Category: news-perspectives

Treating insomnia significantly improves depression, a study finds. The study included 66 patients. They received 4 sessions of talk therapy over 8 weeks. During these sessions, patients got specific instructions on how to improve their insomnia. They did not get sleep medicines. After two months, patients who slept better after the therapy showed a significant improvement in their symptoms of depression. Poor sleep can lead to depression. And depression can cause insomnia. This study suggests that insomnia may contribute to depression. Researchers from Ryerson University in Toronto conducted the study. It has not yet been published. It was funded by the National Institutes of Mental Health (NIMH). This study confirms the findings of another small study. Other studies on sleep and depression are under way. They are also funded by the NIMH.

People with one type of abnormal heart rhythm are more likely to have heart attacks, a new study concludes. The study looked at the relationship between heart attack and atrial fibrillation (AF). With AF, the upper chambers of the heart do not beat normally. They quiver in a fast, irregular pattern. Heart attack is known to increase the risk of AF, but doctors have not known if the reverse is true. This study examined the issue by looking at records for nearly 24,000 people. They did not have coronary artery disease when the study began. More than 1,600 of them had AF. During a 7-year period, 650 people in the study had heart attacks. People with AF were nearly twice as likely as others to have heart attacks. The risk was especially high among women and black men. The study does not prove that AF actually caused the heart attacks. More research is needed, the authors said.

We still don’t know whether vitamin or mineral pills can help to prevent heart disease or cancer, an expert report says. Vitamin E and beta-carotene pills definitely do not prevent these diseases. And beta-carotene can increase the risk of lung cancer in smokers and former smokers. Those are the main conclusions of the report from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. This is a government-appointed group of experts that advises doctors on preventive care. The panel looked at the best-quality research on vitamins, minerals and health. Some pills given in the studies contained single ingredients. Others included two, three or multiple vitamins. Taken together, the studies don’t provide enough evidence that these pills can prevent either heart disease or any type of cancer, the task force said.

Since drug makers stopped selling cold and cough medicines for young children, emergencies related to these drugs have dropped, a study shows. Manufacturers withdrew cold and cough medicines for children under age 2 in 2007. The next year, the government required label changes. New labels said these medicines should not be given to children under age 4. Researchers compared emergency room data before and after the changes. They looked at the years 2004 through 2011. After the changes, ER visits related to cold and cough medicines dropped for all young children. For children under age 2, visits for side effects of these drugs dropped 41%. For children ages 2 and 3, visits dropped 32%. Among the emergencies that d
id occur, the vast majority of
children had swallowed the medicines when no one was watching.

New forms of tobacco, popular with teens, are on the rise in the United States. So says a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Hookah use rose from 4.1% to 5.4% from 2011 to 2012. In that same year, electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) use increased 1.5% to 2.8%. And those increases were just in high-school-age students. Middle-school students are also smoking e-cigarettes, according to the report. Their use of this product increased from 0.6% to 1.1%. The report was based on data from the 2012 National Youth Tobacco Survey. The CDC published the findings in its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report Nov. 15. HealthDay News reported on it Nov. 14.

Research has shown that some kinds of exercise programs can help to keep older adults from falling. A new analysis finds that they also reduce injuries when people do fall. Researchers put together results from 17 studies of fall-prevention programs. More than 4,000 people were involved in the studies. Their average age was 77, and 3 out of 4 were women. Tai Chi was the exercise in two of the studies. Most of the programs used balance, gait and strength training. Many also used functional training, which helps people do normal activities. Overall, people in the exercise programs were about 37% less likely to be injured if they fell than people who did not get this training. They were 61% less likely to have broken bones after a fall. They also were 43% less likely to require a hospital stay.

Even ordinary activities, such as housework or gardening, may help to reduce people’s risk of early death, a new study finds. Researchers interviewed more than 3,800 people. All were aged 60 or older. They answered questions about diet, drinking, smoking and physical activity. Besides formal exercise, people were asked about everyday activities. Examples included gardening, housework, home projects and car maintenance. Doctors examined everyone. They also took blood samples. These were used to check for blood sugar and cholesterol levels and other factors that might affect health. Researchers kept track of people for 12 years. In that time, people who had a lot of everyday activity were 27% likely to die of a heart attack or stroke than the least active people. They were 30% less likely to die of any cause.

People are most likely to think about quitting smoking on Mondays, a new study suggests. Researchers looked at Google searches between 2008 and 2012. They looked at searches done in English, Chinese, Spanish, French, Portuguese and Russian. They found that people searched for information about quitting smoking more often early in the week. The peak occurred on Mondays for 4 of the languages. Mondays lagged a bit behind Sundays for Chinese and Russian searches.  For all 6 languages combined, Monday searches totaled 25% higher than those for the average day during the rest of the week. Searches declined steadily after Monday before rising again on Sundays. Researchers said they aren’t sure what the pattern means. But they said it might be helpful in figuring out the best days to target quit-smoking messages.

Children with concussions should rest their brains and return to schoolwork only gradually, a doctors’ group says. The new guidelines come from the American Academy of Pediatrics. The doctors admit there’s limited evidence about the best way to recover from concussions. So each child will be different. But they say it’s important for kids to have “cognitive rest” as they recover. This means restrictions on not just schoolwork but also video games, texting, TV and reading. Such brain activity may increase symptoms such as headaches or vision problems. If symptoms last more than a few weeks, the child may need to see a specialist. Kids can try returning to school when they can handle 30 to 45 minutes of school work or other stimulation without symptoms. The return may be part-time at first.

Strokes are rising worldwide, a new study shows. And much of the burden is falling on middle-aged adults and low- to middle-income countries. Researchers put together numbers from 119 studies to estimate strokes for the years 1990 and 2010. In that 20-year span, stroke death rates declined 36% in high-income countries and 20% in low- and middle-income countries. But the total number of first strokes rose 68%. Strokes among adults ages 20 to 64 rose from 25% to 31% of all strokes. Most of that increase occurred in the low- to middle-income countries. Illness and death linked with stroke has shifted toward people under age 75, the study found. They now account for 62% of new strokes, 45% of deaths and 72% of illness and disability. Another new study found that hemorrhagic (bleeding) strokes cause 52% of deaths and 61% of disability from stroke.