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Three months after starting one of the new GLP-1 weight-loss drugs, more than a quarter of patients have already quit the medications, and by a year from first use more than a third have stopped, new research shows. Reasons for quitting Wegovy, Ozempic or similar drugs may include cost or gastrointestinal side effects, said a team led by Urvashi Patel, of the Evernorth Research Institute in St. Louis. The drugs’ price tag could be a big factor: Wegovy (semaglutide) costs about $1,300 per month, for example. “Each 1–percentage point increase in out-of-pocket cost per a 30-day supply of GLP-1 agonist was associated with increased odds of discontinuation,” Patel’s group noted. They published the findings May 23 in the journal JAMA Network Open. The St. Louis team looked at information from a major U.S. drug database on the use of GLP-1 meds by adults from early 2021 through to the end of 2023. Tirzepatide (Zepbound) was excluded from the list of GLP-1 meds because it was only approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration at the end of 2023. The database of nearly 196,000 patients found that by three months after starting a GLP-1 drug, just over 26% of users had already discontinued use; by six months that had risen to just under 31%, and by a year out 36.5% had stopped taking their GLP-1… read on > read on >

For decades, Todd Vogt has been dedicated to the sport of rowing, believing he was in peak physical condition. Then, a series of symptoms began to emerge, turning his life upside down. “My left arm stopped swinging, and I felt incredibly fatigued,” Vogt, 49, recalled. “Eventually, a tremor developed in my hand, and I slowly began to realize something was wrong.” That was in 2018. Since then, he has navigated life with Parkinson’s disease, managing his symptoms and maintaining his rowing career. This summer, he will compete in the Paralympic Games in Paris. But the journey has been anything but easy. Parkinson’s disease affects about 1.5 million people in the United States, with symptoms that include tremor, muscle stiffness, slow movement and problems with coordination and balance. These symptoms typically worsen over time. In Vogt’s case, he faces challenges such as fatigue, weakness and involuntary tremor in his left hand and foot. Despite these obstacles, he believes his rigorous exercise routine has played a crucial role in managing the disease. “I believe all the exercise I’ve been doing has delayed the progression,” he said. Vogt’s introduction to rowing came during his freshman year at the University of Buffalo in 1992. His passion for the sport was immediate, leading him to row competitively throughout college and beyond. After college, he transitioned to coaching, a role that… read on > read on >

About 1 in 9 American children have ever received an ADHD diagnosis, slightly more than the number of kids currently being treated for the disorder, a new study shows. About 7.1 million kids (11.4%) have ever been diagnosed with ADHD, according to findings published May 23 in the Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology. Incidence appears to be rising: Approximately 1 million more children ages 3 to 17 had received an ADHD diagnosis in 2022 than in 2016, researchers found. About 6.5 million children (10.5%) currently live with ADHD, or about 93% of those who’ve ever been diagnosed, researchers found. Among kids currently dealing with ADHD, about 58% have moderate or severe ADHD and 78% have at least one other disorder, results show. Nearly 54% of current ADHD patients have been prescribed medication for the disorder, and 44% have received behavioral treatment in the past year, researchers found. However, nearly one in three kids (30%) haven’t received any ADHD-specific treatment, results show. ADHD is more common in the United States than in other countries, the researchers found. For the study, researchers analyzed more than 45,000 interviews conducted as part of the 2022 National Survey of Children’s Health. “Public awareness of ADHD has changed over time,” the researchers said. “With increased awareness of symptoms related to attention regulation, ADHD has been increasingly recognized in girls,… read on > read on >

A mom or dad who vapes at home might be setting their child up for eczema, new research suggests. In a study involving data from over 35,000 U.S. households, children with a parent who used e-cigarettes had a 24% higher odds for eczema (also known as atopic dermatitis) than kids with two non-vaping parents did. “Our results suggest that parental e-cigarette use was associated with pediatric atopic dermatitis,” concluded a team led by Dr. Golara Honari, a clinical associate professor of dermatology at Stanford University, in California. Her team published its findings May 22 in the journal JAMA Dermatology. According to the researchers, there is science backing up the notion that exposure to the toxins emitted in e-cigarette vapor could trigger changes in children’s skin. Prior lab studies have “demonstrated increased oxidative stress in human keratinocytes and 3-dimensional skin models exposed to e-cigarette fluids and aerosol residues,” they noted. Keratinocytes are cells that make up about 90% of the skin’s outer epidermal layer. “We hypothesize that secondhand exposure to e-cigarettes is associated with a similar response among children, elevating atopic dermatitis risk,” the Stanford team wrote. The new study drew on 2014-2018 data from the National Health Interview Survey, involving about 35,000 households. It’s a face-to-face survey of families conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Parents were asked about any cases… read on > read on >

Specific nutrients could play a pivotal role in the healthy aging of your brain, a new study finds. What’s more, those nutrients correlate closely with those found in the Mediterranean diet, an eating pattern already associated with healthy brain aging, researchers report. The identified nutrients “align with the extensive body of research in the field demonstrating the positive health effects of the Mediterranean Diet, which emphasizes foods rich in these beneficial nutrients,” said senior researcher Aron Barbey, director of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln’s Center for Brain, Biology and Behavior. For the study, researchers took blood samples and performed brain function tests and MRI scans on 100 cognitively healthy people ages 65 to 75. Analysis revealed two different types of brain aging among the participants, accelerated and slower than expected. Those with slower brain aging had a distinct nutrient profile in their blood samples, results show. The beneficial nutrient blood biomarkers included a combination of: Fatty acids (vaccenic, gondoic, alpha linolenic, elcosapentaenoic, eicosadienoic and lignoceric acids). Antioxidants and carotenoids including cis-lutein, trans-lutein and zeaxanthin Two forms of vitamin E. Choline, an essential nutrient. This profile correlates closely with that of the Mediterranean diet, researchers noted. These nutrient patterns “are promising and have favorable associations with measures of cognitive performance and brain health,” Barbey said in a university news release. Previous research on nutrition and brain aging… read on > read on >

Experts are expecting this Memorial Day weekend to be the busiest yet, with nearly 44 million Americans projected to travel between Thursday and Monday. A fair number of those travelers will have a companion suffering from Alzheimer’s disease or another dementia-related illness, according to the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America (AFA). “Taking a trip during Memorial Day Weekend can be a fun way to kick off the summer season for someone affected by dementia if caregivers make the proper preparations and adaptations,” said Jennifer Reeder, the AFA’s director of educational and social services. “Whether traveling by car or mass transit, there are a few steps caregivers can follow to make traveling more comfortable, less stressful and more enjoyable for their loved ones and themselves,” Reeder added in an AFA news release. Some of these steps include: Making sure travel is advisable at all. People early in dementia might still enjoy traveling, but those in the later stages might find it an overwhelming experience. Check with their doctor to make sure they are okay to travel the distance you’ve planned for your trip. Plan around the person’s abilities and routine. Small or unfamiliar changes can sometimes be too much for a person with dementia. Choose a mode of travel and a schedule that causes the least amount of anxiety and stress by taking into account the person’s… read on > read on >

The number of American teens and young adults who’ve been prescribed one of the new GLP-1 weight-loss drugs soared nearly seven-fold between 2020 and 2023, a new report finds. That’s compared to an overall decline of about 3% in young Americans’ use of other types of prescription meds. But how safe are drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro and Zepbound for young users? That remains unclear, said a team led by Dr. Joyce Lee, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Michigan Medical School in Ann Arbor. “Evaluation of the long-term safety, efficacy and cost- effectiveness of GLP-1RAs in adolescents and young adults is needed,” her team wrote. The findings were published May 22 in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The new study used a major U.S. prescription drug database to calculate the medication use of adolescents (ages 12 to 17) and young adults (ages 18 to 25) for the years 2020 through 2023. Besides the four drugs mentioned above, the GLP-1 meds that were tracked included dulaglutide (Trulicity), exenatide (Byetta) and liraglutide (Saxenda). Lee’s team found that over the three years of the study, GLP-1 prescriptions among people ages 12 to 25 jumped by more than 594% (equivalent to a nearly sevenfold rise). In sheer numbers, that means that while 8,722 Americans in this age group took a GLP-1 in 2020, 60,567… read on > read on >

Folks regularly taking fish oil supplements might not be helping their health as much as they might think, a new study suggests. Regular use of fish oil supplements could increase the risk of first-time heart disease and stroke among those with good heart health, new research suggests. However, the long-term study also found that fish oil can help those whose hearts are already in trouble, potentially slowing the progression of heart problems and lowering the risk of death. Healthy people taking fish oil supplements had a 13% increased risk of developing atrial fibrillation, a heart rhythm problem that increases the risk of heart attack and stroke, researchers found. They also had a 5% increased risk of stroke, results show. “Our findings suggest caution in the use of fish oil supplements for primary prevention because of the uncertain cardiovascular benefits and adverse effects,” wrote the research team led by Dr. Hualiang Lin, an epidemiologist with Sun Yat-Sen University in Guangzhou, China. But in those with existing heart disease, regular use of fish oil lowered risk of a heart attack due to atrial fibrillation by 15%, and the risk of heart failure leading to death by 9%. “Regular use of fish oil supplements might have different roles in the progression of cardiovascular disease,” based on whether someone already has heart problems, the researchers suggested. “Overall, I would… read on > read on >

Doctors have long known that excessive marijuana use can trigger psychosis, especially in the young. But new research suggests the link is stronger that ever imagined before. Teens who use cannabis face 11 times the odds for a psychotic episode compared to teens who abstain from the drug, new Canadian research contends. The teen years may be an especially vulnerable time in this regard, the researchers noted. “We found a very strong association between cannabis use and risk of psychotic disorder in adolescence. Surprisingly, we didn’t find evidence of association in young adulthood,” said lead author André McDonald, who led the study as part of his PhD work at the University of Toronto. The findings were published May 22 in the journal Psychological Medicine. McDonald finished the research while at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES). Psychotic episodes involve a dangerous psychiatric state in which people lose their connection with reality. These episodes can get so out of control that people may need hospitalization. It’s long been known that marijuana use can help trigger psychosis, and the potency of cannabis is much stronger now than in decades past, the Toronto investigators noted. They estimate that the average THC potency of cannabis in Canada rose from roughly 1% in 1980 to 20% in 2018. So how is all that super-strong weed affecting the developing brains… read on > read on >

Many people have been caught by surprise when an electric-powered car has smoothly and silently crept up on them as they walked. But such an accident can pose a very serious risk to life and limb, and pedestrians might be twice as likely to be hit by an electric or hybrid car than a gas-powered vehicle, researchers reported May 21 in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health. It’s even more risky in urban areas, with people there more than three times as likely to be hit by an electric car compared to a gas-powered model, researchers found. “Drivers of electric or hybrid-electric cars must be cautious of pedestrians who may not hear them approaching and may step into the road thinking it is safe to do so, particularly in towns and cities,” said the team led by Phil Edwards, an epidemiologist with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. “The greater risk to pedestrian safety posed by electric or hybrid-electric cars needs to be mitigated as governments proceed to phase out petrol and diesel cars,” the researchers wrote. Traffic injuries are the leading cause of death for children and young people, researchers said, adding that pedestrians represent 1 in 4 traffic deaths. To study the potential added risk from electric vehicles, researchers analyzed UK data from 2013 to 2017 on pedestrian deaths and… read on > read on >

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All Sauce from Weekly Gravy:

Costs, Side Effects Drive Folks to Quit New Weight-Loss Meds

‘Moving Forward’: Battling Parkinson’s, He’s Rowing His Way to Paralympic Games

1 in 9 U.S. Children Have Been Diagnosed With ADHD

Parents’ Vaping Might Help Spur Eczema in Kids

Science Pinpoints Nutrients Crucial to Brain Health

Tips for Traveling With a Loved One With Alzheimer’s

Use of GLP-1 Meds Have Risen 7-Fold Among Young Americans

Do Fish Oil Supplements Help or Harm the Heart?

Teen Cannabis Users’ Risk for Psychosis May Be Stronger Than Thought: Study

Pedestrians Twice as Likely to Be Hit by Electric Cars Versus Gas-Powered Ones