Health Care Access Improves With Expansion of ‘Obamacare': CDC

By Karen Pallarito
HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, July 15, 2015 (HealthDay News) — While more Americans have health insurance following the expansion of the Affordable Care Act, Hispanic adults have realized some of the biggest gains in access to medical care, a new government report shows.

Approximately 34 percent of Hispanic adults were uninsured in 2014, compared with 41 percent in 2013, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report, which was released Wednesday.

In 2014, Hispanic adults were also more likely to have seen or talked to a health care professional in the past 12 months, and they were less likely to have skipped needed medical care due to cost, according to the report in the NCHS Data Brief.

Despite these gains, Hispanic adults are still more likely than non-Hispanics to have difficulty accessing and using care, the report found.

“The Affordable Care Act has definitely made an impact and the numbers show it,” said Maria Gomez, president and CEO of Mary’s Center, a federally qualified health center in Washington, D.C., that serves individuals and families, regardless of their ability to pay.

However, Gomez cited a litany of continuing barriers to care, including a shortage of bilingual and culturally competent providers of care and a dearth of patient education to assure that people take medicines as prescribed.

Another expert agreed that increased access to health insurance alone isn’t enough.

“Expanding insurance is a positive move, but that alone is not going to make the major difference that we are all looking for,” said Dr. Luis Marcos, CEO of the Physician Affiliate Group of New York, the largest multicultural and multilingual physician practice in New York State.

The CDC report was based on final data from the 2013 and 2014 National Health Interview Survey, a survey of U.S. adults aged 18 to 64.

Uninsured rates for all Americans — black, white, Asian and Hispanic — fell in 2014, the report found.

“The drop that we see between 2013 and 2014 is the largest drop we’ve seen in a while for uninsured for these populations,” said report author Michael Martinez, a statistician with the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS).

White and Asian adults showed gains in coverage, but they were also the least likely to be uninsured. Just 11.5 percent and 12 percent, respectively, lacked coverage in 2014.

Martinez said expanded access to health insurance through the federal and state marketplaces and some states’ expansion of Medicaid — key features of the Affordable Care Act, also called Obamacare — “are probably contributing” to the decline in the ranks of the uninsured.

Coverage expansions under the Affordable Care Act took full effect in 2014, although some states began expanding Medicaid much earlier.

Overall, slightly more than 16 percent of Americans aged 18 to 64 were uninsured in 2014, down from just over 20 percent in 2013, according to a CDC report released last month.

In addition to gains in insurance coverage, the new CDC report tracked changes in three other measures of health access.

For example, adults were asked whether they have a usual place to go for medical care. On that measure, Hispanics and whites realized significant year-over-year improvements.

“We could confidently say that that was an increase” not due to chance, said Brian Ward, report co-author and a statistician at the NCHS.

By contrast, there was no significant change in blacks’ and Asians’ access to a usual place to receive medical care, the study authors found.

Cost of care also remained a barrier for many minority groups. The survey found no significant improvements in the percentages of blacks and Asians skipping needed care due to cost. Blacks were most likely not to get needed care, according to the 2014 data.

“Health care cost is really the major variable in understanding access to care in this country,” Marcos said. Removing cost as a barrier to seeking care “will be the final and most difficult goal to achieve.”

More information

HealthCare.gov can tell you where to get low-cost care in your community.

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Breast Cancer Survivors Tend to Gain Weight: Study

By Kathleen Doheny
HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, July 15, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Among women with a family history of breast cancer, breast cancer survivors tend to gain more weight than women who are free of the disease, new research suggests.

And that added weight might increase the risk of heart disease and diabetes, as well as recurrence of the cancer, the researchers said.

The researchers compared 303 breast cancer survivors with 307 women who were cancer-free. All were participants in a study of women with a familial risk of breast and ovarian cancer. They included women with BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene mutations that can raise breast cancer risk.

“We found that breast cancer survivors, especially those with chemotherapy [treatment], gained more weight compared to cancer-free women,” said lead researcher Amy Gross, a doctoral candidate at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore. The study was published July 15 in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.

Overall, breast cancer survivors gained an average of about 4 pounds more than their cancer-free counterparts in the first five years after diagnosis, Gross and her colleagues found. Those who were diagnosed with estrogen receptor-negative breast cancer — which doesn’t need estrogen to grow — gained an average of 7 pounds more than the cancer-free women.

And those who had chemotherapy gained even more weight. “We found that the survivors who had received chemotherapy were twice as likely to have gained at least 11 pounds [compared to cancer-free women],” Gross said.

What is it about the chemotherapy? “The bottom line is, we actually do not know,” said senior study author Dr. Kala Visvanathan, director of the Clinical Cancer Genetics and Prevention Service at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins.

The chemotherapy “could cause metabolic changes that predispose you to weight gain,” Visvanathan suggested.

The researchers also could not explain why those who had ER-negative cancers gained more weight.

But the weight gain the researchers saw may increase the risk of heart disease and diabetes, as well as recurrence of the cancer, they noted.

It’s difficult to explain the findings, agreed Dr. Laura Kruper, chief of breast surgery service and director of the Cooper Finkel Women’s Health Center at the City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center, in Duarte, Calif.

“It would seem that chemotherapy and other breast cancer treatments have a significant effect on metabolism in patients undergoing treatment for breast cancer,” said Kruper, who was not involved with the study.

The findings suggest that women who are breast cancer survivors should have their weight monitored closely and be aware that they may tend to put on weight, the researchers said.

Kruper agreed that both doctors and patients need to pay closer attention to weight gain.

“It might mean increasing the amount of exercise to combat the potential change in metabolism. Or perhaps decreasing caloric consumption, understanding that with a cancer diagnosis and subsequent treatment, one might need to change previous eating habits,” Kruper said.

While that might be difficult, keeping weight under control is wise, she said, since gaining weight after a cancer diagnosis can increase the risk of recurrence.

More information

To learn more about breast cancer screening, visit the American Cancer Society.

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Radiation From Mammograms May Be Lower Than Thought

By Amy Norton
HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, July 15, 2015 (HealthDay News) — The low risks from radiation exposure during mammography screening may be even lower than experts have assumed, a new study contends.

The new research estimates that the radiation dose from a screening mammogram is anywhere from 20 percent to 35 percent lower than previously thought.

Why? Because past estimates did not account for the uneven distribution of different types of tissue in a typical woman’s breasts.

“The breast is composed of skin, fat and glandular tissue, and it’s the glandular tissue that’s potentially at risk from radiation during mammography,” explained lead researcher Andrew Hernandez, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of California, Davis.

Past estimates have assumed that fat and glandular tissue are distributed uniformly throughout the breast, Hernandez said. But, recent research has shown that the different tissue types are actually more “mixed” than that, he said.

For their study, Hernandez and his team created a model of breast anatomy based on CT scans from 219 women — who ranged in age, ethnicity and breast density.

“We estimate that glandular tissue is actually exposed to about 30 percent less radiation, on average, than assumed,” Hernandez said.

He was scheduled to present the findings Wednesday at the annual meeting of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine, in Anaheim, Calif. Studies reported at meetings are generally considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.

So what do the findings mean for women? According to Hernandez, they might offer some reassurance, but they do not change any recommendations on breast cancer screening.

“We’re not saying this should change patient care, or that women should start breast cancer screening earlier because the radiation exposure is lower,” Hernandez said.

Robert Smith, vice-president of cancer screening for the American Cancer Society, agreed.

He said it has long been known that modern mammography uses low doses of radiation, and that any risk from regular screening would be greatly outweighed by the benefit of catching breast cancer early.

“In this study,” Smith said, “they’re estimating that a very low risk is even lower than we’ve thought.”

With mammography screening, Smith said, the main potential harm has nothing to do with radiation: The real concern centers on “over-diagnosis” and “over-treatment” — the potential for catching tiny tumors that would never have progressed to threaten a woman’s life, and then giving her unnecessary treatment.

In particular, there is controversy about whether the benefits of screening outweigh the harms for women in their 40s.

The American Cancer Society and other groups recommend that women at average risk of breast cancer begin having yearly mammograms at age 40. But the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force — an independent panel that advises the government — recommends starting at age 50, then having mammograms every other year.

If women want to begin screening earlier than that, the task force says they should discuss the pros and cons with their doctor before making a decision.

The new findings, according to Smith, should offer women extra reassurance that the radiation dose from mammography is quite low. But they won’t affect any general recommendations on screening, he said.

More information

The American Cancer Society has more on mammography and radiation.

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How Your Feet Can Help You Sleep

If you have trouble sleeping, you already know the basics: Avoid late-day caffeine, shut off the smartphone or laptop well before bedtime, keep your bedroom dark and cool — that kind of thing. But there’s something you likely haven’t tried, mostly because it is, frankly, a little weird. Next time you’re lying awake at night, try sticking one or both feet out from under your covers. No, really — it works! It helps lower your internal temperature, which signals to your body that it’s time to drift off to sleep. In the first episode of the new Science of Us video series, we explore the biology behind this unlikely sleep tip. Check it out, and come back next week for the second installment of our animated videos!

By Abraham Riesman and Melissa Dahl

This article originally appeared on ScienceofUs.com

More from Science of Us:

What’s Happening in Your Brain When You Can’t Stay Awake

What Exactly Is Melatonin and Can It Make You Sleep Better?

The More Money You Make, the More Sleep You Get

How to Fall Asleep by Not Trying

13 Reasons You’re Sleep-Deprived

What It’s Like to Need Hardly Any Sleep

Science of Us is a smart but playful window into the latest science on human behavior, with the goal of enlightening, entertaining, and providing useful information that can be applied to everyday life.

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Antidepressant, Painkiller Combo May Raise Risk of Brain Bleed

By Amy Norton
HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, July 14, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Taking both an antidepressant and a painkiller such as ibuprofen or naproxen may increase risk of a brain hemorrhage, a new study suggests.

Korean researchers found that of more than 4 million people prescribed a first-time antidepressant, those who also used nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) had a higher risk of intracranial hemorrhage within the next month.

Intracranial hemorrhage refers to bleeding under the skull that can lead to permanent brain damage or death.

The findings, published online July 14 in BMJ, add to a week of bad news on NSAIDs, which include over-the-counter pain relievers such as aspirin, ibuprofen (Motrin, Advil) and naproxen (Aleve).

Last Thursday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration strengthened the warning labels on some NSAIDs, emphasizing that the drugs can raise the risk of heart attack and stroke.

As far as the new link to brain bleeding in antidepressant users, experts stressed that many questions remain unanswered.

And even if the drug combination does elevate the odds, the risk to any one person appears low.

“The incidence of intracranial hemorrhage in people taking antidepressants and NSAIDs was only 5.7 per 1,000 in a year. So about 0.5 percent of people taking these drugs will develop a (hemorrhage) over one year,” said Dr. Jill Morrison, a professor of general practice at the University of Glasgow in Scotland.

Still, she said, it’s wise for people on antidepressants to be careful about using NSAIDs.

Both types of drug are widely used, and about two-thirds of people with major depression complain of chronic pain, the researchers pointed out.

Make sure an NSAID is the appropriate remedy for what ails you, said Morrison, co-author of an editorial published with the study.

It’s known that NSAIDs can cause gastrointestinal bleeding in some people, and studies have suggested the same is true of SSRI antidepressants — which include widely prescribed drugs such as Paxil, Prozac and Zoloft.

But neither drug class has been clearly linked to intracranial hemorrhage, said Dr. Byung-Joo Park, the senior researcher on the new study.

So Park’s team looked at whether the two drug types, used together, might boost the risk.

The investigators used records from Korea’s national health insurance program to find more than 4 million people given a new prescription for an antidepressant between 2009 and 2013. Half were also using an NSAID.

Park’s team found that NSAID users were 60 percent more likely to suffer an intracranial hemorrhage within 30 days of starting their antidepressant — even with age and chronic medical conditions taken into account.

There was no indication that any particular type of antidepressant carried a greater risk than others, said Park, a professor of preventive medicine at Seoul National University College of Medicine.

He agreed that antidepressant users should consult their doctor before taking NSAIDs on their own.

Park also pointed out that the study looked at the risk of brain bleeding within 30 days. So the findings may not apply to people who’ve been using an antidepressant and an NSAID for a longer period with no problem.

That’s an important unanswered question, said Morrison, noting it’s possible that the risk of brain bleeding is actually higher for people who used NSAIDs for a prolonged period.

Why would antidepressants have an effect on bleeding? According to Park’s team, the drugs can hinder blood cells called platelets from doing their job, which is to promote normal clotting.

Since NSAIDs can also inhibit platelets, combining the two drugs may raise the odds of bleeding, the researchers said.

It’s not clear whether there is a safer pain reliever for people on antidepressants, Morrison said. But it’s possible that acetaminophen (Tylenol) could fit the bill.

“Acetaminophen does not have the same propensity to cause bleeding problems as NSAIDs do,” Morrison said. “So theoretically, this would be safer.”

And since this study was conducted in Korea, she added, it’s not clear whether the risks would be the same in other racial and ethnic groups. More studies, following people over a longer period, are still needed, Morrison said.

More information

The FDA has more on safe pain reliever use.

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How a Finger Injury Landed Jimmy Fallon in the Hospital for 10 Days

Here’s a story about an injury you didn’t even want to know was possible: Jimmy Fallon returned to the Tonight Show last night after getting hand surgery for a “ring avulsion” that required major surgery and a 10-day stay in a New York City hospital’s Intensive Care Unit. As he told viewers last night, don’t Google ring avulsion—seriously.

Instead, let us give you the basics, sans images.

A ring avulsion can happen if you catch your ring on something forcefully enough (in Fallon’s case, it was the kitchen counter), causing the ring to pull the skin and soft tissue off of your finger. In some cases, a ring avulsion results in only mild contusions and bruising, but in severe cases it can cause total deglovement—meaning all the skin and soft tissue comes off kind of like a glove—and may require amputation.

Fallon explained that he was in his kitchen on June 26th when he tripped over a braided rug, “that my wife loves, and I can’t wait to burn it to the ground.” He caught his fall on the aforementioned counter, and when he stood up, realized his ring finger was bent sideways.

RELATED: Achy Hands? Knuckle Replacement May Be An Option

“It completely looks fake, it looks like a cheap horror movie,” Fallon says he thought to himself at the time. Thinking it was badly broken, he got in a cab to the emergency room, where they told him it was a ring avulsion and sent him to another hospital for microsurgery.

“Apparently the odds aren’t great with these things, and they usually just cut your finger off. So this guy did surgery for six hours, under a microscope,” Fallon explained. “He had to take a vein out of my foot. It’s the craziest story—I didn’t know this was happening because I was knocked out at this point.”

RELATED: Your Hands: A User’s Manual

Ultimately, the comedian’s surgeon was successful. “He did it, and he saved my finger,” Fallon said, holding up his bandaged hand.

But he is right that not everyone is as lucky: According to a 2014 study published in the journal Hand, researchers looked at the treatment outcomes for 33 patients who experienced ring injuries (avulsions as well as other less severe ring-related injuries), and found that nine of those people ultimately had to have their fingers amputated.

Fallon spent his week and change in the ICU watching countless hours of The Real Housewives of New York City and reading books about the meaning of life.

Though he’s back at work now, it’ll take a long eight weeks for him to fully recover and regain feeling in the finger. He had nothing but praise for the medical professionals who helped him through the ordeal, giving a shout-out to “the nurses and the doctors at Bellevue Hospital,” in New York City, adding, “Thank you so much for taking care of me. It’s a tough, tough job. You guys are rock stars.”

RELATED: 4 Questions to Ask Your Doctor

Luckily, serious ring avulsions are relatively rare injuries (in case you were about to throw out every ring you own), according to a paper published in BMJ Case Reports. Still, there are ways to lower your risk even further. France’s Consumer Safety Commission put together an entire report on ring avulsions back in 2005; they recommend removing your rings in hazardous situations (i.e., using power tools, playing sports like soccer, or climbing on a stool to reach something).

Hand surgeons have suggested, among other things, having an incision made in your wedding ring to create a slight opening, so that it doesn’t fully close around your finger. But as the French report authors conclude, that idea isn’t likely to catch on: “The procedure irreversibly damages the piece and divests wedding bands of their symbolism.”

However, it looks like Fallon is clearly on a mission to create some kind of solution, tweeting out:

I think I've invented a new type of wedding ring. Let's talk… Neil? Kay? Jared? #IGotIdeas

— jimmy fallon (@jimmyfallon) July 3, 2015

So keep an eye out for Jimmy Fallon© Wedding Bands, debut TBD.

RELATED: Watch Michelle Obama, Jimmy Fallon Bring Down the House With ‘Mom Dancing,’ Part 2

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This Hilarious Ad for Nick Offerman’s ‘Pizza Farm’ Also Has a Serious Message

Nick Offerman played a die-hard bacon lover with an insatiable appetite for facial hair and American patriotism during six seasons of the NBC sitcom Parks and Recreation. Now, the man who brought Ron Swanson to life is teaming up with the American Heart Association (AHA) to skewer—and raise serious awareness of—the nutritional challenges facing kids in this country.

In a mock advertisement posted on Funny Or Die today, Offerman explains that “the government tells us we need to offer healthy choices in school lunches, but what is healthy really?” He then takes viewers on a tour of his Pizza Farm, where he’s “growing the ripe, juicy pizzas”—studded with pepperoni “straight from Mother Earth”—that “your kids love. What could be healthier than this?”

RELATED: 7 Fresh and Healthy Vegetable Pizza Recipes

There are also taquitos that grow fresh from the vine, “where we pick ’em,” Offerman explains, “and deliver ’em straight to those school lunch trays.” He hands one to a child, who, after turning down an apple instead, takes a bite, then complains, “My teeth feel soft!”

Clearly a jab at some of the less-than-nutritious foods available to American kids, the video  ends with a screen reading, “Our kid’s [sic] health shouldn’t be a laughing matter” and a call-to-action to get involved with AHA’s support of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010.

The organization’s goal? To get you to help them write letters pressuring lawmakers into reauthorizing the act, which updated nutritional standards for school lunches across the United States.

RELATED: 5 Tips for Packing a Healthy Lunch

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10 Celebrities on the Very Real Body Hair Struggle

Photo: Getty Images

Summer 2015 may just be remembered as the summer of armpit hair’s comeback. Girls star Lena Dunham has growing hers out at the top of her summer to-do list. Buzzfeed outlines a “definitive” timeline explaining how exactly armpit hair became a trend, and even #dyedpits (that is, dyed armpit hair) is a thing.

Pits may be what everyone is talking about, but let’s face it, body hair in general plays a pretty big role in our every day life. Some of us go to extreme lengths to ensure that every inch of our body is fuzz free (or at least appears that way) with razors, waxes, bleaches, creams, and more. While other women are cool with letting it grow—either all over or just in certain places. And no matter what camp you’re in, everyone has an opinion (or a complaint) about body hair.

Celebrities are no different. Here 11 famous women open up about what’s growing where.

RELATED: 16 Hair Myths You Need to Stop Believing

On the multiple downsides of pubic hair removal

Who ever invented the bikini wax was an evil creature. Who said bushes needed to b gone?!

— solange knowles (@solangeknowles) February 3, 2010

—Solange Knowles, Twitter, February 2010

“Pubic hair has a purpose. You can do what you want with it, I don’t care – you can shave it off every day, wax it off every day, turn it into a bonsai – I don’t care. I just said consider maybe not removing it permanently and forever with laser treatment. Forever is forever and when we make those choices for our body we have to live with them forever.”

—Cameron Diaz, Metro, June 2014

On when it grows back

“I’m very hairy. As you get older, it drops off. As a younger woman, I was even hairier. I tried shaving one time, and it was so uncomfortable and painful. And when it grew back, it grew back even thicker! I said never again would I do that to myself.”

—Mo’Nique, on why she doesn’t believe in shaving her legs, Barbara Walter’s Oscar Night Special, March 2010

On the politics of body hair

“I remain the tomboy/feminist who has never in her life shaved her legs or armpits. Ever. The decision was made in early adolescence, maybe when I was 14 and all the girls in my school–none of whom had any hair on their bodies–started shaving because it was “grown-up.” Whatever. Seemed like a waste of time, a conformity that disgusted me (I was a feisty feminist even at 14).

—Mayim Bialik, Kveller, June 2012

“I’m a human, I have hair … when people want me talk about whether I think the bush is back, and whether that’s great for feminism, I’m like, ‘You know what’s great for feminism? Respecting everybody’s own choice’.”

—Gaby Hoffmann, London Evening Standard, July 2015

“People assume I’m making a statement but I’m not… You know what’s really cool? Wake up every morning, decide what you feel like doing, and do it.”

—Amanda Palmer, New York Times, April 2010

On body hair bullying

“Not like I cared that much, but I remember being made fun of because I wasn’t wearing Juicy jeans. I didn’t even think about it. I wore my gym clothes. But it’s not like I didn’t care that they made fun of me. It really bothered me. I remember this girl in sixth grade looked at me in gym and was like, ‘Oh my God! That’s disgusting—you don’t shave your legs!”

—Kristen Stewart, Vanity Fair, June 2012

On loving yourself no matter how much hair you have

—Thandie Newton, Instagram

On being a hairy supermodel

“I don’t have hair everywhere, but where I do they’re ANGRY. They’re thick and coarse. It’s funny because above my knee on the thigh I don’t have hair at all and then below it, it goes every which way. I’d say 8-ish [on a scale of 1 to 10] although that sounds really hairy.”

—Chrissy Teigen, Fashionista, June 2012

On not caring

Madonna, Instagram

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More Evidence a Healthy Diet Can Lower Risks of Heart Disease, Cancer

TUESDAY, July 14, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Eating a healthy diet was linked to lower death rates from heart disease, cancer and other diseases among low-income adults living in the southeastern United States, a new study reports.

Previous studies have suggested that people with low incomes, particularly black men, have limited access to grocery stores and healthy foods, the researchers said. But few studies have examined the link between diet quality and disease-related deaths.

“This is the first study to our knowledge reporting this association in a low-income population that largely comprises African Americans,” the study’s lead author, Dr. Wei Zheng, director of the Vanderbilt Epidemiology Center in Nashville, and chief of the division of epidemiology, said in a university news release.

The take-home message: A better diet can help prevent illness “in this underserved population,” said Zheng, who is also a professor of medicine at Vanderbilt University.

The study involved data from almost 78,000 adults who participated in the Southern Community Cohort Study from 2002 to 2009. The participants were all aged 40 to 79, and 65 percent of them were black. For more than half of them, annual household incomes were less than $15,000, the researchers said.

Study volunteers completed detailed questionnaires that described the types of foods they ate and how much. The healthfulness of their diet was assessed using federal standards outlined in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans and the Healthy Eating Index.

These guidelines emphasize a diet rich in fruits and vegetables, whole grains, seafood, legumes and nuts. A healthy diet is also low in red and processed meats, sugar-sweetened foods and refined grains. In addition, low- or non-fat dairy and alcohol should be consumed in moderation.

The researchers also looked at follow-up information collected over a period of about six years. During this time, almost 7,000 of the study participants died. Of these, more than 2,200 died from heart disease, almost 1,800 from cancer and 2,550 from other diseases, the study revealed.

Even after the researchers adjusted the results to account for participants’ age, weight, level of physical activity, smoking status and medical history, the investigators found that those with the healthiest diet had a roughly 20 percent lower risk of death from these diseases than those with the unhealthiest diets.

The study was published online recently in PLOS Medicine.

More information

The American Heart Association has more about good nutrition.

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Why Concussion Recovery Takes Longer for Some Kids

TUESDAY, July 14, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Some children recover more slowly from concussion and other types of traumatic brain injury because they have extensive damage to the protective coating around brain nerve fibers, a new study says.

Researchers looked at 32 patients, aged 8 to 19, who had suffered a moderate to severe brain injury in the previous five months. The kids underwent tests to assess how fast they could process and recall information.

The researchers also recorded electrical activity in the patients’ brains to determine how quickly their brain nerve fibers could transmit information. And imaging scans assessed the structural condition of the youngsters’ brain wiring.

“Just as electricians insulate electrical wires to shield their connections, the brain’s nerve fibers are encased in a fatty tissue called myelin that protects signals as they travel across the brain,” Dr. Christopher Giza, a professor of pediatrics and neurosurgery at the University of California, Los Angeles, explained in a university news release.

“We suspected that trauma was damaging the myelin and slowing the brain’s ability to transmit information, interfering with patients’ capacity to learn,” he explained.

Half of the patients had widespread damage to the myelin. They did 14 percent worse on the mental skills tests, and their brain wiring worked three times more slowly than healthy children.

The other 16 brain injury patients had nearly intact myelin. Their brains processed information as quickly as healthy children, and they did 9 percent better on the mental skills tests than those with more myelin damage.

The study, published in the July 15 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience, offers possible indicators that doctors could use to identify higher-risk brain injury patients who require closer monitoring, the researchers said.

“Our research suggests that imaging the brain’s wiring to evaluate both its structure and function could help predict a patient’s prognosis after a traumatic brain injury,” first author Emily Dennis, a postdoctoral researcher at Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, said in the news release.

Traumatic brain injury is the single most common cause of death and disability in American children and teens, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.

More information

The U.S. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke has more about traumatic brain injury.

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