Category: news-perspectives

Bacterial infections cause only about half of the hospital stays linked to a common lung disease. But it may be best to give everyone antibiotics right away, a new study finds. Researchers looked at records for 85,000 people. All had been admitted to hospitals with problems related to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). This lung disease hinders breathing. It’s almost always caused by smoking. In the study, 8 out of 10 people got antibiotics during their hospital stay. Doctors may not prescribe them unless tests show an infection. But people who got these drugs within the first two days had better results, the study found. They were less likely to need a ventilator or to have their treatment fail. Their hospital death rate was lower. And they were less likely to be readmitted quickly The Journal of the American Medical Association published the study.

Visiting the doctor more often can help diabetics control their blood pressure faster, a study concludes. The study included more than 5,000 people. All were being treated for diabetes and high blood pressure. Sometimes, even with treatment, people’s blood pressure readings were above normal. But blood pressure dropped to normal in an average of 1.5 months for those who visited the doctor at least every month. The drop was fastest for those who went to the doctor every two weeks or less. For those who waited more than a month between doctor visits, blood pressure readings stayed up for a year. The study appeared in the journal Hypertension. HealthDay News wrote about it May 24.

Having fewer sweetened drinks can reduce blood pressure, new research suggests. The study included 810 people. Their average age was 50. Their blood pressure was high or just under the high range. When the study started, they drank an average of 10.5 ounces of sugary beverages per day. That’s just under one serving, a 12-ounce can. Sweetened drinks included regular soda, fruit drinks and lemonade. After 18 months on a weight loss program, the average person was drinking half a serving less per day. Researchers calculated that cutting back by one whole serving per day led to a drop of 1.8 points in systolic pressure. This is the first and larger number in a blood pressure reading. Diastolic pressure, the second and smaller number, fell 1.1 points. Weight loss caused some of the drop. However, researchers said cutting sweetened drinks had a significant effect.

Looking at the rate of change in a blood test may be a good way to screen healthy women for ovarian cancer, a new study suggests. This form of cancer usually is diagnosed late, when it is hard to cure. The new study included a test for the protein CA-125. Blood levels are high in many women with ovarian cancer. But this protein can be high for other reasons, too. More than 3,200 older women were tested for CA-125. Researchers calculated each woman’s risk based on her CA-125 level and how it changed over time. Women at low risk were tested each year. Medium-risk women got tests every three months. The study lasted nine years. In this time, 85 women with the highest risk received ultrasound tests to look for signs of cancer. Eight of them were referred for surgery. The surgery found three invasive cancers, all in early stages. Two women had “borderline” tumors.

Doctors can resume giving children either of the two vaccines available for rotavirus, U.S. regulators say. The announcement came nearly two months after doctors were asked to suspend use of one of the vaccines, Rotarix. Bits of DNA from a pig virus had been found in the vaccine. Rotarix is made by GlaxoSmithKline. The FDA said the vaccine was safe and was being suspended as a precaution. The pig virus, porcine circovirus 1, is not known to cause illness in people. In early May, the FDA said the other vaccine, RotaTeq, also contained pig virus DNA. RotaTeq is made by Merck. After completing its investigation, the FDA dropped the suspension of Rotarix. The agency said both vaccines are safe and doctors can use either one. HealthDay News wrote about the announcement May 14.

A drug used to treat impotence may also help people with a scarring lung disease, new research suggests. The study focused on sildenafil, the drug used in Viagra. But people in the study received a lower dose, sold under the brand name Revatio. The 180 men and women in the study had advanced pulmonary fibrosis. This disease causes scarring of the lungs that hinders breathing. It keeps getting worse, and there’s no good treatment. People were randomly divided into two groups. One group took sildenafil for 12 weeks. The other group received placebo (fake) pills. After 12 weeks, people in both groups were able to walk about the same distance in six minutes. But people in the sildenafil group did better in some measures of breathing ability. The New England Journal of Medicine published the study online. HealthDay News wrote about it May 18.

Newborn babies can learn simple things even while asleep, new research suggests. The study included 26 babies who were 1 or 2 days old. The experiment took place while they were sleeping. They were videotaped and hooked to a machine to record their brain activity. Researchers played a tone. Then a machine blew a faint puff of air at each baby’s eyelids. This made the babies squeeze their lids together tighter. The tone and puff were repeated. But on the 10th time the tone was played without the puff. This sequence was repeated over and over. After 20 minutes of this, most of the babies squeezed their eyes at the tone, even when there was no puff. The machine also showed changes in brain wave activity after the tone was played. The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences published the study online. United Press International wrote about it May 17.

Postpartum depression can affect fathers, too, a new study has found. Researchers combined the data from 43 studies to reach this conclusion. They estimated that about 10% of fathers become depressed just before or after the birth of a child. This is about twice the rate for the overall male population. Depression occurred most often about 3 to 6 months after the birth. Fathers were more likely to be depressed if the mothers were depressed, too. Depressed dads were more common in the United States (14%) than in other countries studied (8%). The Journal of the American Medical Association published the study. Reuters Health news service wrote about it May 18.

Obese women who lose weight faster may lose more and keep the weight off just as well as those who lose more slowly, a new study finds. Researchers looked at data on 262 obese women who were in a study on weight loss. They were divided into three groups based on how quickly they lost weight. The fastest group lost 1.5 or more pounds a week. The slow group lost less than half a pound a week. The middle group lost in between these two amounts. After 6 months, average weight loss was 29.7 pounds for the fast group. It was 19.6 pounds for the moderate group and 11.2 pounds for the slow group. Follow-up on the study totaled 18 months. At this point, the fast group was 5 times as likely as the slow group to have lost 10% of body weight. Regaining weight was equally likely among the three groups. The International Journal of Behavioral Medicine published the study online.

Babies who are breastfed may be less likely to overeat later, a study suggests. The study included 1,250 infants. In the first 6 months of life, some were breastfed only and some were bottle-fed only. Others received both breast and bottle. By age 6 months, about 2 out of 3 babies were getting only formula. In each of the next 6 months, mothers were asked how often their babies emptied a whole bottle or cup of milk. About 27% of babies who had been breastfed exclusively in their first 6 months of life were draining their bottles as older babies. This compares with 68% of those who were bottle-fed from birth and 54% of those who received both breast and bottle. The pattern was the same even if those early bottle feedings contained expressed breast milk. Researchers said breastfeeding may help babies “self-regulate” food intake.