September 14th, 2011 by Peggy Polaneczky, M.D. in Research
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The idea that heart disease mortality rises dramatically at menopause has been one of the truisms of medicine that spawned a generation of hormone use by women and led to the rise and subsequent fall of Prempro in the Women’s Health Initiative, the end-all-be-all study that failed to prove the truism. The truism is still so strongly believed that research to prove it right continues, using different hormone formulations and different cohorts of women, in the hopes that the hormonal fountain of youth was just misbranded and given to the wrong aged cohort.
Now comes a landmark study that suggests that what we’ve thought all along about heart disease and menopause may actually be wrong.
Dhananjay Vaidya and colleagues at Johns Hopkins and the University of Alabama have re-analyzed mortality data on men and women in the UK and US and concluded that, contrary to popular belief, heart disease rates and mortality do not increase dramatically with menopause, but rather rise more gradually as a function of age in both men and women.
“Our data show there is Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at The Blog That Ate Manhattan*
September 13th, 2011 by Toni Brayer, M.D. in Research
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A new study of more than 52,000 pregnant women in Canada shows that miscarriage rates were more than twice as high for women who took a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) compared to women who did not. The study, published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal reported that women who used prescription NSAIDS for just 4 days during early pregnancy had an increased risk for miscarriage.
These medications are commonly prescribed for pain, cramps, headaches and fever and can be bought over the counter as Advil, Aleeve or Ibuprofen. We have thought they were safe in early pregnancy but this study shows that may not be the case. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at EverythingHealth*
September 13th, 2011 by RamonaBatesMD in Opinion, Research
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Many women with large breast and weight issues seek breast reduction. I was taught to encourage them to lose weight first. Now there is a very small study that backs this up (full reference below).
The American Society of Plastic Surgeons issued a press release entitled “Breast Reduction and Bariatric Surgery—Which Should Be Done First?” and provided the answer “Final Results May Be Better When Weight Loss Comes First.” I agree, but find it odd that such a small study was published. There should have been more patients included.
Jeffrey A. Gusenoff, MD, and colleagues reviewed two groups of patients who sought consultation for body contouring surgery August of 2008 and February of 2010 after massive weight loss (defined as a weight loss of greater than 50 pounds).
Group I (n=15) included Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Suture for a Living*
September 10th, 2011 by John Mandrola, M.D. in Research
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How could it have happened?
He was strong; do you remember how he could get uphill? He was fit; can you ever recall seeing him out of shape? His blood pressure was perfect, low even. He bragged about his exemplary cholesterol levels.
He was lean and mean.
Wait a minute…what was that about being mean?
When an endurance athlete in middle age is felled by a sudden heart attack, these questions always arise. It’s mysterious, as the idea holds that exercise and fitness should inoculate one from heart disease. But it does not.
There is more to the story of heart attacks than just the big five: genetics, smoking, high blood pressure, diabetes and cholesterol. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Dr John M*
September 8th, 2011 by RyanDuBosar in Research
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Most patients with major depression require a second medication. A psychiatrist suggests that exercise could fulfill that need, too.
Because most patients with major depression don’t fully respond to just one drug, it’s common to try a second drug or cognitive behavioral therapy. But the rate of non-response in this group is prompting researchers to look for an intervention that most patients could do and that would add to current therapies.
Moderate and intense levels of daily exercise can work as well as administering a second antidepressant drug, as long as Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at ACP Internist*
