Category: news-perspectives

People may feel healthier after they retire, a new study finds. The study of 15,000 French workers asked them about their health up to 7 years before and after they retired. In the year before retirement, 19.2% said they were in poor health. One year after retirement, it had dropped to 14.3%. The last time so few had reported poor health was 8 years before retirement. After retirement, the health improvements lasted at least 7 years. People with poorer working conditions reported the greatest improvements. The journal Lancet published the study online. HealthDay News wrote about it November 9.

Strokes caused by bleeding in the brain have increased worldwide, researchers report in the journal Lancet. This type of stroke is called intracerebral hemorrhage. The article focused on bleeding strokes that are caused by a burst blood vessel, not an injury (trauma). Hospital admissions for this type of stroke have increased 18% in the last 10 years, the article says. This means that for every 100 such strokes that occurred 10 years ago, 118 occur now. The authors say one cause is the increase in the number of elderly people. Many of them have high blood pressure that is not well controlled. Use of drugs to prevent blood clots also has greatly increased. Bleeding can be a side effect of these drugs. Better hospital treatment is needed, the authors say.

A combination of office and home treatments can help a childhood eye problem, researchers say. The problem is convergence insufficiency. It means that the eyes don’t turn inward (converge) easily. The new study compared four treatments in 221 children. One group did home therapy. This involved focusing on one letter on a pencil while moving it closer to the nose. Another group did this plus computer exercises. A third group had weekly office sessions with a therapist, plus home exercises. The fourth group did placebo activities to mimic the office treatment. After 12 weeks, 75% of the children who got office and home therapy had better vision or normal vision. In the other groups, 33% to 43% had similar success. The study is in the October issue of Archives of Ophthalmology.

B vitamins don’t slow down the decline of mental function in people with Alzheimer’s disease, a study finds. The study included 409 people with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s. They were randomly assigned to take either vitamins or a placebo. The vitamins included were folate, B6 and B12. They took the pills for 18 months. People with Alzheimer’s have high blood levels of an amino acid called homocysteine. B vitamins can lower these levels. That’s what happened in the study, too. But tests showed that the B vitamins did not slow down people’s mental decline. HealthDay News and Reuters Health wrote about the study October 14. It appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Exposure to secondhand smoke can lead to artery damage by the teen years, new research has found. The study included 494 children, ages 8 through 13. They were given regular blood tests for cotinine, a byproduct of nicotine. They also received ultrasound scans to measure thickness of arteries in the chest and neck. By age 13, those exposed to secondhand smoke tended to have thicker arteries. This a sign of damage that can lead to clogging of arteries. Children with more smoke exposure also had higher levels of apolipoprotein B. This blood protein is one part of LDL, or “bad,” cholesterol. Another test showed that teens exposed to more smoke had reduced function of arteries in the upper arm. The study appeared in the journal Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes. HealthDay and Reuters news services wrote about it March 2.

Green tea extract may help to delay oral cancer in people at risk, new research suggests. Researchers gave green tea extract to 41 people who had pre-cancerous cells in their mouths. The dose was equal to 8 to 10 cups of green tea daily. Another group received placebos. The study lasted 28 months. In that time, people who took green tea extract were just as likely as the other group to develop oral cancer. But in one group who took green tea extract, the cancer took longer to develop. This was the group of people who had mild to moderate abnormal cell growth at the start of the study. Study results were released online by the journal Cancer Prevention Research. HealthDay News wrote about the study November 5.

More than 1 out of 9 children and teens use some form of alternative medicine, a survey has found. Treatments used included herbal supplements, acupuncture, medication, and chiropractic care. The most common herbs used were echinacea and fish oil. Echinacea is given for colds. Some people give fish oil to kids with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. Parents also gave kids herbs for pain, anxiety and sleep problems. U.S. health agencies did the study in 2007. It included more than 9,000 adults who spoke for their children. The survey also asked about adult use of alternative medicine. About 1 in 3 adults used these treatments. The Associated Press wrote about the survey December 10.

On June 13, Tim Russert died suddenly of a heart attack. He was 58 years old. Russert was NBC’s Washington bureau chief, and a moderator on the news show “Meet the Press.” He had been diagnosed with coronary artery disease, but had no symptoms. He appeared to be taking the usual medications, and had a normal stress test in April. His heart attack was caused by a blood clot in an artery. The clot blocked the flow of blood to the heart.

Family history is known to affect a person’s risk of heart disease. But gene tests may not predict that risk, new research suggests. The study included 19,000 women, who received gene tests. The tests looked for 101 specific gene mutations. Previous research had linked the mutations to a higher risk of heart disease. The women were given a score based on how many mutations they had. In the next 12 years, women with high risk scores were no more likely than others to have a heart attack or stroke. This was true after researchers adjusted the numbers for other risks such as high cholesterol. But women with a family history of early heart attack were much more likely to have a heart attack themselves. Family history might be related to shared behaviors and environment, as well as genes. The study appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Most women should start getting tests for breast cancer later, and be tested less often, new guidelines say. The advice comes from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. This expert group provides advice to doctors and others. The new guidelines say women should get mammograms every two years, starting at age 50. In the past, the group had said the tests should begin at 40 and come every one to two years. There’s also no benefit from doctors teaching women to examine their own breasts, the task force said. Several medical groups still endorse mammograms beginning at age 40. But the task force said they may do more harm than good. Women may get biopsies they don’t need. They may get surgery for cancers that will never grow. Older women are more likely to get breast cancer. So mammograms of women ages 50 to 74 are most likely to prevent a death, the task force said.