How to Keep Your New Year’s Exercise Mojo All Year Long

MONDAY, Feb. 15, 2016 (HealthDay News) — If your New Year’s resolution to get regular exercise is waning, there are a number of ways you can maintain your momentum, a nutrition expert says.

First, you need to have realistic goals, said Emily Dhurandhar, visiting assistant professor of nutritional sciences at Texas Tech University.

“Self-efficacy, or confidence in the fact that you can achieve something, is a large part of sticking to a fitness regimen. When setting your goals, stick to what you know, since self-efficacy usually comes from having done something before successfully, and make sure you are 100 percent confident it is something you can achieve,” she said in a university news release.

“You are in this for the long haul, and consistency is the name of the game. Running 1 mile a day for a year is much better than trying to run 3 miles a day and quitting after the first month,” Dhurandhar added.

Thinking that exercise alone will help you shed large amounts of weight could lead to frustration and disappointment. Physical activity needs to be combined with other lifestyle changes, she said.

“Exercise without any other significant changes in diet usually only produces a few pounds of weight loss,” Dhurandhar said. “Instead, look for results in your energy levels, your mood, your strength and physical functioning, and inches lost. Even consider the fact that exercise plays a big role in maintaining body weight and consider that weight maintenance can be a victory.”

For those who are trying to shed pounds, she suggests talking with a dietitian to make sustainable changes in your eating habits that go beyond fads.

Feeling anxious or depressed is one of the main reasons people give up on exercise programs. If you have concerns about your mental health, consider being evaluated by a professional, Dhurandhar said.

She also recommends getting the support of family and friends and setting aside the necessary time for your workout program.

More information

The U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute offers a guide to physical activity.

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How to Keep Your New Year’s Exercise Mojo All Year Long

MONDAY, Feb. 15, 2016 (HealthDay News) — If your New Year’s resolution to get regular exercise is waning, there are a number of ways you can maintain your momentum, a nutrition expert says.

First, you need to have realistic goals, said Emily Dhurandhar, visiting assistant professor of nutritional sciences at Texas Tech University.

“Self-efficacy, or confidence in the fact that you can achieve something, is a large part of sticking to a fitness regimen. When setting your goals, stick to what you know, since self-efficacy usually comes from having done something before successfully, and make sure you are 100 percent confident it is something you can achieve,” she said in a university news release.

“You are in this for the long haul, and consistency is the name of the game. Running 1 mile a day for a year is much better than trying to run 3 miles a day and quitting after the first month,” Dhurandhar added.

Thinking that exercise alone will help you shed large amounts of weight could lead to frustration and disappointment. Physical activity needs to be combined with other lifestyle changes, she said.

“Exercise without any other significant changes in diet usually only produces a few pounds of weight loss,” Dhurandhar said. “Instead, look for results in your energy levels, your mood, your strength and physical functioning, and inches lost. Even consider the fact that exercise plays a big role in maintaining body weight and consider that weight maintenance can be a victory.”

For those who are trying to shed pounds, she suggests talking with a dietitian to make sustainable changes in your eating habits that go beyond fads.

Feeling anxious or depressed is one of the main reasons people give up on exercise programs. If you have concerns about your mental health, consider being evaluated by a professional, Dhurandhar said.

She also recommends getting the support of family and friends and setting aside the necessary time for your workout program.

More information

The U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute offers a guide to physical activity.

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Anemia Drugs May Not Boost Kidney Patients’ Well-Being: Study

By Amy Norton
HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, Feb. 15, 2016 (HealthDay News) — The pricey anemia drugs often given to people with chronic kidney disease may make no difference in how they feel day to day, a new research review confirms.

Researchers said the study results back up current guidelines on how to use the drugs, called erythropoietin-stimulating agents (ESAs).

These include the injection drugs marketed under the names Procrit, Epogen and Aranesp.

Patients may still benefit from the medications because they reduce the need for blood transfusions to treat severe anemia, said Dr. Navdeep Tangri, senior researcher on the study.

“But this should close the book on the idea that these drugs help with exhaustion and improve patients’ quality of life,” said Tangri, an attending doctor at Seven Oaks General Hospital Renal Program in Manitoba, Canada.

However, one expert argued that while on average, that is true, some patients do feel better on the medications — particularly younger, more active people.

People with chronic kidney disease often develop anemia, which hinders the blood’s ability to transport oxygen. So doctors have long prescribed ESAs to boost blood levels of hemoglobin, the oxygen-carrying protein in red blood cells.

But in recent years, the drugs have come under closer scrutiny: Research has shown that using them to boost kidney patients’ hemoglobin beyond a certain level — around 11 grams per deciliter of blood — can raise the risks of heart attack, stroke and blood clots.

So guidelines now recommend lower hemoglobin “targets,” of no higher than 10 or 11. And the U.S. Food and Drug Administration says the only reason to prescribe the drugs to kidney disease patients is to curb the need for blood transfusions.

“They’re not recommended for treating quality-of-life issues,” said Dr. Jeffrey Berns, president of the National Kidney Foundation and a professor of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

Berns said the new study — a review of 17 clinical trials — “reinforces what’s already out there.” The new results were reported online Feb. 15 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

In Berns’ view, it makes sense that these medications would not change day-to-day life for many people with chronic kidney disease, especially those on dialysis. Patients are often older, have heart disease or other medical conditions, and are mostly sedentary.

“It’s not realistic to expect that you’ll improve their quality of life by raising their hemoglobin a little,” Berns said.

But, he added, younger patients who are still physically active and have full-time jobs or families to take care of may feel the difference when their hemoglobin is at 9 instead of 11.

For their study, Tangri and his colleagues pooled results of clinical trials that tested ESAs and aimed for either relatively higher or lower hemoglobin targets. On average, patients in the higher-target groups got their hemoglobin to between 10 and 14, while those with lower targets had levels between 7 and 12.

Overall, the researchers found, patients with higher hemoglobin reported no bigger gains in quality of life.

There was some evidence that among patients not on dialysis, higher hemoglobin led to bigger improvements in their physical functioning and energy levels. But, Tangri said, the average differences did not appear “clinically meaningful.”

He said the evidence does not support the idea that for certain patients, treatment should be “individualized” to reach a relatively higher hemoglobin level.

Berns disagreed — in part, he said, because the studies have included few younger, healthier patients.

“One of the challenges we have is that a study, or a meta-analysis of studies, tells us about the average for a group of patients,” Berns said. “That doesn’t necessarily tell me what to do with the patient in front of me.”

He said kidney disease patients on ESAs who don’t feel better than they did before should ask their doctor whether it makes sense to stay on the drug.

It may, Berns said, since the drugs can help limit blood transfusions. That’s a particular concern for patients awaiting a kidney transplant. Multiple transfusions can cause the immune system to generate antibodies with the potential to attack a donor kidney, he explained.

That still leaves the question of how to improve exhaustion and other quality-of-life issues for patients with chronic kidney disease.

“The search for effective options needs to continue,” Tangri said. He added that those options could include diet changes and physical therapy, not just medication.

Berns is on the executive committee of a clinical trial funded by Amgen, maker of Epogen and Aranesp. Tangri is on the medical advisory board of Takeda Pharmaceuticals, which has marketed the anemia drugs Omontys and Feraheme.

More information

The U.S. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases has more on kidney disease and anemia.

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Sticks, Not Carrots, May Work Best to Boost Employees’ Health

By Dennis Thompson
HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, Feb. 15, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Financial penalties work better than cash rewards for motivating employees to meet physical activity goals in a workplace wellness program, a new study reports.

Employees met a daily walking distance goal more often when every missed day meant money removed from a set monthly reward, as opposed to earning a cash incentive each day they met the goal, researchers reported.

The results showed that a psychological concept called “loss aversion” is a stronger motivator than straightforward financial rewards in helping employees adopt healthy behaviors, said lead study author Dr. Mitesh Patel. He is an assistant professor of medicine and health care management at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

“We know that people tend to be irrational, but in predictable ways,” Patel said. “They tend to respond more to losses than gains. This is the way our brains are wired.”

The study was released online Feb. 15 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

In the study, Patel and his colleagues set up a 13-week wellness program for 281 overweight or obese employees. The study volunteers were randomly placed into one of four groups.

Two groups received cash incentives for meeting a daily 7,000-step walking goal, but the incentives were framed in opposite ways, Patel said.

The straight incentive group was told that they could earn $1.40 every day they met the walking goal, up to a monthly total of $42.

On the other hand, the penalty group had $42 deposited up front each month in a “virtual account,” Patel said. Every day they didn’t meet the goal, $1.40 would be removed.

“It was the same amount of money, but dramatically different outcomes,” Patel said.

The third group’s incentive was based on a lottery system, by which they were eligible to win $5 or $50 for each day they met the same goal. The fourth group (the “control” group) received no reward at all — they were just provided a pedometer and received feedback on how well they were doing, the researchers said.

Employees in the group with no incentives met the walking goal 30 percent of the time, the investigators found.

The straight reward and lottery reward programs produced results similar to each other, with employees meeting the walking goal about 35 percent of the time, the study showed.

But those employees who might lose money already assigned to them wound up meeting the walking goal 45 percent of the time — about 50 percent more often than the no-incentive group, the findings showed.

The findings fit with what we know about human behavior, said Soeren Mattke, managing director of the RAND Corporation’s Health Advisory Services.

“It’s fairly well known from economic theory that a loss of equal value has more effect on people than a gain,” said Mattke, who also has researched incentive design for wellness programs. “If I give you $10, it has less of an effect on you than if I threaten to take $10 away.”

However, it can be very tricky to implement an incentive program that threatens to take money away from workers, Mattke added.

“From an employee-relations perspective, penalties have a bad aftertaste,” he said. “It’s much easier to tell people, ‘We’ll give you $10 extra if you join the wellness program.’ That tends to come across a lot differently than, ‘Unless you join the program, we will dock your pay.’ “

Mind games already play a large role in many wellness programs, because the rewards employees can earn come out of their own pockets when they pay their health insurance contribution, Mattke said.

“Employers first raise the contribution and then say, ‘If you join, you can get the money back,’ ” he said. “Really, there’s no money on the table here, but it’s portrayed as a reward. It tends to go down easier if you do it that way.”

While this study focused on physical activity, Patel said other studies also have indicated that loss aversion could help motivate employees to quit smoking and lose weight.

“I do think there is an opportunity to apply this to other scenarios,” he said.

The new findings indicate that some sort of reward needs to be part of the package, given how poorly the people in the control group did, Patel said.

“There’s a presumption that tracking your activity will help you change your behavior. But tracking itself may not work unless it’s combined with some sort of financial incentive,” Patel said. “The control arm didn’t do that well.”

More information

For more on workplace wellness programs, visit the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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Standardized Test Scores Decline With Each Passing Hour of School

By Randy Dotinga
HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, Feb. 15, 2016 (HealthDay News) — While the debate over the value of standardized testing continues, new research suggests that educators should also consider the timing of these tests.

The study found that students aged 15 and under suffered from mental fatigue as the school day progressed, and that their test scores dipped later in the day. The effect appeared to be the greatest on those who scored the poorest — a hint that tests later in the day might hurt struggling students the most.

But there’s good news, too: Students seemed to get a brain boost when they took tests after a brief break.

The researchers said their findings support the idea of giving kids some time off during the school day.

“If policymakers want to have longer days, then they should consider having more frequent breaks,” said study co-author Francesca Gino, a professor of business administration at Harvard Business School in Boston.

The researchers also recommend that standardized tests be held at the same time of day, to avoid throwing off the results by making some kids take them when their brains are taxed.

The new study is unusual because it’s so large and because it explores the role played by breaks during the day, Gino said.

However, the study was only designed to find an association between the time a test is taken and performance; it did not prove a cause-and-effect relationship.

The study appears in the Feb. 15 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The researchers reviewed results from about 2 million national standardized tests taken by kids aged 8 to 15. The children attended public schools in Denmark from 2009-2010 and 2012-2013.

The findings revealed that test performance decreased as the day progressed. As each hour went by, scores declined. But they improved after breaks of 20 minutes to 30 minutes, the research showed.

Gino described the effect as “small, but significant.”

“We found that taking the test one hour later affects the average child the same way as having 10 days less of schooling,” she said.

Gino blames “cognitive fatigue” — essentially, tiredness that affects thinking. “But a break can counterbalance this negative effect. For example, during a break, children can have something to eat, relax, play with classmates or just have some fresh air. These activities recharge them.”

While there’s debate in the United States about whether teens are exhausted during school because it starts too early, Gino said the researchers don’t think sleep — or the lack of it — has anything to do with the findings. And the study shouldn’t encourage schools — or testing programs such as the SAT or ACT — to always give tests earlier in the day, she said. Instead, she said, they should be administered at the same time.

Christoph Randler, a professor of biology at the University of Tubingen in Germany, praised the study. While the effects on test scores may be small, he said, they could be meaningful if they affect a student’s ability to get into college.

Pamela Thacher, an associate professor of psychology at St. Lawrence University in Canton, N.Y., also endorsed the study. She agreed with Randler that small differences in test scores could be important to a student’s future.

As for the value of breaks, she said the findings make sense. “Rest restores the ability to perform,” she said. “These results are consistent with virtually every study we have that has spoken to the brain’s requirements for best performance.”

More information

For tips about preparing your kids for tests, try PBS.

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Race May Affect Risk for Dementia

MONDAY, Feb. 15, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Dementia rates can vary significantly among Americans of different racial and ethnic groups, even if they’re in the same region of the country, a new study finds.

Researchers analyzed data on more than 274,000 people from six racial and ethnic groups in Northern California who were members of Kaiser Permanente, a large private health care system.

Using records of patient visits, the researchers found that the average annual rate of dementia was 26.6 cases per 1,000 for blacks; 22.2 per 1,000 for American Indians/Alaskan Natives; 19.6 per 1,000 for Hispanics and Pacific Islanders; 19.3 per 1,000 for whites; and 15.2 cases per 1,000 for Asian-Americans.

The researchers calculated that among people who reach age 65 without dementia, 38 percent of blacks, 35 percent of American Indians/Alaskan Natives, 32 percent of Hispanics, 30 percent of whites, 28 percent of Asian-Americans and 25 percent of Pacific Islanders would develop dementia in the next 25 years.

The study was published online Feb. 10 in Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association.

“Most research on inequalities in dementia includes only one to two racial and ethnic groups, primarily whites and blacks,” said study lead author Elizabeth Rose Mayeda. She is a postdoctoral fellow in the University of California, San Francisco’s Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics.

“This is the only research that directly compares dementia for these six racial and ethnic groups, representing the true aging demographic of the United States in a single study population,” she said in a Kaiser news release.

Even in the groups found to be at lowest risk, the lifetime risk of developing dementia is high, said principal investigator Rachel Whitmer, a research scientist at the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research. “In every racial and ethnic group, over one in four people who survive to age 65 can expect to be diagnosed with dementia in their lifetime.”

She said the study has major public health implications. “These findings underscore the need to better understand risk factors for dementia throughout life to identify strategies to eliminate these inequalities,” Whitmer said in the news release.

The next step is to learn what’s behind the racial and ethnic differences in dementia rates.

“Based on the present study, we cannot determine the extent to which genetic or social and behavioral factors contribute to the observed patterns,” Whitmer said. “But if social and behavioral factors are the primary pathways, these findings suggest substantial reductions in dementia incidence are possible.”

More information

The American Academy of Family Physicians has more about dementia.

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The Breastfeeding Problem I’d Never Heard of (Until It Happened to Me)

Photo: Min-Ja Lee

Before I had my daughter Mabel, I knew I wanted to breastfeed. (I do work at Health after all, and am pretty well versed in all the myths and facts of breastfeeding.) Before she was born, I took a breastfeeding class, stocked up on gear, and was ready to go when the time came. Luckily, I didn’t experience any major problems and didn’t seem to have any of those issues that can happen early on; for example, some breastfeeding infants will refuse to drink from a bottle.

In fact, from the day she was born, Mabel switched effortlessly back and forth from bottle to breast, which I knew would make it easier for me to return to work. Then at three months of age, she started refusing the bottle. She would suck eagerly a couple of times, then jerk her head away, letting milk spill out of the side of her mouth. Then, she’d cry. With only one month to go before I had to go back to work, I was in a bit of a panic. Finally, I just tried a sip of the milk myself and found that it tasted–well–soapy.

RELATED: 32 Longstanding Health Myths That Need to Go Away

I did some searching and found that  lipase, an enzyme that breaks down the fat in milk, could be the problem. It seems that breastfeeding mothers have varying degrees of lipase in their milk, and some have higher concentrations of lipase than others. This is not a problem while breastfeeding, but when high lipase breast milk is stored in the refrigerator or freezer, the enzyme starts breaking down the fat in milk over time, causing the milk to taste soapy. Some babies don’t mind the flavor, but many will refuse it.

After doing a taste test, I discovered that my milk starts tasting soapy after two days. I’m one of the lucky ones, because some people with high lipase report that their milk turns after only 3 or 4 hours. The solution? You can deactivate the lipase by scalding the milk, then rapidly cooling it. This means bringing the milk to an extremely high temperature, then immediately plunging it into an ice bath to bring the temperature back down. After that, I can refrigerate or freeze it for long-term storage.

Because I have a two-day grace period, I can still express milk at work and give it to my baby the next day without having to treat it. But to store my milk for any longer than two days, I have to scald it to deactivate the lipase.

RELATED: 6 Rules for a Healthy Postpartum Slim Down

It’s a bit tricky, because milk loses some nutritional value as it reaches higher temperatures, so it’s important to get it right. The process can reduce levels of protective antibodies and some nutrients in the stored milk, but this shouldn’t be a problem if you are breastfeeding at least some of the time.

“Any time you heat, cool, or store milk, the components are altered in some way,” says Danielle Tropea, a board certified lactation consultant in Maplewood, N.J. “The results of scalded human milk to remove lipase is generally considered to be appropriate and safe.”

Being a busy mom, I created a process that allows me to scald my breast milk easily, and within minutes. First, I purchased the following: a 9 oz Kid Kanteen Baby Bottle ($17, amazon.com), a Weber 6492 Original Instant-Read Thermometer ($10, amazon.com), a Munchkin High Speed Bottle Warmer ($20, amazon.com), and Dr. Brown’s Breastmilk Storage Bags ($6.36, amazon.com).

Photo: Min-Ja Lee

To start, I prepare an ice bath, and set it aside. Then, I pour breast milk into the 9 oz Kid Kanteen baby bottle. I love this bottle for many reasons. First, it’s big enough to comfortably hold all of the breast milk I can express in one sitting, which can range anywhere from 2 to 7 oz. When I screw the nipple onto the bottle, the Weber grill thermometer slides easily into one of the two vent holes on the nipple. This holds the thermometer in place so that the tip of the probe enters the milk without touching the sides of the bottle. This allows for a more accurate temperature reading.

RELATED: 21 Important Facts About Vitamin B12 Deficiency

Because the bottle is made of stainless steel, I can heat it up and cool it down very quickly and safely, unlike plastic or glass, which can crack or break. When I use the Munchkin bottle warmer to heat up the bottle, I need to keep a close eye on the thermometer because the milk can reach extremely high temperatures within two minutes. Sometimes, I’ll cover the bottle warmer with a clean towel so as to keep the heat in, helping the bottle warm up even faster. As soon as the thermometer hits 180 degrees Fahrenheit, I remove the bottle to plunge it quickly into the ice bath. (Tropea says you can heat milk to 144.5 F for one minute or 163 F for up to 15 seconds.)

Then, I can start gently swirling the bottle within the cold water to cool it down faster. When the bottle is cool to the touch, I’ll pour the freshly scalded milk into a milk storage bag for storage and freezing.

I’ve been scalding my milk for two months now. The process takes only a few extra minutes out of my day, and it’s practically effortless. I’m happy to report that Mabel is eating well. Once again, she’s switching easily from bottle to breast, and she couldn’t care less if the milk has been freshly expressed, refrigerated, or frozen.

Happy baby, happy mom!

Photo: Min-Ja Lee

 

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Study Debunks Claim That Drug Treatment Centers Are Unsafe

MONDAY, Feb. 15, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Violent crimes are less likely to occur near outpatient drug treatment centers than near liquor and corner stores, a new study finds.

The findings challenge claims that drug treatment centers attract criminals, according to the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health researchers.

The researchers examined 2011 data about violent crime in areas near 53 publicly funded drug treatment centers in Baltimore. They found that areas around 53 liquor and corner stores had 25 percent more murders, rapes, assaults and robberies per business.

The study didn’t include crimes that actually occurred in the liquor and corner stores, because they are known to be robbed more often than drug treatment centers.

The study was published recently in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.

“Our findings show that drug treatment centers pose no additional risk of violence above and beyond any traditional business in the community,” study author C. Debra Furr-Holden said in a Bloomberg news release. Furr-Holden is an associate professor in Bloomberg’s Department of Mental Health, in Baltimore.

“They have gotten a reputation as magnets for crime, but the data just don’t support that. By contrast, communities often solicit other types of businesses to locate in their neighborhoods, even though they appear to have a more profound effect on attracting crime,” she noted.

Public opposition makes it difficult to open drug treatment centers in areas with the largest unmet need for addiction services, Furr-Holden said.

“There’s a lot of bias and bigotry against people with addiction problems,” study co-author Dr. Adam Milam, said in the news release. “Addiction is preventable and it’s treatable. We need to provide treatment centers in the communities where people addicted to drugs live, not say treatment centers aren’t welcome here.”

More information

The U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse has more on drug addiction treatment.

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Teen Dating Violence Is Target of New CDC Program

MONDAY, Feb. 15, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Reducing teen dating violence in the United States is the aim of a new program introduced by federal health officials.

This is a widespread problem that can have serious effects. But, many teens don’t report incidents because they’re afraid to tell their family and friends, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says.

The agency defines teen dating violence as physical, sexual, mental or emotional violence that occurs in a dating relationship. It includes stalking and can happen in person or electronically with current or former partners.

Of U.S. students who said they were dating, 21 percent of girls and 10 percent of boys said they had been victims of physical and/or sexual violence from a dating partner in the previous 12 months, according to the CDC.

Among people who had ever been victims of rape, physical violence or stalking by an intimate partner, 23 percent of girls and 14 percent of boys suffered some form of partner violence between the ages of 11 and 17.

The CDC’s new program — called Dating Matters: Strategies to Promote Healthy Teen Relationships — seeks to encourage respectful, nonviolent relationships among youth in high-risk communities in cities. It promotes prevention efforts in schools and neighborhoods and with families.

“A healthy relationship is built on respect and is free of violence,” the CDC said in a news release.

Safe, fulfilling teen relationships can be achieved through communication, managing emotions such as anger and jealousy, and treating others with respect.

“Dating violence is preventable when teens, families, organizations, and communities come together and implement effective prevention efforts,” according to the CDC.

More information

Here’s where you can learn more about the Dating Matters program.

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Cancer Patients Who Miss Radiation Treatments at High Risk for Relapse

MONDAY, Feb. 15, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Cancer patients who miss two or more radiation treatment sessions are at increased risk for a return of their cancer, a new study finds.

The study included more than 1,200 patients who had radiation therapy for head and neck, breast, lung, cervical, uterine or rectal cancer between 2007 and 2012. Of those patients, 22 percent missed two or more scheduled radiation treatment appointments.

While all patients eventually completed their radiation therapy regimens, they were prolonged an average of one week for those who missed two or more treatment sessions.

Rates of cancer recurrence were 16 percent for patients who missed two or more radiation sessions and 7 percent for those who did not, according to the study published online recently in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology Biology Physics.

“This study shows that the health of our patients can improve only when a course of treatment is completed in the prescribed period of time,” researcher Dr. Madhur Garg said in a news release from the Montefiore Einstein Center for Cancer Care. Gard is clinical director of its department of radiation oncology and a professor of clinical radiation oncology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine’s Albert Einstein Cancer Center in New York City.

“These findings should serve as a wake-up call to physicians, patients and their caregivers about the critical need to adhere to a recommended treatment schedule,” Garg added.

A previous study by the same researchers found a significant association between low incomes and increased risk of missing radiation treatment sessions.

Management of mood disorders, transportation assistance and other types of patient support are being evaluated to determine if they will help reduce missed treatments among at-risk patients, the researchers said.

More information

The U.S. National Cancer Institute has more about radiation therapy.

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