Women in Cardiac Arrest May Be Less Likely to Receive Help

TUESDAY, March 8, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Women are less likely than men to be helped by bystanders if they suffer cardiac arrest, a new study finds.

“There is a misconception that women don’t have heart problems so they don’t get as much help from the public and they are not treated the same by doctors,” said study author Dr. Nicole Karam. She is an interventional cardiologist at the European Hospital Georges Pompidou in Paris.

Researchers reviewed records of more than 11,400 people who had a cardiac arrest in public areas in and around Paris between 2011 and 2014.

Cardiac arrest, the sudden loss of heart function, is often caused by abnormal heart rhythms. It is not the same as a heart attack.

Even though bystanders were more likely to be present when women suffered cardiac arrest, researchers found only 60 percent of women received basic life support — such CPR and use of an automated external defibrillator — compared with 70 percent of men.

Eighteen percent of women and 26 percent of men reached the hospital alive, the investigators found. The study was released by the European Society of Cardiology on March 8 in recognition of International Women’s Day.

“When a man has a cardiac arrest he is less likely to have witnesses, but they perform CPR more frequently. Probably people are more afraid to do CPR in women because we look fragile. They may also not believe that she is really having a cardiac arrest — even though we found that 40 percent of patients were women,” Karam said in a society news release.

The frequency of heart disease in women is increasing so it’s no longer a “man’s problem,” she added.

“When it does happen, doctors need to manage women just as they would manage men. We can only improve women’s survival from cardiac arrest when doctors, emergency medical services, the public, and women themselves accept that it can happen to anyone regardless of gender,” Karam concluded.

In general, research data and conclusions presented at medical meetings should be considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.

More information

The American Heart Association has more about cardiac arrest.

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Pedestrian Deaths in U.S. Projected to Jump 10 Percent

TUESDAY, March 8, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Walking in the United States appears to be more hazardous than ever.

A new report projects a 10 percent surge in pedestrian deaths between 2014 and 2015 — the largest annual rise on record.

While no one cause is apparent, the rise in pedestrian deaths could reflect increased traffic volume, growing cellphone use by drivers and walkers, and more people walking for health, economic or environmental reasons, according to the report from the Governors Highway Safety Association.

“We are projecting the largest year-to-year increase in pedestrian fatalities since national records have been kept, and therefore we are quite alarmed,” said report co-author Richard Retting, of Sam Schwartz Consulting.

Researchers made the estimate by comparing preliminary data on the number of U.S. pedestrian deaths in the first six months of 2014 (2,232) and the first six months of 2015 (2,368).

Twenty-six states and Washington, D.C., reported increases in pedestrian deaths, the researchers said. Also, pedestrians now account for 15 percent of all motor vehicle crash-related deaths, compared with 11 percent a decade ago, according to the annual Spotlight on Highway Safety Report.

Since the fatality reporting system was created in 1975, the year-to-year change in the number of pedestrian deaths has varied from a 10.5 percent decrease to an 8.1 percent increase, the study authors reported.

“Pedestrian safety is clearly a growing problem across the country. It is important to understand the data underlying these crashes so states and localities can apply the right mix of engineering, education and enforcement to counteract this troubling trend,” Retting said in a GHSA news release.

Large states with large cities have more pedestrian deaths. California, Florida, New York and Texas accounted for 42 percent of all pedestrian deaths in the first six months of 2015, the investigators found.

But in 2014, the states with the highest number of pedestrian deaths per 100,000 people were Arizona, Delaware, Florida, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico and South Carolina.

And while cars are becoming safer for drivers and passengers, pedestrians are just as vulnerable when they’re hit by a vehicle, the researchers pointed out.

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offers pedestrian safety advice.

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Pot Smokers May Face 5 Times Greater Risk of Alcohol Abuse

By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, March 8, 2016 (HealthDay News) — People who smoke pot may be five times more likely to develop a problem with alcohol, such as addiction, a new study says.

Marijuana users who have an alcohol problem may also be less likely to quit drinking, the researchers said.

“Many people focus on possible negative effects of cannabis use itself, in terms of developing a cannabis use problem or the impact of cannabis use on brain function,” said study lead researcher Renee Goodwin.

“Our results suggest that even in the absence of a cannabis use problem, using marijuana appears to increase vulnerability to developing an alcohol use problem,” said Goodwin, an adjunct associate professor of epidemiology at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health in New York City.

The study only showed an association between marijuana use and alcohol dependence. It did not prove a cause-and-effect relationship.

The study included more than 27,000 U.S. adults. When they first used marijuana, none of the participants had an alcohol problem — defined in the study as receiving a diagnosis of either alcohol abuse or alcohol dependence.

Adults who used marijuana over the following three years had five times higher odds of developing an alcohol use problem, compared with those who didn’t use marijuana, the researchers found.

Also, problem drinkers who used marijuana were less likely to be in recovery for alcohol abuse three years later compared to those who didn’t use marijuana, the study authors said.

The study was funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health and was published online recently in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence.

“Awareness of the possible increased risk of developing alcohol use problems associated with marijuana use is important. Especially, perhaps, among younger people who are a vulnerable population in terms of the onset of alcohol use problems and among people with other risk factors for alcohol use problems, such as a family history of alcohol use disorders,” Goodwin said.

Treatment for alcohol use problems usually includes screening for other substance use disorders. “But, even use of marijuana appears to be a barrier to recovery from alcohol use disorders, which means screening may be useful for treatment planning,” she said.

A study published recently in the journal JAMA Psychiatry had similar findings. That study included more than 35,000 adults interviewed three years apart.

Those researchers found that two-thirds of marijuana users had some form of substance use disorder three years later, including alcohol and drug use problems or nicotine dependence. This compared to less than 20 percent of study participants who hadn’t used marijuana in the previous year.

The link between alcohol and marijuana is more complex than appears at first glance, said Paul Armentano, deputy director of NORML, a group that advocates for marijuana legalization.

“While some data, such as this paper, indicates the two substances may complement one another, other data indicates that cannabis may, in fact, play a role as a substitute for alcohol,” he said.

People drawn to either marijuana or alcohol may be prone to seek relief in drugs, Armentano said.

Progressing from marijuana to alcohol likely reflects the legal status and greater accessibility of alcohol, compared to marijuana in most states, he said.

More information

For more on marijuana, visit the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse.

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The importance of sleep

 

If you want to give yourself a better chance of avoiding the curveballs, prioritise sleep.

Clocking less than six hours of sleep per night compromises the brain’s ability to regulate emotions, making it that much harder to deal.

And it only takes one night of insufficient sleep to make you vulnerable to meltdowns according to a new Tel Aviv University study that identified the neurological mechanism responsible for disturbed emotion regulation and increased anxiety due to sleep debt.

In effect, the brain loses its ability to discern between what is and isn’t important, reported The Journal of Neuroscience.

Hannah Bailey shows us eight ways to improve your sleep:

Behaviour:

Ditch the macchiato, doughnut and laksa.
“Avoid caffeine in the afternoon and avoid large quantities of food, particularly heavy fatty foods, immediately prior to sleep that may make you feel uncomfortable and prevent sleep,” Dr Eckert says. If you suffer reflux, avoid spicy foods, as when you lie down it may come back to bite you.

Order a mocktail
A couple of vinos may feel like they usher you backstage at lala land, but the sleep you have when you get there is likely to be flawed. “Alcohol prior to sleep can impair sleep quality, cause snoring and in some cases lead to sleep apnoea, and should be avoided,” Dr Eckert says.

Move your workouts
Vigorous exercise just before bed can impair sleep, but Dr Eckert says that exercise at other times is actually a sleep aid. “It is associated with increased levels of slow-wave (deep) sleep.”

Switch off
Working back at the office or with your laptop on the couch can hijack your sleep routine. “Overly stimulating activities prior to sleep can make it difficult to fall asleep and should be avoided,” Dr Eckert says. Likewise detailed tasks.  “Maintaining a regular sleep routine that includes avoiding these types of activities immediately prior to sleep is ideal.” Exorcise the bedroom of any screens, Eckert advises. According to a 2012 Harvard Health Letter, blue wavelengths from fluorescent lightbulbs, LED lights and computer and iPad screens wreak greater havoc than white light on melatonin. In an experiment, blue light suppressed melatonin for around twice as long as green light. Red light, on the other hand, had the mildest effect on melatonin.

Bedroom
Dim the lights
According to the National Sleep Foundation, bright light inhibits the release of ‘sleep hormone’ melatonin, which can only be stimulated in a dimly lit environment. Any bright light can prevent the release of melatonin, preventing the onset of sleep. If you can’t block 100 per cent of light, Eckert advocates using a sleep mask to mimic a dark sleeping environment.

Pull the blinds
Skip diaphanous window dressings – however romantic – and go for a heavy fabric or blinds that completely block light. The first exposure to light in the morning activates a part of your brain called the supra-chiasmatic nucleus according to the National Sleep Foundation. That means processes associated with being awake crank into gear, calling a premature end to quality sleep.

Snuggle up
Sleep temperature is integral to the quality of shut-eye. UniSA’s Centre for Sleep Research revealed that that normal initiation of sleep demands a core body temperature drop. Ordinarily, the body automatically turns down its heat dial about 90 minutes before sleep, while insomniacs who find it hard to nod off tend to maintain a higher body temperature. While your body should regulate its own degrees, a hot or frigid room can mess with the process. Eckert says the ideal room temperature for sleep is 22 degrees Celsius. If you use an electric blanket to take the chill off your sheets, turn it off before falling asleep.

Luxe your crib
You can call high thread-count sheets a health expense. While they’re not a magic sleeping pill, Eckert says good bed linen complements other measures to maximise comfort, including temperature regulation.

NEXT: Lack of sleep not only impacts on your brain function, it also kills your beauty buzz.

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Fitness in Youth May Be Key to Diabetes Risk Decades Later

MONDAY, March 7, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Teens with poor physical fitness are at higher risk for diabetes much later in life, even if they’re not overweight or obese, a new study finds.

The research involved about 1.5 million Swedes who all underwent physical fitness tests when they were conscripted into the military at age 18. Their health outcomes were then tracked up to the age of 62.

Poor aerobic fitness and low muscle strength at age 18 was linked to a tripling of risk for diabetes in adulthood, regardless of the person’s body weight, reports a team led by Dr. Casey Crump of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City.

The study was funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health and published March 7 in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine.

Inactivity is a known risk factor for type 2 diabetes, but little was known about how physical fitness levels at a young age might affect diabetes risk later in life, Crump’s team said.

They believe the findings support programs to boost aerobic and muscle fitness in young people. The study also sends an important message to out-of-shape people who don’t think they’re at risk for diabetes because they are not obese, the researchers said.

Other experts agreed.

“A healthy lifestyle at any age reduces the risk of chronic disease throughout the life cycle,” said Dr. Howard Selinger, chair of family medicine at Quinnipaic University’s School of Medicine in Hamden, Conn.

“No pills, no tests — just good physical exercise to condition the heart and lungs and musculature obviously improves physiologic function for years to come,” Selinger said.

Dr. Gerald Bernstein coordinates the Friedman Diabetes Program at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. He called the study “important,” because it echoes findings from other research showing that “exercise, especially aerobic, improves insulin sensitivity.”

Insulin sensitivity involves the body’s response to the hormone, and is a key factor in whether or not a person develops diabetes.

“The population data from the CDC show that approximately 52 percent of the U.S. population have either diabetes or prediabetes, both adding to cardiovascular risk,” Bernstein noted.

“The implication [from this study] is that physical education programs in all levels of early education should be fully implemented prior to age 18 with the hope that progression to prediabetes and diabetes is minimized in later life,” he noted.

More information

The U.S. Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion explains how to prevent type 2 diabetes.

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Body Fat May Be Bigger Health Danger Than Body Size

By Amy Norton
HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, March 7, 2016 (HealthDay News) — People who have more body fat — regardless of their size – may have a higher risk of dying early than people whose bodies have less fat, new research suggests.

In contrast, having a high body-mass index (BMI) — a measure of weight in relation to height, often used to gauge obesity — was not associated with early death in the study.

The investigators said the findings support the idea that BMI is a fairly crude measure that may not reflect a person’s body composition, or be a good indicator of health.

Someone with a lot of muscle mass, for example, may have a high BMI and, technically, fall into the “overweight” category, explained researcher Dr. William Leslie.

So the relationship between body size and health “is more nuanced than the number on your bathroom scale,” said Leslie, a professor of medicine and radiology at the University of Manitoba, in Winnipeg, Canada.

“It’s important to be attuned to what you’re made of, rather than just how much you weigh,” Leslie said.

The findings, published online March 8 in the Annals of Internal Medicine, may offer one explanation for the so-called “obesity paradox.”

That refers to a counterintuitive pattern that’s been seen in a number of studies: Overweight and moderately obese people with heart disease or other chronic ills tend to outlive thinner people with those same conditions.

But those studies have often relied on BMI, Leslie explained. And it’s possible that higher BMI reflects greater muscle mass and fitness, or less weight loss from a chronic disease — as opposed to some protective effect of body fat, he added.

For their study, Leslie’s team combed through data on more than 54,000 adults, mostly in their 60s, who’d undergone DXA scans to measure their bone density. Those bone scans have the bonus of allowing an estimate of a person’s body fat percentage.

It turned out that men and women with the greatest amounts of body fat were more likely to die over the next four to seven years, the study showed.

Men in the top 20 percent had at least 36 percent body fat. And those with highest body fat were up to 59 percent more likely to die during the study period, versus men whose body fat was in the 28 percent to 32 percent range — which was about average for the group, according to the study.

The difference was smaller among women. Still, those with the highest percentage of body fat — about 39 percent fat or higher — were 19 percent more likely to die during the study period, compared with women in the 30 percent to 34 percent range (about average for the group), the study found.

In contrast, people with a BMI high enough to land them in the “obese” category didn’t show an increased death risk. And they were actually less likely to die than men and women with the lowest BMIs — lower than 24 or 25, which includes people in the “normal” weight range, Leslie pointed out.

In these older adults, he explained, a lower BMI may reflect waning muscle mass or frailty.

A researcher not involved in the study agreed.

“I think these findings help clarify some of the confusion around the obesity paradox,” said Rebecca Shenkman, director of the MacDonald Center for Obesity Prevention and Education at Villanova University College of Nursing, in Pennsylvania.

More importantly, she said, the findings highlight the limits of BMI as a health indicator. “We really need to take a step back and look at everything’s that going on the body,” Shenkman said.

And it’s not only about body fat, she noted. Fitness levels matter, too: Studies have found that people who stay fit through exercise typically enjoy a longer life than couch potatoes — even if they’re overweight.

And, Shenkman said, it’s possible to be thin and out-of-shape.

“Healthy eating and regular exercise are more important than being skinny,” she said.

Leslie made the same point. “In our society,” he said, “there’s been this mantra that thin is ‘in,’ and being heavy is ‘bad.’ But health is about more than the number on your scale.”

He did not, however, suggest that people run out to have their body fat measured. Taking a tape measure to your waistline, for example, is a simpler way to estimate how much fat you’re carrying, Leslie noted.

Women who have a waist circumference of more than 35 inches have a higher risk for heart disease and type 2 diabetes, according to the U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI). For men, a waist circumference greater than 40 inches indicates an increased risk of health problems, the NHLBI says.

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more on maintaining a healthy weight.

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Viral Photo Is a Reminder That Lumps Aren’t the Only Breast Cancer Symptom to Look Out For

Drinking More Water May Help Your Diet

MONDAY, March 7, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Plain old tap water might be the best diet drink around, scientists say.

People who want to cut calories and improve their diet might consider drinking more water, according to researchers from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. They found that adults who boosted water intake by just 1 percent also slightly pared their daily consumption of sugar, salt, saturated fat and cholesterol.

“The impact of plain water intake on diet was similar across race/ethnicity, education and income levels and body weight status,” study leader Ruopeng An, a professor of kinesiology and community health, said in a university news release.

The researchers examined the eating habits of more than 18,300 adults who had taken part in a U.S. government-led study. Participants reported everything they ate or drank over the course of two days that were three to 10 days apart.

Researchers calculated the amount of water each person drank each day as a percentage of their dietary water intake from food and beverages combined. Tea and coffee were included in the participants’ total dietary water intake but were not considered plain water.

On average, participants consumed a little more than four cups of plain water on a daily basis.

The study found, however, that those who added one, two or three cups of water daily from any source — bottle, cooler, drinking fountain or tap — consumed 68 to 205 fewer calories a day. Their sodium intake also fell by 78 to 235 grams.

Sugar consumption was also lower among those who drank more water. Their sugar intake fell from 5 grams to nearly 18 grams and their daily cholesterol intake dropped up to 21 grams, according to the study published March 1 in the Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics.

The beneficial effects of increased water consumption were most notable among men as well as young and middle-aged adults. The researchers noted these groups tend to eat more calories on a daily basis, which may help explain this discrepancy.

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provides more information on the importance of drinking water.

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Paid Sick Leave May Help Health of Whole Family

By Randy Dotinga
HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, March 7, 2016 (HealthDay News) — A new study suggests that workers without paid sick leave are more likely to forego medical care for themselves or their family when they’re ill.

Not surprisingly, they also take off fewer days of work whenever they are ill or injured, researchers say.

“These findings are a big deal. Paid sick leave should be thought of as a major public health issue,” said study co-author Patricia Stoddard-Dare, an associate professor of social work at Cleveland State University in Ohio.

The study appears in the March issue of Health Affairs.

Many other developed countries require employers to let employees take sick days with pay, but the United States doesn’t. An estimated 70 percent of U.S. full-time workers have paid sick leave, and some states and cities require it in certain cases, according to the study authors. But an estimated 8 out of every 10 part-time workers lack this benefit, the researchers noted.

For the new study, researchers reviewed information from a 2013 sample of more than 18,000 paid workers. They were between the ages of 18 and 64. The researchers excluded the self-employed and those working in family businesses.

About 57 percent of the workers in the sample had paid sick leave at their workplaces, and the other 43 percent did not. Almost four out of five people without paid sick leave also had no health insurance, the study found.

Overall, richer, white and more educated people were more likely to have paid sick time off; so were women, married people and full-timers, the study said.

Almost two-thirds of families earning less than $25,000 a year had no paid sick leave. For those earning $100,000 or more, just 25 percent had no paid sick leave, the study found.

The researchers found that people without paid sick leave took fewer days off due to illness or injury each year: They took fewer than four days off a year, compared to just over five days among those with paid sick leave, the study revealed.

Those without paid sick leave were three times more likely to delay medical care for themselves due to cost. People without paid sick leave about twice as likely to forgo medical care for a family member because of cost, the study showed. And, those without paid sick leave were also more likely to have recently visited an emergency room.

The research didn’t examine the effect that sick leave policies had on the health of workers. So, there’s no way to know if those without sick leave fare worse in terms of levels of sickness and death, the researchers noted.

However, “delaying or forgoing needed medical care can lead to more complicated, disabling and expensive health conditions,” said study author LeaAnne DeRigne, an associate professor at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton.

The researchers also note that people who are sick but show up to work anyway can spread illness, such as the flu.

Is it possible that workers with paid sick leave often abuse the privilege — taking sick days when they don’t need them? According to DeRigne, previous research has suggested that paid sick leave doesn’t lead to abuse, and many workers take few or no sick days.

The study authors hope the findings will push politicians to embrace paid sick leave.

“Unfortunately, getting policymakers to pay attention to hard data is difficult, especially in the face of ideology,” said Gary Johns, a professor emeritus of management at Concordia University in Montreal.

According to Johns, it could be helpful to show evidence that sick leave policies boost employee engagement and prevent infectious disease and accidents. However, he said, “we don’t have much research on these factors.”

Nor is Johns aware of any findings about whether paid sick leave policies boost productivity, although he said there’s plenty of evidence that people are less productive when they’re ill.

More information

For more about sick leave policies, try the U.S. Department of Labor.

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3D Printing of ‘Complex’ Human Tissue Moves Forward

By Randy Dotinga
HealthDay Reporter

MONDAY, March 7, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Researchers report that they’ve made progress toward using 3D printing technology to produce human tissue.

The Harvard scientists say they’ve managed to create tissue in the laboratory that has vessels — potentially allowing the tissue to be fed by blood — and can survive for weeks.

Despite accomplishing that feat, scientists still aren’t close to producing human tissue that could be transplanted into the body and replace organs such as hearts and lungs, experts noted.

But Dr. Anthony Atala, a specialist who’s familiar with the study, said the new research is promising.

“It shows what can happen in the laboratory when it comes to developing human-like tissue,” Atala said, particularly when it comes to creating tissue that can be fed by bodily fluids, such as blood and plasma. Atala is director of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine at Wake Forest University, in Winston-Salem, N.C.

The mission: to use 3D “bioprinters” to create muscle, bone and even organ cells. So far, scientists have had some success, with the Wake Forest Institute implanting bioprinted tissue into rodents and even creating a synthetic baby-sized ear recently, Atala said.

But there are still big hurdles.

“One of the problems has been how to make tissues that don’t collapse on themselves and that are able to get nutrition in and waste products out,” said Dr. Glenn Green, an associate professor of pediatric otolaryngology at University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital. “Our bodies use a complex structure of blood vessels with supporting tissues to do this naturally. But large 3D-printed tissues have fallen apart or died.”

In the new study, the Harvard researchers created tissue in the laboratory that survived for more than six weeks and was “vascularized,” meaning it had vessels and could be infused with so-called growth factors, which coax cells into multiplying.

Green cautioned that the tissue won’t be ready for human testing anytime soon. Still, the existence of the vessels will allow researchers to test medications on the tissue, which will act like human tissue.

“This will markedly decrease the need for animal testing while at the same time providing more accurate predictions of how agents will affect the human body,” he explained.

As for the potential cost for patients, Atala said automation of the bioprinting process has the potential to lower expenses.

Green agreed, but he cautioned that the process to bring bioprinted tissues to the market will initially be costly.

What’s next? More research is needed. According to Green, tissues like cartilage and bone hold the most promise to be developed first, with more complex types of tissue coming down the line — muscles, then organs such as the kidney and pancreas, and then organs that have a direct connection to the brain, such as the eye.

“The eventual potential is to regenerate or replace all parts of the body,” Green said. “This paper is a nice and necessary early step on a long road.”

The Harvard study is published in the March 7 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

More information

The U.S. National Institutes of Health has more on regenerative medicine.

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