Health/Fitness « Weekly Gravy

A spike in the use of ADHD medications during the pandemic likely prompted drug shortages that continue to frustrate patients and doctors today, a new study shows. New prescriptions for stimulants that treat the condition jumped for young adults and women in particular after the pandemic first struck in March 2020, according to a study published Jan. 10 in the journal JAMA Psychiatry. Meanwhile, prescriptions also soared for non-stimulant ADHD treatments for adults of all ages, found researchers led by Grace Chai. She’s at the Office of Surveillance and Epidemiology at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. Why the surge? The mental and emotional strain of the pandemic, coupled with an increased use of telemedicine that made it easier for patients to get help, were big contributors, experts said. Las Vegas psychiatrist Dr. Ann Childress told the Associated Press that more adults started coming to her for help after COVID-19 started sweeping across the country and lockdowns were put in place. Working from home made it clear to some people how easily they get distracted: Childress says she diagnosed a lot of parents, especially moms, who saw it in their children and recognized it in themselves. On top of that, social media has made people more aware of adult ADHD. “People are more open to talking about mental health issues now,”… read on > read on >

Medical marijuana might help ease chronic pain, but it also slightly increases a patient’s risk of a dangerous abnormal heart rhythm, a new study says. Patients treated with medical cannabis had a nearly 1% increased risk of being diagnosed with a heart rhythm problem that required monitoring and possible treatment, results show. The risk was more than double that of chronic pain patients not using cannabis, and occurred within six months of starting medical weed. “I don’t think this research should make patients with chronic pain refrain from trying medical cannabis if other treatment has been inadequate,” said researcher Dr. Anders Holt, a cardiologist at Copenhagen University Hospital in Denmark. “However, these results do suggest some improved monitoring may be advisable initially, especially in patients who are already at increased risk of cardiovascular disease,” he added in a news release. Medical weed is now allowed as a treatment for chronic pain in 38 U.S. states, as well as in several countries in Europe, Holt noted. “This means more and more doctors will find themselves prescribing cannabis, despite a lack of evidence on its side effects,” he said. To better inform these prescriptions, Holt and his colleagues conducted what they believe is the first nationwide study to investigate the heart effects of medical marijuana prescribed for chronic pain. For the study, researchers tracked nearly 5,400 Danish… read on > read on >

A bout of depression can trigger a bump in body weight among people struggling with obesity, a new study has found. People who had an increase in symptoms related to depression experienced an increase in their weight a month later, researchers report in the journal PLOS One. “Overall, this suggests that individuals with overweight or obesity are more vulnerable to weight gain in response to feeling more depressed,” lead researcher Julia Mueller from the University of Cambridge’s Medical Research Council said in a university news release. The results support prior research pointing to a link between weight and mental health, with each potentially influencing the other. For the study, researchers examined data from more than 2,000 adults in the United Kingdom who were participating in a COVID-19 study. Participants completed monthly digital questionnaires on their mental well-being and body weight, using a mobile app. Questions in the study assessed each person’s symptoms of depression, anxiety and perceived stress. For every incremental increase in a person’s usual depression score, their weight increased by about a tenth of a pound one month later, results show. It might seem like a small weight gain, but researchers noted that if a person’s depression rose from five to 10 on the scale they used, it would relate to an average weight gain of a half-pound. “Although the weight gain was… read on > read on >

Weight gain has long been an unwanted side effect of medicines commonly used to treat psychiatric conditions such as bipolar disorder or schizophrenia. Some patients may quit their meds to avoid piling on pounds. Or if they stick to their meds and weight gain continues, they face higher risks for diabetes and liver disease. However, research in mice is pinpointing how this drug-linked weight gain happens in the first place — and how to stop it. The answer may lie in a hormone called leptin, explain researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. According to the Cleveland Clinic, leptin is a hormone that’s emitted by fat cells and is involved in hunger and weight maintenance. Prior research has shown that patients who start taking common psychiatric meds such as olanzapine (used against bipolar disorder) and risperidone (used to treat schizophrenia) typically experience an uptick in their leptin levels before a surge in weight gain. The new study was conducted in mice. It might explain how a drug-induced rise in leptin is linked to added pounds. “While it was historically viewed as a ‘passenger’ to obesity – meaning [leptin] levels go up as we gain weight – our data strongly suggest that it is a ‘driver’ for drug-induced obesity,” said study lead author Philipp Scherer. He’s professor of internal medicine and director… read on > read on >

When you’re looking for a cheap and easy way to get around town, which is safer — a scooter or a bike? A nationwide look at injuries related to both suggests biking may be the safer way to go. UCLA researchers report that scooter injuries nearly tripled across the U.S. between 2016 and 2020, many serious enough to require orthopedic and plastic surgery. The cost of treating those injuries rose five-fold, underscoring their financial strain on the health care system. “Considering the rise in the number of hospitalizations and major operations for scooter-related injuries, it’s crucial to elevate safety standards for riders,” lead author Nam Yong Cho, a third year medical student at UCLA, said in a news release. “Advocating for improved infrastructure, including enforced speed limits and dedicated lanes, is also vital to minimize risks for vehicles, scooter riders, and pedestrians alike.” For the study — published Jan. 9 in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons — researchers used a federal government database to compare trends and outcomes for scooter- and bicycle-related injuries. The database did not distinguish between electric and non-electric scooters. In all, nearly 93,000 patients were hospitalized for injuries — about 6,100 from scooters — during the study period. About 27% of the scooter users and 16% of bike riders were under 18. Injuries rose during winter months, and… read on > read on >

Social media is abuzz with the possibility that newfangled weight loss drugs can also reduce cravings for alcohol, a new study says. Across a number of Reddit threads, users of weight-loss drugs like Ozempic reported that they felt less need to drink beer, wine and liquor. Threads bearing titles like “Did scientists accidentally invent an anti-addiction drug?” and “I don’t know if this is a side effect but … Mounjaro makes me drink less!!!!!” tout the weight-loss drugs’ potential to help folks quit drinking, researchers said. What’s more, a small study of social media participants with obesity found that they drank less and were less likely to binge if they were on a weight-loss drug. “These findings add to a growing literature that these medications may curb dangerous drinking habits,” said senior author Warren Bickel in a Virginia Tech news release. Bickel is a behavioral health research professor with the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at Virginia Tech in Roanoke. For this study, Bickel and his team analyzed more than 68,000 Reddit posts sent between 2009 and 2023 that included terms linked to GLP-1 agonists like Wegovy, Ozempic, Mounjaro and Trulicity. GLP-1 agonists help manage blood sugar levels and reduce the desire to eat by mimicking the action of hormones that the body naturally releases after a meal, researchers said in background notes. The drugs were… read on > read on >

Teens who are active are doing their bones a lasting favor, Japanese researchers report. “Physical exercise in adolescence affects BMD [bone mineral density] more than 50 years later in older adults,” said lead researcher Dr. Yoshifumi Tamura, a faculty member at Juntendo University in Tokyo. “Our findings can guide the selection of sports played during adolescence for longer health benefits.” The deterioration of bone tissue — called osteoporosis — is a leading cause of falls among older adults, leading to fractures and a need for long-term nursing care. The best time to prevent it is in youth, researchers said, because the body’s ability to build bone mass begins to decline in the 20s. “BMD is difficult to increase once it decreases,” Tamura said in a university news release. “Therefore, it is important to increase peak bone mass during adolescence to maintain BMD in old age.” While other studies have shown that a 10% increase in peak bone mass during adolescence can stave off osteoporosis for up to 13 years, this team wondered what sports activities might help most. In their study of close to 1,600 folks between 65 and 84 years of age, they zeroed in on some key trends. The takeaway: Seniors who engaged in high-impact sports as teens had healthier bones than those who didn’t. Researchers looked at their fitness, blood markers such… read on > read on >

There’s information emerging on how the common Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) might be crucial to triggering multiple sclerosis (MS). The virus, which also causes “mono” (mononucleosis) and other illnesses, has gained prominence in recent years as a potential cause of MS. Over 95% of people are thought to carry EBV, although for most people it remains dormant. Now, a team of Texan researchers report that certain immune cells targeted to EBV infection are found in high numbers in people newly diagnosed with MS. The immune system cells are called T-cells, and they appear to be targeting lymphoblastoid cell lines (LCLs) infected with Epstein-Barr virus. “This work demonstrates that T-cells specific for LCL are present in the cerebrospinal fluid at the earliest stages of [MS] disease,” said study senior author Dr. J. William Lindsey. “This strongly suggests that these T-cells are either causing the disease or contributing to it in some way,” said Lindsey, a professor of neurology at McGovern Medical School, UTHealth Houston. “We have experiments in progress to define what these cells may be doing,” he added in a UTHealth news release. The study was published Jan. 8 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. EBV is a form of herpes virus that can be spread by bodily fluids, especially saliva. It’s been strongly linked in recent years to MS, a chronic, debilitating illness… read on > read on >

Exposing babies and toddlers to TV and other digital media could be linked to a heightened risk for dysfunction in what’s known as “sensory processing,” a new study warns. Kids with “atypical sensory processing” are often hypersensitive to the touch, sound, taste or look of stimuli in their environment. For example, kids might try to avoid the feel of certain clothing, the taste of certain foods or necessary activities like getting their hair washed. Conversely, they might seek out sensations — twirling in place, staring at bright lights or ceiling fans — to the neglect of other activities. Sensory processing issues are highly correlated with other psychiatric conditions, such as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or autism. About 60% of kids with ADHD have issues with sensory processing, as do about 70% of kids with autism, said researchers at Drexel University in West Reading, Pa. They looked at data on nearly 1,500 young children tracked from 2011 to 2023. According to the study, those who’d been exposed to TVs and DVDs in the first three years of life were much more likely to have symptoms of atypical sensory processing, compared with those whose parents delayed such exposures. The study could not prove cause-and-effect. However, the Drexel team theorize that kids’ screen time could reduce “meaningful play and social interactions, which may have significant implications for the… read on > read on >

U.S. health care workers were most likely to be infected with COVID-19 at work during the pandemic’s first year, according to a new study that challenges previous research suggesting their risk was highest off the job. Researchers said their findings could help guide efforts to better protect health care workers during future infectious disease outbreaks. “This study provides important insights to guide infection prevention and control practices in health care settings so that we can better protect HCPs [health care professionals] and their patients,” said Linda Dickey, president of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC), which published the findings in its journal. For the study, researchers analyzed data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on nearly 84,000 health care workers who were diagnosed with COVID-19 between March 1, 2020, and March 31, 2021, and whose source of exposure was known. Exposure to SARS-CoV-2 was more likely in the workplace (52%) than in the home (nearly 31%) or community (about 26%). Workplace-associated exposures peaked in April 2020 at 84%, the researchers found. About two-thirds of health care workers who reported a specific type of on-the-job exposure said they’d come into contact with patients or other health care workers who had COVID-19. The largest reductions in workplace exposures occurred in June 2020 after introduction of improved infection prevention and control… read on > read on >