Pediatric News

Researchers have discovered that a brain network involved in reward processing and attention to stimuli is markedly bigger in people with depression, remains stable over time, is unaffected by mood changes, and can be detected in children before onset of depression symptoms.

Using a novel brain-mapping technique, researchers found that the frontostriatal salience network was expanded nearly twofold in the brains of most individuals studied with depression compared with controls.

“This expansion in cortex was trait-like, meaning it was stable over time and did not change as symptoms changed over time,” said lead author Charles Lynch, PhD, assistant professor of neuroscience, Department of Psychiatry, Weill Cornell Medicine in New York.

It could also be detected in children who later developed depression, suggesting it may serve as a biomarker of depression risk. Investigators said the findings could aid in prevention and early detection of depression, as well as the development of more personalized treatment.

The study was published online in Nature.
 

Prewired for Depression?

Precision functional mapping is a relatively new approach to brain mapping in individuals that uses large amounts of fMRI data from hours of scans per person. The technique has been used to show differences in brain networks between and in healthy individuals but had not been used to study brain networks in people with depression.

“We leveraged our large longitudinal datasets — with many hours of functional MRI scanning per subject — to construct individual-specific maps of functional brain networks in each patient using precision functional mapping, instead of relying on group average,” Dr. Lynch said.

In the primary analysis of 141 adults with major depression and 37 healthy controls, the frontostriatal salience network — which is involved in reward processing and attention to internal and external stimuli — was markedly larger in these individuals with depression.

“This is one of the first times these kinds of personalized maps have been created in individuals with depression, and this is how we first observed of the salience network being larger in individuals with depression,” Dr. Lynch said.

In four of the six individuals, the salience network was expanded more than twofold, outside the range observed in all 37 healthy controls. On average, the salience network occupied 73% more of the cortical surface relative to the average in healthy controls.

The findings were replicated using independent samples of repeatedly sampled individuals with depression and in large-scale group average data.

The expansion of the salience network did not change over time and was unaffected by changes in mood state.

“These observations led us to propose that instead of driving changes in depressive symptoms over time, salience network expansion may be a stable marker of risk for developing depression,” the study team wrote.

An analysis of brain scans from 57 children who went on to develop depressive symptoms during adolescence and an equal number of children who did not develop depressive symptoms supports this theory.

On average, the salience network occupied roughly 36% more of cortex in the children with no current or previous symptoms of depression at the time of their fMRI scans but who subsequently developed clinically significant symptoms of depression, relative to children with no depressive symptoms at any study time point, the researchers found.
 

Immediate Clinical Impact?

Reached for comment, Shaheen Lakhan, MD, PhD, neurologist and researcher based in Miami, said this research “exemplifies the promising intersection of neurology and digital health, where advanced neuroimaging and data-driven approaches can transform mental health care into a more precise and individualized practice,” Dr. Lakhan said. “By identifying this brain network expansion, we’re unlocking new possibilities for precision medicine in mental health.”

Dr. Lakhan, who wasn’t involved in this research, said identifying the expansion of the frontostriatal salience network in individuals with depression opens new avenues for developing novel therapeutics.

“By targeting this network through neuromodulation techniques like deep brain stimulation, transcranial magnetic stimulation, and prescription digital therapeutics, treatments can be more precisely tailored to individual neurobiological profiles,” Dr. Lakhan said. “Additionally, this network expansion could serve as a biomarker for early detection, allowing for preventive strategies or personalized treatment plans, particularly for those at risk of developing depression.”

In addition, a greater understanding of the mechanisms driving salience network expansion offers potential for discovering new pharmacological targets, Dr. Lakhan noted.

“Drugs that modulate synaptic plasticity or network connectivity might be developed to reverse or mitigate these neural changes. The findings also support the use of longitudinal monitoring to predict and preempt symptom emergence, improving outcomes through timely intervention. This research paves the way for more personalized, precise, and proactive approaches in treating depression,” Dr. Lakhan concluded.

Also weighing in, Teddy Akiki, MD, with the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford Medicine in California, noted that the effect size of the frontostriatal salience network difference in depression is “remarkably larger than typically seen in neuroimaging studies of depression, which often describe subtle differences. The consistency across multiple datasets and across time at the individual level adds significant weight to these findings, suggesting that it is a trait marker rather than a state-dependent marker.”

“The observation that this expansion is present even before the onset of depressive symptoms in adolescence suggests its potential as a biomarker for depression risk,” Dr. Akiki said. “This approach could lead to earlier identification of at-risk individuals and potentially inform the development of targeted preventive interventions.”

He cautioned that it remains to be seen whether interventions targeting the salience network can effectively prevent or treat depression.

This research was supported in part by the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Institute on Drug Addiction, the Hope for Depression Research Foundation, and the Foundation for OCD Research. Dr. Lynch and a coauthor are listed as inventors for Cornell University patent applications on neuroimaging biomarkers for depression which are pending or in preparation. Dr. Liston has served as a scientific advisor or consultant to Compass Pathways PLC, Delix Therapeutics, and Brainify.AI. Dr. Lakhan and Dr. Akiki had no relevant disclosures.

A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.

Researchers have discovered that a brain network involved in reward processing and attention to stimuli is markedly bigger in people with depression, remains stable over time, is unaffected by mood changes, and can be detected in children before onset of depression symptoms.

Using a novel brain-mapping technique, researchers found that the frontostriatal salience network was expanded nearly twofold in the brains of most individuals studied with depression compared with controls.

“This expansion in cortex was trait-like, meaning it was stable over time and did not change as symptoms changed over time,” said lead author Charles Lynch, PhD, assistant professor of neuroscience, Department of Psychiatry, Weill Cornell Medicine in New York.

It could also be detected in children who later developed depression, suggesting it may serve as a biomarker of depression risk. Investigators said the findings could aid in prevention and early detection of depression, as well as the development of more personalized treatment.

The study was published online in Nature.
 

Prewired for Depression?

Precision functional mapping is a relatively new approach to brain mapping in individuals that uses large amounts of fMRI data from hours of scans per person. The technique has been used to show differences in brain networks between and in healthy individuals but had not been used to study brain networks in people with depression.

“We leveraged our large longitudinal datasets — with many hours of functional MRI scanning per subject — to construct individual-specific maps of functional brain networks in each patient using precision functional mapping, instead of relying on group average,” Dr. Lynch said.

In the primary analysis of 141 adults with major depression and 37 healthy controls, the frontostriatal salience network — which is involved in reward processing and attention to internal and external stimuli — was markedly larger in these individuals with depression.

“This is one of the first times these kinds of personalized maps have been created in individuals with depression, and this is how we first observed of the salience network being larger in individuals with depression,” Dr. Lynch said.

In four of the six individuals, the salience network was expanded more than twofold, outside the range observed in all 37 healthy controls. On average, the salience network occupied 73% more of the cortical surface relative to the average in healthy controls.

The findings were replicated using independent samples of repeatedly sampled individuals with depression and in large-scale group average data.

The expansion of the salience network did not change over time and was unaffected by changes in mood state.

“These observations led us to propose that instead of driving changes in depressive symptoms over time, salience network expansion may be a stable marker of risk for developing depression,” the study team wrote.

An analysis of brain scans from 57 children who went on to develop depressive symptoms during adolescence and an equal number of children who did not develop depressive symptoms supports this theory.

On average, the salience network occupied roughly 36% more of cortex in the children with no current or previous symptoms of depression at the time of their fMRI scans but who subsequently developed clinically significant symptoms of depression, relative to children with no depressive symptoms at any study time point, the researchers found.
 

Immediate Clinical Impact?

Reached for comment, Shaheen Lakhan, MD, PhD, neurologist and researcher based in Miami, said this research “exemplifies the promising intersection of neurology and digital health, where advanced neuroimaging and data-driven approaches can transform mental health care into a more precise and individualized practice,” Dr. Lakhan said. “By identifying this brain network expansion, we’re unlocking new possibilities for precision medicine in mental health.”

Dr. Lakhan, who wasn’t involved in this research, said identifying the expansion of the frontostriatal salience network in individuals with depression opens new avenues for developing novel therapeutics.

“By targeting this network through neuromodulation techniques like deep brain stimulation, transcranial magnetic stimulation, and prescription digital therapeutics, treatments can be more precisely tailored to individual neurobiological profiles,” Dr. Lakhan said. “Additionally, this network expansion could serve as a biomarker for early detection, allowing for preventive strategies or personalized treatment plans, particularly for those at risk of developing depression.”

In addition, a greater understanding of the mechanisms driving salience network expansion offers potential for discovering new pharmacological targets, Dr. Lakhan noted.

“Drugs that modulate synaptic plasticity or network connectivity might be developed to reverse or mitigate these neural changes. The findings also support the use of longitudinal monitoring to predict and preempt symptom emergence, improving outcomes through timely intervention. This research paves the way for more personalized, precise, and proactive approaches in treating depression,” Dr. Lakhan concluded.

Also weighing in, Teddy Akiki, MD, with the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford Medicine in California, noted that the effect size of the frontostriatal salience network difference in depression is “remarkably larger than typically seen in neuroimaging studies of depression, which often describe subtle differences. The consistency across multiple datasets and across time at the individual level adds significant weight to these findings, suggesting that it is a trait marker rather than a state-dependent marker.”

“The observation that this expansion is present even before the onset of depressive symptoms in adolescence suggests its potential as a biomarker for depression risk,” Dr. Akiki said. “This approach could lead to earlier identification of at-risk individuals and potentially inform the development of targeted preventive interventions.”

He cautioned that it remains to be seen whether interventions targeting the salience network can effectively prevent or treat depression.

This research was supported in part by the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Institute on Drug Addiction, the Hope for Depression Research Foundation, and the Foundation for OCD Research. Dr. Lynch and a coauthor are listed as inventors for Cornell University patent applications on neuroimaging biomarkers for depression which are pending or in preparation. Dr. Liston has served as a scientific advisor or consultant to Compass Pathways PLC, Delix Therapeutics, and Brainify.AI. Dr. Lakhan and Dr. Akiki had no relevant disclosures.

A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.

Researchers have discovered that a brain network involved in reward processing and attention to stimuli is markedly bigger in people with depression, remains stable over time, is unaffected by mood changes, and can be detected in children before onset of depression symptoms.

Using a novel brain-mapping technique, researchers found that the frontostriatal salience network was expanded nearly twofold in the brains of most individuals studied with depression compared with controls.

“This expansion in cortex was trait-like, meaning it was stable over time and did not change as symptoms changed over time,” said lead author Charles Lynch, PhD, assistant professor of neuroscience, Department of Psychiatry, Weill Cornell Medicine in New York.

It could also be detected in children who later developed depression, suggesting it may serve as a biomarker of depression risk. Investigators said the findings could aid in prevention and early detection of depression, as well as the development of more personalized treatment.

The study was published online in Nature.
 

Prewired for Depression?

Precision functional mapping is a relatively new approach to brain mapping in individuals that uses large amounts of fMRI data from hours of scans per person. The technique has been used to show differences in brain networks between and in healthy individuals but had not been used to study brain networks in people with depression.

“We leveraged our large longitudinal datasets — with many hours of functional MRI scanning per subject — to construct individual-specific maps of functional brain networks in each patient using precision functional mapping, instead of relying on group average,” Dr. Lynch said.

In the primary analysis of 141 adults with major depression and 37 healthy controls, the frontostriatal salience network — which is involved in reward processing and attention to internal and external stimuli — was markedly larger in these individuals with depression.

“This is one of the first times these kinds of personalized maps have been created in individuals with depression, and this is how we first observed of the salience network being larger in individuals with depression,” Dr. Lynch said.

In four of the six individuals, the salience network was expanded more than twofold, outside the range observed in all 37 healthy controls. On average, the salience network occupied 73% more of the cortical surface relative to the average in healthy controls.

The findings were replicated using independent samples of repeatedly sampled individuals with depression and in large-scale group average data.

The expansion of the salience network did not change over time and was unaffected by changes in mood state.

“These observations led us to propose that instead of driving changes in depressive symptoms over time, salience network expansion may be a stable marker of risk for developing depression,” the study team wrote.

An analysis of brain scans from 57 children who went on to develop depressive symptoms during adolescence and an equal number of children who did not develop depressive symptoms supports this theory.

On average, the salience network occupied roughly 36% more of cortex in the children with no current or previous symptoms of depression at the time of their fMRI scans but who subsequently developed clinically significant symptoms of depression, relative to children with no depressive symptoms at any study time point, the researchers found.
 

Immediate Clinical Impact?

Reached for comment, Shaheen Lakhan, MD, PhD, neurologist and researcher based in Miami, said this research “exemplifies the promising intersection of neurology and digital health, where advanced neuroimaging and data-driven approaches can transform mental health care into a more precise and individualized practice,” Dr. Lakhan said. “By identifying this brain network expansion, we’re unlocking new possibilities for precision medicine in mental health.”

Dr. Lakhan, who wasn’t involved in this research, said identifying the expansion of the frontostriatal salience network in individuals with depression opens new avenues for developing novel therapeutics.

“By targeting this network through neuromodulation techniques like deep brain stimulation, transcranial magnetic stimulation, and prescription digital therapeutics, treatments can be more precisely tailored to individual neurobiological profiles,” Dr. Lakhan said. “Additionally, this network expansion could serve as a biomarker for early detection, allowing for preventive strategies or personalized treatment plans, particularly for those at risk of developing depression.”

In addition, a greater understanding of the mechanisms driving salience network expansion offers potential for discovering new pharmacological targets, Dr. Lakhan noted.

“Drugs that modulate synaptic plasticity or network connectivity might be developed to reverse or mitigate these neural changes. The findings also support the use of longitudinal monitoring to predict and preempt symptom emergence, improving outcomes through timely intervention. This research paves the way for more personalized, precise, and proactive approaches in treating depression,” Dr. Lakhan concluded.

Also weighing in, Teddy Akiki, MD, with the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford Medicine in California, noted that the effect size of the frontostriatal salience network difference in depression is “remarkably larger than typically seen in neuroimaging studies of depression, which often describe subtle differences. The consistency across multiple datasets and across time at the individual level adds significant weight to these findings, suggesting that it is a trait marker rather than a state-dependent marker.”

“The observation that this expansion is present even before the onset of depressive symptoms in adolescence suggests its potential as a biomarker for depression risk,” Dr. Akiki said. “This approach could lead to earlier identification of at-risk individuals and potentially inform the development of targeted preventive interventions.”

He cautioned that it remains to be seen whether interventions targeting the salience network can effectively prevent or treat depression.

This research was supported in part by the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Institute on Drug Addiction, the Hope for Depression Research Foundation, and the Foundation for OCD Research. Dr. Lynch and a coauthor are listed as inventors for Cornell University patent applications on neuroimaging biomarkers for depression which are pending or in preparation. Dr. Liston has served as a scientific advisor or consultant to Compass Pathways PLC, Delix Therapeutics, and Brainify.AI. Dr. Lakhan and Dr. Akiki had no relevant disclosures.

A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.

TOPLINE:

A self-guided mobile application for cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is associated with significant reductions in anxiety in young adults with anxiety disorders after 3 weeks, with continued improvement through week 12, a new randomized clinical trial shows.

METHODOLOGY:

• The study included 59 adults aged 18-25 years (mean age, 23 years; 78% women) with anxiety disorders (56% with generalized anxiety disorder; 41% with social anxiety disorder).
• Participants received a 6-week CBT program with a self-guided mobile application called Maya and were assigned to one of three incentive strategies to encourage engagement: Loss-framed (lose points for incomplete sessions), gain-framed (earn points for completed sessions), or gain-social support (gain points with added social support from a designated person).
• The primary end point was change in anxiety at week 6, measured with the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale.
• The researchers also evaluated change in anxiety at 3 and 12 weeks, change in anxiety sensitivity, social anxiety symptoms, and engagement and satisfaction with the app.

TAKEAWAY:

• Anxiety decreased significantly from baseline at week 3, 6, and 12 (mean differences, −3.20, −5.64, and −5.67, respectively; all P < .001), with similar reductions in anxiety among the three incentive conditions.
• Use of the CBT app was also associated with significant reductions in anxiety sensitivity and social anxiety symptoms over time, with moderate to large effect sizes.
• A total of 98% of participants completed the 6-week assessment and 93% the 12-week follow-up. On average, the participants completed 10.8 of 12 sessions and 64% completed all sessions.
• The participants reported high satisfaction with the app across all time points, with no significant differences based on time or incentive condition.

IN PRACTICE:

“We hear a lot about the negative impact of technology use on mental health in this age group,” senior study author Faith M. Gunning, PhD, said in a press release. “But the ubiquitous use of cell phones for information may provide a way of addressing anxiety for some people who, even if they have access to mental health providers, may not go. If the app helps reduce symptoms, they may then be able to take the next step of seeing a mental health professional when needed.”

SOURCE:

The study was led by Jennifer N. Bress, PhD, Department of Psychiatry, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York City. It was published online in JAMA Network Open.

LIMITATIONS:

This study lacked a control group, and the unbalanced allocation of participants to the three incentive groups due to the COVID-19 pandemic may have influenced the results. The study sample, which predominantly consisted of female and college-educated participants, may not have accurately represented the broader population of young adults with anxiety.

DISCLOSURES:

This study was funded by the NewYork-Presbyterian Center for Youth Mental Health, the Khoury Foundation, the Paul and Jenna Segal Family Foundation, the Saks Fifth Avenue Foundation, Mary and Jonathan Rather, Weill Cornell Medicine, the Pritzker Neuropsychiatric Disorders Research Consortium, and the National Institutes of Health. Some authors reported obtaining grants, receiving personal fees, serving on speaker’s bureaus, and having other ties with multiple pharmaceutical companies and institutions. Full disclosures are available in the original article.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.

A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.

TOPLINE:

A self-guided mobile application for cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is associated with significant reductions in anxiety in young adults with anxiety disorders after 3 weeks, with continued improvement through week 12, a new randomized clinical trial shows.

METHODOLOGY:

• The study included 59 adults aged 18-25 years (mean age, 23 years; 78% women) with anxiety disorders (56% with generalized anxiety disorder; 41% with social anxiety disorder).
• Participants received a 6-week CBT program with a self-guided mobile application called Maya and were assigned to one of three incentive strategies to encourage engagement: Loss-framed (lose points for incomplete sessions), gain-framed (earn points for completed sessions), or gain-social support (gain points with added social support from a designated person).
• The primary end point was change in anxiety at week 6, measured with the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale.
• The researchers also evaluated change in anxiety at 3 and 12 weeks, change in anxiety sensitivity, social anxiety symptoms, and engagement and satisfaction with the app.

TAKEAWAY:

• Anxiety decreased significantly from baseline at week 3, 6, and 12 (mean differences, −3.20, −5.64, and −5.67, respectively; all P < .001), with similar reductions in anxiety among the three incentive conditions.
• Use of the CBT app was also associated with significant reductions in anxiety sensitivity and social anxiety symptoms over time, with moderate to large effect sizes.
• A total of 98% of participants completed the 6-week assessment and 93% the 12-week follow-up. On average, the participants completed 10.8 of 12 sessions and 64% completed all sessions.
• The participants reported high satisfaction with the app across all time points, with no significant differences based on time or incentive condition.

IN PRACTICE:

“We hear a lot about the negative impact of technology use on mental health in this age group,” senior study author Faith M. Gunning, PhD, said in a press release. “But the ubiquitous use of cell phones for information may provide a way of addressing anxiety for some people who, even if they have access to mental health providers, may not go. If the app helps reduce symptoms, they may then be able to take the next step of seeing a mental health professional when needed.”

SOURCE:

The study was led by Jennifer N. Bress, PhD, Department of Psychiatry, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York City. It was published online in JAMA Network Open.

LIMITATIONS:

This study lacked a control group, and the unbalanced allocation of participants to the three incentive groups due to the COVID-19 pandemic may have influenced the results. The study sample, which predominantly consisted of female and college-educated participants, may not have accurately represented the broader population of young adults with anxiety.

DISCLOSURES:

This study was funded by the NewYork-Presbyterian Center for Youth Mental Health, the Khoury Foundation, the Paul and Jenna Segal Family Foundation, the Saks Fifth Avenue Foundation, Mary and Jonathan Rather, Weill Cornell Medicine, the Pritzker Neuropsychiatric Disorders Research Consortium, and the National Institutes of Health. Some authors reported obtaining grants, receiving personal fees, serving on speaker’s bureaus, and having other ties with multiple pharmaceutical companies and institutions. Full disclosures are available in the original article.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.

A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.

TOPLINE:

A self-guided mobile application for cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is associated with significant reductions in anxiety in young adults with anxiety disorders after 3 weeks, with continued improvement through week 12, a new randomized clinical trial shows.

METHODOLOGY:

• The study included 59 adults aged 18-25 years (mean age, 23 years; 78% women) with anxiety disorders (56% with generalized anxiety disorder; 41% with social anxiety disorder).
• Participants received a 6-week CBT program with a self-guided mobile application called Maya and were assigned to one of three incentive strategies to encourage engagement: Loss-framed (lose points for incomplete sessions), gain-framed (earn points for completed sessions), or gain-social support (gain points with added social support from a designated person).
• The primary end point was change in anxiety at week 6, measured with the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale.
• The researchers also evaluated change in anxiety at 3 and 12 weeks, change in anxiety sensitivity, social anxiety symptoms, and engagement and satisfaction with the app.

TAKEAWAY:

• Anxiety decreased significantly from baseline at week 3, 6, and 12 (mean differences, −3.20, −5.64, and −5.67, respectively; all P < .001), with similar reductions in anxiety among the three incentive conditions.
• Use of the CBT app was also associated with significant reductions in anxiety sensitivity and social anxiety symptoms over time, with moderate to large effect sizes.
• A total of 98% of participants completed the 6-week assessment and 93% the 12-week follow-up. On average, the participants completed 10.8 of 12 sessions and 64% completed all sessions.
• The participants reported high satisfaction with the app across all time points, with no significant differences based on time or incentive condition.

IN PRACTICE:

“We hear a lot about the negative impact of technology use on mental health in this age group,” senior study author Faith M. Gunning, PhD, said in a press release. “But the ubiquitous use of cell phones for information may provide a way of addressing anxiety for some people who, even if they have access to mental health providers, may not go. If the app helps reduce symptoms, they may then be able to take the next step of seeing a mental health professional when needed.”

SOURCE:

The study was led by Jennifer N. Bress, PhD, Department of Psychiatry, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York City. It was published online in JAMA Network Open.

LIMITATIONS:

This study lacked a control group, and the unbalanced allocation of participants to the three incentive groups due to the COVID-19 pandemic may have influenced the results. The study sample, which predominantly consisted of female and college-educated participants, may not have accurately represented the broader population of young adults with anxiety.

DISCLOSURES:

This study was funded by the NewYork-Presbyterian Center for Youth Mental Health, the Khoury Foundation, the Paul and Jenna Segal Family Foundation, the Saks Fifth Avenue Foundation, Mary and Jonathan Rather, Weill Cornell Medicine, the Pritzker Neuropsychiatric Disorders Research Consortium, and the National Institutes of Health. Some authors reported obtaining grants, receiving personal fees, serving on speaker’s bureaus, and having other ties with multiple pharmaceutical companies and institutions. Full disclosures are available in the original article.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.

A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.

When pediatrician Eric Ball, MD, opened a refrigerator full of childhood vaccines, all the expected shots were there — DTaP, polio, pneumococcal vaccine — except one.

“This is where we usually store our COVID vaccines, but we don’t have any right now because they all expired at the end of last year and we had to dispose of them,” said Dr. Ball, who is part of a pediatric practice in Orange County, California.

“We thought demand would be way higher than it was.”

Pediatricians across the country are preordering the updated and reformulated COVID-19 vaccine for the fall and winter respiratory virus season, but some doctors said they’re struggling to predict whether parents will be interested. Providers like Dr. Ball don’t want to waste money ordering doses that won’t be used, but they need enough on hand to vaccinate vulnerable children.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that anyone 6 months or older get the updated COVID vaccination, but in the 2023-24 vaccination season only about 15% of eligible children in the United States got a shot.

Dr. Ball said it was difficult to let vaccines go to waste in 2023. It was the first time the federal government was no longer picking up the tab for the shots, and providers had to pay upfront for the vaccines. Parents would often skip the COVID shot, which can have a very short shelf life, compared with other vaccines.

“Watching it sitting on our shelves expiring every 30 days, that’s like throwing away $150 repeatedly every day, multiple times a month,” Dr. Ball said.

in 2024, Dr. Ball slashed his fall vaccine order to the bare minimum to avoid another costly mistake.

“We took the number of flu vaccines that we order, and then we ordered 5% of that in COVID vaccines,” Dr. Ball said. “It’s a guess.”

That small vaccine order cost more than $63,000, he said.

Pharmacists, pharmacy interns, and techs are allowed to give COVID vaccines only to children age 3 and up, meaning babies and toddlers would need to visit a doctor’s office for inoculation.

It’s difficult to predict how parents will feel about the shots this fall, said Chicago pediatrician Scott Goldstein, MD. Unlike other vaccinations, COVID shots aren’t required for kids to attend school, and parental interest seems to wane with each new formulation. For a physician-owned practice such as Dr. Goldstein’s, the upfront cost of the vaccine can be a gamble.

“The cost of vaccines, that’s far and away our biggest expense. But it’s also the most important thing we do, you could argue, is vaccinating kids,” Dr. Goldstein said.

Insurance doesn’t necessarily cover vaccine storage accidents, which can put the practice at risk of financial ruin.

“We’ve had things happen like a refrigerator gets unplugged. And then we’re all of a sudden out $80,000 overnight,” Dr. Goldstein said.

South Carolina pediatrician Deborah Greenhouse, MD, said she would order more COVID vaccines for older children if the pharmaceutical companies that she buys from had a more forgiving return policy.

“Pfizer is creating that situation. If you’re only going to let us return 30%, we’re not going to buy much,” she said. “We can’t.”

Greenhouse owns her practice, so the remaining 70% of leftover shots would come out of her pocket.

Vaccine maker Pfizer will take back all unused COVID shots for young children, but only 30% of doses for people 12 and older.

Pfizer said in an Aug. 20 emailed statement, “The return policy was instituted as we recognize both the importance and the complexity of pediatric vaccination and wanted to ensure that pediatric offices did not have hurdles to providing vaccine to their young patients.”

Pfizer’s return policy is similar to policies from other drugmakers for pediatric flu vaccines, also recommended during the fall season. Physicians who are worried about unwanted COVID vaccines expiring on the shelves said flu shots cost them about $20 per dose, while COVID shots cost around $150 per dose.

“We run on a very thin margin. If we get stuck holding a ton of vaccine that we cannot return, we can’t absorb that kind of cost,” Dr. Greenhouse said.

Vaccine maker Moderna will accept COVID vaccine returns, but the amount depends on the individual contract with a provider. Novavax will accept the return of only unopened vaccines and doesn’t specify the amount they’ll accept.

Dr. Greenhouse wants to vaccinate as many children as possible but said she can’t afford to stock shots with a short shelf life. Once she runs out of the doses she’s ordered, Dr. Greenhouse plans to tell families to go to a pharmacy to get older children vaccinated. If pediatricians around the country are making the same calculations, doses for very small children could be harder to find at doctors’ offices.

“Frankly, it’s not an ideal situation, but it’s what we have to do to stay in business,” she said.

Dr. Ball worries that parents’ limited interest has caused pediatricians to minimize their vaccine orders, in turn making the newest COVID shots difficult to find once they become available.

“I think there’s just a misperception that it’s less of a big deal to get COVID, but I’m still sending babies to the hospital with COVID,” Dr. Ball said. “We’re still seeing kids with long COVID. This is with us forever.”

KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF — the independent source for health policy research, polling, and journalism.

When pediatrician Eric Ball, MD, opened a refrigerator full of childhood vaccines, all the expected shots were there — DTaP, polio, pneumococcal vaccine — except one.

“This is where we usually store our COVID vaccines, but we don’t have any right now because they all expired at the end of last year and we had to dispose of them,” said Dr. Ball, who is part of a pediatric practice in Orange County, California.

“We thought demand would be way higher than it was.”

Pediatricians across the country are preordering the updated and reformulated COVID-19 vaccine for the fall and winter respiratory virus season, but some doctors said they’re struggling to predict whether parents will be interested. Providers like Dr. Ball don’t want to waste money ordering doses that won’t be used, but they need enough on hand to vaccinate vulnerable children.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that anyone 6 months or older get the updated COVID vaccination, but in the 2023-24 vaccination season only about 15% of eligible children in the United States got a shot.

Dr. Ball said it was difficult to let vaccines go to waste in 2023. It was the first time the federal government was no longer picking up the tab for the shots, and providers had to pay upfront for the vaccines. Parents would often skip the COVID shot, which can have a very short shelf life, compared with other vaccines.

“Watching it sitting on our shelves expiring every 30 days, that’s like throwing away $150 repeatedly every day, multiple times a month,” Dr. Ball said.

in 2024, Dr. Ball slashed his fall vaccine order to the bare minimum to avoid another costly mistake.

“We took the number of flu vaccines that we order, and then we ordered 5% of that in COVID vaccines,” Dr. Ball said. “It’s a guess.”

That small vaccine order cost more than $63,000, he said.

Pharmacists, pharmacy interns, and techs are allowed to give COVID vaccines only to children age 3 and up, meaning babies and toddlers would need to visit a doctor’s office for inoculation.

It’s difficult to predict how parents will feel about the shots this fall, said Chicago pediatrician Scott Goldstein, MD. Unlike other vaccinations, COVID shots aren’t required for kids to attend school, and parental interest seems to wane with each new formulation. For a physician-owned practice such as Dr. Goldstein’s, the upfront cost of the vaccine can be a gamble.

“The cost of vaccines, that’s far and away our biggest expense. But it’s also the most important thing we do, you could argue, is vaccinating kids,” Dr. Goldstein said.

Insurance doesn’t necessarily cover vaccine storage accidents, which can put the practice at risk of financial ruin.

“We’ve had things happen like a refrigerator gets unplugged. And then we’re all of a sudden out $80,000 overnight,” Dr. Goldstein said.

South Carolina pediatrician Deborah Greenhouse, MD, said she would order more COVID vaccines for older children if the pharmaceutical companies that she buys from had a more forgiving return policy.

“Pfizer is creating that situation. If you’re only going to let us return 30%, we’re not going to buy much,” she said. “We can’t.”

Greenhouse owns her practice, so the remaining 70% of leftover shots would come out of her pocket.

Vaccine maker Pfizer will take back all unused COVID shots for young children, but only 30% of doses for people 12 and older.

Pfizer said in an Aug. 20 emailed statement, “The return policy was instituted as we recognize both the importance and the complexity of pediatric vaccination and wanted to ensure that pediatric offices did not have hurdles to providing vaccine to their young patients.”

Pfizer’s return policy is similar to policies from other drugmakers for pediatric flu vaccines, also recommended during the fall season. Physicians who are worried about unwanted COVID vaccines expiring on the shelves said flu shots cost them about $20 per dose, while COVID shots cost around $150 per dose.

“We run on a very thin margin. If we get stuck holding a ton of vaccine that we cannot return, we can’t absorb that kind of cost,” Dr. Greenhouse said.

Vaccine maker Moderna will accept COVID vaccine returns, but the amount depends on the individual contract with a provider. Novavax will accept the return of only unopened vaccines and doesn’t specify the amount they’ll accept.

Dr. Greenhouse wants to vaccinate as many children as possible but said she can’t afford to stock shots with a short shelf life. Once she runs out of the doses she’s ordered, Dr. Greenhouse plans to tell families to go to a pharmacy to get older children vaccinated. If pediatricians around the country are making the same calculations, doses for very small children could be harder to find at doctors’ offices.

“Frankly, it’s not an ideal situation, but it’s what we have to do to stay in business,” she said.

Dr. Ball worries that parents’ limited interest has caused pediatricians to minimize their vaccine orders, in turn making the newest COVID shots difficult to find once they become available.

“I think there’s just a misperception that it’s less of a big deal to get COVID, but I’m still sending babies to the hospital with COVID,” Dr. Ball said. “We’re still seeing kids with long COVID. This is with us forever.”

KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF — the independent source for health policy research, polling, and journalism.

When pediatrician Eric Ball, MD, opened a refrigerator full of childhood vaccines, all the expected shots were there — DTaP, polio, pneumococcal vaccine — except one.

“This is where we usually store our COVID vaccines, but we don’t have any right now because they all expired at the end of last year and we had to dispose of them,” said Dr. Ball, who is part of a pediatric practice in Orange County, California.

“We thought demand would be way higher than it was.”

Pediatricians across the country are preordering the updated and reformulated COVID-19 vaccine for the fall and winter respiratory virus season, but some doctors said they’re struggling to predict whether parents will be interested. Providers like Dr. Ball don’t want to waste money ordering doses that won’t be used, but they need enough on hand to vaccinate vulnerable children.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that anyone 6 months or older get the updated COVID vaccination, but in the 2023-24 vaccination season only about 15% of eligible children in the United States got a shot.

Dr. Ball said it was difficult to let vaccines go to waste in 2023. It was the first time the federal government was no longer picking up the tab for the shots, and providers had to pay upfront for the vaccines. Parents would often skip the COVID shot, which can have a very short shelf life, compared with other vaccines.

“Watching it sitting on our shelves expiring every 30 days, that’s like throwing away $150 repeatedly every day, multiple times a month,” Dr. Ball said.

in 2024, Dr. Ball slashed his fall vaccine order to the bare minimum to avoid another costly mistake.

“We took the number of flu vaccines that we order, and then we ordered 5% of that in COVID vaccines,” Dr. Ball said. “It’s a guess.”

That small vaccine order cost more than $63,000, he said.

Pharmacists, pharmacy interns, and techs are allowed to give COVID vaccines only to children age 3 and up, meaning babies and toddlers would need to visit a doctor’s office for inoculation.

It’s difficult to predict how parents will feel about the shots this fall, said Chicago pediatrician Scott Goldstein, MD. Unlike other vaccinations, COVID shots aren’t required for kids to attend school, and parental interest seems to wane with each new formulation. For a physician-owned practice such as Dr. Goldstein’s, the upfront cost of the vaccine can be a gamble.

“The cost of vaccines, that’s far and away our biggest expense. But it’s also the most important thing we do, you could argue, is vaccinating kids,” Dr. Goldstein said.

Insurance doesn’t necessarily cover vaccine storage accidents, which can put the practice at risk of financial ruin.

“We’ve had things happen like a refrigerator gets unplugged. And then we’re all of a sudden out $80,000 overnight,” Dr. Goldstein said.

South Carolina pediatrician Deborah Greenhouse, MD, said she would order more COVID vaccines for older children if the pharmaceutical companies that she buys from had a more forgiving return policy.

“Pfizer is creating that situation. If you’re only going to let us return 30%, we’re not going to buy much,” she said. “We can’t.”

Greenhouse owns her practice, so the remaining 70% of leftover shots would come out of her pocket.

Vaccine maker Pfizer will take back all unused COVID shots for young children, but only 30% of doses for people 12 and older.

Pfizer said in an Aug. 20 emailed statement, “The return policy was instituted as we recognize both the importance and the complexity of pediatric vaccination and wanted to ensure that pediatric offices did not have hurdles to providing vaccine to their young patients.”

Pfizer’s return policy is similar to policies from other drugmakers for pediatric flu vaccines, also recommended during the fall season. Physicians who are worried about unwanted COVID vaccines expiring on the shelves said flu shots cost them about $20 per dose, while COVID shots cost around $150 per dose.

“We run on a very thin margin. If we get stuck holding a ton of vaccine that we cannot return, we can’t absorb that kind of cost,” Dr. Greenhouse said.

Vaccine maker Moderna will accept COVID vaccine returns, but the amount depends on the individual contract with a provider. Novavax will accept the return of only unopened vaccines and doesn’t specify the amount they’ll accept.

Dr. Greenhouse wants to vaccinate as many children as possible but said she can’t afford to stock shots with a short shelf life. Once she runs out of the doses she’s ordered, Dr. Greenhouse plans to tell families to go to a pharmacy to get older children vaccinated. If pediatricians around the country are making the same calculations, doses for very small children could be harder to find at doctors’ offices.

“Frankly, it’s not an ideal situation, but it’s what we have to do to stay in business,” she said.

Dr. Ball worries that parents’ limited interest has caused pediatricians to minimize their vaccine orders, in turn making the newest COVID shots difficult to find once they become available.

“I think there’s just a misperception that it’s less of a big deal to get COVID, but I’m still sending babies to the hospital with COVID,” Dr. Ball said. “We’re still seeing kids with long COVID. This is with us forever.”

KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF — the independent source for health policy research, polling, and journalism.

A new analysis suggests one reason doctors are wary of value-based care arrangements: Overkill.

Researchers found that primary care physicians in one large integrated health system were required to track an average of 57 different quality measures across multiple insurers that linked outcomes to payments under value-based contracts.

Medicare contracts were the most likely to pile quality measures on physicians with an average of 13.42 measures vs 10.07 for commercial insurer contracts and 5.37 for Medicaid contracts, reported Claire Boone, PhD, of the University of Chicago in Illinois and Providence Research Network, Portland, Oregon, and colleagues in JAMA Health Forum. The analysis, which may be the first of its kind, tracked 890 primary care physicians from 2020 to 2022.

The average of 57 quality measures per physician was unexpectedly high, Dr. Boone said in an interview.

“The magnitude of that number surprised us,” Dr. Boone said. “Primary care physicians and their practices have a lot on their plate. Now we know that one of those things is a very large number of different quality metrics to pay attention to, measure, report on, and implement.

Value-based care programs use quality measures to evaluate how well clinicians are doing their jobs and adjust reimbursement accordingly. A payer, for example, may raise reimbursements if a clinician has higher numbers of patients who meet quality measure standards for depression screening or blood pressure.

Dr. Boone said her research group is studying the impact of quality measures and was surprised that data showed individual primary care physicians had to deal with a high number of value-based contracts.

The researchers tracked value-based contracts for 890 physicians (58.3% women, 41.7% men) in an unidentified West Coast Health system. (Several study authors work for the Providence Health System, which serves several Western States and Texas.) The average number of patients per physician was 1309.

The physicians were part of an average of 11.18 value-based contracts (commercial insurers, 49.50%; Medicaid, 21.49%; and Medicare, 29.01%). This number grew from 9.39 in 2020 to 12.26 in 2022. Quality measure data weren’t available for 29% of contracts.

Quality measures were considered unique if they referenced different conditions.

For example, colorectal cancer screening is unique from depression screening. The researchers also considered measures for the same condition unique if the target value differed — for example, blood pressure control defined as < 140/90 vs blood pressure control defined as < 130/80, Dr. Boone said.

Dr. Boone said she expected payers to coordinate quality measures.

“The fact that they largely are not is really the main finding of this paper. Without coordination, the use of value-based contracts and quality measures at scale leads to many unique measures being used. This may reflect the fact that there are so many important tasks to do in primary care, and there’s no consensus on which ones should be included in quality-based contracts.”

Ronald N. Adler, MD, an associate professor in the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health at UMass Chan Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts, who’s familiar with the findings but didn’t take part in the research, said the study offers something new — the quantification of quality measures.

He said in an interview that physicians deal with quality measures in different ways. Some clinicians “don’t really care,” and have an attitude of “this is not why I got into medicine.” But others “are very competitive around this, and it leads to a lot of a lot of stress. Trying to address 50-plus measures is impossible and demoralizing.”

The metrics may measure things like mammogram screening that are out of the physician’s control, Dr. Adler said. “I can recommend a mammogram, and my patient can choose not to do it. Or maybe my patient is homeless; she doesn’t have transportation, and it’s not a priority for her, even though she wants to do it.”

Patients may not take medication as prescribed, or they may be unable to afford it, he said. “Can they afford to eat healthy foods? Or is ramen all they can afford, and their sugars are through the roof? There are a lot of factors at play here that are independent of the quality of care provided by the doctor.”

As for his own approach, Dr. Adler said he worries about some measures more than others. “I’m very proactive about screening my patients for colon cancer and maybe a little less so about mammography.”

For colon cancer screening, “there are a lot of benefits and not that many harms as opposed to mammography, which has harms such as false positives and overdiagnosis of breast cancer.”

Dr. Adler is a member of the Quality Measure Alignment Taskforce in Massachusetts, which is trying to establish consensus on appropriate quality measures. But payer participation is voluntary. “Our health systems are too siloed ... so there is no readily available mechanism for enforcing such recommendations.”

Wayne Altman, MD, chair of Family Medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts, is also familiar with the study findings but didn’t take part in the research. He said in an interview that clinicians shouldn’t have to deal with more than 5-10 quality measures in total.

He pointed out that many measures don’t make sense in certain populations. Titrating blood pressure to < 140/90 isn’t ideal for elderly patients because aggressive control can send their blood pressure dangerously low. “They’re going to fall down, break a hip, and likely die within a year. You have to have the right population and be aware of unintended consequences.”

Still, Dr. Adler noted, there’s an important role for quality measures in healthcare.

“We need data to inform our quality improvement activities, but they need to be the right measures. People can’t respond reasonably to improve on 50-plus measures,” he said. “They need to be consolidated and prioritized. It would be really helpful if we could have a much lower number of measures that are meaningful, safe, and connect to things that matter.”

No funding has been reported. Dr. Boone disclosed a grant from the National Institute on Aging. Dr. Adler and Dr. Altman had no disclosures.

A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.

A new analysis suggests one reason doctors are wary of value-based care arrangements: Overkill.

Researchers found that primary care physicians in one large integrated health system were required to track an average of 57 different quality measures across multiple insurers that linked outcomes to payments under value-based contracts.

Medicare contracts were the most likely to pile quality measures on physicians with an average of 13.42 measures vs 10.07 for commercial insurer contracts and 5.37 for Medicaid contracts, reported Claire Boone, PhD, of the University of Chicago in Illinois and Providence Research Network, Portland, Oregon, and colleagues in JAMA Health Forum. The analysis, which may be the first of its kind, tracked 890 primary care physicians from 2020 to 2022.

The average of 57 quality measures per physician was unexpectedly high, Dr. Boone said in an interview.

“The magnitude of that number surprised us,” Dr. Boone said. “Primary care physicians and their practices have a lot on their plate. Now we know that one of those things is a very large number of different quality metrics to pay attention to, measure, report on, and implement.

Value-based care programs use quality measures to evaluate how well clinicians are doing their jobs and adjust reimbursement accordingly. A payer, for example, may raise reimbursements if a clinician has higher numbers of patients who meet quality measure standards for depression screening or blood pressure.

Dr. Boone said her research group is studying the impact of quality measures and was surprised that data showed individual primary care physicians had to deal with a high number of value-based contracts.

The researchers tracked value-based contracts for 890 physicians (58.3% women, 41.7% men) in an unidentified West Coast Health system. (Several study authors work for the Providence Health System, which serves several Western States and Texas.) The average number of patients per physician was 1309.

The physicians were part of an average of 11.18 value-based contracts (commercial insurers, 49.50%; Medicaid, 21.49%; and Medicare, 29.01%). This number grew from 9.39 in 2020 to 12.26 in 2022. Quality measure data weren’t available for 29% of contracts.

Quality measures were considered unique if they referenced different conditions.

For example, colorectal cancer screening is unique from depression screening. The researchers also considered measures for the same condition unique if the target value differed — for example, blood pressure control defined as < 140/90 vs blood pressure control defined as < 130/80, Dr. Boone said.

Dr. Boone said she expected payers to coordinate quality measures.

“The fact that they largely are not is really the main finding of this paper. Without coordination, the use of value-based contracts and quality measures at scale leads to many unique measures being used. This may reflect the fact that there are so many important tasks to do in primary care, and there’s no consensus on which ones should be included in quality-based contracts.”

Ronald N. Adler, MD, an associate professor in the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health at UMass Chan Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts, who’s familiar with the findings but didn’t take part in the research, said the study offers something new — the quantification of quality measures.

He said in an interview that physicians deal with quality measures in different ways. Some clinicians “don’t really care,” and have an attitude of “this is not why I got into medicine.” But others “are very competitive around this, and it leads to a lot of a lot of stress. Trying to address 50-plus measures is impossible and demoralizing.”

The metrics may measure things like mammogram screening that are out of the physician’s control, Dr. Adler said. “I can recommend a mammogram, and my patient can choose not to do it. Or maybe my patient is homeless; she doesn’t have transportation, and it’s not a priority for her, even though she wants to do it.”

Patients may not take medication as prescribed, or they may be unable to afford it, he said. “Can they afford to eat healthy foods? Or is ramen all they can afford, and their sugars are through the roof? There are a lot of factors at play here that are independent of the quality of care provided by the doctor.”

As for his own approach, Dr. Adler said he worries about some measures more than others. “I’m very proactive about screening my patients for colon cancer and maybe a little less so about mammography.”

For colon cancer screening, “there are a lot of benefits and not that many harms as opposed to mammography, which has harms such as false positives and overdiagnosis of breast cancer.”

Dr. Adler is a member of the Quality Measure Alignment Taskforce in Massachusetts, which is trying to establish consensus on appropriate quality measures. But payer participation is voluntary. “Our health systems are too siloed ... so there is no readily available mechanism for enforcing such recommendations.”

Wayne Altman, MD, chair of Family Medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts, is also familiar with the study findings but didn’t take part in the research. He said in an interview that clinicians shouldn’t have to deal with more than 5-10 quality measures in total.

He pointed out that many measures don’t make sense in certain populations. Titrating blood pressure to < 140/90 isn’t ideal for elderly patients because aggressive control can send their blood pressure dangerously low. “They’re going to fall down, break a hip, and likely die within a year. You have to have the right population and be aware of unintended consequences.”

Still, Dr. Adler noted, there’s an important role for quality measures in healthcare.

“We need data to inform our quality improvement activities, but they need to be the right measures. People can’t respond reasonably to improve on 50-plus measures,” he said. “They need to be consolidated and prioritized. It would be really helpful if we could have a much lower number of measures that are meaningful, safe, and connect to things that matter.”

No funding has been reported. Dr. Boone disclosed a grant from the National Institute on Aging. Dr. Adler and Dr. Altman had no disclosures.

A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.

A new analysis suggests one reason doctors are wary of value-based care arrangements: Overkill.

Researchers found that primary care physicians in one large integrated health system were required to track an average of 57 different quality measures across multiple insurers that linked outcomes to payments under value-based contracts.

Medicare contracts were the most likely to pile quality measures on physicians with an average of 13.42 measures vs 10.07 for commercial insurer contracts and 5.37 for Medicaid contracts, reported Claire Boone, PhD, of the University of Chicago in Illinois and Providence Research Network, Portland, Oregon, and colleagues in JAMA Health Forum. The analysis, which may be the first of its kind, tracked 890 primary care physicians from 2020 to 2022.

The average of 57 quality measures per physician was unexpectedly high, Dr. Boone said in an interview.

“The magnitude of that number surprised us,” Dr. Boone said. “Primary care physicians and their practices have a lot on their plate. Now we know that one of those things is a very large number of different quality metrics to pay attention to, measure, report on, and implement.

Value-based care programs use quality measures to evaluate how well clinicians are doing their jobs and adjust reimbursement accordingly. A payer, for example, may raise reimbursements if a clinician has higher numbers of patients who meet quality measure standards for depression screening or blood pressure.

Dr. Boone said her research group is studying the impact of quality measures and was surprised that data showed individual primary care physicians had to deal with a high number of value-based contracts.

The researchers tracked value-based contracts for 890 physicians (58.3% women, 41.7% men) in an unidentified West Coast Health system. (Several study authors work for the Providence Health System, which serves several Western States and Texas.) The average number of patients per physician was 1309.

The physicians were part of an average of 11.18 value-based contracts (commercial insurers, 49.50%; Medicaid, 21.49%; and Medicare, 29.01%). This number grew from 9.39 in 2020 to 12.26 in 2022. Quality measure data weren’t available for 29% of contracts.

Quality measures were considered unique if they referenced different conditions.

For example, colorectal cancer screening is unique from depression screening. The researchers also considered measures for the same condition unique if the target value differed — for example, blood pressure control defined as < 140/90 vs blood pressure control defined as < 130/80, Dr. Boone said.

Dr. Boone said she expected payers to coordinate quality measures.

“The fact that they largely are not is really the main finding of this paper. Without coordination, the use of value-based contracts and quality measures at scale leads to many unique measures being used. This may reflect the fact that there are so many important tasks to do in primary care, and there’s no consensus on which ones should be included in quality-based contracts.”

Ronald N. Adler, MD, an associate professor in the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health at UMass Chan Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts, who’s familiar with the findings but didn’t take part in the research, said the study offers something new — the quantification of quality measures.

He said in an interview that physicians deal with quality measures in different ways. Some clinicians “don’t really care,” and have an attitude of “this is not why I got into medicine.” But others “are very competitive around this, and it leads to a lot of a lot of stress. Trying to address 50-plus measures is impossible and demoralizing.”

The metrics may measure things like mammogram screening that are out of the physician’s control, Dr. Adler said. “I can recommend a mammogram, and my patient can choose not to do it. Or maybe my patient is homeless; she doesn’t have transportation, and it’s not a priority for her, even though she wants to do it.”

Patients may not take medication as prescribed, or they may be unable to afford it, he said. “Can they afford to eat healthy foods? Or is ramen all they can afford, and their sugars are through the roof? There are a lot of factors at play here that are independent of the quality of care provided by the doctor.”

As for his own approach, Dr. Adler said he worries about some measures more than others. “I’m very proactive about screening my patients for colon cancer and maybe a little less so about mammography.”

For colon cancer screening, “there are a lot of benefits and not that many harms as opposed to mammography, which has harms such as false positives and overdiagnosis of breast cancer.”

Dr. Adler is a member of the Quality Measure Alignment Taskforce in Massachusetts, which is trying to establish consensus on appropriate quality measures. But payer participation is voluntary. “Our health systems are too siloed ... so there is no readily available mechanism for enforcing such recommendations.”

Wayne Altman, MD, chair of Family Medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts, is also familiar with the study findings but didn’t take part in the research. He said in an interview that clinicians shouldn’t have to deal with more than 5-10 quality measures in total.

He pointed out that many measures don’t make sense in certain populations. Titrating blood pressure to < 140/90 isn’t ideal for elderly patients because aggressive control can send their blood pressure dangerously low. “They’re going to fall down, break a hip, and likely die within a year. You have to have the right population and be aware of unintended consequences.”

Still, Dr. Adler noted, there’s an important role for quality measures in healthcare.

“We need data to inform our quality improvement activities, but they need to be the right measures. People can’t respond reasonably to improve on 50-plus measures,” he said. “They need to be consolidated and prioritized. It would be really helpful if we could have a much lower number of measures that are meaningful, safe, and connect to things that matter.”

No funding has been reported. Dr. Boone disclosed a grant from the National Institute on Aging. Dr. Adler and Dr. Altman had no disclosures.

A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.

You see it all the time. It’s the family at the table next to you in the restaurant where the two teenage children are texting away on their phones. Or the playground, where a 3-year-old is playing with his toy truck and bulldozer in the sand and his father, immersed in his laptop, hasn’t said a word to his child.

It may trouble you when you witness social situations like that in which an electronic device is preventing or certainly interfering with interpersonal interactions. Or at least I hope it troubles you. Maybe it is so ubiquitous that you have come to accept it as the norm. It’s likely you may even be a participant. But, do you have a name for it?

It’s called “technoference,” a word coined by a doctoral student in human development and family studies at Penn State a decade ago “to describe the everyday intrusions and interruptions in couple interactions that take place due to technology devices and their always-on, ever-present nature.” Although, the original research that triggered the coinage was about couples, obviously the phenomenon occurs whenever people of any age are together in social situations.

While the word may not have crept into common parlance, we all know it when we see it. Technoference may not appear in the paper’s title, but it is a subject being investigated across a broad array of disciplines. One phone tracking study found that parents of young infants spend more than 5 hours each day on their smartphones. More than a quarter of that time the infant is engaged with the parent’s digital device. Technoference has been associated with decreased parent-child interaction during early childhood. It has been associated with more negative responses to children’s behavior, as well as an increased risk of child injury.

There are numerous studies suggesting an association between parental technoference and mental health difficulties in children. I have recently reviewed one of these studies that looks at the relationship of perceived parental technoference and the mental health of children entering adolescents. The authors collected longitudinal data of more than 1300 emerging adolescents, hoping to determine if the relationship between parental distraction and mental health was bidirectional. In other words, could a child’s mental health be contributing to his parents’ perceived distraction? Or was it primarily the parents’ technoference that was playing a role in the child’s mental health problems?

What investigators found was that higher levels of parental distraction were associated with higher levels of inattention and hyperactivity in the emerging adolescents, but not vice versa. On the other hand, higher levels of adolescent anxiety was associated with higher levels of perceived parental technoference, but not vice versa.

I know this sounds a bit confusing and a bit chicken-egg-chicken-eggish. The study was not designed to determine causation in these associations. However, the authors offer some possible scenarios that may provide a bit of clarity. It could be that parents who are concerned about their anxious child respond by retreating into the cyberspace to avoid tense situations or for support or information.

On the other hand, emerging adolescents who are exhibiting hyperactivity and inattention may be responding to an environment infused with their parents’ higher level of technoference. This explanation meshes with other studies demonstrating an association between parental distraction and aggression and attention problems in early childhood.

While one could spend more time imagining other factors that could be driving these bidirectional relationships, I’m not sure that it makes a heckuva lot of difference. Whether the child’s mental illness is the primary driver or the parent’s device-associated distraction is the dominant force isn’t the point. These are bidirectional relationships. If we are interested in pointing fingers, the common denominator is the device and our failure as a society to keep it in proper perspective. We all know that smartphones, tablets, and computers create an unhealthy distraction in personal relationships. The parents know and most of the children know. It’s time for us all to demonstrate some self-discipline. And that can begin for us as health care providers as we sit behind our computers spending more time looking at the screen than we do engaging the patient with our eyes.
 

Dr. Wilkoff practiced primary care pediatrics in Brunswick, Maine, for nearly 40 years. He has authored several books on behavioral pediatrics, including “How to Say No to Your Toddler.” Other than a Littman stethoscope he accepted as a first-year medical student in 1966, Dr. Wilkoff reports having nothing to disclose. Email him at [email protected].

You see it all the time. It’s the family at the table next to you in the restaurant where the two teenage children are texting away on their phones. Or the playground, where a 3-year-old is playing with his toy truck and bulldozer in the sand and his father, immersed in his laptop, hasn’t said a word to his child.

It may trouble you when you witness social situations like that in which an electronic device is preventing or certainly interfering with interpersonal interactions. Or at least I hope it troubles you. Maybe it is so ubiquitous that you have come to accept it as the norm. It’s likely you may even be a participant. But, do you have a name for it?

It’s called “technoference,” a word coined by a doctoral student in human development and family studies at Penn State a decade ago “to describe the everyday intrusions and interruptions in couple interactions that take place due to technology devices and their always-on, ever-present nature.” Although, the original research that triggered the coinage was about couples, obviously the phenomenon occurs whenever people of any age are together in social situations.

While the word may not have crept into common parlance, we all know it when we see it. Technoference may not appear in the paper’s title, but it is a subject being investigated across a broad array of disciplines. One phone tracking study found that parents of young infants spend more than 5 hours each day on their smartphones. More than a quarter of that time the infant is engaged with the parent’s digital device. Technoference has been associated with decreased parent-child interaction during early childhood. It has been associated with more negative responses to children’s behavior, as well as an increased risk of child injury.

There are numerous studies suggesting an association between parental technoference and mental health difficulties in children. I have recently reviewed one of these studies that looks at the relationship of perceived parental technoference and the mental health of children entering adolescents. The authors collected longitudinal data of more than 1300 emerging adolescents, hoping to determine if the relationship between parental distraction and mental health was bidirectional. In other words, could a child’s mental health be contributing to his parents’ perceived distraction? Or was it primarily the parents’ technoference that was playing a role in the child’s mental health problems?

What investigators found was that higher levels of parental distraction were associated with higher levels of inattention and hyperactivity in the emerging adolescents, but not vice versa. On the other hand, higher levels of adolescent anxiety was associated with higher levels of perceived parental technoference, but not vice versa.

I know this sounds a bit confusing and a bit chicken-egg-chicken-eggish. The study was not designed to determine causation in these associations. However, the authors offer some possible scenarios that may provide a bit of clarity. It could be that parents who are concerned about their anxious child respond by retreating into the cyberspace to avoid tense situations or for support or information.

On the other hand, emerging adolescents who are exhibiting hyperactivity and inattention may be responding to an environment infused with their parents’ higher level of technoference. This explanation meshes with other studies demonstrating an association between parental distraction and aggression and attention problems in early childhood.

While one could spend more time imagining other factors that could be driving these bidirectional relationships, I’m not sure that it makes a heckuva lot of difference. Whether the child’s mental illness is the primary driver or the parent’s device-associated distraction is the dominant force isn’t the point. These are bidirectional relationships. If we are interested in pointing fingers, the common denominator is the device and our failure as a society to keep it in proper perspective. We all know that smartphones, tablets, and computers create an unhealthy distraction in personal relationships. The parents know and most of the children know. It’s time for us all to demonstrate some self-discipline. And that can begin for us as health care providers as we sit behind our computers spending more time looking at the screen than we do engaging the patient with our eyes.
 

Dr. Wilkoff practiced primary care pediatrics in Brunswick, Maine, for nearly 40 years. He has authored several books on behavioral pediatrics, including “How to Say No to Your Toddler.” Other than a Littman stethoscope he accepted as a first-year medical student in 1966, Dr. Wilkoff reports having nothing to disclose. Email him at [email protected].

You see it all the time. It’s the family at the table next to you in the restaurant where the two teenage children are texting away on their phones. Or the playground, where a 3-year-old is playing with his toy truck and bulldozer in the sand and his father, immersed in his laptop, hasn’t said a word to his child.

It may trouble you when you witness social situations like that in which an electronic device is preventing or certainly interfering with interpersonal interactions. Or at least I hope it troubles you. Maybe it is so ubiquitous that you have come to accept it as the norm. It’s likely you may even be a participant. But, do you have a name for it?

It’s called “technoference,” a word coined by a doctoral student in human development and family studies at Penn State a decade ago “to describe the everyday intrusions and interruptions in couple interactions that take place due to technology devices and their always-on, ever-present nature.” Although, the original research that triggered the coinage was about couples, obviously the phenomenon occurs whenever people of any age are together in social situations.

While the word may not have crept into common parlance, we all know it when we see it. Technoference may not appear in the paper’s title, but it is a subject being investigated across a broad array of disciplines. One phone tracking study found that parents of young infants spend more than 5 hours each day on their smartphones. More than a quarter of that time the infant is engaged with the parent’s digital device. Technoference has been associated with decreased parent-child interaction during early childhood. It has been associated with more negative responses to children’s behavior, as well as an increased risk of child injury.

There are numerous studies suggesting an association between parental technoference and mental health difficulties in children. I have recently reviewed one of these studies that looks at the relationship of perceived parental technoference and the mental health of children entering adolescents. The authors collected longitudinal data of more than 1300 emerging adolescents, hoping to determine if the relationship between parental distraction and mental health was bidirectional. In other words, could a child’s mental health be contributing to his parents’ perceived distraction? Or was it primarily the parents’ technoference that was playing a role in the child’s mental health problems?

What investigators found was that higher levels of parental distraction were associated with higher levels of inattention and hyperactivity in the emerging adolescents, but not vice versa. On the other hand, higher levels of adolescent anxiety was associated with higher levels of perceived parental technoference, but not vice versa.

I know this sounds a bit confusing and a bit chicken-egg-chicken-eggish. The study was not designed to determine causation in these associations. However, the authors offer some possible scenarios that may provide a bit of clarity. It could be that parents who are concerned about their anxious child respond by retreating into the cyberspace to avoid tense situations or for support or information.

On the other hand, emerging adolescents who are exhibiting hyperactivity and inattention may be responding to an environment infused with their parents’ higher level of technoference. This explanation meshes with other studies demonstrating an association between parental distraction and aggression and attention problems in early childhood.

While one could spend more time imagining other factors that could be driving these bidirectional relationships, I’m not sure that it makes a heckuva lot of difference. Whether the child’s mental illness is the primary driver or the parent’s device-associated distraction is the dominant force isn’t the point. These are bidirectional relationships. If we are interested in pointing fingers, the common denominator is the device and our failure as a society to keep it in proper perspective. We all know that smartphones, tablets, and computers create an unhealthy distraction in personal relationships. The parents know and most of the children know. It’s time for us all to demonstrate some self-discipline. And that can begin for us as health care providers as we sit behind our computers spending more time looking at the screen than we do engaging the patient with our eyes.
 

Dr. Wilkoff practiced primary care pediatrics in Brunswick, Maine, for nearly 40 years. He has authored several books on behavioral pediatrics, including “How to Say No to Your Toddler.” Other than a Littman stethoscope he accepted as a first-year medical student in 1966, Dr. Wilkoff reports having nothing to disclose. Email him at [email protected].

TOPLINE: 

Compared with other urine analysis methods, urine Gram stain has a moderate predictive value for detecting gram-negative bacteria in urine culture but does not significantly improve urinary tract infection (UTI) diagnosis in the emergency department (ED).

METHODOLOGY:

• Researchers conducted an observational cohort study at the University Medical Center Groningen in the Netherlands, encompassing 1358 episodes across 1136 patients suspected of having a UTI.
• The study included the following predefined subgroups: patients using urinary catheters and patients with leukopenia (< 4.0×10⁹ leucocytes/L). Urine dipstick nitrite, automated urinalysis, Gram stain, and urine cultures were performed on urine samples collected from patients presenting at the ED.
• The sensitivity and specificity of Gram stain for “many” bacteria (quantified as > 15/high power field) were compared with those of urine dipstick nitrite and automated bacterial counting in urinalysis.

TAKEAWAY:

• The sensitivity and specificity of Gram stain for “many” bacteria were 51.3% and 91.0%, respectively, with an accuracy of 76.8%.
• Gram stain showed a positive predictive value (PPV) of 84.7% for gram-negative rods in urine culture; however, the PPV was only 38.4% for gram-positive cocci.
• In the catheter subgroup, the presence of monomorphic bacteria quantified as “many” had a higher PPV for diagnosing a UTI than the presence of polymorphic bacteria with the same quantification.
• The overall performance of Gram stain in diagnosing a UTI in the ED was comparable to that of automated bacterial counting in urinalysis but better than that of urine dipstick nitrite.

IN PRACTICE:

“With the exception of a moderate prediction of gram-negative bacteria in the UC [urine culture], urine GS [Gram stain] does not improve UTI diagnosis at the ED compared to other urine parameters,” the authors wrote.

SOURCE:

The study was led by Stephanie J.M. Middelkoop, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, the Netherlands. It was published online on August 16, 2024, in Infectious Diseases.

LIMITATIONS: 

The study’s limitations included a small sample size within the leukopenia subgroup, which may have affected the generalizability of the findings. Additionally, the potential influence of refrigeration of urine samples on bacterial growth could have affected the results. In this study, indwelling catheters were not replaced before urine sample collection, which may have affected the accuracy of UTI diagnosis in patients using catheters.
 

DISCLOSURES:

No conflicts of interest were disclosed by the authors.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication. A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.

TOPLINE: 

Compared with other urine analysis methods, urine Gram stain has a moderate predictive value for detecting gram-negative bacteria in urine culture but does not significantly improve urinary tract infection (UTI) diagnosis in the emergency department (ED).

METHODOLOGY:

• Researchers conducted an observational cohort study at the University Medical Center Groningen in the Netherlands, encompassing 1358 episodes across 1136 patients suspected of having a UTI.
• The study included the following predefined subgroups: patients using urinary catheters and patients with leukopenia (< 4.0×10⁹ leucocytes/L). Urine dipstick nitrite, automated urinalysis, Gram stain, and urine cultures were performed on urine samples collected from patients presenting at the ED.
• The sensitivity and specificity of Gram stain for “many” bacteria (quantified as > 15/high power field) were compared with those of urine dipstick nitrite and automated bacterial counting in urinalysis.

TAKEAWAY:

• The sensitivity and specificity of Gram stain for “many” bacteria were 51.3% and 91.0%, respectively, with an accuracy of 76.8%.
• Gram stain showed a positive predictive value (PPV) of 84.7% for gram-negative rods in urine culture; however, the PPV was only 38.4% for gram-positive cocci.
• In the catheter subgroup, the presence of monomorphic bacteria quantified as “many” had a higher PPV for diagnosing a UTI than the presence of polymorphic bacteria with the same quantification.
• The overall performance of Gram stain in diagnosing a UTI in the ED was comparable to that of automated bacterial counting in urinalysis but better than that of urine dipstick nitrite.

IN PRACTICE:

“With the exception of a moderate prediction of gram-negative bacteria in the UC [urine culture], urine GS [Gram stain] does not improve UTI diagnosis at the ED compared to other urine parameters,” the authors wrote.

SOURCE:

The study was led by Stephanie J.M. Middelkoop, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, the Netherlands. It was published online on August 16, 2024, in Infectious Diseases.

LIMITATIONS: 

The study’s limitations included a small sample size within the leukopenia subgroup, which may have affected the generalizability of the findings. Additionally, the potential influence of refrigeration of urine samples on bacterial growth could have affected the results. In this study, indwelling catheters were not replaced before urine sample collection, which may have affected the accuracy of UTI diagnosis in patients using catheters.
 

DISCLOSURES:

No conflicts of interest were disclosed by the authors.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication. A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.

TOPLINE: 

Compared with other urine analysis methods, urine Gram stain has a moderate predictive value for detecting gram-negative bacteria in urine culture but does not significantly improve urinary tract infection (UTI) diagnosis in the emergency department (ED).

METHODOLOGY:

• Researchers conducted an observational cohort study at the University Medical Center Groningen in the Netherlands, encompassing 1358 episodes across 1136 patients suspected of having a UTI.
• The study included the following predefined subgroups: patients using urinary catheters and patients with leukopenia (< 4.0×10⁹ leucocytes/L). Urine dipstick nitrite, automated urinalysis, Gram stain, and urine cultures were performed on urine samples collected from patients presenting at the ED.
• The sensitivity and specificity of Gram stain for “many” bacteria (quantified as > 15/high power field) were compared with those of urine dipstick nitrite and automated bacterial counting in urinalysis.

TAKEAWAY:

• The sensitivity and specificity of Gram stain for “many” bacteria were 51.3% and 91.0%, respectively, with an accuracy of 76.8%.
• Gram stain showed a positive predictive value (PPV) of 84.7% for gram-negative rods in urine culture; however, the PPV was only 38.4% for gram-positive cocci.
• In the catheter subgroup, the presence of monomorphic bacteria quantified as “many” had a higher PPV for diagnosing a UTI than the presence of polymorphic bacteria with the same quantification.
• The overall performance of Gram stain in diagnosing a UTI in the ED was comparable to that of automated bacterial counting in urinalysis but better than that of urine dipstick nitrite.

IN PRACTICE:

“With the exception of a moderate prediction of gram-negative bacteria in the UC [urine culture], urine GS [Gram stain] does not improve UTI diagnosis at the ED compared to other urine parameters,” the authors wrote.

SOURCE:

The study was led by Stephanie J.M. Middelkoop, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, the Netherlands. It was published online on August 16, 2024, in Infectious Diseases.

LIMITATIONS: 

The study’s limitations included a small sample size within the leukopenia subgroup, which may have affected the generalizability of the findings. Additionally, the potential influence of refrigeration of urine samples on bacterial growth could have affected the results. In this study, indwelling catheters were not replaced before urine sample collection, which may have affected the accuracy of UTI diagnosis in patients using catheters.
 

DISCLOSURES:

No conflicts of interest were disclosed by the authors.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication. A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.

TOPLINE:

Black children with vitiligo are significantly more likely to be diagnosed with psychiatric disorders, including depression, suicidal ideation, and disruptive behavior disorders, than matched controls who did not have vitiligo, according to a case-control study.

METHODOLOGY:

• Researchers conducted a retrospective, single-center, case-control study at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston on 327 Black children with vitiligo and 981 matched controls without vitiligo.
• The average age of participants was 11.7 years, and 62% were girls.
• The study outcome was the prevalence of psychiatric conditions and rates of treatment (pharmacotherapy and/or psychotherapy) initiation for those conditions.

TAKEAWAY:

• Black children with vitiligo were more likely to be diagnosed with depression (odds ratio [OR], 3.63; P < .001), suicidal ideation (OR, 2.88; P = .005), disruptive behavior disorders (OR, 7.68; P < .001), eating disorders (OR, 15.22; P = .013), generalized anxiety disorder (OR, 2.61; P < .001), and substance abuse (OR, 2.67; P = .011).
• The likelihood of having a psychiatric comorbidity was not significantly different between children with segmental vitiligo and those with generalized vitiligo or between girls and boys.
• Among the patients with vitiligo and psychiatric comorbidities, treatment initiation rates were higher for depression (76.5%), disruptive behavior disorders (82.1%), and eating disorders (100%).
• Treatment initiation rates were lower in patients with vitiligo diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder (55.3%) and substance abuse (61.5%). Treatment was not initiated in 14% patients with suicidal ideation.

IN PRACTICE:

“Pediatric dermatologists have an important role in screening for psychiatric comorbidities, and implementation of appropriate screening tools while treating vitiligo is likely to have a bidirectional positive impact,” the authors wrote, adding: “By better understanding psychiatric comorbidities of African American children with vitiligo, dermatologists can be more aware of pediatric mental health needs and provide appropriate referrals.”

SOURCE:

This study was led by Emily Strouphauer, BSA, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, and was published online in JAAD International.

LIMITATIONS:

The study limitations were the retrospective design, small sample size, and heterogeneity in the control group.

DISCLOSURES:

The study did not receive any funding. The authors declared no competing interests.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication. A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.

TOPLINE:

Black children with vitiligo are significantly more likely to be diagnosed with psychiatric disorders, including depression, suicidal ideation, and disruptive behavior disorders, than matched controls who did not have vitiligo, according to a case-control study.

METHODOLOGY:

• Researchers conducted a retrospective, single-center, case-control study at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston on 327 Black children with vitiligo and 981 matched controls without vitiligo.
• The average age of participants was 11.7 years, and 62% were girls.
• The study outcome was the prevalence of psychiatric conditions and rates of treatment (pharmacotherapy and/or psychotherapy) initiation for those conditions.

TAKEAWAY:

• Black children with vitiligo were more likely to be diagnosed with depression (odds ratio [OR], 3.63; P < .001), suicidal ideation (OR, 2.88; P = .005), disruptive behavior disorders (OR, 7.68; P < .001), eating disorders (OR, 15.22; P = .013), generalized anxiety disorder (OR, 2.61; P < .001), and substance abuse (OR, 2.67; P = .011).
• The likelihood of having a psychiatric comorbidity was not significantly different between children with segmental vitiligo and those with generalized vitiligo or between girls and boys.
• Among the patients with vitiligo and psychiatric comorbidities, treatment initiation rates were higher for depression (76.5%), disruptive behavior disorders (82.1%), and eating disorders (100%).
• Treatment initiation rates were lower in patients with vitiligo diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder (55.3%) and substance abuse (61.5%). Treatment was not initiated in 14% patients with suicidal ideation.

IN PRACTICE:

“Pediatric dermatologists have an important role in screening for psychiatric comorbidities, and implementation of appropriate screening tools while treating vitiligo is likely to have a bidirectional positive impact,” the authors wrote, adding: “By better understanding psychiatric comorbidities of African American children with vitiligo, dermatologists can be more aware of pediatric mental health needs and provide appropriate referrals.”

SOURCE:

This study was led by Emily Strouphauer, BSA, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, and was published online in JAAD International.

LIMITATIONS:

The study limitations were the retrospective design, small sample size, and heterogeneity in the control group.

DISCLOSURES:

The study did not receive any funding. The authors declared no competing interests.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication. A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.

TOPLINE:

Black children with vitiligo are significantly more likely to be diagnosed with psychiatric disorders, including depression, suicidal ideation, and disruptive behavior disorders, than matched controls who did not have vitiligo, according to a case-control study.

METHODOLOGY:

• Researchers conducted a retrospective, single-center, case-control study at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston on 327 Black children with vitiligo and 981 matched controls without vitiligo.
• The average age of participants was 11.7 years, and 62% were girls.
• The study outcome was the prevalence of psychiatric conditions and rates of treatment (pharmacotherapy and/or psychotherapy) initiation for those conditions.

TAKEAWAY:

• Black children with vitiligo were more likely to be diagnosed with depression (odds ratio [OR], 3.63; P < .001), suicidal ideation (OR, 2.88; P = .005), disruptive behavior disorders (OR, 7.68; P < .001), eating disorders (OR, 15.22; P = .013), generalized anxiety disorder (OR, 2.61; P < .001), and substance abuse (OR, 2.67; P = .011).
• The likelihood of having a psychiatric comorbidity was not significantly different between children with segmental vitiligo and those with generalized vitiligo or between girls and boys.
• Among the patients with vitiligo and psychiatric comorbidities, treatment initiation rates were higher for depression (76.5%), disruptive behavior disorders (82.1%), and eating disorders (100%).
• Treatment initiation rates were lower in patients with vitiligo diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder (55.3%) and substance abuse (61.5%). Treatment was not initiated in 14% patients with suicidal ideation.

IN PRACTICE:

“Pediatric dermatologists have an important role in screening for psychiatric comorbidities, and implementation of appropriate screening tools while treating vitiligo is likely to have a bidirectional positive impact,” the authors wrote, adding: “By better understanding psychiatric comorbidities of African American children with vitiligo, dermatologists can be more aware of pediatric mental health needs and provide appropriate referrals.”

SOURCE:

This study was led by Emily Strouphauer, BSA, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, and was published online in JAAD International.

LIMITATIONS:

The study limitations were the retrospective design, small sample size, and heterogeneity in the control group.

DISCLOSURES:

The study did not receive any funding. The authors declared no competing interests.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication. A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.

TOPLINE:

Mobile images may be reliable for assessing cutaneous neurofibroma (cNF) features in patients with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1), according to a crowd-sourced registry study that also suggests correlations between cNF burden and quality of life (QoL), particularly the impact of facial severity on emotional well-being.

METHODOLOGY:

• To learn more about the association of cNFs with QoL, pain, and itch in patients with this rare disease, researchers enrolled 1016 individuals aged 40 years and older with NF1 who had at least one cNF, from May 2021 to December 2023, after reaching out to patient-led or NF1 advocacy organizations in 13 countries, including the United States.
• Participants provided demographic data, detailed photographs, and saliva samples for genetic sequencing, with 583 participants (mean age, 51.7 years; 65.9% women) submitting high-quality photographs from seven body regions at the time of the study analysis.
• A subset of 50 participants also underwent whole-body imaging.
• Four researchers independently rated the photographs for various cNF features, including general severity, number, size, facial severity, and subtypes.

TAKEAWAY:

• Based on evaluations by NF1 specialists, the agreement between mobile and whole-body images was “substantial” (74%-88% agreement) for the number of cNFs, general severity, and facial severity. Agreement between self-reported numbers of cNFs and investigator-rated numbers based on photographs was “minimal to fair.”
• Female sex, the number of cNFs, severity of cNFs on the face, and globular cNFs were associated with worse QoL (based on Skindex scores); severity of cNFs on the face had the strongest impact on overall QoL (P < .001).
• An increasing number of cNFs and worsening facial severity were strongly correlated with higher emotion subdomain scores.
• A higher number of cNFs, more severe cNFs on the face, and larger cNFs were all slightly associated with increased itch and pain (P < .01).

IN PRACTICE:

“To develop effective therapeutics, meaningful clinical outcomes that are tied with improvement in QoL for persons with NF1 must be clearly defined,” the authors wrote. The results of this study, they added, “suggested the benefit of this crowd-sourced resource by identifying the features of cNFs with the greatest association with QoL and symptoms of pain and itch in persons with NF1, highlighting new intervention strategies and features to target to most improve QoL in NF1.”

SOURCE:

The study was led by Michelle Jade Lin, BS, Stanford University School of Medicine, Redwood City, California, and was published online in JAMA Dermatology.

LIMITATIONS:

The study included only a small number of individuals from racial and ethnic minority groups and did not capture ethnicity information, which could have provided further insights into disease impact across different demographics.

DISCLOSURES:

This study was supported by Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, and the Bloomberg Family Foundation. Ms. Lin reported support from the Stanford Medical Scholars Research Program. Three authors reported personal fees or grants outside this work. Other authors reported no competing interests.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication. A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.

TOPLINE:

Mobile images may be reliable for assessing cutaneous neurofibroma (cNF) features in patients with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1), according to a crowd-sourced registry study that also suggests correlations between cNF burden and quality of life (QoL), particularly the impact of facial severity on emotional well-being.

METHODOLOGY:

• To learn more about the association of cNFs with QoL, pain, and itch in patients with this rare disease, researchers enrolled 1016 individuals aged 40 years and older with NF1 who had at least one cNF, from May 2021 to December 2023, after reaching out to patient-led or NF1 advocacy organizations in 13 countries, including the United States.
• Participants provided demographic data, detailed photographs, and saliva samples for genetic sequencing, with 583 participants (mean age, 51.7 years; 65.9% women) submitting high-quality photographs from seven body regions at the time of the study analysis.
• A subset of 50 participants also underwent whole-body imaging.
• Four researchers independently rated the photographs for various cNF features, including general severity, number, size, facial severity, and subtypes.

TAKEAWAY:

• Based on evaluations by NF1 specialists, the agreement between mobile and whole-body images was “substantial” (74%-88% agreement) for the number of cNFs, general severity, and facial severity. Agreement between self-reported numbers of cNFs and investigator-rated numbers based on photographs was “minimal to fair.”
• Female sex, the number of cNFs, severity of cNFs on the face, and globular cNFs were associated with worse QoL (based on Skindex scores); severity of cNFs on the face had the strongest impact on overall QoL (P < .001).
• An increasing number of cNFs and worsening facial severity were strongly correlated with higher emotion subdomain scores.
• A higher number of cNFs, more severe cNFs on the face, and larger cNFs were all slightly associated with increased itch and pain (P < .01).

IN PRACTICE:

“To develop effective therapeutics, meaningful clinical outcomes that are tied with improvement in QoL for persons with NF1 must be clearly defined,” the authors wrote. The results of this study, they added, “suggested the benefit of this crowd-sourced resource by identifying the features of cNFs with the greatest association with QoL and symptoms of pain and itch in persons with NF1, highlighting new intervention strategies and features to target to most improve QoL in NF1.”

SOURCE:

The study was led by Michelle Jade Lin, BS, Stanford University School of Medicine, Redwood City, California, and was published online in JAMA Dermatology.

LIMITATIONS:

The study included only a small number of individuals from racial and ethnic minority groups and did not capture ethnicity information, which could have provided further insights into disease impact across different demographics.

DISCLOSURES:

This study was supported by Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, and the Bloomberg Family Foundation. Ms. Lin reported support from the Stanford Medical Scholars Research Program. Three authors reported personal fees or grants outside this work. Other authors reported no competing interests.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication. A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.

TOPLINE:

Mobile images may be reliable for assessing cutaneous neurofibroma (cNF) features in patients with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1), according to a crowd-sourced registry study that also suggests correlations between cNF burden and quality of life (QoL), particularly the impact of facial severity on emotional well-being.

METHODOLOGY:

• To learn more about the association of cNFs with QoL, pain, and itch in patients with this rare disease, researchers enrolled 1016 individuals aged 40 years and older with NF1 who had at least one cNF, from May 2021 to December 2023, after reaching out to patient-led or NF1 advocacy organizations in 13 countries, including the United States.
• Participants provided demographic data, detailed photographs, and saliva samples for genetic sequencing, with 583 participants (mean age, 51.7 years; 65.9% women) submitting high-quality photographs from seven body regions at the time of the study analysis.
• A subset of 50 participants also underwent whole-body imaging.
• Four researchers independently rated the photographs for various cNF features, including general severity, number, size, facial severity, and subtypes.

TAKEAWAY:

• Based on evaluations by NF1 specialists, the agreement between mobile and whole-body images was “substantial” (74%-88% agreement) for the number of cNFs, general severity, and facial severity. Agreement between self-reported numbers of cNFs and investigator-rated numbers based on photographs was “minimal to fair.”
• Female sex, the number of cNFs, severity of cNFs on the face, and globular cNFs were associated with worse QoL (based on Skindex scores); severity of cNFs on the face had the strongest impact on overall QoL (P < .001).
• An increasing number of cNFs and worsening facial severity were strongly correlated with higher emotion subdomain scores.
• A higher number of cNFs, more severe cNFs on the face, and larger cNFs were all slightly associated with increased itch and pain (P < .01).

IN PRACTICE:

“To develop effective therapeutics, meaningful clinical outcomes that are tied with improvement in QoL for persons with NF1 must be clearly defined,” the authors wrote. The results of this study, they added, “suggested the benefit of this crowd-sourced resource by identifying the features of cNFs with the greatest association with QoL and symptoms of pain and itch in persons with NF1, highlighting new intervention strategies and features to target to most improve QoL in NF1.”

SOURCE:

The study was led by Michelle Jade Lin, BS, Stanford University School of Medicine, Redwood City, California, and was published online in JAMA Dermatology.

LIMITATIONS:

The study included only a small number of individuals from racial and ethnic minority groups and did not capture ethnicity information, which could have provided further insights into disease impact across different demographics.

DISCLOSURES:

This study was supported by Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, and the Bloomberg Family Foundation. Ms. Lin reported support from the Stanford Medical Scholars Research Program. Three authors reported personal fees or grants outside this work. Other authors reported no competing interests.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication. A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.

When parents are perceived as distracted by their phones or other technology during social or family interactions, it can affect the mental health of children between ages 9 and 11 years, according to a new study based in Canada.

In fact, this parental “technoference” is associated with higher levels of inattention and hyperactivity symptoms later in the child’s development, the researchers found.

“We hear a lot about children’s and adolescents’ screen time in the media, but we forget that parents are also on their screens a lot. In fact, past research shows that when parents are with their children, they spend 1 in 3 minutes on a screen,” said lead author Audrey-Ann Deneault, PhD, assistant professor of social psychology at the University of Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

“We’ve all experienced moments when we’re on the phone and not hearing someone call us or don’t notice something happening right before our eyes,” she said. “We think that’s why it’s important to look at technoference. When parents use screens, they are more likely to miss when their child needs them.”

The study was published online in JAMA Network Open.
 

Analyzing Parental Technoference

As part of the All Our Families study, Dr. Deneault and colleagues analyzed a cohort of mothers and 1303 emerging adolescents between ages 9 and 11 years in Calgary, with the aim of understanding long-term associations between perceived parental interruptions (or technoference) and their children’s mental health.

Women were recruited during pregnancy between May 2008 and December 2010. For this study, the adolescents were assessed three times — at ages 9 years (in 2020), 10 years (in 2021), and 11 years (in 2021 and 2022). The mothers gave consent for their children to participate, and the children gave assent as well.

During the assessments, the adolescents completed questionnaires about their perceptions of parental technoference and their mental health symptoms, such as anxiety, depression, inattention, and hyperactivity. The study focused on the magnitude of effect sizes rather than statistical significance.

Overall, higher levels of anxiety symptoms at ages 9 and 10 years were prospectively associated with higher levels of perceived parental technoference at ages 10 and 11 years. The effect size was small.

In addition, higher levels of perceived parental technoference at ages 9 and 10 years were prospectively associated with higher levels of hyperactivity at ages 10 and 11 years and higher levels of inattention at age 11 years. There were no significant differences by gender.

“Technoference and youth mental health interact in complex ways. We found that when emerging adolescents have higher rates of anxiety, this can prompt parents to engage in more technoference,” Dr. Deneault said. “This latter bit highlights that parents may be struggling when their youths have mental health difficulties.”
 

Considering Healthy Changes

The findings call for a multitiered approach, Dr. Deneault said, in which adolescents and parents receive support related to mental health concerns, technology use, and healthy parent-child interactions.

“The key takeaway is that parents’ screen time matters and should begin to be a part of the conversation when we think about child and adolescent mental health,” she said.

Future research should look at the direction of associations between adolescent mental health and parental technoference, as well as underlying mechanisms, specific activities linked to technoference, and different age groups and stages of development, the study authors wrote.

“As a society, we need to understand how parents’ use of technology can interfere or not with youths’ mental health,” said Nicole Letourneau, PhD, a research professor of pediatrics, psychiatry, and community health sciences focused on parent and child health at the University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

Dr. Letourneau, who wasn’t involved in this study, has researched the effects of parental technoference on parent-child relationships and child health and developmental outcomes. She and her colleagues found that parents recognized changes in their child’s behavior.

“Parental support is important for healthy development, and if parents are distracted by their devices, they can miss important but subtle cues that youth are using to signal their needs,” she said. “Given the troubling rise in youth mental health problems, we need to understand potential contributors so we can offer ways to reduce risks and promote youth mental health.”

Communication with parents should be considered as well. For instance, healthcare providers can address the positive and negative aspects of technology use.

“There is enough research out now that we should be more concerned than we currently are about how parents’ own technology habits might influence child and teen well-being. Yet, taking an overall negative lens to parent technology and smartphone habits may not prove very fruitful,” said Brandon McDaniel, PhD, a senior research scientist at the Parkview Mirro Center for Research & Innovation in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Dr. McDaniel, who also wasn’t involved with this study, has researched technoference and associations with child behavior problems, as well as parents’ desires to change phone use. He noted that parents may use their devices for positive reasons, such as finding support from others, regulating their own emotions, and escaping from stress, so they can be more emotionally available for their children soon after using their phone.

“Many parents already feel an immense amount of guilt surrounding smartphone use in the presence of their child,” he said. “I suggest that practitioners address parent technology use in ways that validate parents in their positive uses of technology while helping them identify areas of their tech habits that may be counterproductive for their own or their child’s health and mental health.”

The All Our Families study was supported by an Alberta Innovates–Health Solutions Interdisciplinary Team Grant and the Alberta Children’s Hospital Foundation. The current analysis received funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, a Children and Screens: Institute of Digital Media and Child Development COVID-19 grant, an Alberta Innovates grant, and a Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship. Dr. Deneault, Dr. Letourneau, and Dr. McDaniel reported no relevant financial relationships.

A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.

When parents are perceived as distracted by their phones or other technology during social or family interactions, it can affect the mental health of children between ages 9 and 11 years, according to a new study based in Canada.

In fact, this parental “technoference” is associated with higher levels of inattention and hyperactivity symptoms later in the child’s development, the researchers found.

“We hear a lot about children’s and adolescents’ screen time in the media, but we forget that parents are also on their screens a lot. In fact, past research shows that when parents are with their children, they spend 1 in 3 minutes on a screen,” said lead author Audrey-Ann Deneault, PhD, assistant professor of social psychology at the University of Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

“We’ve all experienced moments when we’re on the phone and not hearing someone call us or don’t notice something happening right before our eyes,” she said. “We think that’s why it’s important to look at technoference. When parents use screens, they are more likely to miss when their child needs them.”

The study was published online in JAMA Network Open.
 

Analyzing Parental Technoference

As part of the All Our Families study, Dr. Deneault and colleagues analyzed a cohort of mothers and 1303 emerging adolescents between ages 9 and 11 years in Calgary, with the aim of understanding long-term associations between perceived parental interruptions (or technoference) and their children’s mental health.

Women were recruited during pregnancy between May 2008 and December 2010. For this study, the adolescents were assessed three times — at ages 9 years (in 2020), 10 years (in 2021), and 11 years (in 2021 and 2022). The mothers gave consent for their children to participate, and the children gave assent as well.

During the assessments, the adolescents completed questionnaires about their perceptions of parental technoference and their mental health symptoms, such as anxiety, depression, inattention, and hyperactivity. The study focused on the magnitude of effect sizes rather than statistical significance.

Overall, higher levels of anxiety symptoms at ages 9 and 10 years were prospectively associated with higher levels of perceived parental technoference at ages 10 and 11 years. The effect size was small.

In addition, higher levels of perceived parental technoference at ages 9 and 10 years were prospectively associated with higher levels of hyperactivity at ages 10 and 11 years and higher levels of inattention at age 11 years. There were no significant differences by gender.

“Technoference and youth mental health interact in complex ways. We found that when emerging adolescents have higher rates of anxiety, this can prompt parents to engage in more technoference,” Dr. Deneault said. “This latter bit highlights that parents may be struggling when their youths have mental health difficulties.”
 

Considering Healthy Changes

The findings call for a multitiered approach, Dr. Deneault said, in which adolescents and parents receive support related to mental health concerns, technology use, and healthy parent-child interactions.

“The key takeaway is that parents’ screen time matters and should begin to be a part of the conversation when we think about child and adolescent mental health,” she said.

Future research should look at the direction of associations between adolescent mental health and parental technoference, as well as underlying mechanisms, specific activities linked to technoference, and different age groups and stages of development, the study authors wrote.

“As a society, we need to understand how parents’ use of technology can interfere or not with youths’ mental health,” said Nicole Letourneau, PhD, a research professor of pediatrics, psychiatry, and community health sciences focused on parent and child health at the University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

Dr. Letourneau, who wasn’t involved in this study, has researched the effects of parental technoference on parent-child relationships and child health and developmental outcomes. She and her colleagues found that parents recognized changes in their child’s behavior.

“Parental support is important for healthy development, and if parents are distracted by their devices, they can miss important but subtle cues that youth are using to signal their needs,” she said. “Given the troubling rise in youth mental health problems, we need to understand potential contributors so we can offer ways to reduce risks and promote youth mental health.”

Communication with parents should be considered as well. For instance, healthcare providers can address the positive and negative aspects of technology use.

“There is enough research out now that we should be more concerned than we currently are about how parents’ own technology habits might influence child and teen well-being. Yet, taking an overall negative lens to parent technology and smartphone habits may not prove very fruitful,” said Brandon McDaniel, PhD, a senior research scientist at the Parkview Mirro Center for Research & Innovation in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Dr. McDaniel, who also wasn’t involved with this study, has researched technoference and associations with child behavior problems, as well as parents’ desires to change phone use. He noted that parents may use their devices for positive reasons, such as finding support from others, regulating their own emotions, and escaping from stress, so they can be more emotionally available for their children soon after using their phone.

“Many parents already feel an immense amount of guilt surrounding smartphone use in the presence of their child,” he said. “I suggest that practitioners address parent technology use in ways that validate parents in their positive uses of technology while helping them identify areas of their tech habits that may be counterproductive for their own or their child’s health and mental health.”

The All Our Families study was supported by an Alberta Innovates–Health Solutions Interdisciplinary Team Grant and the Alberta Children’s Hospital Foundation. The current analysis received funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, a Children and Screens: Institute of Digital Media and Child Development COVID-19 grant, an Alberta Innovates grant, and a Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship. Dr. Deneault, Dr. Letourneau, and Dr. McDaniel reported no relevant financial relationships.

A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.

When parents are perceived as distracted by their phones or other technology during social or family interactions, it can affect the mental health of children between ages 9 and 11 years, according to a new study based in Canada.

In fact, this parental “technoference” is associated with higher levels of inattention and hyperactivity symptoms later in the child’s development, the researchers found.

“We hear a lot about children’s and adolescents’ screen time in the media, but we forget that parents are also on their screens a lot. In fact, past research shows that when parents are with their children, they spend 1 in 3 minutes on a screen,” said lead author Audrey-Ann Deneault, PhD, assistant professor of social psychology at the University of Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

“We’ve all experienced moments when we’re on the phone and not hearing someone call us or don’t notice something happening right before our eyes,” she said. “We think that’s why it’s important to look at technoference. When parents use screens, they are more likely to miss when their child needs them.”

The study was published online in JAMA Network Open.
 

Analyzing Parental Technoference

As part of the All Our Families study, Dr. Deneault and colleagues analyzed a cohort of mothers and 1303 emerging adolescents between ages 9 and 11 years in Calgary, with the aim of understanding long-term associations between perceived parental interruptions (or technoference) and their children’s mental health.

Women were recruited during pregnancy between May 2008 and December 2010. For this study, the adolescents were assessed three times — at ages 9 years (in 2020), 10 years (in 2021), and 11 years (in 2021 and 2022). The mothers gave consent for their children to participate, and the children gave assent as well.

During the assessments, the adolescents completed questionnaires about their perceptions of parental technoference and their mental health symptoms, such as anxiety, depression, inattention, and hyperactivity. The study focused on the magnitude of effect sizes rather than statistical significance.

Overall, higher levels of anxiety symptoms at ages 9 and 10 years were prospectively associated with higher levels of perceived parental technoference at ages 10 and 11 years. The effect size was small.

In addition, higher levels of perceived parental technoference at ages 9 and 10 years were prospectively associated with higher levels of hyperactivity at ages 10 and 11 years and higher levels of inattention at age 11 years. There were no significant differences by gender.

“Technoference and youth mental health interact in complex ways. We found that when emerging adolescents have higher rates of anxiety, this can prompt parents to engage in more technoference,” Dr. Deneault said. “This latter bit highlights that parents may be struggling when their youths have mental health difficulties.”
 

Considering Healthy Changes

The findings call for a multitiered approach, Dr. Deneault said, in which adolescents and parents receive support related to mental health concerns, technology use, and healthy parent-child interactions.

“The key takeaway is that parents’ screen time matters and should begin to be a part of the conversation when we think about child and adolescent mental health,” she said.

Future research should look at the direction of associations between adolescent mental health and parental technoference, as well as underlying mechanisms, specific activities linked to technoference, and different age groups and stages of development, the study authors wrote.

“As a society, we need to understand how parents’ use of technology can interfere or not with youths’ mental health,” said Nicole Letourneau, PhD, a research professor of pediatrics, psychiatry, and community health sciences focused on parent and child health at the University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

Dr. Letourneau, who wasn’t involved in this study, has researched the effects of parental technoference on parent-child relationships and child health and developmental outcomes. She and her colleagues found that parents recognized changes in their child’s behavior.

“Parental support is important for healthy development, and if parents are distracted by their devices, they can miss important but subtle cues that youth are using to signal their needs,” she said. “Given the troubling rise in youth mental health problems, we need to understand potential contributors so we can offer ways to reduce risks and promote youth mental health.”

Communication with parents should be considered as well. For instance, healthcare providers can address the positive and negative aspects of technology use.

“There is enough research out now that we should be more concerned than we currently are about how parents’ own technology habits might influence child and teen well-being. Yet, taking an overall negative lens to parent technology and smartphone habits may not prove very fruitful,” said Brandon McDaniel, PhD, a senior research scientist at the Parkview Mirro Center for Research & Innovation in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Dr. McDaniel, who also wasn’t involved with this study, has researched technoference and associations with child behavior problems, as well as parents’ desires to change phone use. He noted that parents may use their devices for positive reasons, such as finding support from others, regulating their own emotions, and escaping from stress, so they can be more emotionally available for their children soon after using their phone.

“Many parents already feel an immense amount of guilt surrounding smartphone use in the presence of their child,” he said. “I suggest that practitioners address parent technology use in ways that validate parents in their positive uses of technology while helping them identify areas of their tech habits that may be counterproductive for their own or their child’s health and mental health.”

The All Our Families study was supported by an Alberta Innovates–Health Solutions Interdisciplinary Team Grant and the Alberta Children’s Hospital Foundation. The current analysis received funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, a Children and Screens: Institute of Digital Media and Child Development COVID-19 grant, an Alberta Innovates grant, and a Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship. Dr. Deneault, Dr. Letourneau, and Dr. McDaniel reported no relevant financial relationships.

A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.

A growing amount of data is demonstrating that new fathers are likely to develop depression in the perinatal period. Anxiety and stress during fatherhood receive less research attention than do anxiety and stress during motherhood. 

Longitudinal data tracking the evolution of men’s mental health following the birth of the first child are even rarer, especially in the French population. Only two studies of the subject have been conducted. They were dedicated solely to paternal depression and limited to the first 4 months post partum. Better understanding of the risk in the population can not only help identify public health issues, but also aid in defining targeted preventive approaches.

French researchers in epidemiology and public health sought to expand our knowledge of the mental health trajectories of new fathers using 9 years of data from the CONSTANCES cohort. Within this cohort, participants filled out self-administered questionnaires annually. They declared their parental status and the presence of mental illnesses. They also completed questionnaires to assess mental health, such as the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale for depression and the General Health Questionnaire for depressive, anxious, and somatic disorders. Thresholds for each score were established to characterize the severity of symptoms. In addition, the researchers analyzed all factors (eg, sociodemographic, psychosocial, lifestyle, professional, family, or cultural) that potentially are associated with poor mental health and were available within the questionnaires. 

The study included 6299 men who had their first child and for whom at least one mental health measure was collected during the follow-up period. These men had an average age of 38 years at inclusion, 88% lived with a partner, and 85% were employed. Overall, 7.9% of this male cohort self-reported a mental illness during the study, with 5.6% of illnesses occurring before the child’s birth and 9.7% after. Anxiety affected 6.5% of the cohort, and it was more pronounced after the birth than before (7.8% after vs 4.9% before). 

The rate of clinically significant symptoms averaged 23.2% during the study period, increasing from 18.3% to 25.2% after the birth. The discrepancy between the self-declared diagnosis by new fathers and the symptom-related score highlights underreporting or insufficient awareness among men. 

After conducting a latent class analysis, the researchers identified three homogeneous subgroups of men who had comparable mental health trajectories over time. The first group (90.3% of the cohort) maintained a constant and low risk for mental illnesses. The second (4.1%) presented a high and generally constant risk over time. Finally, 5.6% of the cohort had a temporarily high risk in the 2-4 years surrounding the birth.

The risk factors associated with being at a transiently high risk for mental illness were, in order of descending significance, not having a job, having had at least one negative experience during childhood, forgoing healthcare for financial reasons, and being aged 35-39 years (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] between 3.01 and 1.61). The risk factors associated with a high and constant mental illness risk were, in order of descending significance, being aged 60 years or older, not having a job, not living with a partner, being aged 40-44 years, and having other children in the following years (AOR between 3.79 and 1.85). 

The authors noted that the risk factors for mental health challenges associated with fatherhood do not imply causality, the meaning of which would also need further study. They contended that French fathers, who on average are entitled to 2 weeks of paid paternity leave, may struggle to manage their time, professional responsibilities, and parenting duties. Consequently, they may experience dissatisfaction and difficulty seeking support, assistance, or a mental health diagnosis, especially in the face of a mental health risk to which they are less attuned than women.

This story was translated from Univadis France, which is part of the Medscape Professional Network, using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication. A version of this article appeared on Medscape.com.

A growing amount of data is demonstrating that new fathers are likely to develop depression in the perinatal period. Anxiety and stress during fatherhood receive less research attention than do anxiety and stress during motherhood. 

Longitudinal data tracking the evolution of men’s mental health following the birth of the first child are even rarer, especially in the French population. Only two studies of the subject have been conducted. They were dedicated solely to paternal depression and limited to the first 4 months post partum. Better understanding of the risk in the population can not only help identify public health issues, but also aid in defining targeted preventive approaches.

French researchers in epidemiology and public health sought to expand our knowledge of the mental health trajectories of new fathers using 9 years of data from the CONSTANCES cohort. Within this cohort, participants filled out self-administered questionnaires annually. They declared their parental status and the presence of mental illnesses. They also completed questionnaires to assess mental health, such as the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale for depression and the General Health Questionnaire for depressive, anxious, and somatic disorders. Thresholds for each score were established to characterize the severity of symptoms. In addition, the researchers analyzed all factors (eg, sociodemographic, psychosocial, lifestyle, professional, family, or cultural) that potentially are associated with poor mental health and were available within the questionnaires. 

The study included 6299 men who had their first child and for whom at least one mental health measure was collected during the follow-up period. These men had an average age of 38 years at inclusion, 88% lived with a partner, and 85% were employed. Overall, 7.9% of this male cohort self-reported a mental illness during the study, with 5.6% of illnesses occurring before the child’s birth and 9.7% after. Anxiety affected 6.5% of the cohort, and it was more pronounced after the birth than before (7.8% after vs 4.9% before). 

The rate of clinically significant symptoms averaged 23.2% during the study period, increasing from 18.3% to 25.2% after the birth. The discrepancy between the self-declared diagnosis by new fathers and the symptom-related score highlights underreporting or insufficient awareness among men. 

After conducting a latent class analysis, the researchers identified three homogeneous subgroups of men who had comparable mental health trajectories over time. The first group (90.3% of the cohort) maintained a constant and low risk for mental illnesses. The second (4.1%) presented a high and generally constant risk over time. Finally, 5.6% of the cohort had a temporarily high risk in the 2-4 years surrounding the birth.

The risk factors associated with being at a transiently high risk for mental illness were, in order of descending significance, not having a job, having had at least one negative experience during childhood, forgoing healthcare for financial reasons, and being aged 35-39 years (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] between 3.01 and 1.61). The risk factors associated with a high and constant mental illness risk were, in order of descending significance, being aged 60 years or older, not having a job, not living with a partner, being aged 40-44 years, and having other children in the following years (AOR between 3.79 and 1.85). 

The authors noted that the risk factors for mental health challenges associated with fatherhood do not imply causality, the meaning of which would also need further study. They contended that French fathers, who on average are entitled to 2 weeks of paid paternity leave, may struggle to manage their time, professional responsibilities, and parenting duties. Consequently, they may experience dissatisfaction and difficulty seeking support, assistance, or a mental health diagnosis, especially in the face of a mental health risk to which they are less attuned than women.

This story was translated from Univadis France, which is part of the Medscape Professional Network, using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication. A version of this article appeared on Medscape.com.

A growing amount of data is demonstrating that new fathers are likely to develop depression in the perinatal period. Anxiety and stress during fatherhood receive less research attention than do anxiety and stress during motherhood. 

Longitudinal data tracking the evolution of men’s mental health following the birth of the first child are even rarer, especially in the French population. Only two studies of the subject have been conducted. They were dedicated solely to paternal depression and limited to the first 4 months post partum. Better understanding of the risk in the population can not only help identify public health issues, but also aid in defining targeted preventive approaches.

French researchers in epidemiology and public health sought to expand our knowledge of the mental health trajectories of new fathers using 9 years of data from the CONSTANCES cohort. Within this cohort, participants filled out self-administered questionnaires annually. They declared their parental status and the presence of mental illnesses. They also completed questionnaires to assess mental health, such as the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale for depression and the General Health Questionnaire for depressive, anxious, and somatic disorders. Thresholds for each score were established to characterize the severity of symptoms. In addition, the researchers analyzed all factors (eg, sociodemographic, psychosocial, lifestyle, professional, family, or cultural) that potentially are associated with poor mental health and were available within the questionnaires. 

The study included 6299 men who had their first child and for whom at least one mental health measure was collected during the follow-up period. These men had an average age of 38 years at inclusion, 88% lived with a partner, and 85% were employed. Overall, 7.9% of this male cohort self-reported a mental illness during the study, with 5.6% of illnesses occurring before the child’s birth and 9.7% after. Anxiety affected 6.5% of the cohort, and it was more pronounced after the birth than before (7.8% after vs 4.9% before). 

The rate of clinically significant symptoms averaged 23.2% during the study period, increasing from 18.3% to 25.2% after the birth. The discrepancy between the self-declared diagnosis by new fathers and the symptom-related score highlights underreporting or insufficient awareness among men. 

After conducting a latent class analysis, the researchers identified three homogeneous subgroups of men who had comparable mental health trajectories over time. The first group (90.3% of the cohort) maintained a constant and low risk for mental illnesses. The second (4.1%) presented a high and generally constant risk over time. Finally, 5.6% of the cohort had a temporarily high risk in the 2-4 years surrounding the birth.

The risk factors associated with being at a transiently high risk for mental illness were, in order of descending significance, not having a job, having had at least one negative experience during childhood, forgoing healthcare for financial reasons, and being aged 35-39 years (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] between 3.01 and 1.61). The risk factors associated with a high and constant mental illness risk were, in order of descending significance, being aged 60 years or older, not having a job, not living with a partner, being aged 40-44 years, and having other children in the following years (AOR between 3.79 and 1.85). 

The authors noted that the risk factors for mental health challenges associated with fatherhood do not imply causality, the meaning of which would also need further study. They contended that French fathers, who on average are entitled to 2 weeks of paid paternity leave, may struggle to manage their time, professional responsibilities, and parenting duties. Consequently, they may experience dissatisfaction and difficulty seeking support, assistance, or a mental health diagnosis, especially in the face of a mental health risk to which they are less attuned than women.

This story was translated from Univadis France, which is part of the Medscape Professional Network, using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication. A version of this article appeared on Medscape.com.