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One in five people who die by suicide experienced intimate partner problems that included divorce, separation, arguments and violence, new research shows. “I think people hear the term intimate partner problems and go straight to intimate partner violence. That is a component of intimate partner problems, but it’s not just about violence,” said study author Lt. Cmdr. Ayana Stanley, who began researching the issue while at the University of Georgia (UGA) College of Public Health. “Romantic partners experience other kinds of relationship stressors, such as general hostility, arguments and jealousy,” said Stanley, who is now a program coordinator in the division of violence prevention at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “By sharing resources for seeking help, we send a strong message that every life has value, there is hope and that seeking help is a sign of strength.” Suicide is a leading cause of death among Americans, with more than 48,000 people dying by suicide in 2021, according to the CDC. For those who had intimate partner problems, it was more common to have other contributing issues, such as mental health problems, recent legal issues, and life stressors including unemployment and family problems, according to the researchers, who culled data from 2003 to 2020. In suicides that did not involve intimate partner problems, the person who died was more likely to be…  read on >  read on >

Patients with a common vascular disease that causes blockages in their leg vessels had both worse symptoms and outcomes if they were Black or poor, new research finds. The study from Michigan Medicine looked at more than 7,000 patients with peripheral arterial disease (PAD) who had a lower extremity bypass operation to improve circulation. PAD involves plaque blocking the vessels that carry blood from the heart to the legs. The condition was particularly disabling for Black and poor patients, who had a higher prevalence of chronic limb-threatening ischemia (inadequate blood supply), the most severe form of PAD. In these cases, amputation is often required. In fact, the researchers discovered that these patients were more likely to need an amputation between 30 days and up to one year after bypass surgery than white patients and those who were not socioeconomically disadvantaged. “While we have known that racial and socioeconomic disparities exist for patients with PAD, our study may be the first to show that the severe presentation of these patient populations serves as a mediator to poor outcomes after lower extremity bypass, particularly amputation rates,” said lead study author Dr. Chloé Powell, a vascular surgery resident at the University of Michigan Health Frankel Cardiovascular Center in Ann Arbor. “Health care providers need to recognize the vulnerability of certain subgroups to adverse outcomes and be on alert…  read on >  read on >

Young teens who vape and smoke cigarettes may be setting themselves up to be heavy smokers by the time they are older teens, a new study suggests. The researchers chalked it up to what they called the “entrenchment hypothesis.” “There has been a lot of attention on restricting e-cigarettes, so that they do not serve as a pathway into tobacco initiation,” said senior study author Jeremy Staff, a professor of sociology and criminology at Pennsylvania State University. “Our findings highlight that considering their impacts on youth who initiate smoking at an early age remains important as well.” Staff said, “Among early-smoking teens in both the U.K. and U.S., those who had vaped before age 15 were more likely to be smokers, as well as frequent tobacco smokers, by the time they reached late adolescence.” This study can’t prove that cigarette smoking and vaping cause heavier tobacco smoking in the late teens, only that there appears to be a connection, the researchers noted. E-cigarette use among teens who already smoke early in adolescence generates more harmful patterns of tobacco use later on in adolescence, said lead researcher Brian Kelly, from the department of sociology at Purdue University, in West Lafayette, Ind. “Many studies on youth vaping focus on the important goal of prevention of smoking, but less often consider youth who begin smoking early,” Kelly said.…  read on >  read on >

U.S. schools that have a lot of students with prescriptions for ADHD medication also tend to have a lot of students who misuse the drugs, a new study suggests. Researchers found that among nearly 3,300 U.S. middle schools and high schools, some had a serious problem with students misusing prescription stimulant medications. At certain schools, upwards of one-quarter of students said they’d misused the drugs in the past year. And the problem loomed larger at schools where a high percentage of students had legitimate stimulant prescriptions — a sign some of those kids are sharing the drugs with their peers. At issue are the medications most commonly used to treat ADHD, or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, including well-known brand names like Ritalin (methylphenidate), Adderall (amphetamine/dextroamphetamine) and Concerta (methylphenidate). When kids actually have ADHD, the drugs can help them focus, have more self-control and do better in school. But the medications are also commonly abused, often by kids or college students who get pills from their friends with prescriptions. “Oftentimes, there are several motivations for misuse,” said Sean Esteban McCabe, director of the University of Michigan’s Center for the Study of Drugs, Alcohol, Smoking and Health. Some kids, he said, buy into the mistaken belief that stimulants will make them sharper and boost their school performance. Other times, they use the drugs to “get high,” to…  read on >  read on >

(HealthDay News) – Damar Hamlin has returned to practice with the Buffalo Bills after recovering from his sudden cardiac arrest during a game against the Cincinnati Bengals in January. Hamlin, 25, said commotio cordis was the cause of his cardiac arrest. “I died on national TV in front of the whole world,” Hamlin told reporters Tuesday. “I lost a bunch of people in my life. I know a bunch of people who lost people in their lives. I know that feeling. That right there is the biggest blessing of it all – for me to still have my people and my people to still have me.” With commotio cordis, severe trauma to the chest can disrupt the heart’s electrical charge and cause dangerous fibrillations. For Hamlin, this happened after making a tackle. He appeared to be hit with a helmet in his chest. Bills General Manager Brandon Beane said Hamlin has seen three separate specialists during the offseason. He “is clear to resume full activities just like anyone else who was coming back from an injury,” Beane said. Hamlin has been participating in offseason workouts this week. “He is fully cleared,” Beane said. “He’s here.” “[Hamlin’s] in a great headspace to come back and make his return,” Beane added. Hamlin said he was blessed by a medical team who “treat me with the care of…  read on >  read on >

(HealthDay News) – In the latest move to restrict access to the abortion pill mifepristone in the United States, a coalition of anti-abortion groups on Tuesday asked the Supreme Court to allow an appeals court ruling to stand. That ruling, issued by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals last week, would ratchet back recent changes the U.S. Food and Drug Administration made to ease access to the drug. The ruling would effectively prevent distribution of mifepristone by mail and require more doctor visits to get the medication. Over decades, the FDA has “stripped away every meaningful and necessary safeguard on chemical abortion, demonstrating callous disregard for women’s well-being, unborn life, and statutory limits,” the court filing from the groups led by the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine stated. “The lower courts’ meticulous decisions do not second-guess the agency’s scientific determinations; they merely require the agency to follow the law,” lawyers for the group added. Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Justice and drugmaker Danco Laboratories have already asked the Supreme Court to block the appeals court ruling. The high court put the ruling on hold last Friday, but it must take its next steps by midnight Wednesday. The FDA has suggested regulatory chaos could result if the appeals court ruling stands. The appeals court decision followed an April 7 ruling by Texas-based U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk…  read on >  read on >

Nearly one-third of Americans live in counties with unhealthy air, according to a new report from the American Lung Association. One in three, or 120 million, people lives with unhealthy levels of ozone or particle pollution, the “State of the Air” report says. While air quality has improved overall, there are major differences between Eastern and Western states and in air pollution exposure for white people and people of color, according to the association. “The good news is that ozone pollution has generally improved across the nation, thanks in large part to the success of the Clean Air Act. In this year’s ‘State of the Air’ report, we found that 19.3 million fewer people are living in areas with unhealthy levels of ozone pollution, also known as smog,” said Harold Wimmer, national president and CEO of the association. “However, the fact is that 120 million people still live in places with unhealthy air pollution, and not all communities are seeing improvements. This is why it is crucial to continue our efforts to ensure that every person in the U.S. has clean air to breathe,” Wimmer added in an association news release. The report, which covers 2019 to 2021, found about 54% of those living with unhealthy air quality were Black Americans and other minorities. People of color were 64% more likely to live in a…  read on >  read on >

Depression during pregnancy may be linked to heart disease as soon as two years later, new research suggests. This is true even when patients don’t have high blood pressure during pregnancy, the research team reports April 19 in the Journal of the American Heart Association. “We need to use pregnancy as a window to future health,” said lead study author Dr. Christina Ackerman-Banks, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology-maternal fetal medicine at Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston. “Complications during pregnancy, including prenatal depression, impact long-term cardiovascular health,” she said in a journal news release. “The postpartum period provides an opportunity to counsel and screen people for cardiovascular disease in order to prevent these outcomes.” About 20% of women experience depression during pregnancy, the researchers noted. They shouldn’t panic as the study doesn’t prove a direct cause-and-effect relationship between depression and heart disease, only an association. Researchers found the most significant association was between depression and ischemic heart disease (narrowed arteries), with depressed women having an 83% higher risk of developing the condition within two years of delivery than those without a depression diagnosis. When arteries are narrowed, less blood and oxygen reach the heart muscle. This can lead to heart attack, the American Heart Association explains. “I recommend that anyone diagnosed with prenatal depression be aware of the implications on…  read on >  read on >

Summer is almost here, and its arrival brings opportunities for many people – including those who suffer with allergies and asthma — to plan vacations away from home. A recent article titled “Allergies don’t take a vacation” in Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology encourages those with allergies and asthma to consider their conditions and consult with their allergist before embarking on a vacation to ensure maximum good health and opportunities for enjoyment while away from home. Annals is the scientific journal of the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. The article stressed that advance preparation for a vacation can ease the anxiety allergy and asthma patients sometimes face with the idea of being away from home and their regular care. Simple measures can make the vacation run more smoothly — like making sure prescriptions are up to date and filled so that you don’t run out while traveling. Consider bringing extra medications to use as needed for exacerbations of your allergic disease. It is also good to have your allergist’s contact information and research the location of pharmacies near to where you’ll be staying. Those with hay fever or nasal allergies have different concerns than those with asthma or food allergies or eczema. Consider the following tips, depending on which allergic condition you suffer with: Allergic rhinoconjunctivitis (nasal and eye allergies) Consider a…  read on >  read on >

While joint reconstruction surgeries are fairly common, they may be anything but routine for people with sickle cell disease. Patients with the blood disorder who undergo total knee replacement are at a higher risk for complications than other patients, according to a new large-scale study. “SCD patients undergoing total knee replacement need a multidisciplinary approach and may be better served in specialized centers capable of caring for these complex medical patients,” said study author Dr. Senthil Sambandam, an assistant professor of orthopedic surgery at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. “These patients have a higher risk of postoperative complications requiring the involvement of various specialists including nephrologists, pulmonologists and hematologists,” he explained in a UT Southwestern news release. Skeletal and arthritic issues are common among sickle cell patients. About 100,000 people in the United States have the disease. As the life expectancy for these patients has increased over the years, so has the proportion of those needing joint reconstruction. Researchers studied this using the National Inpatient Sample database to identify patients who underwent total knee replacement between 2016 and 2019. The team divided patients into two groups: those with sickle cell disease and those without. More than 558,000 patients had this surgery. Less than 1% — 493 — were known to have sickle cell disease. A greater proportion of them were younger, male…  read on >  read on >