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Talk Therapy Eases Depression, Anxiety In Stroke Survivors

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Talk therapy can help stroke survivors who are in the throes of depression or anxiety, a new study says. About half of patients (49%) fully recovered from a post-stroke mood disorder after participating in talk psychotherapy, researchers reported recently in the journal Nature Mental Health. Overall, 71% of stroke survivors experienced a significant improvement in symptoms of depression or anxiety through talk therapy, results show. “We also found that the sooner stroke survivors begin talking therapy, the better the outcomes,” lead author Jae Won Suh, a mental health research fellow with University College London in the U.K., said in a news release. “It is essential for general practitioners and other clinicians working with stroke survivors to screen for depression and anxiety symptoms and refer patients for psychological therapy as early as possible,” she added. It’s estimated that depression affects 1 in 3 stroke survivors, and anxiety more than 1 in 4, researchers said in background notes. Survivors have a doubled risk of depression and a quadrupled risk of anxiety in the first year after their stroke. For the new study, researchers tracked data from all 1.9 million patients who attended NHS Talking Therapies for Anxiety and Depression services in England between 2012 and 2019, including nearly 7,600 stroke survivors. The free National Health Service program offers cognitive-behavioral therapy and counseling for U.K. residents with mood…  read on >  read on >

Psychedelics Can Help Cancer Patients Battling Depression

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Magic mushrooms might be key to quelling depression among people battling cancer. A single dose of psilocybin provided sustained reductions in depression and anxiety among cancer patients diagnosed with major depression, according to small-scale study published June 16 in the journal Cancer. “One dose of psilocybin with psychological support to treat depression has a long-term positive impact on relieving depression for as much as two years for a substantial portion of patients with cancer, and we’re exploring whether repeating the treatment resolves depression for more than half of the patients,” lead researcher Dr. Manish Agrawal, CEO and co-founder of Sunstone Therapies, said in a news release. About 25% of people living with cancer have depression severe enough it can impact their odds of survival, researchers said in background notes. For the phase 2 clinical trial, 28 patients with cancer and major depression took a single 25-milligram dose of psilocybin while being guided by a therapist. Psilocybin is the active ingredient in magic mushrooms. Two years later, about half of the patients had significant and sustained reduction in their depression symptoms, results show. For a quarter of the patients, their sustained reduction in depression did not require any additional psychedelic or antidepressant medications, researchers said. About 43% also had sustained reduction of anxiety symptoms, researchers added. Previous research has noted that these sort of positive benefits…  read on >  read on >

Psychedelics Can Help Cancer Patients Battling Depression

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Magic mushrooms might be key to quelling depression among people battling cancer. A single dose of psilocybin provided sustained reductions in depression and anxiety among cancer patients diagnosed with major depression, according to small-scale study published June 16 in the journal Cancer. “One dose of psilocybin with psychological support to treat depression has a long-term positive impact on relieving depression for as much as two years for a substantial portion of patients with cancer, and we’re exploring whether repeating the treatment resolves depression for more than half of the patients,” lead researcher Dr. Manish Agrawal, CEO and co-founder of Sunstone Therapies, said in a news release. About 25% of people living with cancer have depression severe enough it can impact their odds of survival, researchers said in background notes. For the phase 2 clinical trial, 28 patients with cancer and major depression took a single 25-milligram dose of psilocybin while being guided by a therapist. Psilocybin is the active ingredient in magic mushrooms. Two years later, about half of the patients had significant and sustained reduction in their depression symptoms, results show. For a quarter of the patients, their sustained reduction in depression did not require any additional psychedelic or antidepressant medications, researchers said. About 43% also had sustained reduction of anxiety symptoms, researchers added. Previous research has noted that these sort of positive benefits…  read on >  read on >

Electroshock Therapy Appears To Reduce Suicide Risk Among People With Depression

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People with severe depression who receive electroshock therapy are significantly less likely to commit suicide, a new evidence review says. Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) lowered the risk of death by suicide 34% among patients with severe depression, according to findings published June 13 in the journal Neuroscience Applied. Depression patients receiving ECT also had a 30% lower risk of death from any cause, researchers said. They said these benefits might be even greater than reflected, given that ECT has improved as a psychiatric treatment. “Modern ECT appears to be more effective than it was in the past,” said lead researcher Dr. Timur Liwinski, a clinician scientist at the University of Basel in Switzerland. “Since our analysis spans many decades, it’s likely that today’s ECT offers even stronger protection against suicide than the 34% reduction we identified overall,” Liwinski said in a news release. Major depression affects an estimated 300 million people worldwide, with the number increasing about 20% between 2005 and 2015, researchers said in background notes. Each year nearly 700,000 die by suicide, and about half of these deaths are linked to depression or related mood disorders. Overall, people with mood disorders have a 20-fold higher risk of suicide, researchers said. During ECT, small electrical current pulses are sent through the brain to trigger seizures, researchers said. This essentially reboots the brain, altering levels of…  read on >  read on >

Electroshock Therapy Appears To Reduce Suicide Risk Among People With Depression

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People with severe depression who receive electroshock therapy are significantly less likely to commit suicide, a new evidence review says. Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) lowered the risk of death by suicide 34% among patients with severe depression, according to findings published June 13 in the journal Neuroscience Applied. Depression patients receiving ECT also had a 30% lower risk of death from any cause, researchers said. They said these benefits might be even greater than reflected, given that ECT has improved as a psychiatric treatment. “Modern ECT appears to be more effective than it was in the past,” said lead researcher Dr. Timur Liwinski, a clinician scientist at the University of Basel in Switzerland. “Since our analysis spans many decades, it’s likely that today’s ECT offers even stronger protection against suicide than the 34% reduction we identified overall,” Liwinski said in a news release. Major depression affects an estimated 300 million people worldwide, with the number increasing about 20% between 2005 and 2015, researchers said in background notes. Each year nearly 700,000 die by suicide, and about half of these deaths are linked to depression or related mood disorders. Overall, people with mood disorders have a 20-fold higher risk of suicide, researchers said. During ECT, small electrical current pulses are sent through the brain to trigger seizures, researchers said. This essentially reboots the brain, altering levels of…  read on >  read on >

Digital Tool Potentially Predicts Childhood Asthma

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A new digital tool can flag kids who are at risk for developing childhood asthma, researchers report. The tool scans electronic health data records and calculates an asthma risk score for children, according to results published recently in eClinical Medicine. It relies on information that’s routinely collected as part of kids’ medical history, researchers said. “Our hope is that using the childhood asthma passive digital marker in clinical practice will improve the early detection of asthma risk in high-risk children, allowing for earlier interventions that could improve asthma control and lessen the future risk of hospitalization,” lead researcher Arthur Owora, an associate professor of pediatrics at the Indiana University School of Medicine, said in a news release. For the study, researchers used the tool to comb through records of more than 69,000 Indiana children born between 2010 and 2017, of whom just under 8% had been diagnosed with asthma after age four. The digital tool was better able to predict which kids at age 3 had a higher risk of developing childhood asthma, results show. The tool predicted asthma among 37% of those children, versus 26% using an earlier pediatric asthma risk score, researchers found. Results suggest pneumonia and bronchiolitis are two of the most powerful predictors for childhood asthma, the study says. The new tool could be an easily adopted means of helping doctors…  read on >  read on >

Digital Tool Potentially Predicts Childhood Asthma

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A new digital tool can flag kids who are at risk for developing childhood asthma, researchers report. The tool scans electronic health data records and calculates an asthma risk score for children, according to results published recently in eClinical Medicine. It relies on information that’s routinely collected as part of kids’ medical history, researchers said. “Our hope is that using the childhood asthma passive digital marker in clinical practice will improve the early detection of asthma risk in high-risk children, allowing for earlier interventions that could improve asthma control and lessen the future risk of hospitalization,” lead researcher Arthur Owora, an associate professor of pediatrics at the Indiana University School of Medicine, said in a news release. For the study, researchers used the tool to comb through records of more than 69,000 Indiana children born between 2010 and 2017, of whom just under 8% had been diagnosed with asthma after age four. The digital tool was better able to predict which kids at age 3 had a higher risk of developing childhood asthma, results show. The tool predicted asthma among 37% of those children, versus 26% using an earlier pediatric asthma risk score, researchers found. Results suggest pneumonia and bronchiolitis are two of the most powerful predictors for childhood asthma, the study says. The new tool could be an easily adopted means of helping doctors…  read on >  read on >

This Common Activity Reduces Risk Of Low Back Pain, Study Says

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Struggling with low back pain? Slip on your walking shoes and start hoofing, a new study suggests. People who walked more than 78 minutes a day were less likely to suffer from low back pain, researchers reported. Power walking also protected against low back pain, but to a lesser degree than ambling for longer periods of time, according to findings published June 13 in JAMA Network Open. And there’s a dose-response relationship — the longer or harder you walk, the more you reduce your risk of low back pain, the study says. “These findings suggest that policies and public health strategies promoting walking could help to reduce the occurrence of chronic low back pain,” concluded the Norwegian research team led by Rayane Haddadj, a doctoral student with the Norwegian University of Science and Technology’s Department of Public Health and Nursing. Back pain is the most common type of chronic pain in the United States, researchers said in background notes. For the study, researchers analyzed data from nearly 11,200 people recruited for an ongoing Norwegian health research project between 2017 and 2019. Those included in this study wore activity trackers for a week to gather data on walking and physical activity. Their average age was 55. At a follow-up an average four years later, about 15% of the participants said they had suffered from lower back…  read on >  read on >

This Common Activity Reduces Risk Of Low Back Pain, Study Says

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Struggling with low back pain? Slip on your walking shoes and start hoofing, a new study suggests. People who walked more than 78 minutes a day were less likely to suffer from low back pain, researchers reported. Power walking also protected against low back pain, but to a lesser degree than ambling for longer periods of time, according to findings published June 13 in JAMA Network Open. And there’s a dose-response relationship — the longer or harder you walk, the more you reduce your risk of low back pain, the study says. “These findings suggest that policies and public health strategies promoting walking could help to reduce the occurrence of chronic low back pain,” concluded the Norwegian research team led by Rayane Haddadj, a doctoral student with the Norwegian University of Science and Technology’s Department of Public Health and Nursing. Back pain is the most common type of chronic pain in the United States, researchers said in background notes. For the study, researchers analyzed data from nearly 11,200 people recruited for an ongoing Norwegian health research project between 2017 and 2019. Those included in this study wore activity trackers for a week to gather data on walking and physical activity. Their average age was 55. At a follow-up an average four years later, about 15% of the participants said they had suffered from lower back…  read on >  read on >