Uterine fibroids can cause uncontrolled bleeding and infertility in women, and now a new study finds an unexpected culprit: Toxic chemicals called phthalates that are present in everything from fast-food packaging to plastic water bottles. “We detected the phthalate DEHP and its breakdown products in much higher quantities in the urine of women who also happen to have symptomatic uterine fibroid tumors. Then we asked the question whether this association was causal. And the answer was yes,” said corresponding study author Dr. Serdar Bulun. He is chair of the department of obstetrics and gynecology at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, in Chicago. Up to 80% of women will develop one or more fibroids in their lives, some experiencing bleeding, anemia, miscarriages and infertility. Most are non-cancerous. In the study, the researchers tested primary cells isolated from women’s fibroids. The investigators found that something known as MEHHP, a breakdown product of DEHP, activated a particular cellular pathway that triggered tumor growth. While previous studies have shown a consistent link between phthalate exposure and fibroid growth, this finding explains how that happens. DEHP is still widely used in the United States, even with concerns raised about its impact. It is gradually released into the dust and air, and lands on various surfaces. Fibroids can be found incidentally during a C-section or imaging, as well as discovered…  read on >  read on >

While marijuana legalization in some U.S. states and Canada may send a message that weed is harmless, that’s not necessarily so, according to a new study that found lung damage was more common in marijuana smokers than tobacco users. Research into marijuana’s impact on the lungs is just getting started, because weed wasn’t legal in many places until recently, but early indications are that it could do some serious damage. “The main message is that it may not be as safe as people think it is, and we need more information,” said study co-author Dr. Giselle Revah, a cardiothoracic radiologist and assistant professor at the University of Ottawa in Canada. “This is sort of just the opening. I want people to be aware that it may cause problems.” Revah said it’s possible to see that someone is a heavy or longtime cigarette smoker just by looking at their CT scan. She wondered if marijuana, the second most commonly smoked substance after tobacco, would show similar results. She was surprised to find little information existed. For this study, the researchers compared chest CT results from 56 marijuana smokers, including some who also used tobacco, with 33 who smoked only tobacco and 57 nonsmokers. Roughly 75% of the weed smokers had emphysema compared to 67% of the tobacco-only smokers and 5% of nonsmokers. The chief type of…  read on >  read on >

A new study that looks at suicide risk among U.S. teens who are lesbian, gay and bisexual finds they have disproportionately high rates of suicidal thoughts, planning and attempts compared to their heterosexual peers. “The major message of this paper is that among a group of survivors of these types of violence, those who identify as a sexual minority are more likely to develop suicidal thoughts and behaviors,” said Émilie Ellis, lead author of the study and a postdoctoral researcher in the College of Public Health at the University of Georgia. “We know that LGBTQ+ people are much more likely to experience suicidal thoughts and behaviors, but they’re also a lot more likely to have experienced trauma more frequently and to develop post-traumatic stress following those trauma exposures,” Ellis said in a university news release. Based on their answers to a questionnaire, LGBTQ high school students were more than twice as likely to attempt suicide, the researchers found, or to plan a suicide attempt and endure suicidal thoughts compared to their heterosexual classmates. This group was also more likely to experience trauma, including sexual or dating violence, as well as discrimination at home due to their sexual orientation. They were also more likely to experience bullying and victimization at school, according to the report. The suicidality issue may be even bigger than realized because of…  read on >  read on >

Illinois has seen a recent surge in the number of kids arriving in the emergency room for suicidal thoughts — both during and shortly before the pandemic, according to a new study. Among kids ages 5 to 19, ER visits for suicidal thoughts rose by 59% across the state between 2016 and 2021, researchers found. That included a sharp spike in the fall of 2019, followed by another in the fall of 2020. Experts said that while the findings come from one state, they reflect what’s been going on nationally. They also highlight a sobering fact: U.S. children and teenagers have been showing a deterioration in their mental health for years. “It’s absolutely not the case that this started with the pandemic,” said senior researcher Joseph Feinglass, of Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago. Over the past two decades, suicide deaths have risen by more than 50% among U.S. teens and adults younger than 25. And a 2019 government study found that about one-third of high school students said they felt persistently sad or hopeless — a 40% increase from a decade before. The new study, published Nov. 14 in the journal Pediatrics, focused on emergency room visits for suicidal thoughts — which are indicative of kids in real crisis, Feinglass said. Researchers found that from 2016 to June 2021, Illinois hospitals recorded…  read on >  read on >

A growing number of U.S. teenagers are undergoing weight-loss surgery, but the figures suggest many still lack access to the procedures — especially underinsured Black and Hispanic kids. That’s the conclusion of a new study charting trends in bariatric (weight-loss) surgery among U.S. teens. Researchers found that between 2010 and 2017, the annual rate of the procedures doubled among kids younger than 19. But Black and Hispanic teens, who have a higher prevalence of obesity than their white peers, accounted for a disproportionately low percentage of the procedures. That points to a disparity in access, said senior researcher Dr. Baddr Shakhsheer, a pediatric surgeon at St. Louis Children’s Hospital-Washington University in St. Louis. Surgery is only appropriate for some teens with severe obesity, he said, but there should be equal access to the option. Bariatric surgery has been used for decades to treat some adults and teens with severe obesity. In the United States, the two most common procedures are gastric bypass and sleeve gastrectomy. Both change the anatomy of the digestive system and limit the amount of food a person can eat before feeling full. They also alter the function of the gut’s hunger hormones, according to the American Society of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery. The point is not to “make people thin,” stressed Dr. Marc Michalsky, surgical director of the Center for Healthy…  read on >  read on >

The brains of girls and boys who have binge eating disorder show key differences, according to a new study. That’s an important finding, researchers say, because both genders struggle with eating disorders, yet treatments are mainly targeted at girls. “Males have been excluded from research on eating disorders for decades,” said Stuart Murray, an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine. He noted that the exclusion stems from the belief that it was uncommon for males to have eating disorders. “As a result of the exclusion of boys and men, we have developed treatments only from studying females, which we then apply to boys and men and hope they work with the same efficacy,” Murray said in a school news release. Some eating disorders are nearly as prevalent among men and boys as in women and girls. Evidence is mounting that eating disorders are diseases of the brain and not the result of social pressure or a lack of willpower, according to researchers. This research team used data from a study of adolescent brain development that included more than 11,800 participants. Researchers identified 38 boys and 33 girls who had a diagnosis of binge eating disorder. In all kids, boys represent about 57% of those with binge eating disorder. Adult males represent about 43% of…  read on >  read on >