Health News - Thursday, January 18, 2007
The amount of nicotine that smokers typically inhale per cigarette rose by 11 percent from 1998 to 2005, perpetuating a "tobacco pandemic" that makes it harder for smokers to quit, a Harvard study said on Thursday.
Harvard School of Public Health researchers analyzed data submitted by major cigarette brands to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, which in August released its own study showing nicotine levels steadily rising. The amount of nicotine that smokers typically consume per cigarette regardless of brand per year rose by an average of 1.6 percent between 1998 and 2005, according to the Harvard analysis of the state's health records. Continue reading
Factors that predict suicidal behavior after major depression differ between men and women, according to study findings published in the American Journal of Psychiatry. "Sex differences in suicidal behavior have long been recognized," Dr. Maria A. Oquendo, of Columbia University, New York, and colleagues write. "Studies have shown that men have higher suicide rates, while women are at higher risk for suicide attempts," they note.
The researchers examined if there were differences between men and women in the risk factors associated with suicidal behavior in a study involving 184 women and 130 men seeking treatment for a major depressive episode. The patients were diagnosed with major depression or bipolar disorder, and were evaluated at 3 months, 1 year and 2 years after discharge. Continue reading
The drug duloxetine is useful in treating diabetes-related pain, but it may worsen control of blood sugar levels, according to a report in the journal Diabetes Care. Duloxetine is one of only two drugs approved for the treatment of diabetic peripheral neuropathic pain (DPNP), a common problem in diabetic patients, the authors explain. However, it was unclear whether the drug affects sugar control.
Dr. Thomas Hardy from Eli Lily, Indianapolis, and colleagues pooled data from three clinical trials to investigate changes in weight, sugar levels, and cholesterol levels in patients with DPNP treated with duloxetine. Short-term treatment with duloxetine was associated with a modest increase in fasting sugar levels, the authors report, but not with significant increases in hemoglobin A1c, a measure of long-term sugar control. With longer treatment, however, there was a significant rise in hemoglobin A1c, indicating impaired sugar control. Continue reading
Taller women who participate in regular physical exercise during pregnancy may deliver lighter babies, but still within the "normal" birth weight range, which could have health benefits for the baby and the mother, a study shows.
"Our findings support that healthy pregnant women, with no obstetric complications, can perform appropriate physical activity during pregnancy and does not adversely affect birth weight," study chief Dr. Cooker C. D. Perkins from Pepperdine University, Malibu, California, told Reuters Health. "In fact, physical activity may positively affect birth weight, and subsequently positively affect labor, in taller women," she added. Continue reading
When women and men have lung cancer of the same stage and are given the same treatment, the women are more likely to survive, according to the findings published in the journal of Chest.
Lung cancer "is the number one cause of cancer deaths in both men and women worldwide," Dr. Robert James Cerfolio and colleagues from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, write. Several studies using data from national cancer registries have shown that men and women differ in lung cancer survival. The present study was different in that it determined survival in men and women who were diagnosed with lung cancer, treated based on the same algorithm, and then followed for up to 7 years. Continue reading