Month: March 2015

A new type of drug lowers cholesterol and may also reduce heart attack and stroke rates, study results show. The 2 new studies look at drugs known as monoclonal antibodies. Both of the study drugs work by shutting down a protein in the liver. The larger study included 4,465 people. They were randomly divided into 2 groups. One group got injections of evolocumab every 2 weeks or every month. People also got standard treatment to lower LDL (“bad cholesterol”). Usually this was a statin drug. The other group got standard treatment only. In the next year, LDL fell 61% more in the evolocumab group than in the standard-treatment group. About 2% of the statin-only group died or had a heart attack, stroke or related event during the study. The rate was 1% in the group taking the new drug. The other study included 2,341 people.

Seniors with severe hearing loss who received a cochlear implant to restore hearing also had improved mood and thinking skills, a new study finds. A cochlear implant is a small electronic device that provides sound to a person who is severely hard of hearing or deaf. It requires surgery to place in the inner ear. The study included 94 people ages 65 to 85. Researchers tested them before they got the implant, as well as 6 and 12 months later. After one year, the people could better understand words in both loud and quiet settings. Six month after getting the implants, average scores on test of thinking abilities improved. After one year, more than 80% of people with the lowest scores before the implant had better scores. The implants also seemed to improve depression in people. Before the implant, 59% showed no signs of depression. A year later, 76% were free of depression.