
Under the heading of, ‘New Red Flag for Mental Health’ Medscape reported on a meta-analysis involving 1.5 million participants, aged 15-48yrs, associating intake of energy drinks with substantial increases in both suicidal thoughts and actions. An increased risk was present even with irregular intake, such as once a month (still 37% higher). However, the most regular consumers, drinking energy drinks most days, demonstrated an almost 300% increase! In stark contrast, heavy coffee consumers (2 cups or more per day) were protected….Hmmmm I kinda had to question at this point whether they had adequately accounted for age as a variable. Because let’s face it, sadly these drinks and these types of feelings and thoughts of self-harm go together with the adolescent age and stage, much more so than any other.
So perhaps the contrast between the two beverage consumption patterns might be somewhat overstated in this study but this is not the first piece of research finding fault with energy drinks and our kids’ mental health – several large studies in different countries have raised the alarm before.
In an attempt to explain the difference, several theories have been put forward, including that it could be the combination of ingredients in energy drinks, especially the high sugar content, that specifically produce the perfect storm. Alternatively, however, as energy drinks typically contain anywhere between 75 to 300 mg per beverage and are usually consumed in much larger quantities than coffee, as a result of their intense sweetness – perhaps caffeine (not anything else in the energy drinks) is the only issue and this is just the result of extreme excess. Whatever the real reason, the important editorial note here is that specifically asking about energy drink intake should form part of our mental health screens in all individuals. Duly noted!
Next up… the incredible overlap in presenting features & yet missed opp for Ax of OSA(S) in kids attracting ADHD labels
So…every individual child flagged for ADHD should in fact undergo ‘at least one comprehensive in-house (not at home!) sleep study’ according to paediatric experts, because it could be the real reason behind these attention issues or is certainly making them worse and at-home assessments are notoriously unreliable in this age group. The trick is we’re not getting our usual triggers for referral because OSAS in kids and adolescents occurs outside of usual risk profiles and red flags in adults – it’s not necessarily linked to obesity nor snoring – though they note that if a child or adolescent exhibits, ‘ sleep talking, sleepwalking, sleep paralysis, and nightmares’ this in fact can be suggestive of OSAS. This article also speaks to the incredibly high rate of OSA in individual with Down’s Syndrome (>50%) I was today years old and a little late to this learning!
CPAP is not the solution in kids and with management of OSA in general becoming far more innovative – recognising and remedy-ing this could have enormous benefits for that individual, their health and their sense of self, for the rest of their lives.