Month: August 2013

Cutting off blood supply to the arm, briefly, before heart surgery may improve survival by reducing injury to the heart. That’s the conclusion of the first study to look at results of the technique after a year. The study included more than 300 people who were scheduled to have heart bypass surgery. They were randomly divided into 2 groups. People in the first group received remote ischemic preconditioning. Right after they received anesthesia for surgery, a blood pressure cuff was applied to one upper arm. The cuff was inflated and kept in place for 5 minutes to restrict blood supply to the arm. Then it was removed for 5 minutes. This was done 3 times in a row before surgery. The other group did not have preconditioning. Three days after surgery, researchers measured troponin, a protein that indicates heart muscle damage.

A drug used to treat an enlarged prostate also reduces prostate cancer cases by nearly one-third and does not affect the risk of death, a new study finds. The research is an 18-year follow-up on an earlier study. Nearly 19,000 men were randomly assigned to receive either finasteride (Proscar) or placebo (fake) pills. The first phase of the study showed fewer prostate cancers for men who took finasteride. But they had a higher rate of high-grade cancers, which are more likely to spread. The new study looked at what happened to these men over time. Prostate cancer diagnosis was reduced by about 30% for those who got the real drug. About 3.5% of the cancers in this group were high-grade, compared with 3% in the placebo group. But death rates were the same whether men received the real drug or not. The drug also did not change death rates for men with high-grade cancers.

People with diabetes may be less likely to develop kidney disease if they eat a healthy diet and drink moderately, new research suggests. The study included more than 6,200 diabetes patients. Researchers kept track of them for more than 5 years. In that time, about 32% developed chronic (long-lasting) kidney disease. About 8% died. People who scored highest on a scale measuring the health of their diets were 39% less likely to die than those with the least healthy diets. They were 26% less likely to develop kidney disease. About one-third of those in the study drank alcohol regularly. People who had about 5 drinks per week were 25% less likely to develop kidney disease. They also were 31% less likely to die during the study. The journal JAMA Internal Medicine published the study. HealthDay News wrote about it August 12.

Children who have long-lasting stomach pain may have a higher risk of anxiety or depression as adults, a new study finds. The study included 332 school-age children. All had been having belly pain that lasted at least 3 months and had no clear medical cause. Doctors call this functional abdominal pain. They were compared with 147 children who did not have long-lasting belly pain. By the time they were young adults, 51% of the children with belly pain and 20% of the other group had developed an anxiety disorder at some point. About 40% developed depression, compared with 16% of the other group. These conditions occurred even though many no longer had stomach pain. Doctors say it’s important for children with this type of pain to keep up their regular activities as much as possible. Avoiding them can increase anxiety and make the pain worse.