Category: news-perspectives

Sitting in coach class doesn’t increase your risk of a blood clot after a long flight, an expert group says. Some people have called these clots “economy class syndrome.” But people in first class have about the same risk, new guidelines say. The guidelines come from the American College of Chest Physicians. They include advice on preventing deep vein thrombosis. This type of clot occurs in the leg. It is more common after a long flight or another long period without movement. The guidelines also cover prevention of clots in the lungs and in arteries. The risk of deep vein thrombosis is very low, the guidelines say. The average risk is 1 out of 1,000 people each year. That risk doubles on flights of at least 8 hours. But you can help prevent these clots if you get up and move around on the flight. Some people have a greater risk.

Metformin is the best medicine to use first for people with type 2 diabetes, a doctors’ group says. The American College of Physicians issued the new guidelines February 6. The college is a professional group for doctors of internal medicine. The group’s new guidelines say that doctors should first recommend weight loss and regular exercise for people with type 2 diabetes. But if these changes don’t control blood sugar, metformin should be the first drug used, the guidelines say. The doctors’ group found that it lowers blood sugar the most, with the fewest side effects. Doctors should prescribe a second drug if metformin is not enough. But there’s not enough evidence to recommend one specific drug for this second treatment, the guidelines say. Besides its effect on blood sugar, metformin helped to reduce people’s risk of heart disease and early death.

Nearly 4,600 children had to stay in a U.S. hospital in 2006 because of child abuse, a new study says. About 300 of them died. The study was the first to estimate serious injuries from child abuse nationwide. It was based on numbers from the Kids’ Inpatient Database. It covers children under age 18. The study found that 6 out of every 100,000 children had a hospital stay for physical child abuse. The average stay was about a week. Injuries included head trauma, burns and broken bones. The rates were highest — 58 out of 100,000 — for infants age 1 or younger. That’s higher than the rate for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Hospital stays also were much higher in children on Medicaid. Other research has shown a spike in child abuse since the recession that began in late 2007. Researchers said economic stress often leads to more child abuse.

A smaller dose of the “morning after” birth control pill may help to control fibroids in the uterus as well. That’s the conclusion of two new studies. They were done in Europe, where the pill is awaiting approval. Fibroids are growths that can cause heavy bleeding, pain and fertility problems. Fibroids are not cancerous, but treatments often don’t work well. Esmya is a lower dose of the drugs in Ella, an emergency birth control pill. The new studies included a total of 550 women with fibroids. All had such severe symptoms that they were planning surgery. In one study, women were randomly assigned to take Esmya or placebo (fake) pills for 3 months. The other study compared Esmya with a monthly hormone-blocking shot. It controls fibroids, but can thin bones after long use. Women received either Esmya and a fake shot, or a real shot and a fake pill.

U.S. government researchers think they may have found out how a chemical in red wine appears to confer health benefits. The research looks at resveratrol. This chemical is found in red wine and some other plant products. Researchers from the National Institutes of Health traced how it acts in cells. They found that it interferes with the activity of a protein in muscle called PDE4. This protein helps to regulate cell energy. The drug rolipram is also known to interfere with PDE4. So researchers gave this drug to mice. They found that this produced the same results as resveratrol has in other studies. Mice were less likely to get fat. Their bodies were able to make better use of glucose, which can help prevent diabetes. They also were able to exercise longer. Knowing how resveratrol works may help researchers to develop drugs with the same effects.

A follow-up test for colon cancer can increase detection rates by nearly one-third, new research finds. The study looked at flexible sigmoidoscopy. This test uses a scope with a tiny camera. The scope is threaded through the lower part of the colon. Colonoscopy, the test most often recommended, uses a longer scope. It looks at the whole colon. But sigmoidoscopy requires a less extensive cleanout with laxatives ahead of time. Unlike colonoscopy, it doesn’t require sedation. Researchers wanted to see if 2 sigmoidoscopies would detect more cancers. They looked at what happened to 35,000 people who had 2 tests within 3 to 5 years. All of them were 55 to 74 years old. The first test found cancer or polyps that could turn into cancer in about 38 of every 1,000 people. That number grew to almost 50 per 1,000 after both tests. About 8 out of 10 cancers found were in early stages.

The recent stroke of U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk shows that these attacks can happen at any age. That’s the subject of an Associated Press (AP) article published January 30. Kirk’s stroke occurred after a tear in the carotid artery to his brain. Doctors still don’t know why that happened. Kirk, 52, an Illinois Republican, is fit and a devoted swimmer. But about 1 out of 4 U.S. strokes occurs in someone under age 65, AP said. The most common type of stroke is increasing among people under age 44. Hospital stays in this group for ischemic stroke have for risen by one-third in the last 10 years, AP said. An ischemic stroke is caused by a clot that blocks a blood vessel. Strokes are more common in younger people with high blood pressure and diabetes. These diseases are increasing along with the growth in obesity in the United States.

People with diabetes are much less likely to lose a limb or a toe because of the disease, new research shows. The study found that the amputation rate for diabetics has dropped by more than half since the mid-1990s. Researchers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention did the study. It was based on hospital discharge records. Amputations are most common among people with diabetes who are elderly or have had the disease for at least 10 years. So the study focused on people age 40 and older. The amputation rate was 11.2 per 1,000 people in 1996. By 2008, the number of Americans with diabetes more than tripled. But the amputation rate dropped to about 4 per 1,000. Researchers said this drop probably was the result of better treatments. The journal Diabetes Care published the study. The Associated Press wrote about it January 25.

Even parents who use booster seats for their children don’t always insist on using the seats for carpooling, a new survey finds. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends booster seats for kids who are too big for a child car seat. Typically this occurs about age 4. The academy says kids are not protected enough by standard seat belts until they are about 4 feet, 9 inches tall. Most children reach this height between ages 8 and 12. Many states require booster seats up to age 8. The new study surveyed 671 U.S. parents. All of them had children who were 4 to 8 years old. About 3 out of 4 parents said they used booster seats for their children in their own cars. But these same parents did not always use booster seats for carpooling. About 1 out of 5 did not insist that their child use a booster seat when riding in a carpool with another parent.

Avoiding certain health problems in middle age dramatically improves your lifetime chances of preventing a heart attack or stroke, a new study finds. The study included about 250,000 people. It looked at a person’s lifetime risk based on their health at certain ages. Researchers put together the numbers from 18 prior studies. To gauge health, they focused on the standard factors that most strongly increase the risk of heart attack or stroke. They are smoking, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and diabetes. The study found that people with none of these risk factors at mid-life had very little chance of a heart attack or stroke in the rest of their lives. An example would be a 45-year-old male nonsmoker with ideal cholesterol and blood pressure, and no diabetes. His chance of ever having a heart attack or stroke would be 1.4%, researchers said.