Month: August 2012

Weight-loss surgery can sharply reduce the risk of diabetes in very obese people, a new study finds. The study included more than 3,400 obese people. Just under half of them had so-called bariatric surgery to help weight loss. These procedures reduce the size of the stomach, bypass part of the colon or both. The other people in the study did not have surgery. They just received usual care and advice on weight loss. Nobody had diabetes when the study began. Within 10 years, 110 people in the surgery group developed diabetes. This compares with 392 people in the other group. The diabetes rate was 78% lower for those who had surgery. Two studies released this year showed that weight-loss surgery could reverse diabetes. This study showed that it also could help prevent the disease.

Comedian Rosie O’Donnell told her fans this week that she is “lucky to be here” after not recognizing signs of a heart attack. O’Donnell wrote on her blog August 20 about nausea, aches and other symptoms the week before. She said she did an online search for “women’s heart attack symptoms” and was concerned enough to take aspirin. This can help to prevent blood clots that cause heart attacks. But O’Donnell did not go to the emergency room. She went to see a cardiologist the next day. O’Donnell said one of her arteries was 99% blocked. Doctors inserted a stent, a small tube, to open the artery. She urged her female fans to know the symptoms of heart attacks and not ignore them if they occur. The Associated Press wrote about O’Donnell’s illness.

A doctors’ group has revised its guidelines on thyroid treatments during and after pregnancy. The Endocrine Society produced the new guidelines. There are 52 of them, covering before, during and after pregnancy, as well as during breastfeeding. The guidelines say that women who are trying to get pregnant and have any history of thyroid problems should be tested for normal thyroid function. The society also said that pregnant women take prenatal vitamins containing 150 to 200 micrograms of iodine. And women who are breastfeeding should take 250 micrograms of iodine every day. These doses protect women and their babies from iodine deficiency. That can lead to an imbalance of thyroid hormone. This hormone is crucial for fetal brain development. The new guidelines update a 2007 version. They were published in the August issue of the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.