Health/Fitness « Weekly Gravy

Women with common autoimmune inflammatory diseases are more likely than men to die from heart disease, a new study says. Women with rheumatoid arthritis, lupus or systemic sclerosis have a 50% higher heart disease-related death rate than men, researchers reported May 5 in the journal Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes. “Our study highlights the significant burden of cardiovascular disease in patients with immune-mediated inflammatory diseases, which disproportionately affect women,” said senior researcher Dr. Heba Wassif, director of cardio-rheumatology at the Cleveland Clinic. “It is critical to screen for and address cardiovascular risk factors early, at the time of diagnosis and periodically thereafter,” she said in a news release. Women are two to three times more likely than men to develop rheumatoid arthritis, and about nine times more likely to develop lupus, researchers said in background notes. Systemic sclerosis also is more common among women than men, researchers said. That autoimmune disease involves the tightening and hardening of skin, potentially affecting the digestive tract, blood vessels and internal organs. For the study, researchers analyzed data for more than 127,000 heart disease-related deaths among more than 281,000 deaths associated with the three common autoimmune diseases between 1999 and 2020. Overall, heart disease deaths declined for people with these autoimmune disorders, from 3.9 to 2.1 per 100,000 in women and from 1.7 to 1.2 per 100,000 in men… read on > read on >

Conversion therapy might harm a young person’s long-term heart health, a new study says. Young adults assigned male at birth were nearly three times as likely to be diagnosed with high blood pressure if they’d been exposed to conversion therapy, a discredited practice that attempts to alter a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity, researchers reported May 6 in JAMA Network Open. These young adults also had higher levels of inflammation and elevated blood pressure levels, both of which are potentially damaging to heart health, researchers report. “This is the first study, to our knowledge, to document elevated blood pressure and systemic inflammation, important factors shaping the risk of adverse cardiovascular health outcomes, among sexual and gender minority people exposed to [conversion therapy],” concluded the research team led by senior author Brian Mustanski, director of the Institute for Sexual and Gender Minority Health and Wellbeing at Northwestern University in Chicago. For the study, researchers analyzed health data on more than 700 young adults assigned male gender at birth, of whom 23% were transgender or gender diverse. About 10% of participants said they’d been put through conversion therapy, which tries to alter same-sex attractions or change sexual minority identity. “These interventions, rooted in discredited beliefs that sexual and gender minority identities, behaviors, and/or attractions are immoral, abnormal, and/or pathological, have been unequivocally denounced by leading medical,… read on > read on >

Newborns can be effectively protected against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection through the use of nirsevimab, a monoclonal antibody treatment, researchers report. Babies treated with nirsevimab had an 83% reduced risk of hospitalization due to RSV infection, researchers reported May 1 in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health. The antibody treatment also reduced the risk of intensive care admissions by 81% and instances of lower respiratory tract infections by 75% in children younger than 1 year old, results show. Nirsevimab also was more effective in preventing RSV-related hospitalizations in infants older than 3 months (81%) compared to those 3 months or younger (76%), researchers report. “Our findings indicate that the benefits of nirsevimab observed in clinical trials are also evident in real-world settings, effectively reducing the burden of RSV disease in infants and, consequently, health-care use,” concluded the team led by senior researcher Seyed Moghadas, a professor of computational epidemiology and vaccine science with York University in Ontario, Canada. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that all babies be protected from RSV by one of two methods. An expectant mother can pass on protection by getting an RSV vaccine while pregnant, or a newborn can be given antibody treatment to protect them against RSV. To check the effectiveness of nirsevimab, researchers combined data from 27 studies conducted during the 2023-2024 RSV… read on > read on >

Body Mass Index, or BMI, is a number that reflects the relationship between your height and weight. It’s widely used in healthcare and public health to categorize body size and estimate potential risk for weight-related diseases. While it isn’t perfect, BMI can be a helpful first step in identifying whether someone might be at higher risk of chronic conditions like heart disease, type 2 diabetes or certain cancers. However, it doesn’t always give you the full picture of a person’s health. How is BMI calculated?The formula for BMI is simple: Metric: BMI = weight (kg) ÷ height (m²) Imperial: BMI = (weight in pounds ÷ height in inches²) × 703 So, for example, if someone weighs 180 lbs and is 5 feet 6 inches (66 inches) tall: BMI = (180 ÷ 66²) × 703 = 29.0 This puts them in the overweight category. What does your BMI tell you?BMI is divided into the following categories: Underweight: Less than 18.5 Normal (healthy) weight: 18.5 – 24.9 Overweight: 25.0 – 29.9 Obesity class 1 (mild obesity): 30.0 – 34.9 Obesity class 2 (moderate obesity): 35.0 – 39.9 Obesity class 3 (severe obesity): 40.0 or higher These categories give a rough estimate of body fat and health risk. In general, as BMI increases above the normal range, so does the risk of chronic diseases such as high blood… read on > read on >

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) – known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease based on the iconic 1930s New York Yankee baseball player – is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects thousands of Americans every year. ALS remains one of the most complex and challenging disorders known to science. May is ALS Awareness Month, making it an ideal time to take a closer look at this condition — who it affects, how it progresses and what efforts are underway to advance care, accelerate research and provide support to families across the country. What is ALS? ALS, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), is a disease that targets the motor neurons, nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord that coordinate voluntary muscle movement. As these neurons degenerate and die, the signals from the brain are unable to transmit messages to muscles, leading to muscle atrophy, weakness, paralysis and ultimately, respiratory failure. People with ALS lose the ability to walk, speak, eat and breathe independently, though most ALS patients retain their cognitive abilities. ALS is a progressive disease and most people live two to five years after their diagnosis. Its clinical presentation varies widely, and its progression can differ widely from person to person, making every individual’s experience with ALS unique. With expanding treatment options, there is growing hope for improving both quality of life and survival.… read on > read on >

A common diabetes drug can be repurposed to help overweight and obese people with knee arthritis, a new study says. Metformin reduced knee arthritis pain during a six-month treatment period, potentially delaying the need for knee replacement surgery, researchers reported recently in the Journal of the American Medical Association. “Metformin works in a number of ways on the knee, including affecting low-grade inflammation and other metabolic pathways that are important in knee osteoarthritis,” senior researcher Flavia Cicuttini, a professor of health systems services and policy at Monash University in Australia, said in a news release. “It is a different way to treat knee osteoarthritis pain.” Metformin is commonly prescribed to help lower blood sugar levels in people with type 2 diabetes. It reduces sugar absorption from the intestines, lowers glucose production in the liver, and improves insulin sensitivity, according to Drugs.com. For this study, researchers recruited 107 overweight or obese people with knee pain and randomly assigned about half to take metformin pills and the rest a placebo. The metformin group reported a 31-point reduction in pain after six months, compared with a 19-point reduction for the placebo group. The results show that metformin is a potentially new and affordable way to improve knee pain from arthritis, Cicuttini said. Today, people are asked to exercise and lose weight to reduce knee pain, which many find… read on > read on >