Category: news-perspectives

Many pregnant women are not getting recommended shots to protect themselves and their babies against whooping cough, a new study shows. The study comes from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It includes data from New York City and 16 states for the last 4 months of 2011. In all, nearly 56% of pregnant women got the Tdap vaccine. This vaccine protects against tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis bacteria. Pertussis causes whooping cough. About 14% of the women got the shot before pregnancy. Another 10% got it during pregnancy and 31% after the birth. U.S. health officials urge all pregnant women to get the Tdap booster shot. Getting it just before or during pregnancy can pass some immunity to the infant. Vaccination after the birth for the mother and other contacts also helps to protect the baby.

Support groups that encourage people to walk may help people with clogged leg arteries, a new study suggests. The study included 194 people age 65 or older. All of them had peripheral artery disease. This is a narrowing of leg arteries. It causes pain when people walk even short distances. People in the study were randomly divided into 2 groups. One group attended weekly sessions that encouraged them to walk. This part of the study lasted 6 months. Then, for another 6 months, they got weekly phone calls from the group leader. The leader encouraged them to walk at least 5 days a week. People in the other group also went to weekly meetings on health topics. But they did not get any messages about exercise. After 12 months, 80% of those in the exercise group were able to climb a flight of stairs or walk one-quarter of a mile without help.

Deposits called amyloid plaques may appear in the brain 20 years or more before people develop signs of dementia, a research review finds. These plaques are more often found in older adults. But they also are seen more often in younger adults with a high risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, the study showed. The study was based on previous research. It included 1,359 people with diagnosed Alzheimer’s disease, 538 people with other types of dementia and autopsy results for 1,369 others with Alzheimer’s. The living subjects all had PET scans to look for amyloid plaques in the brain. Among those with normal memory and thinking skills, these plaques were more common with age. About 10% of 50-year-olds had them. That increased to 33% at age 80 and 44% at age 90. Some people carried the APOE4 gene variant, which is linked with a higher risk of Alzheimer’s.

Taking corticosteroid pills for 2 weeks may help people with sciatica move better, a new study finds. But the pills did not reduce pain any more than a placebo did. The study included 269 people who had endured back pain caused by a herniated disk for 3 months or less. The average was 4 weeks. They were randomly assigned to receive either prednisone pills or placebo pills. People took the pills for 3 weeks. Researchers assessed their pain and function before and after the treatment. Function improved more for the prednisone group than for the placebo group. But there was no difference between groups in measurements of pain. The Journal of the American Medical Association published the study. MedPage Today wrote about it May 19. 

Young children may not get much physical activity in a day at preschool, a new study finds. The study included nearly 100 preschool children from 10 child-care centers. Researchers spent 4 full days at each center, watching the children. The kids also wore devices to measure their physical activity. On average, kids spent only 48 minutes a day in active physical play. About 33 minutes of that was outdoor play. About 10 minutes was led by the teacher. In all, 73% of the children’s typical day was spent sitting or lying down. About 13% was spent in light activity and 14% in moderate to vigorous activity. Experts recommend at least an hour of adult-led, structured physical activity each day for children this age. They also recommend another hour of unstructured free play. The journal Pediatrics published the study. HealthDay News wrote about it May 18.              

How’s your hand grip? A new study suggests that answering this question could help assess your risk of heart attack, stroke and early death. Grip strength has been shown to be a good indicator of overall muscle strength. In this study, researchers looked at results of grip-strength tests on nearly 140,000 adults. They were 35 to 70 years old and came from 17 countries. In the next 4 years, nearly 3,400 died. People with low grip strength were more likely to die or have a heart attack or stroke than those who were stronger. This was true even after researchers accounted for other factors that affect death and heart disease risk. These factors included age, education level and whether people smoked, drank alcohol or exercised. Every 11-pound drop in grip strength was linked with a 17% increased risk of heart-related death and a 16% increased risk of death from any cause.

In a small study, a “medical marijuana” pill did not help behavior problems caused by dementia any more than a placebo, researchers report. The study included 50 people. They were having behavior problems linked with their dementia. They showed aggression, acted agitated or wandered. People were randomly assigned to take either the “medical marijuana” pill or a placebo (fake) pill 3 times a day. The marijuana pill contained synthetic THC, the active ingredient in marijuana. In the next 3 weeks, most people improved. But the THC group did not improve any more than the placebo group. Researchers said maybe just the extra attention of being in the study helped to soothe behavior problems. Side effects also were similar between the two groups. None were serious. Researchers said they will do another study using a larger dose of THC. The journal Neurology published the study.

A drug-resistant strain of the bacteria that cause typhoid fever is spreading through Asia and Africa, a new study warns. The strain is known as H58. It is now one of the most common forms of the bacteria Salmonella typhi, the study says. H58 resists several antibiotics that are used to treat the disease. It is still changing and becoming resistant to other drugs. The study looked at data on more than 1,800 S. typhi samples. They were collected from 63 countries in the last 20 years. Nearly half included the H58 strain. This strain has reached epidemic levels in Africa, the study found. Symptoms of typhoid fever include a high, long-lasting fever, belly pain and weakness. Up to 20% of those who are infected die. Typhoid fever is not a threat in developed countries. That’s because clean water and sewage treatment prevent spread of the bacteria.

Vaccinating pregnant women offers the best way to protect newborns against whooping cough, a panel of experts says. If that doesn’t happen, everyone having close contact with the baby should get the vaccine as soon as possible, the panel says. The new advice comes from an expert group called the Global Pertussis Initiative. Pertussis bacteria cause whooping cough. The new report is based on a close look at previous research. Several studies show that whooping cough rates among babies less than 3 months old have dropped in recent years. This drop occurred after increased promotions of pertussis booster shots for pregnant women. Women who get the shots while pregnant can pass on some of their immunity to their babies before birth. Babies can’t get their own shots until age 2 months. That’s when they get their first dose of the vaccine against diphtheria, pertussis and tetanus.

Men who take statins may be better able to fight off advanced prostate cancer than those not taking statins, a new study suggests. The new study included 926 men with advanced prostate cancer. They were taking drugs to reduce the hormone testosterone. This hormone helps prostate cancer grow. Some of the men also were taking statins to lower cholesterol and help prevent heart attacks. Researchers kept track of the men for an average of about 6 years. In men taking statins, prostate cancer remained stable for an average of 27.5 months before getting worse. Among men not taking statins, the cancer got worse faster, in an average of 17.4 months. Researchers think the statins may keep testosterone from entering cancer cells. This would help the hormone-blocking drugs work better. The journal JAMA Oncology published the study. HealthDay News wrote about it May 7.