‘Obesity can reduce life by up to 8 years’

Life expectancy can be reduced by up to 8 years by obesity, which can also cause adults to lose as much as 19 years of healthy life if it leads to type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. A study published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology examines the issue.

The researchers behind the study analyzed data from the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), creating a disease-simulation model to estimate the risk of adults of different body weightdeveloping diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

From this, the researchers then calculated the extent to which overweight and obesity may contribute to both years of life lost and years of healthy life lost in American adults aged between 20 and 79 years old, in comparison to people of normal weight.

They found that people who were overweight (BMI 25-30 kg/m2) were estimated to lose up to 3 years of life, depending on age and gender. Individuals classed as obese (BMI 30-35 kg/m2) were calculated to lose up to 6 years, and people classed as very obese (BMI 35 kg/m2 or more) could lose up to 8 years of life.

Read more:

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/286518.php

 

 

Scientists identify a rise in life-threatening heart infection

Scientists at the University of Sheffield have identified a significant rise in the number of people diagnosed with a serious heart infection alongside a large fall in the prescribing of antibiotic prophylaxis to dental patients.

The pioneering study is the largest and most comprehensive to be conducted with regards to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines, which recommended dentists should no longer give antibiotics before invasive treatments to people considered at risk of the life threatening heart infection, Infective Endocarditis (IE), which in 40 per cent of cases is caused by bacteria from the mouth.

The team of international researchers, led by Professor Martin Thornhill at the University of Sheffield’s School of Clinical Dentistry, discovered that since the NICE guidelines were introduced in March 2008, there has been an increase in cases of Infective Endocarditis above the expected trend. By March 2013 this accounted for an extra 35 cases per month.

They also identified that the prescribing of antibiotic prophylaxis fell by 89 per cent from 10,900 prescriptions a month, before the 2008 guidelines, to 1,235 a month by March 2008.

Martin Thornhill, Professor of Translational Research in Dentistry at the University of Sheffield, said: “Infective Endocarditis is a rare but serious infection of the heart lining. We hope that our data will provide the information that guideline committees need to re-evaluate the benefits, or not, of giving antibiotic prophylaxis.

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http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/285754.php

 

 

The heart’s own immune cells can help it heal

The heart holds its own pool of immune cells capable of helping it heal after injury, according to new research in mice at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

Most of the time when the heart is injured, these beneficial immune cells are supplanted by immune cells from the bone marrow, which are spurred to converge in the heart and cause inflammation that leads to further damage. In both cases, these immune cells are called macrophages, whether they reside in the heart or arrive from the bone marrow. Although they share a name, where they originate appears to determine whether they are helpful are harmful to an injured heart.

In a mouse model of heart failure, the researchers showed that blocking the bone marrow’s macrophages from entering the heart protects the organ’s beneficial pool of macrophages, allowing them to remain in the heart, where they promote regeneration and recovery. The findings may have implications for treating heart failure in humans.

The study is now available in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Early Edition.

“Researchers have known for a long time that the neonatal mouse heart can recover well from injury, and in some cases can even regenerate,” said first author Kory J. Lavine, MD, PhD, instructor in medicine. “If you cut off the lower tip of the neonatal mouse heart, it can grow back. But if you do the same thing to an adult mouse heart, it forms scar tissue.”

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http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/284750.php

 

 

Heightened risk of anxiety, depression among women after heart attack

A new study by researchers from Lithuania claims women are more likely to experience anxiety and depression following a heart attack than men. Furthermore, patients with depression may be at much higher risk of death in the 6 months after a heart attack than those without depression.

Study author Prof. Pranas Serpytis and colleagues presented their findings at the annual meeting of the Acute Cardiovascular Care Association – a part of the European Society of Cardiology – in Geneva, Switzerland.

To reach their findings, the team analyzed 160 patients who were admitted to the Vilnius University Hospital Santariskiu Clinics in Vilnius, Lithuania, with a heart attack.

The researchers interviewed patients around 1 month after their heart attack to gather demographic information, such as age, sex education and marital status, and to determine whether they had a history of mental illness.

The team also collected clinical information from the patients – such as whether they had experienced a heart attack before and whether they had a history of high blood pressure or diabetes – and determined if they had any other risk factors for cardiovascular disease, including smoking and lack of physical activity.

The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) was used to assess patients. Those who had a score of 0-7 had nodepression or anxiety, a score of 8-10 indicated possible depression and anxiety, while a score of 11 or more suggested mild to moderate levels of depression and anxiety.

Read more:
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/284082.php

 

 

Lack of rehab programs leaves cardiac patients underserved globally

Rehabilitation programs must become an integral part of cardiac care to significantly reduce the burden of living with heart disease, one of the most common chronic diseases and causes of death globally, according to York University Professor Sherry Grace.

“Cardiac rehabilitation is a cost-effective program offering heart patients exercise, education and risk reduction,” says Grace, noting that participation results in 25 per cent less death, lower re-hospitalization rates and better quality of life.

Despite these benefits, cardiac rehabilitation is vastly underused, particularly compared with costly revascularization and medical therapy, according to the review Grace conducted with Karam Turk-Adawi in the Cardiovascular Rehabilitation & Prevention Unit, University Health Network (UHN), and Dr. Nizal Sarrafzadegan, director of Isfahan Cardiovascular Research Center at Isfahan University of Medical Sciences in Iran.

“Cardiac rehabilitation services are insufficiently implemented, with only 39 per cent of countries providing any,” says Grace.

Heart disease has become an epidemic in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs), and cardiac rehab can reduce the socio-economic impact of the disease by promoting return to work and reducing premature mortality, notes to Grace, who is also the director of research at the GoodLife Fitness Cardiovascular Rehabilitation Unit at the UHN.

Read more:

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/279686.php

Picture courtesy to www.docstoc.com

 

 

 

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