Millions of Americans Reaping Benefits of Affordable Care Act: Study

By Dennis Thompson
HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, July 28, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Millions more Americans have affordable health insurance, access to a personal doctor and feel they are in better shape following the first two open-enrollment periods of the Affordable Care Act, a new analysis shows.

The survey, which involved more than half a million U.S. adults, found that the Affordable Care Act (ACA), often called Obamacare, has reversed what had been a downward spiral in which health care was becoming more costly and less available to many Americans, said lead researcher Dr. Benjamin Sommers. Sommers is a health economist with Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health and a primary care physician with Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.

In particular, minority groups and the chronically ill have made huge strides in gaining health coverage and getting the care they need, the researchers reported.

Close to 16 million more adults have gained health coverage, a reduction of almost 8 percent in those who were previously uninsured, Sommers said.

“Since the passage of the Affordable Care Act five years ago, we’ve seen the largest reduction in the uninsured rate in four decades,” he said.

Sommers said other findings include:

• 7 million more adults have access to a personal physician, a 3.5 percent improvement.
• Almost 5 million more adults have easy access to medicines, an improvement of more than 2 percent.
• 11 million more adults say they can afford the health care their family needs, a 5.5 percent improvement.

In addition, almost 7 million more adults described themselves as being in excellent, very good or good health, rather than fair or poor health, Sommers said. Previous research has shown that people who say they are in fair or poor health have markedly higher death rates, he explained.

The results are published in the July 28 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

“There are no surprises here, because there’s no question the ACA has enabled extraordinary progress with respect to improving coverage and access to health care,” said Ron Pollack, founding executive director of Families USA, a health care consumer advocacy group. “It’s pretty clear that one out of three people who were previously uninsured have gained health care coverage.”

Sommers chalked up the improvements to three main factors related to Obamacare: children aged 25 and under remaining on their parents’ health plans; the opening of the state-level health insurance marketplaces; and the expansion of Medicaid in 30 states.

“Among the millions of people who have gained coverage through the new marketplaces, almost nine out of 10 of those are receiving subsidies that make coverage affordable for the first time,” Pollack said.

Sommers added that people with chronic conditions — such as diabetes, cancer or heart disease — have experienced significant improvements in their self-reported health, and a reduction in health-related limitations to their daily activities.

“These results make sense, given that under the Affordable Care Act, insurance companies can no longer discriminate based on pre-existing medical conditions,” he said.

Low-income adults in Medicaid expansion states experienced a significant drop in the uninsured rates, and as a result more had gotten their own personal physician and were experiencing easier access to medicine, the study found.

Minority groups also appeared to benefit most under the Affordable Care Act, researchers found. For example, nearly twice as many Hispanics (nearly 12 percent) and blacks (almost 11 percent) reported that they were no longer uninsured, compared with just 6 percent of whites.

These numbers “suggest that the ACA may be associated with reductions in longstanding disparities in access to care,” Sommers said.

In the study, Sommers and his colleagues analyzed results of the 2012-2015 Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, a daily national telephone survey. The researchers examined changes in coverage and health care access for U.S. adults aged 18 to 64 since the first open-enrollment period began in October 2013, compared with trends prior to the implementation of the Affordable Care Act.

The researchers tried to control for the impact that the economy might have had on people’s improving fortunes by including data such as whether a person was working, their household income and their state’s annual unemployment rate, Sommers said.

“That gives us pretty good confidence that major changes in the economy aren’t driving these results,” he said.

More information

For more about the Affordable Care Act, visit the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

---

from Health News / Tips & Trends / Celebrity Health http://ift.tt/1JP3qcL

Deaths, Hospital Stays and Costs All Down Among U.S. Seniors

By Amy Norton
HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, July 28, 2015 (HealthDay News) — In a rare piece of good news about the U.S. health care system, a new study finds that deaths, hospital stays and spending are all falling among older Americans.

Between 1999 and 2013, yearly rates of death and hospitalization steadily declined among Americans in the traditional fee-for-service Medicare program. Meanwhile, spending on inpatient care showed the same pattern.

Researchers called the findings striking.

“The declines were steady throughout the study period,” said lead researcher Dr. Harlan Krumholz, a professor of medicine at Yale University School of Medicine. “The trends are actually pretty jaw-dropping.”

For a public used to hearing how broken the U.S. health care system is, the findings might come as a surprise, Krumholz acknowledged.

“As researchers,” he said, “we often focus on finding deficiencies in health care, so we can work on them. And that can lead to a perception that we’ve got a terrible system.”

In this case, Krumholz said, his team wanted to see whether national efforts to improve health care quality — and public health — have been paying off.

They focused on the traditional Medicare fee-for-service program, because it has the most data available. In this plan, hospitals and doctors bill Medicare for each individual service — from a doctor’s visit to providing a pain reliever in the hospital, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office. In 2013, about 71 percent of Medicare beneficiaries were in the traditional fee-for-service program, the study reported.

The rest were enrolled in newer, Medicare Advantage plans, where private insurers approved by Medicare provide coverage. Krumholz’s team was also able to analyze death rates among Americans in Medicare Advantage plans. The researchers found a similar decline.

The study can only show what is happening, and not why. “But,” Krumholz said, “we have our suspicions.”

For one, management of chronic health conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease has improved. Plus, Krumholz said, many Americans have made lifestyle changes for the better: Even though obesity is on the rise, smoking rates are down, and more people are exercising regularly.

The last 15 years have also seen a “big push” to improve health care quality nationally, Krumholz said. That has included measures to cut medical errors and boost hospital safety; public reporting on hospitals’ performance, and efforts to improve patients’ continuity of care among different providers.

Overall, U.S. spending on health care rose during the study period. But it’s not clear if that’s why Medicare patients’ rates of death and hospitalization have fallen, according to Louise Sheiner, a senior fellow in economic studies at the Brookings Institution, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank.

“We don’t know if we would’ve seen the same changes if we’d spent less on health care,” said Sheiner, who was not involved in the study.

But she agreed that the trends, whatever the reasons, are encouraging. “The public is used to hearing that everything is terrible, and we waste too much money,” Sheiner said. “But the system is at least increasing people’s life expectancy.”

In 1999, Medicare beneficiaries’ rate of death from any cause was 5.3 percent; by 2013, that figure had declined to 4.5 percent. Death rates dipped both in and out of hospitals.

Meanwhile, hospitalizations fell from more than 35,000 per 100,000 annually, to just under 27,000 per 100,000. Inpatient spending dropped from an average of $3,300 per person in 1999, to $2,800 (adjusted for inflation).

Results of the study were published July 28 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

“While the study can’t pinpoint the reasons for the declines, they are welcome news,” said Bowen Garrett, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute’s Health Policy Center in Washington, D.C.

“It is good to see signs of improved outcomes during a period in which health care costs increased overall,” Garrett said.

Progress is being made, at least for Medicare beneficiaries, Krumholz said. “That should give the public some confidence that we’re going in the right direction,” he added. “But we shouldn’t become complacent, either.”

And while some trends are “unequivocally good” — such as the declining death rate — some others are tougher to interpret, Krumholz said.

His team looked at what happened to beneficiaries after they were discharged from the hospital, and found changing patterns over time. By 2013, more people were discharged to skilled nursing facilities, long-term care, hospice or home health services. Fewer were sent home without health services.

What’s not clear from the study is whether those changes improved people’s lives, or were cost-effective, Sheiner said.

As for the positive trends in deaths and hospitalizations, Sheiner said further studies are needed to weed out the specific reasons.

More information

See how hospitals measure up at Medicare’s Hospital Compare site.

---

from Health News / Tips & Trends / Celebrity Health http://ift.tt/1D94ScN

When Spilling Your Drink Can Lead to a Chemical Burn

Photo: Getty Images

Relaxing with a fruity drink by the pool? A hangover might be the lesser of your worries if you’re not careful.

Summer sippers are learning the painful way that certain beverages containing lime juice can lead to a nasty burn if a bit of the drink ends up on your skin while you’re lounging in the sun. Yep, that includes your beloved margs and even a cold beer with a lime slice on the rim.

The technical term for this: phytophotodermatitis, also dubbed “lime disease” (not Lyme disease) and “margarita dermatitis,” is a chemical reaction that can occur when substances make skin extra sensitive to ultraviolet light. In simpler terms: lime juice + skin + sun = sunburn from hell.

RELATED: What Skin Cancer Looks Like

The reaction typically occurs within 24 to 72 hours of sun exposure.

“The person will develop a burning sensation, usually with redness or itching. If it’s severe it can lead to blisters and discoloration,” says Debra Jaliman, MD, assistant professor of dermatology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and author of Skin Rules. Some examples of what it can look like:

 

 

But you don’t have to pack up your cooler and head indoors just yet. For one thing, that may not even help. “This has even happened to people who were sitting indoors by a window because window glass allows the penetration of UVA light,” explains Dr. Jaliman.

Your safest bet when you’re outdoors is to always wear and reapply sunscreen throughout the day—and lather it on before you start drinking or head outdoors. And inside or out, if you notice you’ve spilled, wash the area with soap and water immediately to avoid therisk of a burn. (If you’re outside, reapply sunblock afterward.)

“It’s important to wear a broad-spectrum sunscreen with an SPF 30 or above,” Dr. Jaliman adds.

RELATED: 15 Biggest Sunscreen Mistakes

Lime juice isn’t the only cause, though it’s more common. It can also come from perfumes with certain photo-sensitizing chemicals, including Bergamot oil (which is derived from a type of orange) or lavender.

And if you’re a mango lover, peel it properly before eating and venturing into the sun.

“People who don’t peel the mango and eat it straight from the peel tend to get this reaction on their face,” Dr. Jaliman warns.

What to do if it happens to you

If you do start to notice irritated skin after spritzing yourself with a fragrance, or after a spill, treat it like a bad sunburn.

“You can use aloe vera, burn creams containing sulfa or topical antibiotics, such as special bandages to prevent scarring,” Dr. Jaliman says. (Try DuoDERM patches, she suggests.)

If the burn gets infected, see your derm. You may need an oral antibiotic to aid the healing. If the brown mark won’t seem to go away even after the burn has healed, you can apply a topical skin bleach containing niacinamide or hydroquinone or opt for laser treatment, according to Dr. Jaliman.

RELATED: Stay Safe in the Sun This Summer

“Sometimes if the burn is very bad, a laser may be required to remove the brown discoloration,” she adds. “You can have a gradual laser treatment done where you have a series of treatments—maybe 4 to 6—performed two weeks apart.  The best one for this is called the Medlite laser. It’s non-ablative laser so there’s no downtime required.”

And don’t forget to wear sunscreen every day—“rain or shine,” reminds Dr. Jaliman—after this kind of burn so the hyper-pigmentation doesn’t get worse.

 

from Health News / Tips & Trends / Celebrity Health http://ift.tt/1D8ZztX

Smelling a Happy Person’s Sweat Might Make You Feel This Way

Photo: Courtesy of MIMI/ Getty Images

Sweat can make you smile. A new study from Utrecht University in the Netherlands shows a happy sweaty person may be able to transfer his “feelings of happiness” onto another person.

“Chemosignals,” which are excretions that elicit a physiological or behavioral response from humans, have been previously shown to incite negative emotions. The researchers wanted to know the effects of the opposite sentiment.

They had 12 men watch movies that provoked feelings of fear or happiness in them, while a control group viewed neutral scenes. Underarm sweat samples were taken, and then 36 women were instructed to smell the pads. Kinda ew, but hold on.

The researchers then measured facial expressions after each sniff, and found that the women smiled more when they took a whiff of the perspiration of happy men, compared to the sweat of the dudes who watched the neutral clips.

“We observed that exposure to body odor collected from senders of chemosignals in a happy state induced a facial expression and perceptual-processing style indicative of happiness in the receivers of those signals,” the abstract says.

Does B.O. factor into this at all? Because I can’t get cheery about that. More research is needed to establish a sound conclusion on this, but take note: if your partner or friend is sweaty (and happy), then smell away.

This story originally appeared on MIMIChatter.com

MIMI Chatter is an endless stream of beauty content. We bring together the must-knows and the how-tos from your favorite sites, beauty influencers, our editors, and YOU.

from Health News / Tips & Trends / Celebrity Health http://ift.tt/1gjq99W

What’s the Deal With Activated Charcoal? 3 Things to Know

Photo: courtesy of Juice Generation and Luli Tonix

Throughout my career I’ve seen dozens of supplements come and go in terms of trendiness, from herbs and amino acids, to antioxidants and extracts. A few years ago it was raspberry ketones and green coffee bean extract (remember the Dr. Oz controversy?), but more recently detox teas and now activated charcoal seem to be popping up as the latest natural remedies.

Early on in my career I worked in a hospital, as well as a substance abuse rehabilitation center, so I am familiar with the medicinal use of activated charcoal. Similar to common charcoal for your grill, activated charcoal is typically made from peat, coal, wood, or coconut shells, treated in a way that makes it very porous, or “activated.”  It’s used commonly in emergency rooms to treat poisoning and drug overdoses due to its ability to “trap” chemicals and prevent them from being absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract into the blood.

Apparently health enthusiasts theorized that if activated charcoal can “soak up” dangerous substances, perhaps it should be used routinely, as a way to cleanse the body of other toxins we’re exposed to like pesticides and chemicals in food packaging. Sounds logical, right?

RELATED: 10 Ways to Detox Your Hair

It does to a legion of juice drinkers out there: After Juice Generation started adding two teaspoons of the stuff to it’s concoctions, juices with activated charcoal became the company’s best-selling line. There are also myriad activated charcoal supplements you can buy online, promising to help with gas, and some people are even using it to whiten their teeth.

Unfortunately, though, it’s not that simple. Here are three things you should know about activated charcoal before reaching for it.

Activated charcoal can bind to beneficial substances too

Activated charcoal doesn’t distinguish between wanted and unwanted substances. That means it can also bind to nutrients, including vitamin C and B vitamins, as well as other dietary supplements, and prescription medications, preventing them from getting into your bloodstream.

RELATED: 7 Nutrition-Rich Juice Recipes

In other words drinking it in juice, for example, may actually make the produce you’re gulping less healthy in some ways, not more. The most important thing to remember about anything claiming a “detoxifying” benefit is that your body is equipped with a liver, kidneys, lungs, and digestive system, which work around the clock to perform those “detoxing” functions. If you want to help them out, the best things you can do are to drink plenty of water, eat foods that naturally enhance your body’s ability to “detox,” such as beets, ginger, turmeric, and cruciferous veggies (broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, kale), and not consume artificial additives and processed foods.

Activated charcoal can actually cause digestive distress

The use of activated charcoal to help with gas isn’t well studied and the research is conflicting, but it has also been known to cause nausea and vomiting. It can also trigger constipation, slow the movement of food or waste through the digestive system, or even lead to a serious intestinal blockage.

And one recent report from George Washington University suspects that activated charcoal may have caused colitis (inflammation in the colon) in one patient who repeatedly used it to detoxify his body on his own.

In other words, it’s unclear how it will affect you individually.

RELATED: 20 Best Foods for Fiber

There is no known safe dosage

Because activated charcoal is not routinely used preventatively, studies haven’t been conducted about its long-term effectiveness, or safety, much less an optimal amount to take. So while it may seem beneficial and benign, you could be harming your health in ways we don’t yet understand.

Bottom line: activated charcoal has been used as medicine for years in emergencies. And some physicians may recommend it to reduce the side effects of chemotherapy or long-term dialysis. However, more research is needed in both of these areas, and in my opinion it’s too early to embrace as a home remedy or everyday wellness strategy.

RELATED: A (Safe!) Jump-Start Cleanse

What’s your take on this topic? Chat with us on Twitter by mentioning @goodhealth and @CynthiaSass.

Cynthia Sass is a nutritionist and registered dietitian with master’s degrees in both nutrition science and public health. Frequently seen on national TV, she’s Health’s contributing nutrition editor, and privately counsels clients in New York, Los Angeles, and long distance. Cynthia is currently the sports nutrition consultant to the New York Rangers NHL team and the New York Yankees MLB team, and is board certified as a specialist in sports dietetics. Cynthia is a three-time New York Times best-selling author, and her brand new book is Slim Down Now: Shed Pounds and Inches with Real Food, Real Fast. Connect with her on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

from Health News / Tips & Trends / Celebrity Health http://ift.tt/1KwgbLZ

Nectarine and Greek Yogurt Popsicles

Photo: Courtesy of Sonima

It’s hot. The day has been long. The week has been longer. You’ve been answering emails. Another just came in. Maybe your kids are calling from the other room. Maybe you’ve been hustling since 6 am. Maybe you just want a moment to stop. To relax. A moment to play.

Photo: Courtesy of Sonima

The humble popsicle—in this case, packed with probiotics from creamy yogurt and swirled with sweet nectarine, honey, olive oil, and cardamom—to the rescue. Even making these easy pops is a playful act. And you can’t help but feel your inner five-year-old jumping up and down whilst eating one.

These are grown up enough that they have hints of savory goodness throughout, but summery sweet enough to satisfy kids of any age. They’re also part of the Internet-sweeping trend #popsicleweek!

Photo: Courtesy of Sonima

Though these require a popsicle mold, you can easily make this into frozen yogurt following directions at bottom.

Ingredients:

• 3 large nectarines (1 1/2 cups smashed fruit)
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• 6 tablespoons honey, divided
• 1 3/4 cup Greek yogurt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• A few pinches flaky sea salt
• Garnish fresh mint

Directions:

1. Slice nectarines, and either remove most of the peel or leave it, as desired. I left most on for color and texture.
2. Place in small sauce pan with 2 tablespoons honey and 2 teaspoons lemon juice. Heat over medium flame until fruit is soft and bubbling, 5-6 minutes.
3. Remove from heat and blend in blender or food processor until you reach desired texture. I left a few chunky pieces.
4. Pour into bowl and set in fridge to cool.
5. In separate bowl, mix yogurt, cardamom, and 3 tablespoons honey. Taste, and add additional honey if desired.
6. Add spoonful or two of yogurt to popsicle mold, drizzle in a touch of olive oil, then add a spoonful of fruit. Repeat, adding a sprinkle of flaky sea salt somewhere in the middle, until you reach 1/4 inch from the top of the mold. Marble using a chopstick or skewer.
7. Cover popsicle mold with accompanying top and add popsicle sticks. Freeze at least 4 hours before running warm water over mold to remove popsicles. Garnish with fresh mint, if desired.
8. Frozen yogurt variation: If you don’t have a popsicle mold and want to make this into a frozen yogurt, simply double the recipe and layer ingredients in same way in a freezer-safe container. Cover with a piece of plastic wrap. Stir every 30-45 minutes to avoid crystallization as much as possible.

Nutritional Information:

• Calories – 124
• Total Fat -6.5g
• Saturated Fat – 3.5g
• Cholesterol – 7mg
• Sodium – 41mg
• Carbohydrates _ 14g
• Dietary Fiber – 0g
• Sugars – 13g
• Protein – 3g

Yield: 10 popsicles

This story originally appeared on Sonima.com

More from Sonima.com

4 Things That Affect Weight That Have Little to Do with Food

Understanding the Science and Controversy of GMOs

Green Goddess Pizza with Fresh Peas & Feta

Sonima.com is a new wellness website dedicated to helping people improve their lives through yoga, workouts, guided meditations, healthy recipes, pain prevention techniques, and life advice. Our balanced approach to wellness integrates traditional wisdom and modern insights to support vibrant and meaningful living.

from Health News / Tips & Trends / Celebrity Health http://ift.tt/1D5CZmb

Why Lonely People Stay Lonely

Photo: Courtesy of Science of Us/ SuperStock/ Corbis

Nobody likes feeling lonely, and some recent research suggests that the ache of isolation isn’t only a psychological problem; unwanted solitude impacts physical health, too. Loneliness increases a person’s risk of mortality by 26 percent, an effect comparable to the health risks posed by obesity, according to a study published this spring.

And because of this new evidence of the serious ramifications of loneliness, some researchers are investigating what it is, exactly, that makes lonely people stay lonely. In particular, could some behavior be at the root of their isolation? One long-held theory has been that people become socially isolated because of their poor social skills — and, presumably, as they spend more time alone, the few skills they do have start to erode from lack of use. But new research suggests that this is a fundamental misunderstanding of the socially isolated. Lonely people do understand social skills, and often outperform the non-lonely when asked to demonstrate that understanding. It’s just that when they’re in situations when they need those skills the most, they choke.

In a paper recently published in the journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Franklin & Marshall College professor Megan L. Knowles led four experiments that demonstrated lonely people’s tendency to choke when under social pressure. In one, Knowles and her team tested the social skills of 86 undergraduates, showing them 24 faces on a computer screen and asking them to name the basic human emotion each face was displaying: anger, fear, happiness, or sadness. She told some of the students that she was testing their social skills, and that people who failed at this task tended to have difficulty forming and maintaining friendships. But she framed the test differently for the rest of them, describing it as a this-is-all-theoretical kind of exercise.

Before they started any of that, though, all the students completed surveys that measured how lonely they were. In the end, the lonelier students did worse than the non-lonely students on the emotion-reading task — but only when they were told they were being tested on their social skills. When the lonely were told they were just taking a general knowledge test, they performed better than the non-lonely. Previous research echoes these new results: Past studies have suggested, for example, that the lonelier people are, the better they are at accurately reading facial expressions and decoding tone of voice. As the theory goes, lonely people may be paying closer attention to emotional cues precisely because of their ache to belong somewhere and form interpersonal connections, which results in technically superior social skills.

But like a baseball pitcher with a mean case of the yips or a nervous test-taker sitting down for an exam, being hyperfocused on not screwing up can lead to over-thinking and second-guessing, which, of course, can end up causing the very screwup the person was so bent on avoiding. It’s largely a matter of reducing that performance anxiety, in other words, and Knowles and her colleagues did manage to find one way to do this for their lonely study participants, though, admittedly, it is maybe not exactly applicable outside of a lab. The researchers gave their volunteers an energy-drink-like beverage and told them that any jitters they felt were owing to the caffeine they’d just consumed. (In actuality, the beverage contained no caffeine, but no matter — the study participants believed that it did.) They then did the emotion-reading test, just like in the first experiment. Compared to scores from that first experiment, there was no discernible difference in scores for the non-lonely, but the researchers did see improvement among the lonely participants — even when the task had been framed as a social-skills test.

It may be difficult to trick yourself into believing your nerves are from caffeine and not the fact that you really, really, really want to make a good impression in some social setting, but there are other ways to change your own thinking about anxiety. One of my recent favorites is from Harvard Business School’s Alison Wood Brooks, who found that when she had people reframe their nerves as excitement, they subsequently performed better on some mildly terrifying task, like singing in public. At the very least, this current research presents a fairly new way to think about lonely people. It’s not that they need to brush up on the basics of social skills — that they’ve likely already got down. Instead, lonely people may need to focus more on getting out of their own heads, so they can actually use the skills they’ve got to form friendships and begin to find a way out of their isolation.

This story originally appeared on Science of Us

More from Science of Us:

Why You Should Go to the Movies (and Do Other Stuff) Alone

One Simple Way To Reduce Social Anxiety

How to Speak Cat

So Apparently There Are 4 Kinds of Introversion

How to Recover From an All-Nighter

When Introverts Should Avoid Coffee

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.

from Health News / Tips & Trends / Celebrity Health http://ift.tt/1U3TwuX

Psychiatric Woes Often Drive Euthanasia Requests in Belgium

TUESDAY, July 28, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Depression and personality disorders are common reasons why psychiatric patients in Belgium request help to die due to unbearable suffering, a new study found.

Euthanasia has been legal in Belgium since 2002, and involves the use of drugs taken by mouth or given intravenously, the researchers explained.

They reviewed requests for help to die made by mentally ill patients in the Dutch-speaking region of Belgium between 2007 and 2011. They were followed through 2012.

Seventy women and 23 men requested euthanasia due to unbearable suffering from mental illness. They were between the ages of 21 and 80, with an average age of 47, the researchers said. Ninety-one had been referred for counseling. Seventy-three had been deemed medically unfit for work. Fifty nine were living alone, the study reported.

Ninety had more than one mental health disorder. Depression (58 patients) and personality disorder (50 patients) were the most common conditions, researchers said.

Forty-eight of the euthanasia requests were approved. Thirty-five were carried out. Eight of the patients cancelled or delayed euthanasia because they said simply having the option gave them enough peace of mind to continue living, researchers explained.

By the end of 2012, 43 of the patients in the study had died, including six who committed suicide.

Among those whose request for euthanasia was approved, 30 died surrounded by family/friends in a calm and peaceful setting, “which would have been impossible to attain in the case of unassisted traumatic suicide,” wrote study author Dr. Lieve Thienpont, from University Hospital, Brussels in Belgium, and colleagues.

The findings were published online July 27 in the journal BMJ Open.

In 2010 and 2011, more than 2,000 people died by euthanasia in Belgium. Less than 10 percent of those deaths were in people who weren’t terminally ill. Euthanasia accounted for 1 percent of all deaths in Belgium during those two years, the study revealed.

The researchers noted that there is no agreement about the definition of “unbearable suffering” and that there are no guidelines in Belgium on how best to handle mentally ill patients’ requests for euthanasia.

“Taking into account the ongoing fierce ethical debates, it is essential to develop such guidelines, and translate them into clear and detailed protocols that can be applied in practice,” they concluded.

More information

To learn more about depression, go to the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health.

---

from Health News / Tips & Trends / Celebrity Health http://ift.tt/1IG36Cm

Heart Disease, Alzheimer’s Linked by Common Risk Factors

TUESDAY, July 28, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Some risk factors for heart disease may also be linked with Alzheimer’s and other types of dementia, a new study reports.

“We already know that vascular risk factors damage the brain and can result in cognitive [mental] impairment,” study lead author Dr. Kevin King said in a news release from the journal Radiology.

“Our findings give us a more concrete idea about the relationship between specific vascular risk factors and brain health,” said King, an assistant professor of radiology at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles.

The study was published in the July 28 issue of the journal.

Prior research has linked heart risk factors and mental decline, but this study focused on specific risk factors and three brain structures — the hippocampus, precuneus and posterior cingulate cortex — that play a role in memory.

The analysis of data from more than 1,600 adults in the Dallas Heart Study showed that alcohol use and diabetes were associated with smaller total brain volume. Smoking and obesity, meanwhile, were associated with reduced volume in the posterior cingulate cortex, which is involved with memory retrieval, and emotional and social behavior.

Alcohol use and smoking were linked with reduced volume in the hippocampus, and obesity and high fasting blood sugar levels were associated with reduced precuneus size, according to the study.

The findings also suggest that reduced hippocampal and precuneus size may be early indicators for mental decline in people 50 and older, while reduced posterior cingulate size is a better predictor of mental decline in people younger than 50.

“We currently do not have effective treatments for Alzheimer’s disease, so the focus is on prevention,” King said.

“In the future, we may be able to provide patients with useful and actionable information about the impact different risk factors may be having on their brain health during routine clinical imaging,” he explained. “And since no special imaging equipment is needed, there is a great potential to provide this service at many centers.”

More information

The U.S. National Institute on Aging has more about Alzheimer’s risk factors and prevention.

---

from Health News / Tips & Trends / Celebrity Health http://ift.tt/1U3TweF

Standing All Day at Work? It May Take Toll on Health

By Alan Mozes
HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, July 28, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Desk jobs aren’t good for your health, but working on your feet could spell trouble, too, researchers say.

Standing five hours a day contributes to significant and prolonged lower-limb muscle fatigue, a small study concluded. This may raise your risk for long-term back pain and musculoskeletal disorders.

This isn’t good news for the millions of bank tellers, retail assistants, assembly line workers and others who earn their living on their feet. The study authors pointed out that almost half of all workers worldwide spend more than three-quarters of their workday standing.

Two hours of standing on the job is not associated with problems, but “a longer period is likely to have detrimental effects,” said study lead author Maria-Gabriela Garcia, a doctoral candidate within the department of health sciences and technology at ETH Zurich in Switzerland.

The findings were published online recently in the journal Human Factors.

Standing for long periods is already associated with a higher risk for short-term problems, such as leg cramps and backaches. But the current study set out to see whether prolonged standing also raised the risk for developing longer-term issues.

The investigators focused on 14 men and 12 women. Half were between 18 and 30 years old, and half between 50 and 65. None had a history of any neurological or musculoskeletal disorder, and all were asked to refrain from high-level exertion the day before study participation.

Replicating a shift at a manufacturing plant, all were asked to simulate light tasks while standing at a workbench for five hours with five-minute rest breaks and one half-hour lunch break.

Posture stability and leg muscle stress (quantified as “muscle twitch force”) were monitored throughout, and participants were asked to report on discomfort.

The result: Regardless of age or gender, participants were equally likely to experience significant fatigue at the end of the work day. What’s more, clear signs of muscle fatigue were observed for more than a half-hour after the standing period ended, regardless of whether the participants actually felt the strain.

Because the study was small and of very limited duration, it doesn’t prove that a job that requires prolonged standing will harm your health, the authors noted.

Still, Garcia said more research is needed to find ways to help workers deal with the difficulties of long-term standing.

Regular stretching exercises and “perhaps the incorporation of specific breaks, work rotation or the use of more dynamic activities could alleviate the effects of long-term fatigue,” Garcia said. Alternating seated and standing work is also beneficial, she said, “as it alleviates both the issues with prolonged sitting and prolonged standing.”

Another expert agreed with the need for frequent breaks and change in positions.

“Basically, the body does not like to have the same posture or load placed on it continuously, so change is always good,” said Kermit Davis, graduate program director for environmental and occupational hygiene at the University of Cincinnati. “[You want] routine breaks where you get the blood moving,” he added.

“One of the easiest implementations to deal with the problem is to have routine breaks every 30 or so minutes, where [workers] stand-up or move around [to] deliver paperwork, file papers in file cabinets, copy something, or use the restroom,” Davis said. His own research, he explained, has suggested that regular breaks do not undermine worker productivity.

When relevant, he said, it’s also important that work stations are set at the proper height and distance from workers.

More information

If your job requires prolonged standing, see the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety.

---

from Health News / Tips & Trends / Celebrity Health http://ift.tt/1IG36m3