Cancer deaths linked to obesity more than tripled in the U.S. during the past two decades, a new study says. Deaths linked to the 13 types of obesity-related cancer rose to 13.5 deaths per million from 3.7 deaths per million between 1999 and 2020, researchers reported Sunday at the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting in San Francisco. “Obesity is a significant risk factor for multiple cancers, contributing to significant mortality,” said lead researcher Dr. Faizan Ahmed of Hackensack Meridian Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune City, N.J. “This research underscores the need for targeted public health strategies such as early screening and improved access to care, especially in high-risk rural and underserved areas,” Ahmed added in a news release. More than 40% of U.S. adults have obesity, and obesity-related cancers represent 40% of all cancers diagnosed in the United States each year, researchers said in background notes. These include esophageal, breast, colon, uterine, gallbladder, stomach, kidney, liver, ovarian, pancreatic, thyroid and brain cancers, as well as the blood cancer multiple myeloma, researchers said. For the new study, researchers used data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to track more than 33,500 deaths from obesity-related cancers. Overall, obesity-related cancer deaths rose by nearly 6% a year on average between 1999 and 2000, results show. Between 2018 and 2020 the death rate took…  read on >  read on >

Cancer deaths linked to obesity more than tripled in the U.S. during the past two decades, a new study says. Deaths linked to the 13 types of obesity-related cancer rose to 13.5 deaths per million from 3.7 deaths per million between 1999 and 2020, researchers reported Sunday at the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting in San Francisco. “Obesity is a significant risk factor for multiple cancers, contributing to significant mortality,” said lead researcher Dr. Faizan Ahmed of Hackensack Meridian Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune City, N.J. “This research underscores the need for targeted public health strategies such as early screening and improved access to care, especially in high-risk rural and underserved areas,” Ahmed added in a news release. More than 40% of U.S. adults have obesity, and obesity-related cancers represent 40% of all cancers diagnosed in the United States each year, researchers said in background notes. These include esophageal, breast, colon, uterine, gallbladder, stomach, kidney, liver, ovarian, pancreatic, thyroid and brain cancers, as well as the blood cancer multiple myeloma, researchers said. For the new study, researchers used data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to track more than 33,500 deaths from obesity-related cancers. Overall, obesity-related cancer deaths rose by nearly 6% a year on average between 1999 and 2000, results show. Between 2018 and 2020 the death rate took…  read on >  read on >

People typically don’t suffer severe withdrawal symptoms or fall into depression immediately after they stop taking antidepressants, a new evidence review says. There had been concerns that people who quit antidepressants would suddenly fall prey to depression or develop what’s known as antidepressant discontinuation syndrome. But those fears aren’t warranted, researchers write in JAMA Psychiatry. “Despite previous concern about stopping antidepressants, our work finds that most people do not experience severe withdrawal, in terms of additional symptoms,” lead researcher Dr. Sameer Jauhar, a senior clinical lecturer at Imperial College London in the U.K., said in a news release. “Importantly, depression relapse was not linked to antidepressant withdrawal in these studies, suggesting that if this does occur, people will need to see their health professional to rule out a recurrence of their depressive illness,” Jauhar added. For the study, researchers pooled data from 49 clinical trials involving more than 17,800 people, looking at the symptoms observed when people quit taking antidepressants. In most of the studies (44), people either abruptly quit the meds or tapered over one week, researchers said. In placebo-controlled trials, the most common antidepressant withdrawal symptoms within the first two weeks were dizziness (7.5% versus 1.8%); nausea (4.1% versus 1.5%); vertigo (2.7% versus 0.4%); and nervousness (3% versus 0.8%). Adding non-placebo studies increased symptom rates slightly: dizziness (11.8%); nightmares (8.1%); nervousness (7.6%); and…  read on >  read on >

People typically don’t suffer severe withdrawal symptoms or fall into depression immediately after they stop taking antidepressants, a new evidence review says. There had been concerns that people who quit antidepressants would suddenly fall prey to depression or develop what’s known as antidepressant discontinuation syndrome. But those fears aren’t warranted, researchers write in JAMA Psychiatry. “Despite previous concern about stopping antidepressants, our work finds that most people do not experience severe withdrawal, in terms of additional symptoms,” lead researcher Dr. Sameer Jauhar, a senior clinical lecturer at Imperial College London in the U.K., said in a news release. “Importantly, depression relapse was not linked to antidepressant withdrawal in these studies, suggesting that if this does occur, people will need to see their health professional to rule out a recurrence of their depressive illness,” Jauhar added. For the study, researchers pooled data from 49 clinical trials involving more than 17,800 people, looking at the symptoms observed when people quit taking antidepressants. In most of the studies (44), people either abruptly quit the meds or tapered over one week, researchers said. In placebo-controlled trials, the most common antidepressant withdrawal symptoms within the first two weeks were dizziness (7.5% versus 1.8%); nausea (4.1% versus 1.5%); vertigo (2.7% versus 0.4%); and nervousness (3% versus 0.8%). Adding non-placebo studies increased symptom rates slightly: dizziness (11.8%); nightmares (8.1%); nervousness (7.6%); and…  read on >  read on >

Even low levels of lead exposure can harm kids’ working memory, potentially affecting their education and development, according to a new study. Exposure to lead in the womb or during early childhood appears to increase kids’ risk of memory decay, accelerating the rate at which they forget information, researchers reported July 9 in the journal Science Advances. “There may be no more important a trait than the ability to form memories. Memories define who we are and how we learn,” said senior researcher Dr. Robert Wright, chair of environmental medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City. “This paper breaks new ground by showing how environmental chemicals can interfere with the rate of memory formation,” Wright said in a news release. For the study, researchers took blood lead measurements from the mothers of 576 children in Mexico during the second and third trimester of pregnancy. Later, the team took samples directly from the kids themselves, at ages 4 to 6. Between 6 and 8 years of age, the kids took a test called the delayed matching-to-sample task, or DMST, to measure their rate of forgetting. In the test, kids had to remember a simple shape for up to 32 seconds after it had been briefly shown to them, and then choose it from three offered options. The test lasted…  read on >  read on >