Harvard Health Content API

Taking sildenafil (Viagra) may improve sexual response in women who take medicine for depression, a study finds. Sexual problems often occur as a side effect of depression drugs. The study included 98 women who were having this problem. They were given pills to take before having sex for eight weeks. Half of the women received Viagra. The others got identical placebos. Nearly 3 out of 4 women who took Viagra reported better sexual response. This compares with 1 out of 4 women who took placebo pills. The Associated Press wrote about the study July 22. It appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The federal tax on cigarettes is going up 62 cents on April 1. Public health experts told Reuters Health news service that the increase may lead to 1 million smokers quitting. The additional tax money will go to a government health insurance program for children who don’t have insurance. Raising cigarette prices has been shown to increase quit rate among adult smokers and prevent children and young adults from starting to smoke. Smoking kills about 440,000 Americans every year, according to the CDC. Reuters Health News Service wrote about the increase on March 15.

More Americans are skimping on medical care because of money troubles, the Associated Press reported October 23. A new poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation showed the trend. People were asked if they have put off medical care or tests. More people said yes than a similar poll showed in April. Fewer prescriptions are being filled, too. The drop occurred in the quarter that ended in June. IMS Health, which collected the data, said it was the first drop ever.

High levels of a blood protein may indicate more risk of type 2 diabetes, a study suggests. The study included about 400 people in their 70s. None had diabetes. Within 6 years, 135 had diabetes. Some people had high levels of a protein called fetuin-A. Their diabetes rate was twice as high as for people with the lowest levels of the protein. Researchers said fetuin-A could help identify people at high risk of diabetes. They could make a special effort to lose weight and exercise. HealthDay News reported on the study July 8. It was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

A new drug is as effective as an old drug in treating malaria, researchers report. And the new drug, Pyramex, needs to be given only once a day. The standard treatment, Coartem, has to be taken twice a day. Pyramex is a combination of two drugs, pyronaridine and artesunate. Coartem combines artemether and lumefantrine. The study included 1,272 people. Two-thirds of them were randomly assigned to receive the standard drug, Coartem. One-third were given Pyramex. More than 99% responded to treatment, regardless of the drug given. People taking Coartem became reinfected sooner than people taking Pyramex. Side effects were similar with the two drugs. Some people taking Pyramex had raised levels of liver enzymes. But this side effect was mild and did not last, the authors said. The study appeared in the journal Lancet. Reuters and Agence France Presse wrote about it April 22.

Diabetes and high blood pressure can shorten the lives of people with Alzheimer’s disease, a new study finds. The study included 323 people with Alzheimer’s. People with high blood pressure were 2½ times as likely to have a shorter life as people without the condition. People with diabetes were 2 times as likely to have a shorter life. HealthDay News wrote about the study November 3. It was published in the journal Neurology.

The body’s use of glucose for energy alters at least three to six years before diabetes is diagnosed, a new study has found. The study included 6,538 people who at first did not have diabetes. In the next 10 years, doctors did frequent tests of blood glucose (sugar) levels. Other tests related to how the pancreas makes insulin and how easily the body uses it to burn glucose for fuel (insulin sensitivity). More than 500 people developed type 2 diabetes. In these people, blood glucose after a fast and after a meal increased rapidly in the few years before diagnosis. Insulin sensitivity decreased steeply. The body’s ability to make insulin improved for about a year. Then it fell starting three years before diagnosis. All measurements changed much less in people who did not develop diabetes. The journal Lancet published the study. Reuters Health news service wrote about it June 8.

A vaccine that can prevent cervical cancer works in women as old as 45, a study finds. The vaccine prevents infection with four types of human papilloma virus (HPV). These types are most likely to cause cervical cancer. The vaccine is recommended for girls and women up to age 26. The new study included 3,200 women who had never been infected with HPV. Their ages ranged from 24 to 45. Women received three shots — either the vaccine or fake vaccine. In the next two years, four women who got the vaccine were infected with HPV. This compares with 41 women who got the fake vaccine. The journal Lancet published the study results online. HealthDay News and Reuters news service wrote about it June 2.

People with chest pain can get long-term relief from medicines, even without angioplasty, researchers say. In angioplasty, a tiny balloon is blown up inside an artery to widen it. This increases blood flow to end chest pain. A tube called a stent is put in to keep the artery open. The new study included 2,287 people who had chest pain that was not getting worse. They were randomly assigned to two treatment groups. One was treated with drugs. The other received drugs plus angioplasty. Angioplasty relieved pain better at first. But both groups continued to improve. Within three years pain was about the same in the two groups. The Associated Press wrote about the study August 14. It was in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Swine flu vaccine began arriving in doctors’ offices this week. But a poll shows that many children may not get it, though they are among the groups recommended for early vaccination. In the Associated Press-GfK poll, 59% of parents said they were likely to allow their children to get vaccinated at school. About 38 percent of parents said they were unlikely to give permission. Among all groups, about 72% said they worried about side effects from the new vaccine. No major side effects have showed up in tests so far. In a different survey, about half of parents said they didn’t think swine flu was any worse than seasonal flu. Vaccination against seasonal flu also is recommended for nearly all children. But most kids don’t get the shots. About 2.2 million doses of nasal spray vaccine for swine flu are available now. Injectable vaccine will begin to arrive next week.