Posts from — May 2009

Health Tip – Audio Version – “The states of blood pressure”
Health Tip – Healthy Next Step – Your Guide to Lowering High Blood Pressure (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)

Majid Ezzati’s findings on high blood pressure could raise a health expert’s blood pressure.

The Harvard School of Public Health researcher says men’s high blood pressure rates nationally slowed down their decline in the 1990s. Things are even worse for women:

“Blood pressure among women in the U.S. is getting worse. Things are actually going up, and this is after a couple of decades of decline.’’

Ezzati’s examination of data includes a thorough look at high blood pressure in states using multiple data sources. Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Texas, Georgia, and South Carolina, plus the District of Columbia, had the worst.

Besides seeing a doctor, Ezzati recommends lifestyle changes such as cutting salt in food.

Ezzati’s study in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association was supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Health Tip courtesy of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Last revised: February, 11 2008

Health Tip – Audio Version – “Either or both”
Health Tip – Healthy Next Step – Aim For a Healthy Weight (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)

If you want to lose weight so your heart is healthier, a study indicates diet, exercise or both work – provided you lose the weight.

Sandor Kovacs and colleagues of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis found that in a look at the hearts of middle-aged men and women who cut calories or exercised for a year. The study in the American Journal of Physiology: Heart and Circulatory Physiology was supported in part by the National Institutes of Health.

Both groups lost about 12 percent of their weight, and had similar improvements in their hearts’ ability to fill and pump blood. Their hearts became more supple, like younger hearts.

Kovacs’ conclusion:

“If you want your heart to improve, and if you are overweight, you can lose weight either by dieting, or exercising, or doing both.’’

Health Tip courtesy of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Health Tip – Audio Version – “Older, active and vitamin E”
Health Tip – Healthy Next Step – Vitamin E (Office of Dietary Supplements)

In older people, low vitamin E concentration contributes to decline in physical function. A study found this when it looked at data on about 700 Italians.

Benedetta Bartali of Yale University School of Medicine and her colleagues measured vitamin E in the blood and assessed the abilities to walk a short distance, stand up from a chair, and balance.

In people with low vitamin E, the odds of declining in physical function after three years were greater than in those with higher levels.

“An adequate level of vitamin E may reduce the decline in physical function.’’

Her conclusion:

Good sources of vitamin E include olive oil, almonds and sunflower seeds.

The study, named InCHIANTI, in the Journal of the American Medical Association, was supported in part by the National Institutes of Health.

Health Tip courtesy of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Last revised: February, 13 2008

Health Tip – Audio Version – “Can you believe this?”
Health Tip – Healthy Next Step – What Can I Ask? Getting Information (National Institute on Aging)

Drink eight glasses of water a day. And don’t read in dim light.

So they say.

But are they right?

Aaron Carroll of Indiana University School of Medicine reviewed medical truisms to see if they really are true. Carroll, whose work is supported by the National Institutes of Health, coauthored a report in BMJ, the British medical journal.

So about those eight glasses of water. You usually get what you need, and you don’t need to make a special point of eight glasses. And dim light may make your eyes sore, but reading in it doesn’t cause blindness.

Carroll advises patients and doctors – if you have questions, speak up:

“Asking why, and trying to understand better why we do what we do, is not a sin, and is not a problem. And it should be encouraged.’’

Health Tip courtesy of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Last revised: February, 14 2008

Health Tip – Audio Version – “Secondhand smoke and cystic fibrosis”
Health Tip – Healthy Next Step – Living With Cystic Fibrosis (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)

Secondhand smoke can make lung disease worse, and Johns Hopkins researchers can document it in cases of cystic fibrosis. CF is fatal, and the researchers say many people with CF still wind up breathing other people’s smoke.

The researchers measured lung function by seeing how much air people could breathe out in the first second they tried.

The study found CF patients who were exposed to secondhand smoke had 10 percent less lung function. And some had it worse. Johns Hopkins researcher Garry Cutting:

“If they have a particular genetic abnormality, it doubles the negative effect of secondhand smoke. So they have a 20 percent reduction in lung function.’’

The study in the Journal of the American Medical Association was supported by the National Institutes of Health.

Health Tip courtesy of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Last revised: February, 19 2008

Health Tip – Audio Version – “Middle aged, obese and depressed”
Health Tip – Healthy Next Step – Physical Activity and Weight Control (National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases)

For middle-aged women, being depressed and weighing too much can go hand in hand. Researcher Gregory Simon of Group Health Cooperative in Seattle found that in survey data on more than 4,600 health plan enrollees.

Simon reported that as the weight went up, so did the frequency of depression – and that as the severity of depression went up, so did weight.

“Women who struggle with both of those problems will say, ‘Of course I’m depressed, because I’m overweight,’ or ‘Of course I have a hard time losing weight, because I’m depressed and it’s hard to get myself going.’”

Simon says these women know how to lose weight but lack hope – so one option could be to work on both together, rebuilding women’s spirits and controlling their weight.

The study in General Hospital Psychiatry was supported by the National Institutes of Health.

Health Tip courtesy of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Last revised: February, 19 2008

Health Tip – Audio Version – “Watch out ”
Health Tip – Healthy Next Step – Unintentional Injury Prevention (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

Why court trouble? Preventing unintentional injuries takes a lot of potential pain out of life.

But it looks like pain has been growing. At the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, researcher Daphne Moffett:

“We looked at data between the years of 1999 and 2004, and what we found was an overall 7 percent increase in unintentional injury rates.’’

Moffett says most of the increase was attributed to falls among older adults, and unintentional poisoning.

People can reduce their risks. For instance, removing throw rugs can help seniors avoid tripping at home, and keeping drugs and household chemicals safely stored can avoid some poisonings.

Moffett also says Americans have done well by things like wearing seat belts. But motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death by unintentional injury.

Health Tip courtesy of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Last revised: February, 20 2008

Health Tip – Audio Version – “Mutual Respect”
Health Tip – Healthy Next Step – Quick Tips—When Talking with Your Doctor (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality)

Doctors don’t always get a second chance to make a good first impression with patients. One area that remains a challenge is bridging the gap between the doctor and the patient when they come from different cultural backgrounds.

At HHS’ Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Dr. Carolyn Clancy has one example:

“A clinician calls an adult African American patient by her first name, intending to put the patient at ease, only it has the opposite effect. Instead, the patient feels disrespected.”

Clancy says the patient might be less willing now to follow the medical advice.

Clancy says clinicians need to be aware of these differences and make the adjustments. And she says patients can help by telling the clinician what they’d like, such as wanting to be called by the last name, with Mr. or Mrs.

Health Tip courtesy of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Last revised: February, 19 2008

Health Tip – Audio Version - Drinking, bingeing, and more teen trouble
Health Tip – Healthy Next Step: Tips for Teens: Know the Truth about Alcohol (National Clearinghouse for Alcohol & Drug Information)

When
teens drink, it means trouble. When teens binge drink, the trouble is
worse. And a lot of teens drink. A study by the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention has the numbers to show it.

The report on a survey of more than 15,000 high school students is in the American Academy of Pediatrics journal Pediatrics.

Almost half of high school students drank in a given past month. Of
the drinkers, almost two thirds binged, which the study defines as five
or more in a row.

Bingers were more likely to do other dangerous things. The CDC’s Jacqueline Miller lists some:

“Riding with someone who had been drinking, driving after drinking
themselves, sexual activity, being involved in a fight, attempting
suicide, and other drug use.”

To Miller, it’s a call to action.

Health Tip courtesy of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Last revised: September, 17 2007

Health Tip – Audio Version - Eyes and exercise
Health Tip – Healthy Next Step: Age-related Macular Degeneration (NIHSeniorHealth.gov)

Being active may be good for the eyes. Researchers say people who kept active were less likely to develop age-related macular degeneration, or AMD. AMD gradually destroys the sharp central vision we use to see objects clearly – for instance, while reading.

Michael Knudtson of the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health investigated AMD’s “wet” form, when abnormal blood vessels grow and leak fluid in the eye.

The study in the British Journal of Ophthalmology was supported by the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

Knudtson says more research is needed to know if exercise made the difference, but 15 years of data found active people were better off.

“Persons reporting an active lifestyle, defined as regular activity three or more times per week, were 70 percent less likely than non-active persons to develop ‘wet’ AMD.”

Health Tip courtesy of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Last revised: January, 26 2007