Common heart arrhythmia linked to dementia risk
Atrial fibrillation, the rapid and uncoordinated beating of the upper chambers of the heart, is a fairly common disorder that has been linked to an increased risk of blood clots and strokes. Now, researchers have found that dementia occurs quite frequently in the years following a diagnosis of atrial fibrillation.
Dr. Teresa S. M. Tsang at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota and colleagues identified 2837 patients first diagnosed with atrial fibrillation between 1986 and 2000, and who were followed until 2004.
Nicotine replacement helps expectant women quit
Nicotine replacement therapy in the form of patches or gum or lozenges can help pregnant women quit smoking, a new study shows.
Among 181 pregnant smokers, those given the option of using some form of nicotine replacement along with counseling were three times more likely than their peers who received counseling alone to have quit seven weeks later.
U.S. breast cancer death rate drops more: report
The death rate from breast cancer continues to drop steadily by about 2 percent a year, but black women are not seeing the same benefits as whites, the American Cancer Society said on Tuesday.
The group found that during 2001 through 2004, breast cancer diagnoses fell by an average of 3.7 percent a year—in part because women stopped taking hormone replacement therapy and in part because fewer got mammograms and therefore were not diagnosed.
Anger, chronic stress tied to heart disease
For men with borderline-high blood pressure, an angry disposition may worsen the problem and raise the risk of eventual heart disease, a study published Monday suggests.
What’s more, researchers found, long-term stress may do the same in both men and women.
Depression outreach can benefit workers, employers
A work-based outreach and care program to help company employees with depression improves not only clinical well-being but also workplace productivity, a study shows.
As reported in this week’s Journal of the American Medical Association, employees seeking treatment for depression who participated in the program had fewer depressive symptoms, logged more hours on the job, and had greater job retention than similar employees receiving usual care.
New Treatment Effective for Patients with Shoulder Pain
Inflammation of a tendon triggered by calcium deposits, or calcific tendinitis, can effectively be treated with a simple and cost effective percutaneous method according to a recent study conducted by researchers from the Hospital de Basurto in Bilbao, Spain.
“We started treating calcific tendinitis as the result of the request of several members of our hospital staff that were suffering from this condition,” said Jose Luis del Cura, MD, lead author of the study. “The results we obtained in these few cases encouraged us to offer this treatment to our patients. Later, in collaboration with the rheumatology department of our hospital, we conducted a study to evaluate the efficacy of the procedure,” said Dr. del Cura.
