Category: news-perspectives

Most adults don’t need to be tested for narrowing of the arteries leading to the brain, an expert group says. The new statement is a final guideline from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. This expert group provides advice on preventive care to doctors and the government. The new statement focused on narrowing of the carotid arteries. Narrowed arteries can increase the risk of stroke. Ultrasound can detect these deposits. But the task force concluded that adults with only average risk and no symptoms should not routinely get this test. The test sometimes leads to a “false positive” result. This means that it shows a condition that the person does not really have. But the initial test results often lead to more testing and even surgery. These further steps may cause stroke, heart attack or even death.

Nearly 1 in 5 high school seniors has smoked tobacco through a hookah, or water pipe, a new survey finds. Cigarette smokers and those with more spending money were more likely to use a hookah than other teens. Researchers used data from a national poll of more than 5,500 U.S. high school seniors. It was taken between 2010 and 2012. About 18% said they had used a hookah in the last year. With a hookah, smoke bubbles up through water. People usually smoke in bars or in other group settings, taking turns. About half of regular cigarette smokers had used a hookah, compared with 6% of those who had never smoked. Teens who had used marijuana or alcohol were 3 to 4 times as likely to use a hookah as non-users. Nearly 23% of those who earned at least $51 a week in a job had used a hookah, compared with 14% of those with lower earnings.

A new study suggests that steroid shots may not help people with a common back pain problem. The study focused on spinal stenosis. With this condition, the open space in the spinal canal is narrowed. This squeezes nerves, causing pain. Doctors sometimes give injections of a corticosteroid to reduce swelling and inflammation. This is combined with a local anesthetic such as lidocaine to numb the area as the shot is given. The new study included 400 people with back and leg pain from spinal stenosis. They were randomly divided into 2 groups. One group received either 1 or 2 injections that contained a steroid plus lidocaine. The other group got injections of lidocaine only, without the steroid. Six weeks later, there were no differences between the groups in their levels of pain or function.

A partial transplant of bone-marrow stem cells may reverse sickle cell disease in adults, a new study finds. People with sickle cell disease have abnormally shaped red blood cells. They get stuck in blood vessels. This causes organ damage, pain and other medical problems. The new study included 30 adults with severe sickle cell disease. Each of them had a brother or sister who was a suitable match for a bone-marrow stem cell transplant. The sibling donor’s cells were mixed with some of the patient’s own cells. During 3.4 years of follow-up, the partial transplant reversed sickle cell disease in 26 out of 30 people, researchers said. In these patients, the bone marrow began making normal red blood cells. Fifteen people also were able to stop taking drugs to prevent rejection of the transplant.

About 2 out of 3 Americans over age 40 have done little or no planning for long-term care, a new survey finds. Only one-quarter even believe they’ll need help, although about half have cared for an older friend or relative themselves. The AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research did the survey. Most people polled said family or friends would help them if needed. But 6 out of 10 have not talked with them about it. About 7 out of 10 U.S. adults need some sort of long-term care after age 65. This may be given by a relative or in assisted living or a nursing home. On average, the care lasts about 3 years. More than one-third of those surveyed said, mistakenly, that Medicare pays for nursing home care. Medicare pays only for a short time, after a hospital stay. Medicaid, the government health insurance for the poor, pays for most long-term care in the United States.

Women don’t need annual pelvic exams, a large group of primary-care doctors says. The American College of Physicians (ACP) says there is no good evidence that the exams provide a benefit. But the group does endorse regular screening tests for cervical cancer. These tests are recommended every 3 to 5 years. The new guideline applies to average women who are not pregnant and do not have symptoms of a problem. Pelvic exams are intended to look for infections, cancers and other problems in the reproductive organs. But research doesn’t show that these exams are any good at finding these problems, an ACP committee found. Three studies on ovarian cancer found that pelvic exams did not help to detect it. One of the studies found that 1.5% of women ended up having surgery they did not need. Several studies looked at harms from regular pelvic exams.

Middle school students who send and receive sexually explicit messages (sexts) are also more likely to be having sex, a new study finds. The study included about 1,200 students in grades 6 through 8. Their ages ranged from 10 to 15. Most were 12 or 13. They filled out questionnaires about phone use and sex. About 3 out of 4 students had access to a phone that sent text messages. About 11% said they had ever had vaginal, oral or anal sex. Twenty percent said they had ever received a sext message or photo. About 5% said they had sent a sext. Students who had ever received a sext were 7 times as likely to report having sex as those who had not received a sext. Those who had sent a sext were 3 times as likely to report having sex as those who never sent one. Students who texted at least 100 times a day were nearly 5 times as likely to send a sext as those who texted less often.

About 1 out of 10 deaths of working-age U.S. adults is linked to excess drinking of alcohol, health officials report. The study came from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It estimated the number of U.S. deaths attributed to alcohol among adults ages 20 to 64. The study covered the years 2006 through 2010. Excess drinking for a man was defined as more than 14 drinks a week, on average, or more than 4 at one sitting (binge drinking). For women, it was defined as more than 7 drinks a week or more than 3 at one sitting. About 71% of the alcohol-linked deaths were among men. About half of the alcohol-related deaths were linked with binge drinking. Most of these were caused by traffic accidents. The most common long-term condition linked with excess alcohol use was alcoholic liver disease.

Spending a lot of time in front of the TV could increase your risk of early death, a new study suggests. The study found this link only for TV watching. There was no increase in death risk for other things that involve sitting — computer use and driving. The study included more than 13,000 healthy young adults. They were highly educated, slim and active. Their average age was 37. People filled out questionnaires about their activities. In the next 8 years, 97 died. There were 19 deaths from heart disease, 46 from cancer and 32 from other causes. For every 2 extra hours daily spent watching TV, the risk of death from heart disease rose 44%. Risk rose 21% for cancer and 55% for other causes. Researchers tried to account for other factors that might have caused the link. They excluded people who died in the first year of the study.

Taking your blood pressure can help diagnose a problem that could increase your risk of stroke and heart attack. But if you take the reading yourself at the drug store or the mall, you might not get an accurate result, U.S. officials warn. That’s because the cuff might be the wrong size for you. Doctors can choose from many cuff sizes to get an accurate reading. But many public blood pressure machines have only one cuff. If the cuff is too small, the blood pressure reading may be too high, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said. If it’s too big for you, the reading may be too low. Or maybe the machine won’t work at all. It may help to know the size of your upper arm so you can see if the kiosk’s cuff is the right size for you. The FDA said it’s important to remember that a diagnosis of high blood pressure is not based on just one reading.