Health Archives - Page 27 of 42

Many U.S. Children Don’t See Healtcare Providers After Concussions

June 21, 2016 By Deborah Campbell Leave a Comment

According to a new U.S. study, roughly 1.9 million children get concussions from recreational activities and various sports each year, and the problem is that a vast majority of them don’t get checked out by doctors after they get injured.

Anthony Kontos, head of the sports medicine concussion program at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, explains that a lot of parents are not aware “that there are active and early interventions and therapies that can be used to treat kids following a concussion.”

Kontos, who wasn’t directly involved in the study, added that the misconception that all can be done to help a concussion heal is rest does a lot of harm.

“The fact that kids aren’t being seen by healthcare professionals trained in concussion following this injury is a problem, and we need to do a better job of educating parents, coaches and kids of the benefits of seeking appropriate and timely clinical care,” Kontos said in an email.

To estimate the number of recreation- and sport-related concussions, researchers reviewed three different nationwide databases. According to the paper published in the journal Pediatrics, it is difficult to get an exact count because not all injuries are reported and not every child is examined by a health professional.

However, the estimation is still somewhere around 1.1 million children (below 18) who get concussions from recreational activities and sports in the U.S. annually. The more worrying statistic says about 511,000 to 1.2 million kids do not see healthcare providers after they get injured.

Senior study author, Dr. Mersine Bryan of the Seattle Children’s Hospital Research Institute and the University of Washington, said the list of reasons why children are not seen by doctors after concussions is long.

Identifying and recognizing concussions have something to do with that, but not because parents think head injuries are too mild to seek medical care.

“If a child has a head injury and is experiencing symptoms afterward, such as headaches, nausea, dizziness, or fatigue, they should be evaluated by healthcare providers,” added Bryan by email.

The study was limited in accuracy because it did not take into consideration how many kids with symptoms actually did have concussions. Even so, the findings are similar to other research estimating the prevalence of concussions among children.
Image Source: Gecko Sports Blog

Diet Rich in Whole Grains Associated With Lower Death Risk

June 14, 2016 By Deborah Campbell Leave a Comment

A new meta-analysis found that you can increase your longevity by following a diet rich in whole grains. People who ate at least three servings of whole grains each day were 20 percent less likely to die early compared with people who ate less than one serving daily.

The researchers reviewed 14 previous studies, all of whom were at least six years long; many of the studies spanned over more than 10 years. The focus point of the analysis was looking at specific causes of death.

It was found that eating three servings of whole grains a day was linked to a 25 percent decreased risk of death from heart disease, and a 14 percent decreased risk of death from cancer, compared with eating less than one serving of whole grains daily.

According to the U.S. Dietary Guidelines, adults should eat three or more servings of whole grains each day. However, Americans eat less than one serving a day, on average, according to the study published in the journal Circulation.

Senior author of the study Dr. Qi Sun, an assistant professor of nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, said, “these findings lend further support to the U.S. government’s current Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which suggest high consumption of whole grains to facilitate disease prevention.”

More than 786,000 people were involved in the reviewed studies; nearly 98,000 deaths were recorded in all of the studies, including more than 37,000 from cancer, and more than 23,000 from heart disease.

Dr. Sun noted that several individual studies consistently suggested that people who consumed more grains had a reduced risk of death. Each serving (0.5 ounces or 16 grams) of whole grains a day was linked to a 7 percent reduction in the risk of death.

According to the meta-analysis, people in the studies ate different types of whole grains. However, in the U.S., more than 70 percent of whole grains that the participants ate came from breads and cereal grains – including rice, oatmeal, and barley.

Two previous meta-analyses already proved the benefits of following a diet rich in whole grains, as they are associated with lower cholesterol levels, lower blood sugar levels, and lower amounts of body fat.
Image Source: Pixabay

Medical Staff More Careful About Hand Hygiene When Watched

June 13, 2016 By Nancy Young Leave a Comment

Hand hygiene should be strictly followed by one and all, but the case is even stronger when it comes to doctors. According to a new study, however, medical staff becomes negligent sometimes and falls victim to the Hawthorne Effect.

A team of researchers at the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center (SCVMC), San Jose, explained that the said effect occurs when people change their behavior if they know someone is keeping an eye on them.

The findings showed that hand hygiene practice among doctors differed when they know they are being evaluated than when not. Researchers at SCVMC sent two types of investigators to evaluate hand hygiene: Infection Prevention (IP) nurses, and high-school and college-aged volunteers.

Over the course of the study, Maricris Niles, an infection prevention analyst at SCVMC, noticed that the groups were differing in their opinion. The IP nurses – considered as the hygiene patrol in hospitals – noticed increased compliance rates.

However, the Hawthorne Effect was found upon further investigation. According to Lisa Hansford, one of the recognizable IP nurses at SCVMC, when nurses or doctors knew someone in authority is supervising, they would follow proper procedure of hand hygiene.

But if they thought no one was watching, they would skip using alcohol. IP nurses observed the hygiene compliance rate was around 57 percent, whereas in the case of hospital volunteers, it was a much lower 22 percent.

It’s a massive gap that shocked the research team. Nancy Johnson, infection prevention manager at SCVMC, said that the medical staff might get so caught up in the work that they need someone to remind them to follow hand hygiene.

To make sure that the high-school and college-aged volunteers performed viable assessments, they were trained beforehand; because they were not consistently recognized as authority figures by hospital staff, they were able to provide more accurate data on hand hygiene.

Researchers explained they found “a very consistent trend that our Infection Prevention nurses were seeing something different than what volunteers were seeing.” The nurses and providers who did not use alcohol to wash their hands did so as soon as they would recognize the hygiene auditors.

Because the phenomenon is not new and the problem is more spread, the team at SCVMC has launched a series of interventions to drive the medical staff’ compliance rates higher.
Image Source: Coverall Blog

California Now Allows Life-Ending Drugs for Terminally Ill Patients

June 10, 2016 By Karen Jackson 1 Comment

Today, June 9, 2016, California has become the fifth state in the U.S. to support legal euthanasia for its terminally ill patients. They can now end their own lives with doctor-prescribed medication without any legal consequences.

Despite vocal opposition from different groups, Gov. Jerry Brown signed today the “End of Life Option Act” into law. However, voters and patients with terminal diseases insisted this kind of law offers a sense of peace to those in impossible and painful situations.

Some cancer patients need to take hundreds of pills daily just to stay alive and keep a sense of control over the almost constant pain. Those over 18 years old and with a diagnosis that won’t allow them to live more than 6 months will be able to get a life-ending drug prescription from their physician.

According to Los Angeles Archbishop Jose Gomez, this law will kill “those whose suffering we can no longer tolerate,” adding that “killing is not caring.”

The law will start taking effect on June 9, and it also requires the patients to be evaluated by two different doctors before they are deemed eligible and able to self-administer the drug.

One of the obstacles, however, remains the price of the drug – around $4,000 – which is not covered by insurance plans. Euthanasia laws have already been approved in Washington, Oregon, and Vermont.

California’s decision to support the end-of-life law was partly due to the case of 29-year-old Brittany Maynard. Back in 2009, Maynard was a California resident who would not allow her terminal brain tumor to degrade her body, so she decided to move to Oregon so she can benefit from the state’s right-to-die legislation.

However, many Californian doctors are concerned about where to draw the line as the new law goes into effect.

“Suddenly, that bright line is not so bright,” said Dr. Neil Wenger, an expert on internal medicine who thinks that making doctor-assisted dying legal induces confusion into what used to be a clear distinction for health care providers.

Wegner, who is in charge of implementing the new law at UCLA, said he doesn’t believe he will ever practice it, since it’s against the Hippocratic Oath of the medical staff.

The bill will remain in effect for 10 years starting 2016.
Image Source: Kusi

Experts Discourage Antidepressant Use In Children and Teenagers

June 10, 2016 By Michael Turner Leave a Comment

Not only is it ineffective to recommend antidepressant use for children and teenagers, but according to a new study, it can also be dangerous.

A team of researchers at the University of Oxford, England, analyzed the effects of 14 antidepressants and discovered that only fluoxetine (the active ingredient in Prozac) proved to be more effective in treating depression than the placebo given to children and teens in several studies.

On the other hand, Venlafaxine (Effexor) was associated with an increased risk of suicidal thoughts and overall suicidal attempts compared to the inactive placebo and five other antidepressants that were evaluated.

Dr. Andrea Cipriani, an associate professor of psychiatry at the University and the lead study author, said, “In the clinical care of young people with a major depressive disorder, clinical guidelines recommend psychotherapy – especially cognitive behavioral therapy or interpersonal therapy – as the first-line treatment.”

Cipriani’s team reviewed 34 studies that had enrolled more than 5,200 children and adolescents. Prozac was the only one to show greater benefits to the participants when compared to risks regarding the relief of symptoms and side effects.

The antidepressants duloxetine (Cymbalta), Effexor, and imipramine (Tofranil) had the worst side effects, leading to more patients stopping the treatment compared to those on placebos.

Cipriani warned that “Prozac should be considered only for patients who do not have access to psychotherapy or have not responded to non-pharmacological interventions.”

At the same time, if children or adolescents do take antidepressant drugs, they should be closely monitored, especially at the beginning of treatment.

The main problem with treating children and teens with antidepressants is that we still don’t know many of the potential risks due to the fact that there are a limited number of studies on the matter.

It is also noteworthy that at least 65 percent of the trials reviewed in Cipriani’s study were financially supported by drug companies, which means they have a 90 percent risk of being biased in favor of medication.

However, even though depression treatment usually begins with psychotherapy, some cases are so desperate that Prozac might actually be a better option. In those cases, “something that’s highly imperfect may seem like the right move,” said Dr. Jon Jureidini, author of an editorial accompanying the study.
Image Source: The Star

Healthy Fats in Mediterranean Diet Won’t Cause Weight Gain

June 7, 2016 By Nancy Young Leave a Comment

You don’t have to fear that if you decided to follow an eating plan that also includes healthy fats like nuts and olive oil will cause you to gain unwanted weight.

A new study delivers good news to people who prefer the Mediterranean diet – which does include healthful fats – and not a diet that’s low in fat. The study authors suggest that the unnecessary fear of these healthy fats may be caused by current health guidelines.

“More than 40 years of nutritional policy has advocated for a low-fat diet, but we’re seeing little impact on rising levels of obesity,” explained study author Dr. Ramon Estruch, a researcher at the University of Barcelona, Spain.

According to the study’s results, following a Mediterranean diet rich in vegetable fats had little to no effect on waist circumference and overall body weight compared to individuals who preferred a low-fat diet.

In recent years, the Mediterranean diet has made a comeback on an international level, making a name for itself as a diet with plenty of health benefits. It also includes healthy fats, such as fish, vegetable oils, and nuts.

However, Estruch pointed in a press release that “not all fats are created equal.” The study revealed nothing that would imply “unrestricted diets with high levels of unhealthy fats such as butter, processed meat, sweetened beverages, desserts or fast-foods are beneficial.”

For the study, more than 7,400 women and men in Spain participated; the subjects were aged 55 to 80. They were asked to follow one of three eating plans: an unrestricted-calorie Mediterranean diet rich in nuts; an unrestricted-calorie Mediterranean diet rich in olive oil; or a low-fat diet meant to avoid any type of dietary fat.

More than 90 percent of the participants were overweight or obese and all of them had Type-2 diabetes or high heart risk. After five years, total fat intake dropped from 40 percent to 37 percent in the group following the low-fat diet, and increased in both Mediterranean diet groups, from 40 percent to 42 percent.

In all three groups, waist circumference did increase slightly, though it did less so in the participants on the healthy fat diets. The report’s results were featured in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology.
Image Source: Medical News Today

Stay Safe: About One in Every Five Kiddie Pools Is Closed Each Year

May 30, 2016 By Michael Turner Leave a Comment

Like every year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is closing down many public water playgrounds, swimming pools, and hot tubs that don’t submit to health and safety regulations for this kind of aquatic sites.

In one of these incidents, Kentucky local health departments called for two full inspections of each public swimming pool that’s open during the summer season, making sure that these places remain safe over the year.

During the two full inspections, experts will thoroughly investigate the continuous operation of indoor facilities, as well as water chemistry from one month to another.

Local health department environmentalists are responsible for conducting these inspections, as well as monitoring the public pools and making reliable reports that could be shared with each local health department.

Beth Fisher, spokesperson for the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, explains that those planning to vacation out of the state of Kentucky should take care of their safety themselves, seeing that such initiatives are not carried out everywhere.

“Almost one- third of local health departments do not regulate, inspects, or license public pools, hot tubs, and water playgrounds. We should all check for inspection results online or on site before using public pools, hot tubs, or water playgrounds,” added Michele Hlavsa, director of the CDC’s Healthy Swimming Program.

According to the inspection data from a 2013 CDC study, almost 80 percent of the public aquatic venues in the five large states that were involved had at least one health and safety violation.

The five states covered 40 percent of the nation’s public water facilities. A vast majority of the violations were related to lack of proper safety equipment, improper pH, and inadequate disinfectant levels.

Thousands of particular public pools, hot tubs and water playgrounds have been forced to close each year. The CDC’s most recent inspection data was collected in 2013 in which researchers examined the results of 84,187 routine inspections of 48,632 public aquatic venues.

About one in every five kiddie pools was closed. So you should be careful where you take your summer splash this season. Don’t expose yourself and your family to the health dangers of a public aquatic location that doesn’t keep up with the standards. Do a quick online search for inspection results, or ask the staff on site.
Image Source: Timeout

Why You Still Get Sunburns Even When Using Sunscreen

May 28, 2016 By Roxanne Briean Leave a Comment

We all know how important it is to use sunscreen – yet we all could apply it more reliably than we do. You might have heard of some of these tips, but your knowledge in taking care of yourself and protecting your skin against cancer is worth a periodical review.

Here’s what experts have to say about the practice of applying sunscreen.

You might not apply enough. Depending on your body size, the recommended amount is enough lotion to fill a shot glass. When they go to the beach, people are smart enough to apply sunscreen, but the problem is that they might not use enough.
Even if the lotion you’re using is supposed to be waterproof, beachgoers – or pool lovers – should reapply after each swimming. If you’re at the beach only for the tan, the protection should be reapplied every two hours, regardless of the SPF count.
This might be a less-known fact, but for the sunscreen to be efficient, it must be applied 15 minutes before exposure. And don’t forget to cover the tops of your ears and the tops of the feet – which are the most frequent spots people forget about.
While spray-on sunscreens are still a mystery even for the US Food and Drug Administration in terms of how safe or effective they are, some medical professionals suggest they are better than applying nothing.

To stay on the safe side of things, spray-on sunscreen should be applied indoors in a well-ventilated area, and never directly on the face. If you’re going to apply it on the beach, the wind might make it fly away, leaving you inadequately protected.

It’s 2016; you’re most likely taking your smartphone to the beach, so why not rely on it to remind you that it’s time to reapply? A quick search on both Apple Store and Play Store will reveal hundreds of free and inexpensive apps that could alert you when you need it.
If you’re not convinced about the health benefits of using sunscreen more reliably, then consider this: applying sunscreen every day (during summer) — not just when you’re at the beach or the park — can prevent the appearance of wrinkles and brown spots.

Sunscreen is the No. 1 anti-aging ingredient, so why not use it properly?
Image Source: MNN

Antidepressants Prescribed Not Just for Depression

May 27, 2016 By Nancy Young Leave a Comment

According to a new study conducted by researchers at the McGill University, doctors tend to prescribe antidepressants for a wide array of disorders. The professionals in charge of the study believe that this practice should stop seeing as the medication is not approved by the FDA for the treatment of other conditions.

The article published in the “Journal of the American Medical Association” magazine stated that approximately three in ten prescriptions for antidepressants released by Quebec medical practitioners are not on the FDA’s approved list.

The CDC estimates that approximately 1 in 10 Americans were prescribed antidepressants. However, almost half of them are taking the drugs for other conditions.

Antidepressants are prescribed for the treatment of other conditions besides depression because some physicians noticed that they are more efficient than the ones created specifically for the disorders in question.

For example, there is a group of doctors that believe that antidepressants show better results in the treatment of a number of anxiety disorders, pain syndromes, and sleep disturbances. The physicians also think that the drugs used to treat depression cold show results in cases in which other treatments failed.

“For insomnia use, most knowledgeable internists prescribe many of these medications because they are more efficient and less problematic than drug indicated for insomnia, such as Lunesta and Sonesta, which can have addiction counter-indications,” declared an MD from the Langone Medical Center in New York.

Furthermore, there is evidence of doctors using antidepressants to treat chronic pain even though they were not designed for pain management.

The authors of the study did take into consideration the fact that the majority of doctors are using antidepressants efficiently, but they also point out the fact that this practice goes “by ear”, in the sense that there are no clinical trials that attest the efficiency of antidepressants in the treatment of other disorders besides depression.

This “word-of-mouth” kind of practice can prove to be dangerous to patients seeing as the doctors that are prescribing depression medication for chronic pain or insomnia are basing their opinion on the results they, or their peers, had with a small sample of patients.

The FDA needs scientific proof that the medication is efficient in the treatment of other conditions. Until then, physicians are advised to prescribe drugs according to each specific illness.

Image source: Torange

Tobacco Farms Encourage Child Labor

May 26, 2016 By Roxanne Briean Leave a Comment

Tobacco leaves are filled with nicotine that can be absorbed through skin.

According to a new report, Indonesian tobacco farms encourage child labor. It seems that most of the workers that come in contact with the raw product are children with ages between 8 and 18. The small ones are responsible for easy tasks like removing weeds while the older ones are in charge of watering and pesticide treatments.

A group of reporters decided to travel to Indonesia and see who are the people that handle the tobacco plants that eventually end up in the cigarettes that we smoke. After interviewing all sorts of workers, they created a comprehensive documentary that presents the current situation on tobacco farms.

According to the documentary, most Indonesian children that are born in low-income families are forced to work on tobacco farms at age 8 and higher.

The small children are in charge of removing the weeds, harvesting the tobacco leaves, and fertilizing the plants. The heavy lifting involved in the watering and insecticide spread processes is reserved for those aged 13 and higher.

Apart from the fact that the children are forced to work at very young ages, they are also exposed to countless health risks. The tobacco plant is very potent. When handled with bare hands, it transfers nicotine on the hands of the children, intoxicating them.

Nicotine poisoning is a usual occurrence among the young Indonesian workers. Unfortunately for them, some of the effects of this disorder can scar them for life.

When the body of a child is invaded by high amounts of nicotine, his or her brain is the most affected. In the case in which the infant is exposed to the substance on a regular basis, the child could end up suffering from long-term brain damage, growth impairment, and even organ failure.

Moreover, the child workers are not only exposed to nicotine but also urea, which is a highly potent insecticide.

If they somehow manage to escape the effects of the dangerous substances, they still face the risk of collapsing due to heat exposure, sustained physical effort, and exhaustion.

In the meantime, tobacco companies are buying the dried leaves from traders who hide the fact that the product was obtained through child labor. When asked about their policy on child labor, companies like Djarum refused to comment.

Image source: Wikipedia

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