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This article on youth medications and current illnesses from CNN News explains that children's medications are hard to find in many place across the United States. According to Seattle Children’s Hospital, the continuing surge of respiratory illnesses has affected liquid acetaminophen and ibuprofen, which are commonly given to children and the inventories of these medications are constrained. This virus has been affecting the youth population across the country containing COVID, flu, and respiratory illnesses. This article pertains to teaching health to elementary students because this is the age group that is most affected. They can be taught safety procedures, such as personal hygiene, which can be beneficial to their overall health which is why it is essential for teachers to know about this ongoing issues; for the safety of their students and themselves.

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With all but six states experiencing "high" or "very high" respiratory virus levels, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, certain over-the-counter children's medications are hard to find in many places across the United States.

The availability of children's painkillers first started dropping in June. After some recovery in early fall, it started to dip again in November, according to market research firm Nielsen IQ, which tracks point of sale data from retailers.

The US Food and Drug Administration said it is closely working with drug manufacturers to assess the situation.

"The FDA recognizes the potential impact that reduced availability of certain products may have on health care providers and patients. While the agency does not manufacturer drugs and cannot require a pharmaceutical company to make a drug, make more of a drug, or change the distribution of a drug, the public should rest assured the FDA is working closely with numerous manufacturers and others in the supply chain to understand, mitigate and prevent or reduce the impact of intermittent or reduced availability of certain products. The FDA understands that manufacturers expect availability to continue to increase in the near future," the agency said.

According to Seattle Children's Hospital, the continuing surge of respiratory illnesses has affected liquid acetaminophen and ibuprofen, which are commonly given to children.

"We are actively implementing mitigation strategies for the shortages of these fever reducing medications," said Emily Benefield, manager of pharmacy clinical programs at Seattle Children's.

A Kroger spokesperson told CNN its pharmacy team is working "diligently to ensure our customers have the medications they need. At this time, our inventory of children's acetaminophen and ibuprofen are constrained. We continue to work daily to manage through the constraints."

Johnson & Johnson says it's seeing high demand for its pain relief products and is working to maximize production capacity.

"We are doing everything we can to make sure people have access to the products they need, including maximizing our production capacity, and running our sites 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Some products may be less readily available due to this increased demand but we are not experiencing an overall shortage of Children's TYLENOL or Children's MOTRIN in the United States," the company said in a statement Friday. "We will continue to work with our retailers to provide these products throughout the Cold & Flu Season."

Despite the increased demand, retail pharmacy Walgreens said, it is "prepared and able to continue meeting the needs of our customers and patients."

"We are working with our diverse set of suppliers and distributors to ensure our patients have the products they need most," the company said.

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Children's painkillers are in high demand as respiratory illnesses continue to rise | CNN

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With all but six states experiencing "high" or "very high" respiratory virus levels, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, certain over-the-counter children's medications are hard to find in many places across the United States. The availability of children's painkillers first started dropping in June.

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This article on death rates of parents/guardians from the National Health Institute describes how children have been affected by the pandemic; more than 1.5 million children around the world are estimated to have lost at least one caregiver who lived with them due to death related to COVID-19 during the first 14 months of the pandemic. To estimate pandemic-associated orphanhood and caregiver deaths, the study used excess mortality and COVID-19 mortality data for 21 countries that accounted for 77% of global COVID-19 deaths during 2020 and early 2021. The loss of a parent or caregiver can upend children’s lives and potentially affect their development if they are not in a stable home setting. Traumatic experiences, such as the loss of a parent or caregiver, are associated with increases in substance use, mental health conditions, and other behavioral and chronic health conditions. This article pertains to teaching health to elementary students because of the recent pandemic that we have experienced and we all need to know how to support and understand the stages of grief. Students may have peers in their environment who have lost a parent/guardian or loved one and they may not know themselves how to react; we need to be inclusive and sensitive, which is why it is important for teachers too know about this topic and set expectations for their students.

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Addressing the impact of caregiver deaths critical for pediatric mental health, authors note.

More than 1.5 million children around the world are estimated to have lost at least one parent, custodial grandparent, or grandparent who lived with them due to death related to COVID-19 during the first 14 months of the pandemic, according to a study published today in The Lancet. The study highlights orphanhood as an urgent and overlooked consequence of the pandemic and emphasizes that providing evidence-based psychosocial and economic support to children who have lost a caregiver must be a key part of responding to the pandemic.

The analysis used mortality and fertility data to model rates of COVID-19-associated orphanhood (death of one or both parents) and deaths of custodial and co-residing grandparents (ages 60-84) from March 1, 2020 to April 30, 2021, across 21 countries. This study was funded in part by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health.

In the paper, "COVID-19-associated deaths" referred to the combination of deaths caused directly by COVID-19 and those caused indirectly by other associated causes, such as lockdowns, restrictions on gatherings and movement, decreased access or acceptability of health care and of treatment for chronic diseases.

Traumatic experiences, such as the loss of a parent or caregiver, are associated with increases in substance use, mental health conditions, and other behavioral and chronic health conditions. NIDA supports research aimed at understanding the impact of trauma on young people, preventing substance use after experiencing hardship, and treating substance use in populations that experience trauma.

"Studies like this play a crucial role in illuminating the COVID-19 pandemic's long-lasting consequences for families and the future mental health and wellbeing of children across the globe," said NIDA Director Nora D. Volkow, M.D. "Though the trauma a child experiences after the loss of a parent or caregiver can be devastating, there are evidence-based interventions that can prevent further adverse consequences, such as substance use, and we must ensure that children have access to these interventions."

To estimate pandemic-associated orphanhood and caregiver deaths, the study used excess mortality and COVID-19 mortality data for 21 countries that accounted for 77% of global COVID-19 deaths during 2020 and early 2021. These include Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, England and Wales, France, Germany, India, Iran, Italy, Kenya, Malawi, Mexico, Nigeria, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Russian Federation, South Africa, Spain, United States, and Zimbabwe.

The authors estimate that 1,134,000 children lost a parent or custodial grandparent due to COVID-19-associated death. Of these, 1,042,000 children were orphaned of a mother, father, or both - most lost one, not both parents. Overall, 1,562,000 children are estimated to have experienced the death of at least one parent or a custodial or other co-residing grandparent (or other older relative).

The countries with the highest numbers of children who lost primary caregivers (parents or custodial grandparents) included South Africa, Peru, United States, India, Brazil, and Mexico. The countries with rates of COVID-19-associated deaths among primary caregivers (>1/1000 children) included Peru, South Africa, Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Iran, United States, Argentina, and Russia.

The study found that for every country, COVID-19 associated deaths were greater in men than women, particularly in middle- and older-ages. Overall, there were up to five times more children who lost a father than who lost a mother.

"We know from our research that loss of a parent or caregiver can upend children's lives and potentially affect their development if they are not in a stable home setting. If we take into consideration variants of concern or possible severity of illness among youth, we must not forget that the pandemic continues to pose a threat to parents and caregivers - and their children," said Chuck A. Nelson, III, Ph.D., study author, Boston Children's Hospital.

While research on the science of substance use and addiction remains the primary focus of NIDA's work, NIDA is supporting COVID-19 research, and has issued over $15 million in funding for COVID-19-related projects since the start of the pandemic that could leverage current infrastructure, projects, or scientific knowledge and resources.

About the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA): NIDA is a component of the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIDA supports most of the world's research on the health aspects of drug use and addiction. The Institute carries out a large variety of programs to inform policy, improve practice, and advance addiction science. For more information about NIDA and its programs, visit https://www.nida.nih.gov.

About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.
NIH...Turning Discovery Into Health®
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More than 1.5 million children lost a primary or secondary caregiver due to the COVID-19 pandemic

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Addressing the impact of caregiver deaths critical for pediatric mental health, authors note. More than 1.5 million children around the world are estimated to have lost at least one parent, custodial grandparent, or grandparent who lived with them due to death related to COVID-19 during the first 14 months of the pandemic, according to a study published today in The Lancet.

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In this article about gun violence in schools from The Washington Post describes how students have been affected by school shootings. This article gives summaries of students experiences with gun violence in their schools and how it has directly affected their lives. It shares stories of injured students and how to watched as their lives changed forever. We learn that over 320,000 students have experienced gun violence at school since Columbine. The information in the article should be addressed to students within the classroom in order to promote and enforce safety procedures. This is essential for teachers to know because they need to be able to keep their students safe at all times, whether that be during an active shooting or fire. Teachers can walk through simple safety rules that must be followed in order to implement safety; locking doors, hiding and staying quiet, lining up and following orders to get out of the building, etc.

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Noah Orona still had not cried.

The 10-year-old's father, Oscar, couldn't understand it. Just hours earlier, a stranger with a rifle had walked into the boy's fourth-grade classroom at Robb Elementary School and opened fire, slaughtering his teachers and classmates in front of him. One round struck Noah in the shoulder blade, carving a 10-inch gash through his back before popping out and spraying his right arm with shrapnel. He'd lain amid the blood and bodies of his dead friends for an hour, maybe more, waiting for help to come.

But there he was, resting in his hospital bed, his brown eyes vacant, his voice muted.

"I think my clothes are ruined," Noah lamented.

It was okay, his dad assured him. He would get new clothes.

"I don't think I'm going to get to go back to school," he said.

"Don't worry about it," his father insisted, squeezing his son's left hand.

"I lost my glasses," the boy continued. "I'm sorry."

The children and adults who die in school shootings dominate headlines and consume the public's attention. Body counts become synonymous with each event, dictating where they rank in the catalogue of these singularly American horrors: 10 at Santa Fe High, 13 at Columbine High, 17 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High, 26 at Sandy Hook Elementary. And now, added to the list is 21 at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Tex.

Those tallies, however, do not begin to capture the true scope of this epidemic in the United States, where hundreds of thousands of children's lives have been profoundly changed by school shootings. There are the more than 360 kids and adults, including Noah, who have been injured on K-12 campuses since 1999, according to a Washington Post database. And then there are the children who suffer no physical wounds at all, but are still haunted for years by what they saw or heard or lost.

No one understands that better than Samantha Haviland, who for years directed counseling services for Denver Public Schools. One day in 2008, she sat on the floor of a school library's back room, the lights off, the door locked. Crouched all around her were teenagers pretending that someone with a gun was trying to murder them.

No one there knew that Haviland, then a counselor in her mid-20s, had survived Columbine nine years earlier.

On that day, April 20, 1999, Haviland ran from gunfire and heard some of it, too, but she didn't get shot or see a bullet strike anyone else. The shock and grief solidified her plan to become a counselor, though Haviland didn't get counseling herself for a long time.

The nightmares - always of being chased - lingered for years, but she didn't think she deserved help, not when classmates had died, been maimed or had witnessed the carnage firsthand. She would be okay.

But now there she was, a decade later, sitting in the darkness, practicing once again to escape what so many of her friends had not. Then she heard footsteps and saw the shadow of an administrator checking the locks. Her chest began to throb, and suddenly, Haviland knew she wasn't okay.

On Tuesday, Haviland did all she could to avoid the details of what had happened in Texas. She didn't want to know. Years of therapy had helped, but the passage of time was no cure. On Wednesday, she turned 40.

Noah was only 10, but his father and mother were already worried about what this would all mean for him decades from now. It tortured Oscar and his wife, Jessica, to know how close he'd come to escaping it.

They'd been at the school on Tuesday morning to watch Noah win an award for art and music, sitting in the front row for the assembly. They felt so proud.

Noah was a quiet kid. He spent much of his time playing Mario and Pokémon games on his Nintendo Switch. For his birthday earlier this month, the family drove him to San Antonio to go bowling and pick out Pokémon cards. His parents had seen glimpses of him growing up, though. He'd started ordering steak for dinner, medium-rare, just like his dad. And he wanted to become a dental hygienist, just like his mom, when he grew up.

Now here he was, receiving an award.

His parents told him to smile for a photo, but Noah didn't like to smile for photos, so he held the certificate up to his nose. His dad laughed and told him to put it down. Finally they coaxed a grin. They also took a photo of Noah with his friends, and later, his dad would fear that his son was the only child in the image who survived.

"Can I go with y'all?" Noah asked after the pictures were taken.

Oscar hesitated. Noah's class was planning to go outside that afternoon to blow bubbles in the grass. His parents had given him extra so he could share. They didn't want him to miss that, his dad told him.

"Okay," Noah replied, and off he dashed down the hallway, back toward the classroom where the shooting began an hour later.

The three seniors at Newtown High School had nearly made it. They were less than a month from graduation, two days from the senior dinner dance and spirit week had just begun.

Tuesday's theme was "country vs. country club," and each of the girls took it seriously. Camille Paradis already owned cowboy boots and a hat, so that made her decision easy. Rayna Toth also picked country, sporting a flannel shirt and a bandanna around her neck. Maggie LaBanca couldn't resist the visor she spotted during a shopping trip, so she added a tennis skirt and a sweater to complete her country club-themed ensemble.

It was a fun, silly day, the sort that it had taken them a long time to enjoy again after Dec. 14, 2012, when they'd huddled in darkened classrooms while 20 of their schoolmates were shot dead in another at Sandy Hook Elementary.

And then came the news of a school massacre in Texas, and all of them felt as if they were in third grade again. It was the year that had defined their young lives. They'd never escaped it, at least not for long.

Camille, now 18, flashed back to the moment she stumbled out of the building, her hands on the shoulders of the girl in front of her. Her mother soon found her, and began shouting when a TV reporter tried to shove a microphone into Camille's face.

For years, Camille's trauma surfaced through debilitating panic attacks. They would hit her during swim practice, because the moment she felt short of breath, her body would unravel. She'd sit on the edge of the pool deck, crying and shaking.

Their freshman year, on the day of the Sandy Hook anniversary, a threat to the elementary school forced students there to evacuate. When Camille found out, she collapsed to the floor in her French class and couldn't move. She couldn't see or hear, either. She felt like she was suffocating.

Lately, migraines and nausea have replaced the panic attacks, and Camille suspects she knows why. She's leaving Newtown, and with it, all the people who understand the day that shaped her. She's sensed the discomfort that strangers feel when they hear about what she's been through, and she worries that the people she meets in college will react the same way.

Rayna, now 17, understood. She was the girl whose shoulders Camille held when they were fleeing. Tuesday took her back to the brick firehouse just up the road from Sandy Hook. The people in charge were trying to figure out who was accounted for and who wasn't. One whole class, Rayna noticed, was missing.

At first, Rayna couldn't stand to be by herself. She couldn't shower with the door closed or walk down the stairs in her own house alone. She couldn't ever be left there without someone, even if her mom was only leaving for a five-minute errand.

Rayna still can't go inside anywhere without thinking through how she would get out - at restaurants, she notes the exits before she decides what to order; at school, she plots how she would escape if another gunman showed up.

For Maggie, Tuesday had been a difficult day even before she heard about Uvalde. She works at an ice cream shop in Newtown, and another girl who is a fellow survivor was passing her a pint when someone else dropped a box. The slam against the floor sounded like a distant gunshot, a noise she knew well.

The pint slipped from her friend's hand, and Maggie, 18, felt the air rush from her lungs. The girls held hands, waiting for the fear to subside.

It wasn't until that evening, past 9, that she checked her phone. A batch of voice mails and texts about Texas awaited her. She rushed home to be with her parents and all of them cried together. They'd done that before.

Maggie's best friend in 2012 was a boy named Daniel Barden. She was in third grade and he was in first, but they liked to dance to Taio Cruz's "Dynamite" and play pirates together on the Bardens' swing set.

On some evenings, when he was learning to read, they sat together on a big rock near their homes and she pointed at the words in a Little Critter book.

By nightfall on Dec. 14, Daniel still hadn't been found, so she, her family and the Bardens all gathered at another neighbor's house. They wouldn't go home, they'd decided, until Daniel did, too.

Then the call came, and Maggie learned that she would have to go home, even though Daniel never would.

The most enduring consequence of the shooting for Maggie was what his killing did to her. Afterward, she hesitated to connect with people. She had lost the best friend she ever had. Making new ones meant she would only have somebody else to lose.

A playground shooting's pain

What makes America's youngest school shooting survivors the most vulnerable to lasting trauma is their view of the world around them, said Bruce Perry, a psychiatrist who has worked for years with grieving families. Most teenagers have grown to accept that adults can't always protect them, a reality that many elementary-schoolers don't understand.

"In general, the more a traumatic experience shatters your world view," Perry said, "the harder it is to recover."

Zoey Hall was only 4 years old on the afternoon that a shooter came to her school on Sept. 28, 2016, and she remembers almost everything about it, even though the people who love her wish she didn't.

The memories might have faded by now if Zoey hadn't refused to let them go. It was the worst day of her life but it was also the last one she spent with her 6-year-old brother, Jacob. The last day she called him "Bubba" and he called her "Sissy." The last day he held her hand and walked her into Townville Elementary.

Mostly, though, there are the bad memories, the ones that come back - as they did again this week - when she hears that what happened to Jacob in rural South Carolina has happened again to other kids in some other place.

"I felt sad and scared, at the same time," Zoey, now 9, said of her reaction to the news she'd heard about Uvalde. She understood what some of those children had endured, because Zoey had endured it, too. Once, when she was just 6, she sat on the bedroom floor at her grandparents' house and explained, in striking detail, her memories of losing her brother.

She took out her tablet and pointed at a photo she'd found online of the 14-year-old shooter, who by then had received a life sentence for murdering Jacob . Zoey knew all that, and much more.

"First, he shot his father. Then he came to the school ... and Miss Fredericks, our, umm, what's" - she paused, looking at her grandmother, SandraMcAdams, for help, until the word came to her - "principal. She came on the announcement saying to get in the bathroom, and we got in the bathroom. It was when I was in 4K."

McAdams, who she called "Nanny," watched in silence, eyes welling as she sat atop a "PAW Patrol" comforter on the bottom mattress of the bunk bed Zoey shared with her younger brother.

"And our teachers told us to be quiet," Zoey continued, putting an index finger over her mouth. "And they was both holding the door shut, but they had it locked so nobody could break in. And when it was over, we unlocked the bathroom and we went out the back door ... I saw Nanny, and she picked me up and said, 'Where's Jacob? Where's Jacob?' And then they said he had been flew into Greenville Memorial Hospital, and they did all they could to keep him alive. He lost so much blood. And they shot him right there," Zoey said, pointing to her right leg.

Zoey had thought about what caused it all, too, and she announced what she thought the country should do about it.

"I think all the guns should be in the trash can where nobody could buy them guns, where they won't shoot people," she said. "Because guns are not good for people."

Ava Olsen thought the same thing. She adored Jacob, the smallest child in their first-grade class. He would hold her hand by the swings when no one was looking. She called him "Jakey" and imagined they would get married one day. He was the only boy she'd ever kissed.

Ava had been out on the playground with him that day, but she'd escaped. Distraught, she wrote letters in 2018 to elected leaders - including then-President Donald Trump and her state's Republican senator Lindsey O. Graham - explaining what she'd witnessed and pleading with them to do something about it.

They didn't, and eventually she stopped sending her letters.

Ava, who'd run away when the shooting started, suffered from crippling post-traumatic stress in its aftermath. She was prescribed antipsychotics and antidepressants and began hitting herself and yanking out her eyelashes. Her parents withdrew her from school.

Ava is 12 now and doing better. She has started playing basketball and soccer, activities in crowded, noisy places that would have overwhelmed her with anxiety five years ago.

What she still cannot bear, and what her parents try hard to hide from her, is the news of other school shootings.

On Tuesday evening, she was sitting on her living room couch, watching funny cat videos on TikTok. Then a different kind of video popped up. It showed that more than a dozen children had been shot dead at an elementary school in Texas.

She started screaming, and her mother rushed into the room.

"Why?" Ava cried. "Why?"

Joanna Slater, Razzan Nakhlawi, Meryl Kornfield and Ian Shapira contributed to this report.

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What school shootings do to the kids who survive them, from Sandy Hook to Uvalde

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Noah Orona still had not cried. The 10-year-old's father, Oscar, couldn't understand it. Just hours earlier, a stranger with a rifle had walked into the boy's fourth-grade classroom at Robb Elementary School and opened fire, slaughtering his teachers and classmates in front of him.

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In this article about drug use in adolescence from the National Institute on Drug Abuse describes how drug use can lead to multiple symptoms of substance disorder as they enter adulthood and thereafter. The researchers examined the relationship between substance use disorder symptom severity at age 18 and prescription drug use, prescription drug misuse, and substance use disorder symptoms up to age 50 in these individuals. Screening adolescents for drug use is extremely important for early intervention and prevention of the development of substance use disorder; This is critical especially as the transition from adolescence to adulthood, when brain development is still in progress, appears to be a period of high risk for drug use initiation. The researchers gathered that teens who had said they indicated "severe" substance use disorder (6 or more symptoms), that 60% of them exhibited at least two symptoms oof substance use disorder in adulthood. The higher the severity of the disorder also predicted higher rated of prescription drug misuse in adulthood. This information is essential for student knowledge because it is important for them to know about possible consequences for partaking in drug abuse. It is important for students to understand how it can directly affect their development overall. Teachers can design a lesson that talks about different types of drug and alcohol abuse can affect the body and have students create presentations about whichever they chose. This way, when they present, they have the opportunity to teach other peers about what they have learned.

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People who reported multiple symptoms consistent with severe substance use disorder at age 18 exhibited two or more of these symptoms in adulthood, according to a new analysis of a nationwide survey in the United States. These individuals were also more likely, as adults, to use and misuse prescription medications, as well as self-treat with opioids, sedatives, or tranquillizers. Published today in JAMA Network Open, the study is funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health.

While use of alcohol, cannabis, or other drugs is common among adolescents, previous studies have suggested that most teens reduce or cease drug use as they enter adulthood. However, this study indicates that adolescents with multiple symptoms of substance use disorder - indicating higher severity - do not transition out of symptomatic substance use.

"Screening adolescents for drug use is extremely important for early intervention and prevention of the development of substance use disorder," said Nora Volkow, M.D., director of NIDA. "This is critical especially as the transition from adolescence to adulthood, when brain development is still in progress, appears to be a period of high risk for drug use initiation." Dr. Volkow further discusses the findings and implications of this study in a related commentary.

Researchers in this study argue that key knowledge gaps currently hinder the initiation of screening, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment efforts for teens with substance use disorders. For example, previous methods evaluating persistence of substance use disorder tended to treat substance use disorder as one broad category, without looking at severity. They also failed to account for the possibility of polysubstance use, whereby individuals may use multiple drugs or switch the types of drugs they use as they grow older.

The NIDA-funded Monitoring the Future Panel study at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor helped close this research gap by examining substance use behaviors and related attitudes among 12th graders through their adulthood in the United States. Since 1976, the study has surveyed panels of students for their drug use behaviors across three time periods: lifetime, past year, and past month. In this study, researchers looked primarily at a subgroup of 5,317 12th graders first evaluated between 1976 and 1986, who were followed with additional surveys at two-year, then five-year intervals for up to 32 years, until they reached age 50. Among the respondents, 51% were female and 78% were white.

The research team examined the relationship between substance use disorder symptom severity at age 18 and prescription drug use, prescription drug misuse, and substance use disorder symptoms up to age 50 in these individuals.

To measure severity of substance use disorder symptoms in adolescence, researchers recorded the number of substance use disorder symptoms that participants reported in response to initial survey questions. These questions were based on criteria for alcohol, cannabis, and "other drug" use disorders in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). The researchers categorized substance use disorder symptoms into five levels of severity: exhibiting no symptoms, one symptom, two to three symptoms, four to five symptoms, and six or more symptoms. Symptoms included, but were not limited to, substance use resulting in a failure to fulfill major role obligations and repeating substance use even when dangerous to health.

Approximately 12% of surveyed teens indicated "severe" substance use disorder, defined by this study as reporting six or more symptoms. Among this group, more than 60% exhibited at least two symptoms of substance use disorder in adulthood - an association found across alcohol, cannabis, and other drug use disorders. By comparison, roughly 54% of teens reporting two to three symptoms - indicative of "mild" substance use disorder - had two or more substance use disorder symptoms in adulthood. Higher severity of substance use disorder symptoms at age 18 also predicted higher rates of prescription drug misuse in adulthood.

Overall, more than 40% of surveyed 18-year-old individuals reported at least two substance use disorder symptoms (across all substances). More than half of the individuals who were prescribed and used opioids, sedatives, or tranquilizers as adults also reported two or more symptoms at age 18. This finding underlines the importance of strategies to increase safety and properly assess a potential history of substance use disorder symptoms when prescribing controlled medications to adults.

"Teens with substance use disorder will not necessarily mature out of their disorders, and it may be harmful to tell those with severe symptoms that they will," said Dr. Sean Esteban McCabe, senior author of this study and director of the Center for the Study of Drugs, Alcohol, Smoking and Health at University of Michigan. "Our study shows us that severity matters when it comes to predicting risk decades later, and it's crucial to educate and ensure that our messaging to teens with the most severe forms of substance use disorder is one that's realistic. We want to minimize shame and sense of failure for these individuals."

The authors note that more research is needed to uncover potential neurological mechanisms and other factors behind why adolescents with severe substance use disorder symptoms are at increased risk of drug addiction and misuse in adulthood. Characterizing possible causes of more severe substance use disorder could help improve understanding of vulnerability to chronic substance use and help make prevention and treatment strategies more effective.

References:

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Drug use severity in adolescence affects substance use disorder risk in adulthood | National Institute on Drug Abuse

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Screening for substance use disorder in teens may predict adult prescription drug use and misuse and prevent overdose

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This article about tobacco use in middle and high school students from CBS News describes how the rates of tobacco and nicotine use has increased in the past years. It was found that more than 3 million middle and high school students admitted this year to using a tobacco product within the last 30 days, including vapes or e-cigarettes in 2022. The article also talks about how the marketing has always been targeted to the youth because they know that if you get them before they are 18, they are very likely to become consumers for life. The amount of nicotine that has been consumed by middle schoolers and teens has such a detrimental effect on the developing brain and developing lungs. Other symptoms stem from partaking in tobacco use such as low grades and psychological distress. Teaching about this in elementary schools can help students understand how detrimental tobacco use can be on their early stages of life and how it can continue to affect them throughout their life. It is essential for students to know how this can be prevented as well. Teachers can help students learn about this topic by having them research their own statistics of how tobacco use not only effects the body and development, but how it effects the community as a whole.

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Millions of teens admit to using tobacco products, alarming health leaders

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Experts say a new generation of kids and teenagers are fighting nicotine addiction, a group that statistically never would have if it weren’t for electronic cigarettes.

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This article about physical activity from the CDC describes different facts about physical activity and inactivity among children and adolescents. It is recommend that children and adolescents ages 6 to 17 years do 60 minutes or more of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity daily. Regular physical activity can help children and adolescents improve cardiorespiratory fitness, build strong bones and muscles, control weight, reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression, and reduce the risk of developing health conditions. Students who are physically active tend to have better grades, school attendance, cognitive performance (memory), and classroom behaviors (on-task behavior). There are consequences of physical inactivity as well. Students will feel less energized throughout the day, they have risk of becoming overweight, and can even lead to low bone density or osteoporosis. This information is important for teachers to know about and too rely to the students because we (as educators) need to keep our students healthy. The students then have to continue that regime at home. Educators need to also make sure that students who need constant mobility receive proper attention.

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The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, 2nd edition recommend that children and adolescents ages 6 to 17 years do 60 minutes or more of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity daily. ²

Regular physical activity can help children and adolescents improve cardiorespiratory fitness, build strong bones and muscles, control weight, reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression, and reduce the risk of developing health conditions such as: ¹

Physical inactivity can

Lead to energy imbalance (e.g., expend less energy through physical activity than consumed through diet) and can increase the risk of becoming overweight or obese.¹⁴

Increase the risk of factors for cardiovascular disease, including hyperlipidemia (e.g., high cholesterol and triglyceride levels), high blood pressure, obesity, and insulin resistance and glucose intolerance.1,5,6

Increase the risk for developing type 2 diabetes.1,7

Increase the risk for developing breast, colon, endometrial, and lung cancers.¹

Lead to low bone density, which in turn, leads to osteoporosis.¹

Less than one-quarter (24%) of children 6 to 17 years of age participate in 60 minutes of physical activity every day. ⁸

In 2017, only 26.1% of high school students participate in at least 60 minutes per day of physical activity on all 7 days of the previous week.⁹

In 2017, 51.1% of high school students participated in muscle strengthening exercises (e.g., push-ups, sit-ups, weight lifting) on 3 or more days during the previous week.⁹

In 2017, 51.7% of high school students attended physical education classes in an average week, and only 29.9% of high school students attended physical education classes daily.⁹

Aerobic: Most of the 60 minutes or more per day should be either moderate- or vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity and should include vigorous-intensity physical activity on at least 3 days a week.

Muscle-strengthening: As part of their 60 minutes or more of daily physical activity, children and adolescents should include muscle-strengthening physical activity on at least 3 days a week.

Bone-strengthening: As part of their 60 minutes or more of daily physical activity, children and adolescents should include bone-strengthening physical activity on at least 3 days a week.

These guidelines state that children and adolescents be provided opportunities and encouragement to participate in physical activities that are appropriate for their age, that are enjoyable, and that offer variety. ³

The national recommendation for schools is to have a comprehensive approach for addressing physical education and physical activity in schools. ¹⁰⁻¹² This approach is called Comprehensive School Physical Activity Programs. ¹³

Students who are physically active tend to have better grades, school attendance, cognitive performance (e.g., memory), and classroom behaviors (e.g., on-task behavior).14, 15

Higher physical activity and physical fitness levels are associated with improved cognitive performance (e.g., concentration, memory) among students.14, 15

1. Physical Activity Guidelines Advisory Committee. 2018 Physical Activity Guidelines Advisory Committee Scientific Report. Washington, DC: US Dept of Health and Human Services; 2018.

2. US Department of Health and Human Services. Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, 2nd edition. Washington, DC: US Department of Health and Human Services; 2018.

3. National Physical Activity Plan Alliance. The 2018 United States Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth. Washington, DC: National Physical Activity Plan Alliance, 2018.

4. Loprinzi PD, Lee I, Andersen RE, Crespo CJ, Smit E. Association of concurrent healthy eating and regular physical activity with cardiovascular disease risk factors in US youth. American Journal of Health Promotion. 2015; 30(1):2-8.

5. Cuenca-Garcia M; Ortega FB; Ruiz JR; et al. Combined influence of healthy diet and active lifestyle on cardiovascular disease risk factors in adolescents. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports. 2014;24(3):553-562.

6. Kriska A; Delahanty L; Edelstein S; et al. Sedentary behavior and physical activity in youth with recent onset of type 2 diabetes. Pediatrics. 2013;131(3): e850-e856.

7. The Child & Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative (CAHMI). 2016 National Survey of Childrens Health. Data Resource Center for Child and Adolescent Health;2016.

8. Merlo CL, Jones SE, Michael SL, et al. Dietary and Physical Activity Behaviors Among High School Students - Youth Risk Behavior Survey, United States, 2019. MMWR Suppl 2020;69(Suppl-1):64-76.

9. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. School Health Guidelines to Promote Healthy Eating and Physical Activity. MMWR. 2011;60(No. RR-5).

10. US Department of Health and Human Services. Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans Midcourse Report: Strategies to Increase Physical Activity Among Youth. Washington, DC: US Department of Health and Human Services: 2012.

11. Institute of Medicine. Educating the Student Body: Taking Physical Activity and Physical Education to School. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press; 2013.

12. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A Guide for Developing Comprehensive School Physical Activity Programs. Atlanta, GA: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, US Department of Health and Human Services; 2013.

13. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Association Between School-Based Physical Activity, Including Physical Education, and Academic Performance. Atlanta, GA; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, US Department of Health and Human Services; 2010.

14. Michael SL, Merlo C, Basch C, et al. Critical connections: health and academics. Journal of School Health. 2015;85(11):740-758.

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centers for disease control and prevention

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regular physical activity in adolescents

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comprehensive school physical activity program

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Regular physical activity can help children and adolescents improve cardiorespiratory fitness, build strong bones and muscles, control weight, reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression, and reduce the risk of developing health conditions such as heart disease, cancer, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, osteoporosis, obesity.

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This article on healthy eating from Science Daily describes how healthy eating is essential to better self-esteem and fewer emotional problems whilst in school. The author states, "We found that in young children aged two to nine years there is an association between adherence to healthy dietary guidelines and better psychological well-being, which includes fewer emotional problems, better relationships with other children and higher self-esteem, two years later. Our findings suggest that a healthy diet can improve well-being in children." It is said that different foods were associated with different types of behavior. These behaviors were in relation to self-esteem, parent relations, and peer problems. Children with adequate diet has visible progression over time with their socioeconomic position and their body weight. This article has information that is necessary for teacher knowledge because it can help gage the reason behind student behavior in the classroom. Teachers should address this topic within the classroom mostly to see if any student may be struggling that the teacher can provide for. With this information, students may help out in their own ways by sharing or bringing in something extra for a peer. It can help students gain a better understanding why a student may be acting out or who needs support.

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Healthy eating is associated with better self-esteem and fewer emotional and peer problems, such as having fewer friends or being picked on or bullied, in children regardless of body weight, according to a study published in the open access journal BMC Public Health. Inversely, better self-esteem is associated with better adherence to healthy eating guidelines, according to researchers from The Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Sweden.

Dr Louise Arvidsson, the corresponding author said: "We found that in young children aged two to nine years there is an association between adherence to healthy dietary guidelines and better psychological well-being, which includes fewer emotional problems, better relationships with other children and higher self-esteem, two years later. Our findings suggest that a healthy diet can improve well-being in children."

Examining 7,675 children two to nine years of age from eight European countries -- Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Spain and Sweden -- the researchers found that a higher Healthy Dietary Adherence Score (HDAS) at the beginning of the study period was associated with better self-esteem and fewer emotional and peer problems two years later.

The HDAS aims to capture adherence to healthy dietary guidelines, which include limiting intake of refined sugars, reducing fat intake and eating fruit and vegetables. A higher HDAS indicates better adherence to the guidelines -- i.e. healthier eating. The guidelines are common to the eight countries included in this study.

The authors found that better self-esteem at the beginning of the study period was associated with a higher HDAS two years later and that the associations between HDAS and wellbeing were similar for children who had normal weight and children who were overweight.

Dr Arvidsson said: "It was somewhat surprising to find that the association between baseline diet and better well-being two years later was independent of children's socioeconomic position and their body weight."

The authors used data from the Identification and Prevention of Dietary- and Lifestyle-Induced Health Effects in Children and Infants Study, a prospective cohort study that aims to understand how to prevent overweight in children while also considering the multiple factors that contribute to it.

At the beginning of the study period parents were asked to report how often per week their children consumed food from a list of 43 items. Depending on their consumption of these foods, children were then assigned an HDAS score. Psychosocial wellbeing was assessed based on self-esteem, parent relations, emotional and peer problems as reported by the parents in response to validated questionnaires. Height and weight of the children were measured. All questionnaires and measurements were repeated two years later.

The study is the first to analyze the individual components included in the HDAS and their associations with children's wellbeing. The authors found that fish intake according to guidelines (2-3 times per week) was associated with better self-esteem and no emotional and peer problems. Intake of whole meal products were associated with no peer problems.

The associations were found to go in both directions; better wellbeing was associated with consumption of fruit and vegetables, sugar and fat in accordance with dietary guidelines, better self-esteem was associated with sugar intake according to guidelines, good parent relations were associated with fruit and vegetable consumption according to guidelines, fewer emotional problems were associated with fat intake according to guidelines and fewer peer problems were associated with consumption of fruit and vegetables according to guidelines.

The authors caution that children with poor diet and poor wellbeing were more likely to drop out of the study and were therefore underrepresented at the two-year follow-up, which complicates conclusions about the true rates of poor diet and poor wellbeing. As the study is observational and relies on self-reported data from parents, no conclusions about cause and effect are possible.

Dr Arvidsson said: "The associations we identified here need to be confirmed in experimental studies including children with clinical diagnosis of depression, anxiety or other behavioral disorders rather than well-being as reported by parents."

Journal Reference:

Louise Arvidsson, Gabriele Eiben, Monica Hunsberger, Ilse De Bourdeaudhuij, Denes Molnar, Hannah Jilani, Barbara Thumann, Toomas Veidebaum, Paola Russo, Michael Tornatitis, Alba M. Santaliestra-Pasías, Valeria Pala, Lauren Lissner. Bidirectional associations between psychosocial well-being and adherence to healthy dietary guidelines in European children: prospective findings from the IDEFICS study. BMC Public Health, 2017; 17 (1) DOI: 10.1186/s12889-017-4920-5

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diet and weight loss; obesity; children's health; nutrition; child psychology; child development; dieting and weight control; nutrition research

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Healthy eating linked to kids' happiness

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Healthy eating is associated with better self-esteem and fewer emotional and peer problems, such as having fewer friends or being picked on or bullied, in children regardless of body weight, according to a new study. Inversely, better self-esteem is associated with better adherence to healthy eating guidelines.

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Safety and Preventing Unintentional Injury

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Safety and Preventing Unintentional Injury

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This article about concussions from CBS News (Local) describes how the amount of concussions within young children have been increasing due to playground play. According to the study in 2001, 18,000 children under the age of 14 were treated with concussion and head injuries in the ER. In 2013, that number was up to 29,000. Researchers say the top three pieces of equipment where children are likely to get injured are monkey bars, climbing equipment and the swings. The article suggests that parents check out the surface under the playground to make sure it's soft enough in case a child falls. This article pertains to teaching health to elementary students because they are often outside playing on the equipment during recess. It is essential that teachers express playground safety to their students. Teachers can ask students to come up with a list of playground rules that everyone can abide by and create an academic contract.

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/ CBS Baltimore

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Playground dangers. The CDC says the number of children sustaining brain injuries at the playground is up. So what can you do to keep your kids safe?

Meghan McCorkell spoke with the experts.

We've heard about the increase of concussions on the sports fields, but the CDC warns that's not the only place children are getting hurt.

It was a perfect day in the park for Shaqille Johnson and his two young sons. And wherever the kids go, he is always right there.

"Stay within a couple feet of them, just in case one of them does fall," he said.

That's what the CDC recommends as playground-related brain injuries are on the rise.

"Injury to the brain at a younger age can have more impact," said Dr. Stacey Suskauer, Kennedy Krieger Institute.

According to the study in 2001, 18,000 children under the age of 14 were treated with concussion and head injuries in the ER. In 2013, that number was up to 29,000.

Dr. Stacey Suskauer, director of brain injury rehabilitation programs at Kennedy Krieger Institute, says if your child falls, be on the lookout for symptoms.

"If there's any concerns about behavior changes, sleep changes, any pain and more emotionality, then get them checked out," she said.

Researchers say the top three pieces of equipment where children are likely to get injured are monkey bars, climbing equipment and the swings.

That's why Annette Ambush has a constant eye on her daughter.

"When the smaller kids are outside and the older kids are here, they want to repeat and do the same thing. That's what my daughter's doing now. She's trying to climb on stuff she's never climbed on before," Ambush said.

A careful watch to keep children safe.

Researchers say the highest number of injuries are seen in April, May and September.

Officials suggest parents check out the surface under the playground to make sure it's soft enough in case a child falls.

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CDC: Children Are Getting More Concussions At Playgrounds

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CBS Baltimore BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Playground dangers. The CDC says the number of children sustaining brain injuries at the playground is up. So what can you do to keep your kids safe? Meghan McCorkell spoke with the experts. We've heard about the increase of concussions on the sports fields, but the CDC warns that's not the only place children are getting hurt.