Research Findings and Evidence Gaps in Youth Mental Health

Today’s Headlines:

• Research Findings and Evidence Gaps in Youth Mental Health.
• Care Coordination Investments Improve Handoff Communications, Discharge Process.
• Interactive Sepsis Data Tool Updated With 2022 Data.
• Patients of Hospital-Integrated Physicians More Likely To Receive Cardiac Rehabilitation.
• Register for Other Upcoming Webinars.
• AHRQ Stats: Average Expenditures for Major Diet-Related Conditions.  
• AHRQ in the Professional Literature.

Research Findings and Evidence Gaps in Youth Mental Health

Research has helped to establish effective diagnosis and treatment practices for child and adolescent mental health disorders, but gaps remain in patient-centered studies that explore “what is the best treatment for whom” and address limited access to care. In a Grand Rounds webinar presentation hosted by AHRQ’s Evidence-based Practice Center (EPC) Program on May 22, the researchers behind three recent systematic reviews discussed their findings on the topic of child and adolescent mental health, and additional discussants offered insights. 

• “There are few head-to-head comparisons of treatments that are of major interest,” said Bradley Peterson, M.D., copresenter of the report ADHD Diagnosis and Treatment in Children and Adolescents. “We need studies for parents and kids looking for the right treatment for them.” The review found several promising diagnostic tools for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, but the strength of evidence was generally low. Both medications and psychosocial interventions improved core symptoms, but evidence was lacking on which interventions work best for which children.
• In the review Diagnosis and Management of Obsessive Compulsive Disorders in Children, researchers identified the Child Behavior Checklist–Obsessive Compulsive Scale as an effective diagnostic tool, but its cost may pose access barriers in some primary care settings. The review supported exposure and response prevention (ERP) as the first-line treatment for pediatric obsessive compulsive disorder. Telehealth delivery of ERP also proved effective, offering promise for broader access.
• The report Management of Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviors in Youth found dialectical behavior therapy to be the only treatment for suicidal ideation with sufficient strength of evidence. Still, the studies in the review were limited by several factors. “For future research, there is a need for large, well-designed randomized controlled trials with long followup periods,” said presenter Leslie Sim, Ph.D.

Access the meeting materials and information about previous Grand Rounds meetings, and stay up to date on the latest findings from AHRQ’s EPC Program.

Care Coordination Investments Improve Handoff Communications, Discharge Process

The updated Patient Safety Research Summary “Improving Patient Safety by Enhancing Care Coordination” summarizes AHRQ’s investments in care coordination—the process of organizing patient care activities and sharing information among all individuals concerned with a patient’s care to achieve safe and effective care. Released in May, the summary provides examples of project findings and products, collective outputs, and impacts of this work. Focus areas include improving handoff communication among providers, improving the discharge process, and exploring quality improvement strategies in a variety of healthcare settings. The summary is the result of one of 47 patient safety research projects AHRQ supported from 2000 through 2024. Collectively, the projects have resulted in the creation of a broad collection of tools and toolkits that help healthcare professionals implement evidence-based care coordination protocols into clinical care, among other impacts. Review the Research Summary.

Interactive Sepsis Data Tool Updated With 2022 Data

AHRQ’s interactive sepsis data tool now includes data from 2022 and a map that shows statewide variation in hospital encounters involving sepsis. The visualization, developed with statistics from AHRQ's Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project, allows users to explore trends in sepsis-related hospitalizations and emergency department visits starting in 2016. Visualize the latest available data on patient outcomes by characteristics such as age and geographic location. Check out the tool. 

Patients of Hospital-Integrated Physicians More Likely To Receive Cardiac Rehabilitation

According to an AHRQ-funded study in JAMA Network Open, patients who receive care from physicians who are employed by hospitals (hospital-integrated physicians) after a cardiac event are 11 percent more likely to participate in cardiac rehabilitation than those who see an independent physician. Researchers reviewed the Medicare Part A and B claims of 28,596 patients hospitalized for a cardiac event that made them eligible for cardiac rehabilitation between 2016 and 2019. They found that 9,037 patients—31.6 percent overall—received care from a hospital-integrated physician. Of these patients, 33 percent received cardiac rehabilitation, a medically supervised program for improving heart health. Additionally, cardiac rehabilitation was associated with a 14 percent decrease in the odds of future cardiovascular-related hospitalizations.

Register for Upcoming Webinars

• July 17, 12:30–2 p.m. ET: AHRQ National Webinar: Empowering Patients to Change Behavior Using Digital Healthcare Tools.

AHRQ Stats: Average Expenditures for Major Diet-Related Conditions

In 2021 and 2022, the average annual cost to treat breast or colorectal cancers was $9,202 per treated person—the most among three groups of diet-related conditions. Treatment for diabetes cost an average of $5,925 per treated person, and treatment cost for cardiovascular diseases averaged $2,176. (Source: AHRQ Medical Expenditure Panel Survey Statistical Brief #561,  Expenditures for Key Diet-Related Health Conditions, 2021–2022.)

AHRQ in the Professional Literature

A telehealth approach to central line-associated bloodstream infection prevention activities in nursing homes: the SAFER lines program. Singh RD, Bahadori B, Tjoa T, et al. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2025 Mar;46(3):236-42. Epub 2025 Feb 3. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Automating the addiction behaviors checklist for problematic opioid use identification. Chatham AH, Bradley ED, Troiani V, et al. JAMA Psychiatry 2025 Jun;82(6):591-8. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

An evaluation framework for ambient digital scribing tools in clinical applications. Wang H, Yang R, Alwakeel M, et al. NPJ Digit Med 2025 Jun 13;8(1):358. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Effectiveness of a clinical decision support system with prediction modeling to identify patients with health-related social needs in the emergency department: study protocol. Mazurenko O, Harle CA, Blackburn J, et al. PLoS One 2025 May 12;20(5):e0323094. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Clusters of health-related social needs among adult primary care patients. Vest JR, Wu W, Conner K. J Am Board Fam Med 2025 May 12;38(1):119-24. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Development and validation of computable social phenotypes for health-related social needs. Gregory ME, Kasthurirathne SN, Magoc T, et al. JAMIA Open 2025 Feb;8(1):ooae150. Epub 2025 Jan 7. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

Drivers of infliximab biosimilar uptake: a comparative analysis of new biosimilar initiations versus switching in a national rheumatology registry. Roberts ET, Bansback N, Tseng CW, et al. Health Serv Res 2025 Jun;60(3):e14410. Epub 2024 Dec 1. Access the abstract on PubMed®.

A scoping review of trauma-informed language in the care of injured patients. Hart LD, Kallepali P, Castater CA, et al. J Surg Res 2025 Apr;308:264-9. Epub 2025 Mar 22. Access the abstract on PubMed®.