Resuming Blood Pressure Meds After Surgery Linked to Better Outcomes

THURSDAY, June 4, 2015 (HealthDay News) — People with high blood pressure who resume taking their medication soon after surgery may have a lower risk of complications and death, a new study suggests.

Researchers reviewed information from more than 30,000 patients taking a particular type of high blood pressure medication before surgery. All were taking drugs from a class of medications known as angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs). These drugs are widely used to treat high blood pressure.

None of the surgeries was for heart-related problems, according to the researchers.

About one-third of those people didn’t restart taking their high blood pressure medication within two days of surgery. The study found this group was linked to a higher risk of death within 30 days compared to people who immediately resumed their medication.

The increased risk of death in people who didn’t start taking their blood pressure medication within two days after surgery was highest in people under 60.

The study also revealed that people who quickly restarted their drug regimen had lower rates of infection, pneumonia, heart failure and kidney failure. Though a cause-and-effect link was not established, this association suggests that getting back on these medications right away may reduce complications after surgery, according to the researchers.

The study was published online in the journal Anesthesiology.

“Sometimes doctors briefly stop ARB medications around the time of surgery because they are known to cause low blood pressure while under general anesthesia, which can be dangerous for the patient,” said lead author Dr. Susan Lee in a news release from the American Society of Anesthesiologists. She is a clinical instructor in the department of anesthesia and perioperative care at University of California, San Francisco.

Lee said this study shows how important it is to get back on your usual medications as soon as possible after surgery.

More information

The American Academy of Family Physicians has more about high blood pressure medications.

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Sharing a Bathroom With Many Others? Your Toothbrush Likely Has ‘Fecal Matter’

THURSDAY, June 4, 2015 (HealthDay News) — People using communal bathrooms with many others, beware: There could be traces of poop on your toothbrush.

So finds a study by researchers at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Conn.

The researchers analyzed toothbrushes from Quinnipiac students who used communal bathrooms with an average of more than nine users per bathroom.

Regardless of the students’ toothbrush storage methods, at least 60 percent of the toothbrushes were contaminated with fecal matter, the investigators found.

There was also an 80 percent chance that fecal matter on the toothbrushes came from another person using the bathroom.

The findings were presented this week at the annual meeting of the American Society for Microbiology in New Orleans. The data and conclusions should be viewed as preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.

“The main concern is not with the presence of your own fecal matter on your toothbrush, but rather when a toothbrush is contaminated with fecal matter from someone else, which contains bacteria, viruses or parasites that are not part of your normal flora [microbes],” study author Lauren Aber of Quinnipiac University, said in a society news release.

Her team found no difference in the effectiveness of methods used to clean toothbrushes, such as rinsing with mouthwash, or cold or hot water.

In addition, “using a toothbrush cover doesn’t protect a toothbrush from bacterial growth, but actually creates an environment where bacteria are better suited to grow by keeping the bristles moist and not allowing the head of the toothbrush to dry out between uses,” Aber explained.

“Better hygiene practices are recommended for students who share bathrooms both in the storage of their toothbrush but also in personal hygiene,” she said.

People should follow the American Dental Association recommendations for toothbrush hygiene, Aber suggested. Those recommendations are:

• Do not share toothbrushes
• Rinse the toothbrush with tap water after use and store it upright to allow it to air-dry
• If toothbrushes are in same holder, make sure they are far enough apart to prevent cross-contamination
• Do not use toothbrush covers
• Replace toothbrushes at least once every four months

More information

The American Dental Association offers toothbrush care tips.

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Surgery May Boost Survival in Certain Advanced Lung Cancers

By Maureen Salamon
HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, June 4, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Certain patients with lung cancer that’s spread throughout the chest could live longer by undergoing surgery to remove diseased lung tissue, instead of receiving only chemotherapy and radiation, new research suggests.

The study was based on a review of data on more than 9,000 patients with stage 3b non-small cell lung cancer — tumors that have spread to lymph nodes or other organs in the chest. The researchers found that those who underwent a combination of surgery, chemotherapy and radiation treatment lived an average of almost 10 months longer than those receiving chemo and radiation alone.

Typically, surgery isn’t offered to patients with such advanced cases of non-small cell lung cancer, physicians said, and some may also be too ill to undergo the procedure.

However, “we think our study reignites a question that was initially asked in the 1980s and 1990s but has become more or less dormant in lung cancer circles,” said study author Dr. Varun Puri, an assistant professor of surgery in the division of cardiothoracic surgery at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

According to Puri, the take-home message from the study is that “we should not consider all stage 3b non-small lung cancer patients as being eligible for only chemo-radiation therapy. An experienced thoracic surgeon should evaluate these patients and decide [if surgery is also an option] on a case-by-case basis.”

The research is published in the June issue of The Annals of Thoracic Surgery.

By far the top cancer killer in the United States, lung cancer strikes more than 200,000 Americans each year and kills more than 150,000, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Non-small cell lung cancers comprise the vast majority of lung malignancies. Patients with stage 3b non-small lung cancer have a five-year survival rate of only about 10 percent, according to background information in the study.

In their research, Puri and his colleagues evaluated data from the National Cancer Database on almost 9,200 patients with stage 3b non-small cell lung cancer who underwent a combination of treatments between 1998 and 2010.

More than 7,400 of the patients were treated with chemotherapy and radiation only, while about 1,700 also had surgery in addition to those treatments.

According to Puri’s team, average overall survival in the surgical group was nearly 26 months, compared to just over 16 months in the chemo-radiation group.

“In stage 3b, the goal is to offer surgery very selectively in patients in whom we think we can completely clear the disease,” Puri said. He stressed that this approach typically does not mean a cure. “That eventually ends up being true in only a small number,” Puri said.

His team wasn’t able to discern all the factors determining which patients were or were not selected for surgery. Patients in the surgical group did tend to be younger, white and have slightly smaller tumors than those in the chemo-radiation group, the study found.

However, because surgery comes with its own challenges — including recovery time and risks of complications such as infection — only the “fittest” of patients with stage 3b non-small cell lung cancer might be selected for the procedure, Puri believes.

Dr. Norman Edelman is senior scientific advisor at the American Lung Association. He said the retrospective study, which looked at past data, also couldn’t reveal all the characteristics of patients chosen for surgery that might predispose them to longer survival times.

The only way to tell which treatment approach is more advantageous would be to randomize patients in a controlled trial, “which is hard to do in the cancer arena,” said Edelman.

However, the average increase in survival among the surgical patients is “relatively large at nearly 10 months — we frequently get excited by a four- or five-month survival increase,” he added.

“It’s useful to know that in a disease that was once considered inoperable, if you carefully select patients you can improve their survival,” Edelman said. “This adds to the literature because it uncovers a small group who might now be considered operable.”

More information

There’s more on lung cancer at the American Cancer Society.

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Rise in Colon Cancer Screening After Obamacare, Study Finds

THURSDAY, June 4, 2015 (HealthDay News) — The Affordable Care Act, often called “Obamacare,” may have helped boost rates of colon cancer screening among poorer Americans, a new study suggests.

A team of researchers led by Stacey Fedewa of the American Cancer Society tracked data from the National Health Interview Survey. They found that overall colon cancer screening rates among people ages 50 to 75 rose from about 57 percent in 2008 to about 61 percent in 2013. The Affordable Care Act was signed into law in 2010.

The increase was typically seen among people who had low incomes, low levels of education and were covered by Medicare, but not among wealthier people, the study found.

Between 2003 and 2008 — before the Affordable Care Act — there was also a large rise in colon cancer screening among people with private insurance and Medicare coverage, but that increase occurred across all socioeconomic groups, Fedewa’s team noted.

While the study couldn’t prove cause and effect, the recent increase in colon cancer screening rates could be due to the removal of financial barriers to screening after health care reform, the researchers said.

Fedewa and her team also tracked breast cancer screening rates among women 40 and older. They found that rates stayed the same between 2008 and 2013. This may be due to a number of factors, including already high screening rates and lower cost, the researchers said.

The findings were published online June 4 in the journal Cancer.

More information

The U.S. National Cancer Institute has more about colorectal cancer screening.

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This 8-Year-Old Boy Didn’t Let Bullying Stop Him From Growing Out His Hair for Sick Kids

Whose Fault Is it That I’m Overweight?

Photo: Getty Images

Kimberly Holland—who used to work for Health—has been blogging about her weight loss journey at CookingLight.com. 

Lazy. Ignorant. Irresponsible. Disgusting. Most of us have heard or read these terms directed toward overweight or obese individuals. Or worse, we’ve thought or said something like that ourselves.

A year ago, I was 50 pounds heavier than I am today. I wasn’t very active. I would get winded climbing the four flights of stairs to our offices. (I still do to be honest.) Walking a mile on the treadmill was fine, but walking two hours for fun? No way. I parked as close to stores as possible. Does this mean I was lazy? Well, no, not in my mind. I just wasn’t used to being active. I was, for lack of a better term, out of practice.

Until last year, I ate without regard to calories. I wasn’t eating non-stop or dropping by McDonald’s on my way to Chick-Fil-A. I just cooked what sounded good, ate out a good bit, and got by with what I had in my pantry. Does that mean I’m ignorant? Well, maybe, but I wasn’t overeating. I just wasn’t eating well or right.

I’ve struggled with a weight problem my entire life. I don’t remember not being heavy or overweight. This is a combination of poor food education and a lack of activity as a child and teenager. Does this make my parents irresponsible? Not in my book. They were not equipped to teach me–or themselves–how to make good food choices. We ate what they knew how to cook. I made the same food choices they made, and they made the same food choices their parents made. It’s not their failure. It’s just a broken cycle.

Early in high school, wanting to lose weight, I sought advice from my doctor. Instead of referring me to an RD or a healthy-eating coach, he gave me pills. Weight-loss pills. Please understand that I believe these pills serve a very important and real purpose for some people. But I didn’t need pills. I needed help. I needed guidance. My family needed guidance to help me (and all of us) make better choices.

Read the rest of this story at CookingLight.com.

 

More from Cooking Light:

4 Things I Love (to Hate) About Weight Loss

My Driver’s License Tells My Weight-Loss Story

Big Is Beautiful: Why Tess Holliday Is So Inspiring to Me

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Double Mastectomy Benefits May Be Overrated for Some

THURSDAY, June 4, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Many breast cancer patients wrongly believe that having both breasts removed — a double mastectomy — will improve their chance of survival, a new study finds.

“Our finding that so many women are receiving much more extensive surgery than needed to treat their disease is striking,” study lead author Dr. Reshma Jagsi, associate professor of radiation oncology at the University of Michigan Medical School in Ann Arbor, said in a university news release.

Researchers surveyed more than 1,900 women treated for breast cancer. They found that nearly half had considered having a double mastectomy, but only about one in five underwent the procedure. Many who had the more aggressive surgery had no risk factors, such as family history of breast cancer, that would increase their odds for cancer in the second breast.

Of those who considered the surgery, 37 percent knew that it did not improve the chance of survival, the study authors said.

Among the women who did have both breasts removed, 36 percent believed it would improve their chance of survival, according to the study presented at this week’s annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, in Chicago.

Previous research has shown that among breast cancer survivors at average risk for a second cancer, removing the cancer-free breast does not significantly improve survival, the researchers said.

“Women diagnosed with breast cancer are naturally eager to do everything in their power to fight the disease. So many of my patients tell me that they just want to do everything they can to be there for their kids,” Jagsi explained.

“It is up to us, as doctors, to make sure they understand which treatments are really going to do that, and which actions might seem heroic but are actually not expected to improve the outcomes for a typical woman with early stage breast cancer,” Jagsi said.

The study found that surgeons had significant influence on a woman’s decision. Only 4 percent of patients who said their surgeon recommended against double mastectomy had the procedure, compared with 59 percent of those who believed their surgeons were in favor of the surgery.

Double mastectomy has been in the spotlight recently. In 2013, actress Angelina Jolie announced she had had a preventive double mastectomy because of a strong family history of breast and ovarian cancer. She’d also tested positive for the genetic mutation BRCA1, which raises breast cancer risk.

Data and conclusions presented at meetings are usually considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed medical journal.

More information

The American Cancer Society has more about surgery for breast cancer.

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E-Cigarette Users Often Believe Devices Will Help Them Quit Tobacco

By Dennis Thompson
HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, June 4, 2015 (HealthDay News) — E-cigarette users are much more hopeful that the devices will help them quit smoking than the general public is, including people who just smoke traditional tobacco cigarettes, according to a new French survey.

“Vapers” (people who use e-cigarettes) also are much less concerned about how possible toxins in e-cigarette vapors might affect them and those around them, said lead study author Dr. Sebastien Couraud, a doctor of respiratory medicine and thoracic oncology at Lyon Sud Hospital and Lyon University Cancer Institute in France.

“E-cigarette users appear to have a different view of reality, compared with everyone else,” Couraud said. “Their reality is elsewhere.”

Couraud presented his findings Monday at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting in Chicago. Findings presented at meetings are generally viewed as preliminary until they’ve been published in a peer-reviewed journal.

Electronic cigarettes are battery-operated products designed to create an aerosol that delivers nicotine, flavor and other chemicals when inhaled by the user.

Couraud said that the public opinion his team captured appears to mirror ongoing expert debate over whether e-cigarettes can actually help people quit smoking and whether e-cigarette vapors might contain toxic chemicals.

About 69 percent of e-cigarette users believe the devices can help a person quit tobacco smoking, compared with just 31 percent of the general population, researchers found.

Many e-cigarette users genuinely appear to want to quit smoking tobacco, Couraud said. They are more likely to be worried about dying from lung cancer than people who only smoke tobacco, he suggested. E-cigarette users are also more likely to think that using e-cigs will reduce their risk of lung cancer death, the survey revealed.

The findings from this survey highlight why regulation of e-cigarettes from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is needed as soon as possible, said ASCO spokesperson Dr. Jyoti Patel, an associate professor of hematology and oncology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago.

“For people who are addicted to nicotine, e-cigarettes don’t help,” said Patel. “They are still addicted, and they use a lot. It’s not a bridge to abstinence. It’s a way for them to stay addicted in a restaurant or an airplane, where they are unable to smoke.”

And, indeed, users of e-cigarettes tend to be much more dependent on nicotine than traditional cigarette smokers, based on a standard test of nicotine addiction, Couraud said. About 58 percent of e-cigarette users registered as very or highly addicted, compared with 46 percent of people who only smoked tobacco.

In January, ASCO issued a call for regulation of e-cigarettes and other electronic nicotine delivery systems, in conjunction with the American Association for Cancer Research, Patel noted.

For the study, Couraud and his colleagues surveyed nearly 1,500 residents of France. Ninety-three (6 percent) of those surveyed were e-cigarette users, and 74 of them also still smoked tobacco cigarettes, according to the survey.

About 33 percent of e-cigarette users in the survey believed that the devices are effective in reducing deaths from lung cancer, compared with 18 percent of smokers and 12 percent of the general population.

E-cigarette users also parted ways with popular opinion over whether they should worry about toxins in the vapor they inhale.

About 68 percent of current e-cigarette users in the study said that e-cig vapors are less harmful than cigarette smoke for the user, and 87 percent said the vapors pose less of a threat to those around them than secondhand cigarette smoke would.

By comparison, around 40 percent of the general French public felt that e-cigarette vapor is less harmful than cigarette smoke for the user, and about 55 percent were less concerned about e-cig vapors than cigarette smoke.

“Probably they aren’t completely wrong, because we know that e-cigarettes are less toxic than traditional cigarettes,” Couraud said. “But there still is some toxicity, and they have a low awareness of that.”

Couraud and Patel both said that American opinions of e-cigarettes likely are similar to those found in this French survey.

Dr. Gregory Masters said he completely understands conflicted public opinion over e-cigarettes.

“I do have safety concerns for e-cigarettes because nicotine is bad for you, and we don’t know all of the risks with e-cigarettes,” said Masters, an oncologist at the Helen F. Graham Cancer Center in Newark, Del.

“But I struggle when I get asked by patients, should I use e-cigarettes? I don’t want to condone e-cigarettes as a healthy alternative, but could it be a less dangerous alternative? It could be,” he added.

According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, e-cigarettes haven’t been fully studied, so consumers don’t know:

• the potential risks posed by the devices,
• how much nicotine or other potentially harmful chemicals are being inhaled,
• whether there are any benefits to be gained from the products.

More information

For more on e-cigarettes, visit the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

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Fewer Young Men Fathering Children Outside of Marriage: CDC

By Alan Mozes
HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, June 4, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Fewer unmarried American men are becoming first-time fathers, U.S. health officials reported Thursday.

Thirty-six percent of first-time fathers younger than 44 had a child out of wedlock during the first decade of the 2000s, officials said.

“This represents a decline from the previous two decades,” said report author Gladys Martinez, of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics.

In the 1980s, she said, 42 percent of first-time fathers were unmarried, as were 40 percent in the 1990s.

The national survey also found a larger proportion of unmarried first-time fathers living with the mother and child than in the past.

The report is good news, given prior research indicating that “having a father involved positively with his child benefits the child and the family on a number of outcomes,” said Dr. Craig Garfield, an associate professor of pediatrics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago.

“This [benefit] is across the age spectrum,” said Garfield, who wasn’t involved with the new research. “For infants, having an involved father results in improved breast-feeding initiation and duration, toddlers have improved language development, and teenagers engage in less delinquent behaviors.”

The trend largely reflects changing patterns among black fathers, the study authors said.

To gain insight into fatherhood trends over the last 30 years, Martinez sifted through information collected by the National Survey of Family Growth in three time frames: 1980-1989, 1990-1999 and 2000-2009. Surveys involved interviews with men and women between the ages of 15 and 44.

Besides the decline in unmarried first-time fathers over the three decades, the report noted more first births in cohabiting relationships: 24 percent in the 2000s, up from 19 percent in the 1980s.

Martinez reported the trends in the June edition of the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics Data Brief.

While no notable drop was seen among unmarried white or Hispanic fathers, the percentage of unmarried black men having kids for the first time dropped from 77 percent during the 1980s to 66 percent during the 2000s, the report said.

First births for black fathers in cohabiting relationships also became more common over time, increasing from 23 percent to nearly one-third.

In the 2000s, unmarried men with a first birth were less likely to be black (21 percent) than Hispanic (33 percent) or white (39 percent), the report said.

The survey also showed that dads in the 2000s who did have a first child outside of marriage tended to be older than their peers during the 1980s and 1990s.

The survey focused on the numbers, and did not set out to explain what is driving the changing trends.

That said, Garfield said future research should focus on the long-term implications of fathering children in a cohabiting, but unmarried, context.

He noted that despite initial intentions to marry eventually, most cohabiting couples never do. And it remains unclear how such relationships might affect child development, he said.

“Nevertheless, from my perspective as a pediatrician working with moms and dads to take care of their child, I am excited by the optimism that new dads bring, married or not, to being involved and participating in the care of their new baby,” Garfield said.

More information

Boston Children’s Hospital has information for teen fathers.

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Artichoke and lentil salad

This is another quick and easy salad recipe that is best prepared the morning of your lunch or dinner to allow optimal chilling for the best flavour.

 

Ingredients

• 3 cups pre-cooked lentils*

• 400 g can artichoke hearts, drained and quartered 

• 2⁄3 cup red pepper (diced)

• 1⁄3 cup black olives (chopped)

• 1/4 cup red onion (chopped)

• 1/4 cup fresh parsley (chopped)

• 7 g fresh mint leaves (chopped)

• 3/4 tsp dried basil

• 1⁄3 cup olive oil

• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar

• Salt and pepper, to taste
  

*Requires a pre-cooked ingredient

What you’ll do

In a large bowl, combine the lentils, artichoke hearts, red pepper, olives, red onion, parsley, mint, and basil.

In a jar or small bowl, combine oil and vinegar; shake together or mix well. Pour oil and vinegar over the salad, and toss to coat.

Season with salt and pepper to taste before serving. 

Recipe from fitness model Andrea Albright.

Want to lose weight? Find out your ideal weight, browse low-fat recipes and choose a healthy eating plan.

 

 

 

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