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Here are the top medical news for the day:
Alarming Rise in Children’s Anxiety and Depression: Study Finds
The percentage of children under 18 years old with anxiety and depression increased steadily from 2016 to 2022, according to publicly available data from the National Survey of Children’s Health that were analyzed by researchers from Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. In contrast, there was no increase during that time frame related to physical health problems, such as asthma, severe headache or migraine, and heart conditions. Results were published in JAMA Pediatrics.
The study found that the proportion of children with anxiety jumped from 7.1 percent in 2016 to 10.6 percent in 2022 (the most recent year of publicly available data). Depression increased from 3.2 percent to 4.6 percent in the same period. ADD/ADHD increased but did not reach statistical significance, while behavioral or conduct problems remained at about the same percentage.
The data revealed the opposite trajectory for the selected physical health problems. Asthma declined from 8.4 percent to 6.5 percent, and severe headaches or migraines went down from 3.5 percent to 2.6 percent. The percentage of children with heart conditions did not change over the study period.
“Our findings underscore the critical need to prioritize youth mental health, which continued to worsen even as we emerged from the pandemic,” said lead author Marie Heffernan, PhD, Scientific Director for Quantitative Science at Smith Child Health Outcomes, Research, and Evaluation Center Catalyst Program at Lurie Children’s and Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.
“Parents and schools need more support to be better equipped to help children suffering from anxiety or depression,” she said.
Reference: https://research.luriechildrens.org/en/researchers/michelle-l-macy/
Study Reveals Link Between Diet Quality and Cognitive Performance
New research links fatty, sugary diets to impaired brain function. The findings build on a growing body of evidence showing the negative impact of high-fat, high-sugar (HFHS) diets on cognitive ability, adding to their well-known physical effects. Findings are published in the International Journal of Obesity. The research is the first to test in humans the relationship between high-fat, high-sugar diets, particularly those high in refined sugar and saturated fat, and first-person spatial navigation. Spatial navigation is the ability to learn and remember a path from one location to another, a process that can approximate the health of the brain's hippocampus.
The research found high-fat, high-sugar diets have a detrimental effect on some aspects of cognitive function. It is likely those effects center on the hippocampus, the brain structure important for spatial navigation and memory formation, rather than acting across the entire brain.
The research team recruited 55 university students aged between 18 and 38. Each participant completed questionnaires capturing their intake of sugary and fatty foods. They also had their working memory tested in a number recall exercise, and their body mass index (BMI) recorded.
The experiment itself required participants to navigate a virtual reality maze and locate a treasure chest six times. The maze was surrounded by landmarks that participants could use to remember their route. Their starting point and the location of the treasure chest remained constant in each trial.
If participants found the treasure in less than four minutes, they continued to the next trial. If they failed to find the treasure in this time, they were teleported to its location and given 10 seconds to familiarise themselves with that location before the next trial.
A seventh trial removed the treasure chest from the virtual maze but asked participants to find and mark its former location based purely on memory. Those with lower levels of fat and sugar in their diets were able to pinpoint the location with a higher degree of accuracy than those who consumed these foods multiple times a week.
Reference: https://www.sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/news/2025/04/21/high-fat-high-sugar-diets-impact-cognitive-function.html
New Research Links Blood Pressure Intervention to Lower Dementia Risks
A large-scale international study has found that people who receive intensive support to manage high blood pressure are significantly less likely to develop dementia. The research, published in Nature Medicine, showed that participants given tailored medication, lifestyle coaching, and home monitoring tools had a 15% lower risk of developing dementia compared to those receiving standard care.
Led by researchers from China and the United States, the study involved nearly 34,000 individuals over the age of 40 with uncontrolled hypertension, living in 326 rural Chinese villages. Half of these villages were randomly assigned to receive intensive blood pressure management through community healthcare providers, often referred to as “village doctors.” This group of 17,407 participants received free or low-cost antihypertensive medication tailored to their needs, regular health coaching, lifestyle interventions such as salt reduction and weight loss, and equipment for home monitoring.
The remaining 16,588 participants continued with their usual care routines, which may have included medications or lifestyle advice but did not offer consistent, structured support or access to home monitoring tools.
After four years, the researchers recorded 668 cases of dementia in the intensive management group versus 734 in the usual care group, amounting to a 15% reduced risk. There was also a 16% reduction in the risk of cognitive impairment without dementia in the intervention group. Although cognitive function at the start of the trial wasn’t assessed, researchers noted that both groups were comparable at baseline.
Prof Tara Spires-Jones, the director of the Centre for Discovery Brain Sciences at the University of Edinburgh, said the research “provides further strong evidence supporting the importance of managing blood pressure and other cardiovascular risks to protect the brain during ageing”.
But, she added: “It is important to note that treating high blood pressure was not a foolproof guarantee as some people receiving treatment still developed dementia.”
Reference: He, J., Zhao, C., Zhong, S. et al. Blood pressure reduction and all-cause dementia in people with uncontrolled hypertension: an open-label, blinded-endpoint, cluster-randomized trial. Nat Med (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-025-03616-8
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