Every individual, both adolescents and adults, a set schedule along with treatment can be beneficial in managing the symptoms associated with ADHD.

However, for many the routine and schedule was completely disrupted when the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic hit.

The normal school or workday became an 8 hour virtual experience, while parents were forced to pick up new roles as the entire family was stuck home for the majority of the day.

While challenging, there are ways for these patients to cope with the circumstances.

, David W. Goodman, MD, FAPA, assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, said despite the obvious challenges the pandemic has caused, he is hopeful some ADHD were able to adapt to a new routine that did not exacerbate some of the symptoms associated with the disorder.

He also said the need to juggle new commitments during the pandemic could leave some ADHD patients with better organizational skills once the pandemic concludes.

Goodman said how parents with ADHD handle the situation is a main focus on some of the sessions during the 

American Professional Society of ADHD and Related Disorders (APSARD) 2021 Annual Conference

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Dr. David Goodman predicts some patients may improve their organizational skills during the pandemic.

David W. Goodman, MD: Silver Linings in ADHD 

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has made things challenging for patients with psychiatric disorders like 

While stress, social isolation, and shelter-in-place orders can exacerbate symptoms of depression and anxiety, the situation can also wreak havoc on the symptoms of impulsivity association with ADHD. And that impulsivity could lead the individual to be in situations where they are more susceptible to contracting the virus.

How COVID-19 impacts ADHD treatment and care was a major topic during the 

 with several abstracts and plenaries planned to discuss the topic.

, David W. Goodman, MD, FAPA, assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, explained how ADHD patients may have struggled greatly in the last 10 months and how that struggle could have both short- and long-term issues.

Not only are ADHD patients more likely to contract the virus because of the symptoms that come along with the disorder, they may struggle with the at home situation that could harm interpersonal relationships.

Goodman said one of the concerns is adult ADHD patients with children may have to juggle too many things between work, maintaining a home, and the virtual schooling of their children.

Adults with ADHD may face a number of challenges during the ongoing pandemic.

David W. Goodman, MD: Adult ADHD Challenges During COVID-19

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The collaboration of international researchers during the 

Despite not being able to host an in-person live meeting due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, APSARD has amassed a list of investigators presenting new studies and plenary speeches about a wide range of ADHD and psychiatry topics.

However, the virtual format enables researchers from Germany, Japan, and other far reaching places to contribute research and insight during the three-day conference without the additional expense of travel.

, David W. Goodman, MD, FAPA, assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, explained how difficult it is to get major contributors from across the globe to present data during meetings and how it came out during APSARD.

Goodman, who serves as co-chair on APSARD’s education committee, previewed the meeting and explained how the virtual format will allow for more international input.

Just as important sharing data will be, Goodman said it is also important for the attendees to get an idea how ADHD is researched and treated in different countries.

The virtual conference will feature researchers from the US, Germany, Japan, and more.

David W. Goodman, MD: APSARD 2021 Bringing Together International ADHD Research 

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 as a multifactorial chronic disease is one that has been refining over the last decades.

Though generally easy to diagnose and increasingly managed by a wave of new agents, clinicians are still subject to an ongoing evolution of subtypes, phenotypes, presentations, and biomarkers linked to asthma.

In the January episode of Lungcast, hosted by 

and the American Lung Association (ALA), ALA chief medical officer Al Rizzo, MD, spoke with Anne Dixon, MD, a pulmonologist at the University of Vermont Medical Center and Medical Director of the Pulmonary Disease and Critical Care Departments at The Robert Larner, MD College of Medicine.

Dixon, a prolific investigator into the associations of obesity and metabolism in lung disease, discussed with Rizzo the understood association between the 2 common, chronic diseases—a dynamic which has become more acutely defined in the last 10 years of research.

“Early on, we used to think obesity caused a little bit of restriction—made your lungs smaller, makes it a little more difficult to exercise and easier to get short of breath,” Dixon explained. “But we’ve come to understanding obesity itself is a complex disease that affects the immune system, how we respond to viruses and air pollutants, and that it actually fundamentally resets pulmonary physiology.”

In the clip above, Rizzo and Dixon discuss research into asthma-obesity associations, as well as asthma phenotype understanding.

Subscribe or listen to Lungcast on your favorite platforms:

https://open.spotify.com/show/1F3u1hKrwxi9snSQ0q3nti

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lungcast/id1524712350

A conversation on how associations between the chronic conditions have become better understood in 10 years.

What Links Asthma to Obesity?

 (PTSD) is all too common for veterans, with many struggling to find the right medications to treat the underlying disease.

Around half of patients with PTSD do not respond to the first treatment option, forcing clinicians to move down the line to find other suitable options.

However, researchers are now moving forward with a new study testing low-dose psychosubstances as a potential treatment for this patient population.

, Rakesh Jetly, MD, Head of the Center of Excellence on Mental Health, said one of the goals of the phase 2 study will be not only to test the safety and efficacy of the treatment, but also identify how it could help patients in other areas of life.

Because much of what veterans go through during combat causes long-lasting pain issues, there is the potential this treatment can help reduce the amount of veteran patients dependent on opioids for pain relief.

Another byproduct of the study testing psychedelics in PTSD patients is researchers may learn more about the brain and why it responds to certain treatments but not others.

The study could be another piece to the puzzle as researchers begin to try to implement new personalized medicine regimens for patients.

Dr. Rakesh Jetly is leading a new phase 2 study testing psychedelics in veterans with PTSD.