Health/Fitness « Weekly Gravy

Even light smokers are much more likely to die of lung disease or lung cancer than nonsmokers, a new study warns. “Everyone knows that smoking is bad for you, but it’s easy to assume that if you only smoke a little, the risks won’t be too high,” said study co-leader Pallavi Balte, of Columbia University Irving Medical Center, in New York City. The new study shows how wrong that thinking can be. It included nearly 19,000 people in the United States, average age 61, who were followed for an average of 17 years. During that time, nearly 650 died of lung disease (such as emphysema) and 560 died of lung cancer. Among nonsmokers, less than 2% died from lung disease and less than 1% died from lung cancer. But among social smokers (fewer than 10 cigarettes a day), those numbers were over 3% and close to 5%, respectively. Not surprisingly, heavy smokers (more than 20 cigarettes a day) fared worst, with more than 10% dying from lung disease and about 13% from lung cancer, the study found. After accounting for other potential factors — such as age, sex, race, level of education and body weight — the researchers concluded that social smokers were 2.5 times more likely to die of lung disease and 8.6 times more likely to die of lung cancer than nonsmokers. Social… read on >

A lot has been made of the so-called “quarantine 15.” Now, a new study suggests certain people are more likely to binge eat during the coronavirus pandemic than others. Most often they are young adults who faced social stigma about being overweight before COVID-19 swept the globe. The researchers found this group had higher levels of depressive symptoms, stress, eating as a coping strategy and binge-eating behaviors compared to those who hadn’t dealt with weight stigma previously. The risk of binge eating was nearly three times higher among those who’d been teased or mistreated because of their size compared to those who hadn’t, according to the study. The study included nearly 600 young adults who took part in a previous study on eating and activity, and completed a follow-up survey during the pandemic. “Understanding whether weight stigma elevates risk for health challenges during the pandemic represents a critical first step for the development of health messaging, responses, and support during outbreaks of COVID-19 and similar public health emergencies,” said study author Rebecca Puhl. She is deputy director of the University of Connecticut’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity. “With additional outbreaks and more cases of COVID-19 expected in the coming months, it is important to support individuals who may be prone to worse health and health behaviors exacerbating their risk during these times of… read on >

On the final night of the 2020 Democratic National Convention, the world heard from an improbable source — a 13-year-old named Brayden Harrington. Brayden was invited to speak because he has a frustrating and misunderstood condition that millions of Americans share, including Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden. “We stutter,” he explained in a video recorded for the virtual convention. Biden has been open about his struggle with stuttering, calling it “the single most defining thing in [his] life,” according to the Los Angeles Times. In February, Brayden met the former vice president at a New Hampshire campaign event where they bonded over their shared condition. “He told me about a book of poems by [William] Yeats he would read out loud to practice,” Brayden recalled. “He showed me how he marks his addresses to make them easier to say out loud. So I did the same thing today,” he added, turning his marked-up script to the camera to show the audience. Brayden’s speech was intended to show a vulnerable and compassionate side of the Democrats’ nominee. But it also shed light on a speech disorder that has, at times, been described as a “medical mystery,” according to Soo-Eun Chang, a professor of child and adolescent psychiatry at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. “In the past, people thought that stuttering was due to that… read on >

Smokers with the most common type of heart rhythm disorder can reduce their risk of stroke and death by giving up cigarettes, a new study says. “Smoking precipitates blood clots that could lead to a stroke, which may be why giving up lowers risk,” said study author So-Ryoung Lee of Seoul National University Hospital in South Korea. But even former smokers had higher odds for stroke compared to never smokers, the study found. “The remaining stroke risk after quitting might be through the damage already caused to the arteries — called atherosclerosis,” Lee said in a European Society of Cardiology news release. Stroke is the most common cause of death in people with atrial fibrillation (a-fib). People with a-fib are five times more likely to have a stroke than those without the heart rhythm disorder. And a-fib increases the risk of death two-fold in women and 1.5-fold in men. Previous research has shown that smokers are at higher risk for a-fib and a subsequent stroke. This study included nearly 98,000 people, average age 61, in South Korea who were diagnosed with a-fib from 2010 to 2016. They were followed until the end of 2017, for a median follow-up of three years. Compared to current smokers, quitters were 30% less likely to have a stroke and 16% less likely to die from any cause. However, quitters… read on >

Despite the wave of criticism that has followed the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s emergency approval of convalescent plasma to treat COVID-19 patients, infectious disease experts say the therapy remains promising. Some scientists have questioned both the timing of the approval and the veracity of a key survival statistic cited by FDA Commissioner Dr. Stephen Hahn. And the clinical trials needed to make sure that convalescent plasma really works are not yet complete. Still, survivors’ plasma has been on the list of potential COVID-19 treatments since the pandemic began and an emergency approval for its widespread use was not unexpected, said Dr. Liise-anne Pirofski, chair of biomedical research at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Montefiore Medical Center, in New York City. Data coming in from around the world shows that antibody-loaded plasma taken from COVID-19 survivors can help people fighting off an infection, Pirofski said. For example, reports from China have shown that desperately ill patients treated late in their disease with convalescent plasma experienced a very rapid decrease in their viral load, Pirofski noted. There’s also no evidence that convalescent plasma can hurt a person, she added. “I cannot think of one shred of data that I have seen that would suggest harm,” Pirofski said. But scientists still don’t know exactly how effective plasma can be, when it would be best administered… read on >

People with the heart-rhythm disorder known as atrial fibrillation, or a-fib, may ease their symptoms with the help of a slower-paced yoga, a preliminary study finds. Researchers from India found that over 16 weeks of yoga sessions, a-fib patients saw their symptom episodes drop by about half. Their mental well-being got a boost as well. The findings, which were presented this week at an online meeting of the European Society of Cardiology, should be considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal. But the report adds to evidence that yoga can help control a-fib symptoms, which include palpitations, dizziness and breathlessness. In 2013, Dr. Dhanunjaya Lakkireddy led a small study of a-fib patients that came to similar conclusions: Slower-paced yoga, with a focus on breathing and mindful physical poses, helped people reduce their symptoms. The benefits may stem from yoga’s calming effects on the nervous system, explained Lakkireddy, who is medical director of the Kansas City Heart Rhythm Institute, at HCA Midwest Health in Kansas. He was not involved with the new report. People with a-fib, Lakkireddy said, tend to have an exaggerated “sympathetic tone” — which refers to the arm of the nervous system that, among other jobs, revs up heart rate and blood pressure. Yoga may counter that, according to Lakkireddy. But in a world where yoga classes are often geared toward a… read on >

Injuries can continue to plague rugby players long after they retire, a new study finds. Researchers examined injuries suffered by 254 retired elite and amateur rugby players and competitors in non-contact sports, such as cricket. The athletes were 21 to 82 years of age. Compared to athletes who played non-contact sports, rugby players were 1.7 to 7.3 times more likely to report an injury and 2.4 to 9.7 times more likely to report long-term effects, the findings showed. Rugby players reported back pain, and severe and regular joint pain, which they attributed to injuries suffered on the field, according to the report published online recently in the journal Sports Medicine. Concussion was the most frequently reported injury among those who played rugby, with 81% of elite and 76% of amateur players reporting at least one during their career. Concussion was most often associated with reports of long-term impacts. About half of players had suffered a knee ligament injury, with 25% experiencing ongoing problems. Osteoarthritis — which causes joints to become painful and stiff — was two times more common in elite rugby players than in non-contact athletes. It was associated with previous injuries and surgery. More than half of retired elite players said they had been diagnosed with osteoarthritis, according to the study. Study author Karen Hind, of the department of sport and exercise sciences… read on >

If your knees crack when you walk or run, don’t be too worried, an expert says. “Knee cracking could mean lots of things,” said Harshvardhan Singh, assistant professor in the department of physical therapy at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. “If it is painful, then you should see a health care provider.” The cause can be a large kneecap that doesn’t fit well into the groove, producing cracking during activities such as running and jogging. And if the thigh muscle is too tight, it can pull the kneecap, causing an audible crack. Degeneration of knee cartilage can, too. “The degenerative changes can also lead to pain and/or locking of the knee joint,” Singh said in a university news release. “Typically, degenerative changes are common in older people.” Scans have shown that the displacement of joint surfaces forming the knee can cause a chain reaction in which natural gas bubbles collapse. The result: knee cracking. “You should not be worried if your knees crack often as long as it is not associated with pain,” Singh said. If you have had a recent trauma to the knee and it starts to crack, you should see a doctor even in there’s no pain, he said. “Do not allow these sounds to make you feel abnormal or mentally stressed, or limit your functional activities,” Singh said. “A knee… read on >

Kids suffering from nearsightedness can slow the progression of their myopia by using soft bifocal contact lenses, a new trial shows. Bifocal contacts with a powerful corrective prescription slowed the progression of nearsightedness in youngsters by 43% compared to single-vision contacts, the results showed. “The higher the reading portion of the contact lens, the better control you get, the more slow the progression,” said lead researcher Jeffrey Walline, associate dean for research at Ohio State University’s College of Optometry, in Columbus. Based on these findings, Walline said parents should talk with their family eye doctor about bifocal contacts for their nearsighted child, to prevent potentially devastating eye conditions associated with myopia, including cataracts, glaucoma or retinal detachment. “It’s not something that’s coming out farther on down the line. They are available,” Walline said. “I think we’re at the place where parents of nearsighted children should know they have options for myopia control.” Nearsightedness occurs when the eye grows in an uncoordinated way into an elongated state, so that light entering the eye fails to reach all the way back to the retina. “That’s what myopia is,” said Dr. Douglas Fredrick, a pediatric ophthalmologist at New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai in New York City. “It’s a long eyeball, the physical elongation of the eye.” Eye experts used to think that nearsightedness developed… read on >

All-terrain vehicles (ATVs) are a big draw for adventure-loving kids, but a new study warns that the thrill ride can often land children in the ER. U.S. data shows that nearly 280,000 children were treated over a 25-year period for head and neck injuries caused by ATV accidents. That’s about 31 children each day — and nearly half of them were younger than 12, the researchers reported. “I think it largely confirmed what we were concerned about, which was how frequent these injuries were occurring and how serious they were,” said Dr. Gary Smith, director of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. The fact that 46% of ATV-related head and neck injuries among kids occurred among those aged 12 or younger was particularly worrisome, Smith said. “These are large, powerful machines. They’re designed for off-road use. By definition, when you take this type of powerful machine off road, it requires an advanced degree of coordination, strength and moment-to-moment decision-making on uneven terrain,” Smith said. “And a child at 12 years of age just simply doesn’t possess that degree of skill. They just developmentally aren’t ready.” That’s true even for the lighter, smaller ATVs designed for kids, Smith added. The study looked at data from the U.S. National Electronic Injury Surveillance System to research injuries over a 25-year… read on >