New research supports ongoing observations that military deployment into combat zones puts young men and women at greater risk of developing mental health issues, including post-traumatic-stress-disorder (PTSD) and heavy drinking.
The two studies were presented in a themed issue on violence and human rights by the Journal of the American Medical Association, as was a study that found suicide rates for returning combat veterans were no higher than rates for the general U.S. population.
In the study on alcohol abuse, returning service members who had seen combat were 63 percent more likely to experience new-onset heavy and binge drinking than those who were in non-combat areas.
The rates for new-onset heavy weekly drinking was 8.8 percent, with it being 25.6 percent for binge drinking, and 7.1 percent for other alcohol-related problems.
Binge drinking rates were 31 percent higher for combat veterans than for those not exposed to the same level of violence.
The results also showed a higher risk for younger service members compared to older personnel, and a higher incidence rate for Reserve or National Guard members compared to members in other military branches.
Surveys were taken of 48,400 military personnel before and after assumed deployment (between 2001-2003 and again in 2004-2006), setting a pre-deployment precedent for drinking levels and alcohol-related issues. Only 5,500 were actually deployed into combat zones, with 5,661 deployed into non-combat areas. The rest remained on active duty in the Reserve or National Guard.
The researchers suggested in their report that alcohol use likely serves as a coping mechanism for returning soldiers, as it does for individuals in the general populace. To combat this unhealthy response, the building and provision of familiar and stable support networks of trusted family, friends or fellow veterans is best - anywhere that doesn't involve meeting at a bar.
A separate study on excess alcohol intake lists additional dangers as including a greater chance of developing metabolic syndrome, which includes obesity, high blood pressure and diabetes.
This study by the CDC's National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion defines excess drinking as more than two drinks daily for men and one drink a day for women, as well as binge drinking.
In the U.S., 58 percent of drinkers fall into this "excess" category and a majority had engaged in at least one instance of binge drinking, according to a recent survey cited by the researchers in their report.
Researchers suggest that public health messages emphasize the cardiometabolic risk of excess drinking. This study will be published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.
Heather J. Chin can be reached at hchin@thebulletin.us.
Showing posts with label women's health. Show all posts
Showing posts with label women's health. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Quotes about Rapes in Haiti
"The toddler is taking antibiotics for a gonorrhea infection of the mouth."
Wednesday, February 04, 2009
COMMENTARY: Link between HRT and breast cancer rates?
After reading this news article about research touting a link between hormone-replacement therapy and increased breast cancer rates, I can't help but doubt the veracity of this study (not uncommon with research studies. Always read with caution.) Before jumping on the blame-HRT bandwagon, why don't the researchers account for the possibility that the severe menopause symptoms could be linked to the increased risk and rates of breast cancer? This, rather than HRT being the cause of the cancer? The two issues - severe menopause symptoms and breast cancer rates - may not have separate factors.
Friday, September 12, 2008
HEALTH NEWS: Study: Breast Cancer Survivors Still At Risk
(previously published here at www.thebulletin.us)
New research from a 16-year study indicates that early-stage breast cancer patients who have completed five to 10 years of drug and/or chemotherapy treatment have a one in five - around 20 percent - chance of relapse.
Between 1985 and 2001, oncologists/researchers at the University of Texas' M.D. Anderson Cancer Center examined 2,838 patients with stage I to III breast cancers who had been treated at the center. All were cancer-free five years after initial treatment with surgery or surgery and radiation.
All of the women underwent up to five years of additional treatments with chemotherapy, the anti-estrogen drug tamoxifen or both. After a 28-month follow-up, 215 women developed recurrent cancer.
This incidence rate put the risk at 7 percent for women with stage I breast cancer, 11 percent for stage II, and 13 percent for women with stage III cancer. This relapse rate increased to 20 percent 15 years after first being diagnosed.
"The risk of relapse was still small, but certainly not insignificant," Abenaa M. Brewster, M.D., an oncologist and researcher with M.D. Anderson Cancer Center told WebMD. "I think these numbers are somewhat reassuring, but they also highlight the need for new [therapeutic] options for women who have completed five years of treatment."
Factors associated with the risk of recurrence were tumor grade, hormone receptor status and endocrine therapy.
Forms of treatment available to newly diagnosed patients usually include surgery and radiation therapy (chemotherapy) or surgery and drug therapy.
Up until the year 2000, drug treatment consisted of tamoxifen for both premenopausal and postmenopausal women with estrogen-receptor positive tumors (they respond to hormone treatments). Today, a newer class of drugs called aromatase inhibitors are used.
In the study, 34 ER-negative women had a relapse and 149 ER-positive women did. The study and results were published Tuesday in the online edition of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
Estrogen-receptor (ER) negative tumors are considered more deadly than ER-positive ones. However, "women who had ER-positive cancer were more likely to have late recurrences than those with ER-negative," according to Len Lichtenfeld, M.D., the American Cancer Society deputy chief medical officer in healthday.com.
However, what to do about this continued risk is up in the air, Dr. Lichtenfeld said.
A possible treatment alternative is in the works by British and Finnish researchers, who are testing a combination of two inexpensive, commonly used and easily available drugs on killing cancer-cells in tumors.
The first drug is doxorubicin, a common chemotherapy-regimen drug, followed 24 hours later by the osteoporosis medication zoledronic acid. When tested on mice, the drug combo was 99.99 percent effective in killing such cells. Human trials are currently underway with results expected later this year.
This announcement was also made in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
Each year in the U.S., around 180,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer. In the U.K., almost 46,000 new cases are diagnosed every year.
Heather J. Chin can be reached at hchin@thebulletin.us
©The Evening Bulletin 2008
Between 1985 and 2001, oncologists/researchers at the University of Texas' M.D. Anderson Cancer Center examined 2,838 patients with stage I to III breast cancers who had been treated at the center. All were cancer-free five years after initial treatment with surgery or surgery and radiation.
All of the women underwent up to five years of additional treatments with chemotherapy, the anti-estrogen drug tamoxifen or both. After a 28-month follow-up, 215 women developed recurrent cancer.
This incidence rate put the risk at 7 percent for women with stage I breast cancer, 11 percent for stage II, and 13 percent for women with stage III cancer. This relapse rate increased to 20 percent 15 years after first being diagnosed.
"The risk of relapse was still small, but certainly not insignificant," Abenaa M. Brewster, M.D., an oncologist and researcher with M.D. Anderson Cancer Center told WebMD. "I think these numbers are somewhat reassuring, but they also highlight the need for new [therapeutic] options for women who have completed five years of treatment."
Factors associated with the risk of recurrence were tumor grade, hormone receptor status and endocrine therapy.
Forms of treatment available to newly diagnosed patients usually include surgery and radiation therapy (chemotherapy) or surgery and drug therapy.
Up until the year 2000, drug treatment consisted of tamoxifen for both premenopausal and postmenopausal women with estrogen-receptor positive tumors (they respond to hormone treatments). Today, a newer class of drugs called aromatase inhibitors are used.
In the study, 34 ER-negative women had a relapse and 149 ER-positive women did. The study and results were published Tuesday in the online edition of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
Estrogen-receptor (ER) negative tumors are considered more deadly than ER-positive ones. However, "women who had ER-positive cancer were more likely to have late recurrences than those with ER-negative," according to Len Lichtenfeld, M.D., the American Cancer Society deputy chief medical officer in healthday.com.
However, what to do about this continued risk is up in the air, Dr. Lichtenfeld said.
A possible treatment alternative is in the works by British and Finnish researchers, who are testing a combination of two inexpensive, commonly used and easily available drugs on killing cancer-cells in tumors.
The first drug is doxorubicin, a common chemotherapy-regimen drug, followed 24 hours later by the osteoporosis medication zoledronic acid. When tested on mice, the drug combo was 99.99 percent effective in killing such cells. Human trials are currently underway with results expected later this year.
This announcement was also made in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
Each year in the U.S., around 180,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer. In the U.K., almost 46,000 new cases are diagnosed every year.
Heather J. Chin can be reached at hchin@thebulletin.us
HEALTH NEWS: Diabetes Before Pregnancy Linked To Birth Risk
(previously published here at www.thebulletin.us)
A study from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that women with diabetes prior to becoming pregnant are eight times more likely to have children with multiple birth defects compared to women without diabetes.
The study found also that women with diabetes are three to four times more likely to give birth to a baby with at least one birth defect.
Women with pregnancy-induced diabetes, or gestational diabetes, were also found more likely to have a child with a birth defect, although usually only if they were overweight or obese at conception. This range would mean a body mass index (BMI) - weight measured in proportion to height - of 25 or higher.
The study expanded on previous research by examining women with type 1 and type 2 diabetes as well as gestational diabetes, and considering both cardiac and non-cardiac defects, nearly 40 in all.
Only 2 percent of babies with single birth defects and 5 percent with multiple defects were born to mothers with pre-pregnancy diabetes, while 93 percent of the birth defects examined were not associated with maternal diabetes.
Overall, diabetes diagnosed before pregnancy was linked with about half of the birth defect categories examined.
Birth defects may include heart problems, brain and spinal defects, oral clefts, limb deficiencies, and kidney and gastrointestinal tract defects. These affect 1-in-33 infants and are a leading cause of infant death, according to the CDC. Most causes are unknown.
The findings were based on data analyzed from over 13,000 infants with birth defects and nearly 5,000 without defects, all born between 1997 and 2003. Of those without defects, 24 mothers had diabetes before diabetes. Of those newborns with defects, 283 mothers had pre-pregnancy diabetes.
All children were part of the National Birth Defects Prevention Study, which drew data from 10 birth-defect surveillance systems in 10 states.
However, according to Janis Biermann, a spokeswoman for the March of Dimes which reviewed the study for WebMD, women shouldnotbe unduly concerned.
"Just because there is an increased risk of a baby having a birth defect if a woman has preconception diabetes doesn't mean it is going to happen," she said, "It just means there is a greater chance than if a woman doesn't have it."
The study is the largest yet done to identify the range of birth defects linked to pre-pregnancy diagnoses of diabetes, but the link itself has been known for almost two decades. Researchers hope that increased awareness will encourage people to seek the best available everyday preconception care.
"Early and effective management of diabetes for pregnant women is critical in helping to not only prevent birth defects, but also to reduce the risk for other health complications for them and their children," said lead author Dr. Adolfo Correa, an epidemiologist at the CDC's National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, in a news release.
According to the March of Dimes, about 1.85 million U.S. women of childbearing age have diabetes.
"The most important thing is that the patient ... get [her diabetes] in control," said Dr. Louis Weinstein, M.D., professor and chairman of OBGYN at Thomas Jefferson University.
In an urban area such as Philadelphia, "we tend to see more diabetes than in other parts of the country because we have lower socioeconomic populations with higher BMI [levels] than elsewhere," Dr. Weinstein added.
"It's important to take care of yourself, exercise, be at an optimal weight, plan your pregnancy, and make sure the diabetes is well controlled before you get pregnant," Ms. Biermann, from the March of Dimes, said to WebMD.
Once pregnant, Ms. Biermann notes the importance of following the same healthy habits and having regular prenatal care, along with regular appointments with a diabetes specialist for those diagnosed.
The report was published this month in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology.
Heather J. Chin can be reached at hchin@thebulletin.us.
©The Evening Bulletin 2008
The study found also that women with diabetes are three to four times more likely to give birth to a baby with at least one birth defect.
Women with pregnancy-induced diabetes, or gestational diabetes, were also found more likely to have a child with a birth defect, although usually only if they were overweight or obese at conception. This range would mean a body mass index (BMI) - weight measured in proportion to height - of 25 or higher.
The study expanded on previous research by examining women with type 1 and type 2 diabetes as well as gestational diabetes, and considering both cardiac and non-cardiac defects, nearly 40 in all.
Only 2 percent of babies with single birth defects and 5 percent with multiple defects were born to mothers with pre-pregnancy diabetes, while 93 percent of the birth defects examined were not associated with maternal diabetes.
Overall, diabetes diagnosed before pregnancy was linked with about half of the birth defect categories examined.
Birth defects may include heart problems, brain and spinal defects, oral clefts, limb deficiencies, and kidney and gastrointestinal tract defects. These affect 1-in-33 infants and are a leading cause of infant death, according to the CDC. Most causes are unknown.
The findings were based on data analyzed from over 13,000 infants with birth defects and nearly 5,000 without defects, all born between 1997 and 2003. Of those without defects, 24 mothers had diabetes before diabetes. Of those newborns with defects, 283 mothers had pre-pregnancy diabetes.
All children were part of the National Birth Defects Prevention Study, which drew data from 10 birth-defect surveillance systems in 10 states.
However, according to Janis Biermann, a spokeswoman for the March of Dimes which reviewed the study for WebMD, women shouldnotbe unduly concerned.
"Just because there is an increased risk of a baby having a birth defect if a woman has preconception diabetes doesn't mean it is going to happen," she said, "It just means there is a greater chance than if a woman doesn't have it."
The study is the largest yet done to identify the range of birth defects linked to pre-pregnancy diagnoses of diabetes, but the link itself has been known for almost two decades. Researchers hope that increased awareness will encourage people to seek the best available everyday preconception care.
"Early and effective management of diabetes for pregnant women is critical in helping to not only prevent birth defects, but also to reduce the risk for other health complications for them and their children," said lead author Dr. Adolfo Correa, an epidemiologist at the CDC's National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, in a news release.
According to the March of Dimes, about 1.85 million U.S. women of childbearing age have diabetes.
"The most important thing is that the patient ... get [her diabetes] in control," said Dr. Louis Weinstein, M.D., professor and chairman of OBGYN at Thomas Jefferson University.
In an urban area such as Philadelphia, "we tend to see more diabetes than in other parts of the country because we have lower socioeconomic populations with higher BMI [levels] than elsewhere," Dr. Weinstein added.
"It's important to take care of yourself, exercise, be at an optimal weight, plan your pregnancy, and make sure the diabetes is well controlled before you get pregnant," Ms. Biermann, from the March of Dimes, said to WebMD.
Once pregnant, Ms. Biermann notes the importance of following the same healthy habits and having regular prenatal care, along with regular appointments with a diabetes specialist for those diagnosed.
The report was published this month in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology.
Heather J. Chin can be reached at hchin@thebulletin.us.
HEALTH: Study: Americans Drinking Less Alcohol, More Wine
(previously published here at www.thebulletin.us)
Americans may drink more in one sitting than some Europeans (who drink steadily in small amounts), but their average overall alcohol intake has decreased across age and gender differences, according to a study published last week in the American Journal of Medicine.
The results from a 55-year study (1948-2003) on 8,600 white adults in Framingham, Mass., found Americans drink less as they get older, and they tend to gravitate away from beer and toward wine in the process. Each successive generation also showed a trend from heavier drinking toward moderate drinking.
All participants were initially at least 28 years old and were born between 1900 and 1959.
The average amount of alcohol intake was highest between ages 30 and 50 for most cohorts, regardless of gender.
Up to their mid-30s, young men relied on beer for at least half of their alcohol consumption. After that, beer consumption dropped to around one-quarter of the average male in his mid-70s.
While both men and women in each generation drank less with age and each generation drank less than the generation before it, the overall incidence rate of an alcohol use disorder among those aged 40 to 79 years was about three times higher among men (12.8 percent) than women (3.8 percent).
Female participants also showed a move from beer to wine over time, although the report's authors noted that they were less partial to beer to begin with. No significant alcohol-related problems were linked with women here, but a report by University of Washington researchers in the May issue of Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research found that women born after 1953 had rising rates of alcoholism.
Lead author Yuqing Zhang, D.Sc., of the Boston University School of Medicine, told WebMD he doesn't know why the rates of alcohol use dropped over generations and this study "did not try to answer these questions."
The long-term health study collected data by asking participants to answer questions about their lifestyle and health, including alcohol consumption over time. Researchers hoped that the data would help determine patterns of alcohol use and disorders according to sex, age and birth cohorts.
The study, supported by a grant from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (part of the National Institutes of Health), is not clearly representative of all U.S. adults, but researchers said the data supports the efficacy of efforts to reduce alcohol use disorders.
Researchers also hope the data may be useful for policy-making groups responsible for drinking and alcohol recommendations, continuing "to support potentially beneficial effects of moderate drinking on cardiovascular disease and other diseases of aging, as well as adverse health and social effects of heavy alcohol use."
Heather J. Chin can be reached at hchin@thebulletin.us
©The Evening Bulletin 2008
The results from a 55-year study (1948-2003) on 8,600 white adults in Framingham, Mass., found Americans drink less as they get older, and they tend to gravitate away from beer and toward wine in the process. Each successive generation also showed a trend from heavier drinking toward moderate drinking.
All participants were initially at least 28 years old and were born between 1900 and 1959.
The average amount of alcohol intake was highest between ages 30 and 50 for most cohorts, regardless of gender.
Up to their mid-30s, young men relied on beer for at least half of their alcohol consumption. After that, beer consumption dropped to around one-quarter of the average male in his mid-70s.
While both men and women in each generation drank less with age and each generation drank less than the generation before it, the overall incidence rate of an alcohol use disorder among those aged 40 to 79 years was about three times higher among men (12.8 percent) than women (3.8 percent).
Female participants also showed a move from beer to wine over time, although the report's authors noted that they were less partial to beer to begin with. No significant alcohol-related problems were linked with women here, but a report by University of Washington researchers in the May issue of Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research found that women born after 1953 had rising rates of alcoholism.
Lead author Yuqing Zhang, D.Sc., of the Boston University School of Medicine, told WebMD he doesn't know why the rates of alcohol use dropped over generations and this study "did not try to answer these questions."
The long-term health study collected data by asking participants to answer questions about their lifestyle and health, including alcohol consumption over time. Researchers hoped that the data would help determine patterns of alcohol use and disorders according to sex, age and birth cohorts.
The study, supported by a grant from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (part of the National Institutes of Health), is not clearly representative of all U.S. adults, but researchers said the data supports the efficacy of efforts to reduce alcohol use disorders.
Researchers also hope the data may be useful for policy-making groups responsible for drinking and alcohol recommendations, continuing "to support potentially beneficial effects of moderate drinking on cardiovascular disease and other diseases of aging, as well as adverse health and social effects of heavy alcohol use."
Heather J. Chin can be reached at hchin@thebulletin.us
Friday, August 29, 2008
INT'L: HEALTH: POLITICS: The Implications Of China's One-Child Policy
(previously published here as part of the special On Human Life edition of www.thebulletin.us)
The People's Republic of China's one-child policy has impacted two generations, simultaneously strengthening the economy and challenging long-held social and cultural norms.
It was introduced as a short-term measure in 1979 to improve living standards and economic performance by controlling population growth. In this, it has been successful.
Between 1970 and 1979, when families were simply encouraged to think small, the fertility rate dropped from 5.93 to 2.66 children per woman.
After the policy took effect, the rate was reported as 1.94, even lower for women under 35. In 2003 the UN Population Fund explained these results through the near universal - 83 percent - use of contraception.
Compliance has been encouraged by the establishment of state-run Family Planning Centers throughout China. Eighty percent of villages have a family planning clinic and 99.3 percent have at least one professional family planning worker. In addition, economic incentives are given for compliance, and punishments, for having additional children.
The most notorious mechanism for the reduction in births is coerced abortion, but long-term contraceptive methods such as IUDs (intrauterine devices) and sterilization are most common. Another constraint is legally mandated minimum ages for marriage, 23 for women and 25 for men.
A 1993 article by Dr. R.E.J. Ryder in the British Medical Journal describes Natural Family Planning as a possible alternative to such measures. "Indeed a study of 19,843 poor women in [Calcutta] India had a pregnancy rate approaching zero. Natural family planning is cheap, efficient, without side effects and may be particularly acceptable to and efficacious among people in areas of poverty." The women in this study were mostly illiterate, but they had been trained in Natural Family Planning by Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity.
In the PRC, the one-child policy is strictly enforced in cities and for government employees, but there are exceptions. A second child is sometimes allowed in rural or less populated areas, if the first child has a disability, or if both parents work in high-risk jobs such as mining.
Still, the ability of parents to choose the sex of their child through selective abortion has resulted in a gender gap. The male to female ratio has increased, from 1.06 in 1979 to 1.17 in 2001, a universal phenomenon exacerbated by underreported female births and unreported adoptions of baby girls.
China's economic empowerment is indisputable, and those girls who survive the cultural preference for sons may net particular advantages in parental attention, education and marriage. However, the overall social costs have been tremendous.
While Americans are familiar with the practice of foreign adoptions, a heartbreaking trade in children has emerged within China itself.
Every year over 70,000 Chinese children are kidnapped, or sold by parents who cannot afford to care for them or cannot afford to pay the fines incurred by their "illegal" births.
Even if the one-child policy is ended, there may still only be moderate growth since most women asked by the Family Planning Commission say they want small families.
China's current population is 1.3 billion. Whatever hopes anyone may have for the policy to end immediately, the Chinese government has stated that the One-Child Policy will continue in effect for at least a decade to accommodate a "surge in births" expected among the 200 million people who will reach child-bearing age.
Heather Chin can be reached at hchin@thebulletin.us
©The Evening Bulletin 2008
It was introduced as a short-term measure in 1979 to improve living standards and economic performance by controlling population growth. In this, it has been successful.
Between 1970 and 1979, when families were simply encouraged to think small, the fertility rate dropped from 5.93 to 2.66 children per woman.
After the policy took effect, the rate was reported as 1.94, even lower for women under 35. In 2003 the UN Population Fund explained these results through the near universal - 83 percent - use of contraception.
Compliance has been encouraged by the establishment of state-run Family Planning Centers throughout China. Eighty percent of villages have a family planning clinic and 99.3 percent have at least one professional family planning worker. In addition, economic incentives are given for compliance, and punishments, for having additional children.
The most notorious mechanism for the reduction in births is coerced abortion, but long-term contraceptive methods such as IUDs (intrauterine devices) and sterilization are most common. Another constraint is legally mandated minimum ages for marriage, 23 for women and 25 for men.
A 1993 article by Dr. R.E.J. Ryder in the British Medical Journal describes Natural Family Planning as a possible alternative to such measures. "Indeed a study of 19,843 poor women in [Calcutta] India had a pregnancy rate approaching zero. Natural family planning is cheap, efficient, without side effects and may be particularly acceptable to and efficacious among people in areas of poverty." The women in this study were mostly illiterate, but they had been trained in Natural Family Planning by Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity.
In the PRC, the one-child policy is strictly enforced in cities and for government employees, but there are exceptions. A second child is sometimes allowed in rural or less populated areas, if the first child has a disability, or if both parents work in high-risk jobs such as mining.
Still, the ability of parents to choose the sex of their child through selective abortion has resulted in a gender gap. The male to female ratio has increased, from 1.06 in 1979 to 1.17 in 2001, a universal phenomenon exacerbated by underreported female births and unreported adoptions of baby girls.
China's economic empowerment is indisputable, and those girls who survive the cultural preference for sons may net particular advantages in parental attention, education and marriage. However, the overall social costs have been tremendous.
While Americans are familiar with the practice of foreign adoptions, a heartbreaking trade in children has emerged within China itself.
Every year over 70,000 Chinese children are kidnapped, or sold by parents who cannot afford to care for them or cannot afford to pay the fines incurred by their "illegal" births.
Even if the one-child policy is ended, there may still only be moderate growth since most women asked by the Family Planning Commission say they want small families.
China's current population is 1.3 billion. Whatever hopes anyone may have for the policy to end immediately, the Chinese government has stated that the One-Child Policy will continue in effect for at least a decade to accommodate a "surge in births" expected among the 200 million people who will reach child-bearing age.
Heather Chin can be reached at hchin@thebulletin.us
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