Category: news-perspectives

Wearing a device that takes blood pressure automatically, day and night, is the most cost-effective way to find out if you need treatment, a study finds. The new study was done in the United Kingdom. Researchers compared costs and results of three ways of diagnosing high blood pressure. Some people were asked to wear an ambulatory blood pressure monitor. This device is worn for 24 hours. It is usually set to take blood pressure readings every half hour during the day and every hour at night. Some people were asked to use a regular blood pressure device to check their own blood pressure several times at home. Others were checked only in a medical clinic. Researchers found that using the ambulatory blood pressure monitor saved money. It helped to figure out who really needed treatment. Some people have “white coat hypertension” — high readings only in the doctor’s office.

An experimental drug shows promise at slowing the growth of ovarian cancer, a study says. The drug is called olaparib. It blocks a natural enzyme known as PARP (Poly ADP ribose polymerase), making chemotherapy more effective. The drug was tested in a study of 65 women with ovarian cancer. The women received olaparib twice a day for 4 weeks. They were also divided into 2 groups: those who carry a gene mutation known as BRCA 1 or BRCA 2, and those who do not. The treatment was most effective in those with the gene mutation. Tumors shrank for 41% of them. It was also helpful for 24% of those without the mutation. The study appears in The Lancet. HealthDay News reported on it Aug. 21.

Nearly 5,000 U.S. children are hurt each year in falls from windows, a new study reports. And they didn’t just fall from high-rise apartments. In cases where the height of the fall was recorded, 94% were from first- or second-story windows. The new study was based on data from hospital emergency departments. About 1 out of 4 children needed to stay in the hospital. About 1 out of 500 died. But researchers said the death rate is probably a low figure. Some children who died may have not been taken to hospitals. Preschool children were most likely to fall. The study covered 19 years, ending in 2008. Within that period, injury rates from window falls declined slightly. Researchers said that may be because of more public awareness and safety measures. For example, New York City requires window guards in households with children under age 10.

Measuring calcium in arteries can help show whether someone might benefit from taking a statin drug, a new study suggests. The new study included 2,083 adults who did not have known heart disease. Nearly half of them had a high level of C-reactive protein (CRP) in the blood. A previous study found that people with high CRP levels are less likely to have a heart attack if they take a statin drug. These drugs reduce heart attack risk by reducing LDL (“bad cholesterol”) and inflammation. In the new study, everyone received a high-speed computed tomography (CT) scan. The test measured calcium deposits in the arteries around the heart. Researchers kept track of people for 6 years. In that time, 3 out of 4 heart attacks occurred in people who had high calcium scores. Researchers said calcium scores predicted heart attack risk better than CRP levels did.

An ultrasound test may help doctors to decide who needs surgery on arteries in the neck to prevent stroke. A new study has found that this test can show which people are more or less likely to have a stroke soon. The study included 435 people who had narrowing in their carotid arteries but no symptoms. The carotids are the arteries in the neck. Doctors looked at the arteries using ultrasound. They looked for tiny blood clots and fatty deposits called echolucent plaque. This is fattier than other types of plaque and linked with a higher risk of stroke. Researchers kept track of people for 2 years. In that time, people with the fattier plaque were 6 times more likely than others to have a stroke. Risk of a stroke was 10 times higher for people who had the clots as well as the fatty plaque. For this second group, the stroke risk was about 9% per year.

Traditional Chinese herbal medicine works just as well as oseltamivir (Tamiflu) at reducing fever from H1N1 flu, a new study says. The study appears in the Annals of Internal Medicine. The study included 410 previously healthy patients who were diagnosed with a mild form of the illness. Their average age was 19. They were divided into four groups. One received the herbal formula known as Maxingshigan-yinqiaosan. The second group received Tamiflu. A third group received both the herbs and Tamiflu. And the fourth group received no treatment. Researchers looked at how long it took for the fever to go away. Those who took the herbal medicine got better just as quickly as those who took Tamiflu or those who took a mixture of herbs and Tamiflu. HealthDay News wrote about the study Aug. 16.

U.S. health officials are trying to contact 50 people who were on an airline flight along with a bat. The bat flew around the cabin while the plane was in the air, the Associated Press reported August 13. This occurred on a Delta flight from Wisconsin to Atlanta. A passenger caught the incident on video, but nobody caught the bat. Therefore, officials don’t know if it had rabies. Officials want to find out if any passengers had close contact with the bat. If so, they could be advised to get rabies shots. In an unrelated incident, U.S. officials said last week that a 19-year-old man has died in Louisiana from rabies. He was the first to die of the disease in the United States after being bitten by a vampire bat. The man, a migrant farm worker, had been bitten in Mexico a few weeks earlier, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

Women who are depressed — especially those who take medicine for it — have a higher risk of stroke than other women, new research finds. The study was based on information from the long-running Nurses’ Health Study. It included 80,574 women from ages 54 through 79. None of them had a history of stroke when the study began. About 22% of them were depressed or had been depressed in the past. In the next 6 years, 1,033 strokes occurred. The stroke rate was 29% higher in women with a history of depression. The rate was 39% higher among those who took drugs called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) for their depression. The journal Stroke published the study. USA Today wrote about it August 12.

A new drug may help relieve long-term constipation in some people, a new study finds. Researchers tested linaclotide in two studies. Each included about 600 people with chronic (long-lasting) constipation. People in each study were randomly divided into 3 groups. Two groups received linaclotide, but in different doses. The third group took placebo (fake) pills. The study lasted 12 weeks. The goal was for people to have at least 3 bowel movements a week. About 20% of those taking linaclotide achieved that goal. About 3% to 6% of those taking the placebo had this result. The drug also helped to reduce symptoms such as bloating in many people, researchers said. About 15% of those taking linaclotide developed diarrhea. Most of them remained in the study. About 4% dropped out. One of the studies included an extra 4 weeks.