About Reports

IOM reports provide objective and straightforward advice to decision makers and the public. This site includes IOM reports published after 1998. All reports from the IOM and the National Academies, including those published before 1998, are available from the National Academies Press.

• 
  Integrative Medicine and the Health of the Public: A Summary of the February 2009 Summit Released: November 4, 2009

  On February 25-27, 2009, the Institute of Medicine convened the Summit on Integrative Medicine and the Health of the Public in Washington, DC. The Summit brought together more than 600 scientists, academic leaders, policy experts, health practitioners, advocates, and other participants from many disciplines to examine the practice of integrative medicine, its scientific basis, and its potential for improving health.
• 
  Depression in Parents, Parenting, and Children: Opportunities to Improve Identification, Treatment, and Prevention Released: June 9, 2009

  Depression is a widespread condition affecting approximately 7.5 million parents in the U.S. each year and may be putting at least 15 million children at risk for adverse health outcomes. Based on evidentiary studies, major depression in either parent can interfere with parenting quality and increase the risk of children developing mental, behavioral and social problems. Depression in Parents, Parenting, and Children highlights disparities in the prevalence, identification, treatment, and prevention of parental depression among different sociodemographic populations. It also outlines strategies for effective intervention and identifies the need for a more interdisciplinary approach that takes biological, psychological, behavioral, interpersonal, and social contexts into consideration.
• 
  Preventing Mental, Emotional, and Behavioral Disorders Among Young People: Progress and Possibilities Released: March 12, 2009

  Mental health and substance use disorders among children, youth, and young adults are major threats to the health and well-being of younger populations which often carryover into adulthood. The costs of treatment for mental health and addictive disorders, which create an enormous burden on the affected individuals, their families, and society, have stimulated increasing interest in prevention practices that can impede the onset or reduce the severity of the disorders. Preventing Mental, Emotional, and Behavioral Disorders Among Young People updates a 1994 Institute of Medicine book, Reducing Risks for Mental Disorders, focusing on the research base and program experience with younger populations that have emerged since that time.
• 
  From Molecules to Minds: Challenges for the 21st Century. Workshop Summary Released: September 29, 2008

  On June 25, 2008, the IOM Forum on Neuroscience and Nervous System Disorders hosted more than 70 of the leading neuroscientists in the world, for a workshop titled From Molecules to Minds: Challenges for the 21st Century. The objective of the workshop was to explore a set of common goals or “Grand Challenges” posed by participants that could inspire and rally both the scientific community and the public to consider the possibilities for neuroscience in the 21st century.
• 
  The National Children's Study Research Plan: A Review Released: September 12, 2008

  The National Children s Study (NCS) is planned to be the largest long-term study of environmental and genetic effects on children s health ever conducted in the United States. By archiving all of the data collected, the NCS is intended to provide a valuable resource for analyses conducted many years into the future. This report evaluates the research plan for the NCS, by assessing the scientific rigor of the study and the extent to which it is being carried out with methods, measures, and collection of data and specimens to maximize the scientific yield of the study.
• 
  Use of Dietary Supplements by Military Personnel Released: June 9, 2008

  The use of dietary supplements has become increasingly popular among members of the military. While some supplements may provide benefits to health, others could carry adverse effects that might compromise the readiness and performance of service members. The U.S. Department of Defense, the Samueli Institute, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), with additional support from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), requested that the Institute of Medicine (IOM) review the use of dietary supplements by military personnel, recommending a framework to identify the need for management of dietary supplement use within the military, and developing an approach to report adverse health events.
• 
  Violence Prevention in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Finding a Place on the Global Agenda. Workshop Summary Released: January 25, 2008

  The current state of science in violence prevention reveals progress, promise, and a number of remaining challenges. In order to fully examine the issue of global violence prevention, the Institute of Medicine in collaboration with Global Violence Prevention Advocacy, convened a workshop and released the workshop summary entitled, Violence Prevention in Low-and Middle-Income Countries.
• 
  Gulf War and Health: Volume 6. Physiologic, Psychologic, and Psychosocial Effects of Deployment-Related Stress Released: November 15, 2007

  This study comprehensively reviewed, evaluated, and summarized the peer-reviewed scientific and medical literature regarding the association between stress and long-term adverse health effects in Gulf War veterans, specifically the physiologic, psychologic, and psychosocial effects of stress.
• 
  Treatment of PTSD: An Assessment of The Evidence Released: October 17, 2007

  At the request of the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Institute of Medicine’s Committee on Treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) undertook a systematic review of the PTSD literature. After nearly 2,800 abstracts were identified, the application of inclusion criteria narrowed the list down to 90 randomized clinical trials, 37 pharmacotherapy studies, and 53 psychotherapy studies. The principal finding of the committee is that the scientific evidence on treatment modalities for PTSD does not reach the level of certainty that would be desired for such a common and serious condition among veterans.
• 
  Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: Diagnosis and Assessment Released: June 16, 2006

  The committee found that PTSD is a well characterized medical disorder and that the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) criteria for diagnosing PTSD are evidence-based, widely accepted, and widely used. According to the committee’s report, PTSD should be diagnosed and assessed by a health professional with experience in diagnosing psychiatric disorders (e.g., primary care physicians, nurses, social workers) using the DSM-IV criteria.