Aspirin Use Rises Among Heart Disease-Wary Americans
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It’s cheap, it’s easy, it works and more Americans are using aspirin regularly to prevent cardiovascular disease and the cardiovascular complications of diabetes, according to a new study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
“We saw an increase in aspirin use among U.S adults since 1999, with a majority of adults using aspirin to reduce the chance of a heart attack or stroke,” said lead author Umed Ajani, epidemiologist with the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. “Aspirin use among those with diabetes is also increasing to reduce the risk of cardiovascular complications. The trend is encouraging, especially in times when prevalence of other cardiovascular risk factors, such as obesity and diabetes, is increasing.”
‘Statin’ drug may be helpful in heart failure
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Treatment with Lipitor (atorvastatin), one of the popular cholesterol-lowering “statin” drugs, can help the heart pump better in patients with heart failure, according to a new report.
By contrast, findings from a much smaller study showed that aside from lowering cholesterol levels, Lipitor did not benefit patients with heart failure. Both reports are published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
Lack of sleep leads to fewer brain cells, in rats
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Skimping on sleep can slow certain types of learning, a new study in rats shows, and the difficulty seems to arise from a lack of new brain neurons.
Rodents that got half their normal amount of shut-eye had a harder time remembering how to navigate a maze than well-rested rats, Dr. Ilana Hairston of the University of California at Berkeley and colleagues found.
Scientists Link Another Gene to Degenerative Blindness
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Researchers have labored for decades to understand blindness-inducing neurodegenerative diseases such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and retinitis pigmentosa (RP).
It has been a painstaking scientific journey as AMD and RP each belong to a complex family of disorders, in which every disorder has many forms and each form is encoded with a distinct genetic recipe. Even AMD, a major cause of vision loss in people over 60, is actually a collection of more than 50 diseases.
Rise in aspirin use seen among US adults
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The number of US adults who regularly take aspirin for its heart benefits rose about 20 percent from 1999 to 2003, and the Healthy People 2010 objective of having at least 30 percent of diabetics take aspirin on a regular basis has been met, according to a new report.
The main reason people are using the drug is to reduce their risk of heart attack and stroke.
Over-the-Counter Facial Stimulators Do Little to Enhance Aging Skin
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Devices sold over the counter to consumers as facial stimulators, claiming to produce results similar to those of a traditional face-lift, provide little, if any improvement to aging skin, according to a new study conducted at the University of Washington Medical Center’s Cosmetic Surgery Center and published in the January/February issue of the Archives of Facial Plastic Surgery.
“We were unable to detect any improvement in signs of facial aging from the use of these devices,” said Dr. Sam Most, assistant professor of facial plastic and reconstructive surgery in the UW School of Medicine. “There are more than 50 of these types of devices being sold over the counter and on the Internet.”
Effective, Cheap Treatment for Cystic Fibrosis Lung Disease
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Working half a world away from each other, two teams of medical scientists have identified what they believe is a simple, effective and inexpensive treatment to reduce lung problems associated with cystic fibrosis, the leading fatal genetic illness among whites.
The new therapy, identified through studies supported chiefly by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, also appears to be safe and easy to take.
Moderate alcohol use cuts risk of stroke
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Alcohol consumption in moderation may reduce the risk of strokes caused by blockage of blood vessels—the most common kind—a new study suggests.
Dr. Mitchell S. V. Elkind, of Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, and colleagues examined whether moderate alcohol consumption has a protective effect on the risk of stroke in a mostly Hispanic population. The 3176 subjects were on average 69 years of age and were enrolled in the study between 1993 and 2001.
Few patients on steroids receive bone-saving drugs
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Contrary to the guidelines of the American College of Rheumatology (ACR), patients on long-term steroid treatment are often not prescribed therapy to prevent the bone-thinning disease osteoporosis, according to findings from a small study.
Steroids are commonly prescribed for chronic skin diseases and “autoimmune” conditions in which the body attacks itself. “Patients receiving long-term corticosteroid therapy have an increased risk of developing osteoporosis,” said Dr. Victoria P. Werth of the Veterans Administration Hospital in Philadelphia.
Hepatitis C treatment difficult in older patients
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Because of side effects, patients over the age of 60 with hepatitis C find it more difficult to stick with standard treatments than do their younger counterparts, according to a study in Japan.
Impaired heart, lung and kidney function can make older patients more susceptible to anemia induced by ribavirin, one of the drugs used for treating hepatitis C, explain Dr. Yoshiaki Iwasaki, from Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry, and Pharmaceutical Sciences, and colleagues.
Health risks rise from teens to young adulthood
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During the transition from adolescence to adulthood, health risk increases and access to health care decreases across all race/ethnic groups, according to a study funded by the National institutes of Health.
The ethnically diverse National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health followed some 14,000 adolescents over time into young adulthood. Participants were first interviewed when they were 12 to 19 years of age, and then when they were 19 to 26 years old.
Falling asleep with baby on the sofa can be fatal
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Despite the fact that the number of cases of babies dying from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) has fallen dramatically over the last two decades, it seems that the number of deaths in children while sleeping with a parent on a sofa have risen 400 percent.
Researchers at the the Royal Hospital for Children in Bristol, England, say campaigns to inform parents about SIDS, or cot deaths, have had an impact, but parents need to be aware of the danger of falling asleep with a baby on a sofa.
Caffeine before a workout can damage the heart
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According to a new study, if you were thinking that a cup of coffee might make that workout at the gym easier, think again!
The researchers at University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland, are suggesting that caffeine can directly damage the heart during exercise, and that includes high caffeine sports drinks.
Aspirin’s heart benefits varies by sex - study
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The benefits of taking aspirin regularly differs between men and women, reducing the risk of heart attacks in men while reducing the risk of strokes in women, researchers said on Tuesday.
A review of six previous studies found regular aspirin use lowered women’s risk of suffering a stroke by 17 percent compared to nonusers, while not having any effect on their chances of having a heart attack or of dying from cardiovascular disease.
Surgery often avoidable for men with hernias
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Men who experience few or no symptoms from an inguinal hernia do not require immediate surgery; instead, they can be safely followed and treated if symptoms worsen, new research shows.
If this approach catches on with surgeons throughout the US, it could markedly reduce the number of hernia repairs performed.
