Health Top Stories
Ancient Chinese Exercise Relieves Knee Pain
Tai chi is effective in the treatment of pain and physical impairment in people with severe knee osteoarthritis, according to research presented this week at the American College of Rheumatology Annual Scientific Meeting in San Francisco, Calif. Osteoarthritis, or OA as it is commonly called, is the most common joint disease affecting middle-age and older people. It is characterized by progressive damage to the joint cartilage?the slippery material at the end of long bones?and causes changes in the structures around the joint. These changes can include fluid accumulation, bony overgrowth, and loosening and weakness of muscles and tendons, all of which may limit movement and cause pain and swelling. Osteoarthritis in the knee and hip areas can generate chronic pain or discomfort during standing or walking. According to the Centers for Disease Control, knee OA affects 240 people out of every 100,000 people per year. More »
Risk of Kidney Failure Higher Among African Americans with Lupus Nephritis
Racial and ethnic disparities in systemic lupus erythematosus, and one of its worst complications, kidney failure, continue to grow in the U.S. The number of new cases of kidney failure due to lupus occurring among African Americans has now surpassed that in Caucasians, with a high proportion occurring among African American women, according to research presented this week at the American College of Rheumatology Annual Scientific Meeting in San Francisco, Calif. Lupus nephritis is an inflammation of the kidney cased by systemic lupus erythematosus (also called SLE or lupus) ? a chronic inflammatory disease that can affect the skin, joints, kidneys, lungs, nervous system, and/or other organs of the body. Researchers used information from two data sources, the National Arthritis Data Workgroup national and regional surveys of national prevalence rates of various rheumatic diseases, and the U.S. Renal Datasystem, to study kidney failure among patients with lupus. Based on 2005 U.S. Census data, lupus is most common among African Americans women, striking 400 out of 100,000 African American women; 100 out of 100,000 white women; 50 out of 100,000 African American men; and 10 out of 100,000 white men 15 ? 64 years of age. The U.S. Renal Datasystem includes data on approximately 94 percent of all U.S. patients with kidney failure, also known as end-stage renal disease. More »
If You Have Rheumatoid Arthritis and You Smoke, Listen Up
Tossing your cigarettes may help control your rheumatoid arthritis, according to research presented this week at the American College of Rheumatology Annual Scientific Meeting in San Francisco, Calif. Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic disease that causes pain, stiffness, swelling, and limitation in the motion and function of multiple joints. Though joints are the principal body parts affected by RA, inflammation can develop in other organs as well. An estimated 1.3 million Americans have RA, and the disease typically affects women twice as often as men. Smoking is known to increase the risk and severity of RA. Smoking cessation has been shown to have a positive impact in slowing the progression of other diseases such as coronary disease and emphysema. More »
People with Rheumatoid Arthritis and Type 2 Diabetes Share Same Risk for Cardiovascular Disease
The risk of cardiovascular disease in people with rheumatoid arthritis is just as high as the risk in people with type 2 diabetes, according to research presented this week at the American College of Rheumatology Annual Scientific Meeting in San Francisco, Calif. Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic disease that causes pain, stiffness, swelling, and limitation in the motion and function of multiple joints. Though joints are the principal body parts affected by RA, inflammation can develop in other organs as well. An estimated 1.3 million Americans have RA, and the disease typically affects women twice as often as men. Several studies have concluded that people with RA are at an increased risk for cardiovascular disease. However, these studies have not directly examined the frequency of cardiovascular disease in people with RA compared to and people with type 2 diabetes over time. More »
Six Illnesses Common Among Older Americans Cost $196 Billion
Six major illnesses common among Americans age 65 and older cost more than $196 billion in 2007, according to estimates by researchers at RTI International. The study, published in RTI Press, estimated the cost burden associated of six major illnesses among Americans age 65 or older: chronic lung disease, ischemic heart disease, stroke, lung cancer, pneumonia and gastrointestinal illness. These illnesses are common among older Americans and environmental exposures are a significant risk factor for each of them. ?As our population continues to age, we expect that the total cost burden of these illnesses will also continue to increase,? said George Van Houtven, Ph.D., senior economist at RTI and the study?s lead author. ?To reduce these costs, we need to give priority to prevention strategies including environmental quality improvements.? More »
Uninsured Kids in Middle Class Have Same Unmet Needs as Poor
Uninsured children in families earning between approximately $38,000 and $76,000 a year are about as likely to go without any health care as uninsured children in poorer families. Nearly half of uninsured children in the U.S. went without any medical care or prescriptions during the year they had no insurance, according to a University of Rochester Medical Center study released Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association. An even larger percentage of uninsured children went without preventive care, meaning they didn?t get a yearly physical and may not have received necessary vaccinations. JAMA is publishing this study in its themed issue, Health of the Nation, Tuesday, Oct., 21. Among the many topics the issue is addressing is that of children?s health care coverage. More »
Study Shows How Breastfeeding Transfers Immunity to Babies
A BYU-Harvard-Stanford research team has identified a molecule that is key to mothers? ability to pass along immunity to intestinal infections to their babies through breast milk. The findings will be published in the Nov. 1 issue of the Journal of Immunology. The study highlights an amazing change that takes place in a mother?s body when she begins producing breast milk. For years before her pregnancy, cells that produce antibodies against intestinal infections travel around her circulatory system as if it were a highway and regularly take an ?off-ramp? to her intestine. There they stand ready to defend against infections such as cholera or rotavirus. But once she begins lactating, some of these same antibody-producing cells suddenly begin taking a different ?off-ramp,? so to speak, that leads to the mammary glands. That way, when her baby nurses, the antibodies go straight to his intestine and offer protection while he builds up his own immunity. More »
ADHD appears to increase level of nicotine dependence in smokers
Young people with ADHD are not only at increased risk of starting to smoke cigarettes, they also tend to become more seriously addicted to tobacco and more vulnerable to environmental factors such as having friends or parents who smoke, according to a study from Massachusetts General Hospital reseachers. The report in the Journal of Pediatrics also found that individuals with more ADHD-related symptoms, even those who don?t have the full syndrome, are at greater risk of becoming dependent on nicotine than those with fewer symptoms. ?Knowing that ADHD increases the risk of more serious nicotine addiction stresses the importance of prevention efforts aimed at adolescents and their families,? says Timothy Wilens, MD, director of the Substance Abuse Program in the MGH Pediatric Psychopharmacology Department, who led the study. ?It also gives us clues about how the neurotransmitter systems involved in ADHD and tobacco use may be interacting.? Several studies have shown young people with ADHD are more like to smoke and to start smoking at an earlier age. The current investigation was designed to examine whether ADHD also increases the severity of nicotine dependence. More »
Alcohol doesn?t worsen chronic lung conditions
There is no link between drinking alcohol and the likelihood of worsening chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, according to a study of patients seen at Veteran Affairs hospitals. COPD includes conditions such as emphysema and chronic bronchitis. ?While tobacco consumption has a well-established role in COPD-related morbidity, relatively less is known about the association between alcohol use and COPD,? Dr. Courtney C. Greene of the University of Washington, Seattle, and colleagues write in the medical journal Chest. The researchers looked at alcohol consumption and COPD exacerbation in more than 30,000 VA outpatients and followed for more than 3 years. Over 8000 had a prior diagnosis of COPD. More »
Sun-damaged Skin Responds Well to Laser Treatment
Researchers at the University of Michigan Health System Department of Dermatology have found scientific evidence that the appearance of sun-damaged skin may be improved by treatment with a topical product that increases the skin?s sensitivity to light, followed by laser therapy. In the new study, participants whose skin was sun-damaged ? or photodamaged ? were treated with a topical photosensitizer called 5-aminolevulinic acid (5-ALA) and then with a pulsed dye laser. This type of treatment, known as photodynamic therapy, increased collagen levels in the skin and also produced other skin changes that are known to improve its appearance. The results also suggest that skin with the worst sun damage may respond particularly well to this treatment. More »