Lifestyle « Weekly Gravy

A racist mortgage appraisal practice used in the United States decades ago has resulted in less green space in some urban neighborhoods today, researchers say. Those so-called “redlined” neighborhoods have higher rates of air and noise pollution, racial segregation and poverty — all of which can contribute to poorer health. In the 1930s, the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC) gave neighborhoods nationwide risk grades that were based on racial makeup and other factors. “Hazardous” areas — often those whose residents included people of color — were outlined in red on HOLC maps. In the decades since, these neighborhoods have seen less private and public investment and have remained segregated. “Though redlining is now outlawed, its effects on urban neighborhoods persist in many ways, including by depriving residents of green space, which is known to promote health and buffer stress,” said study first author Anthony Nardone, a medical student at the University of California, San Francisco. Senior author Joan Casey called for action to remedy the problem. “Future policies should, with the input of local leaders, strive to expand availability of green space, a health-promoting amenity, in communities of color,” she said. Casey is an assistant professor of environmental health sciences at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health in New York City. For the study, the researchers examined the relationship between HOLC risk grades and… read on > read on >

Too much screen time can make your toddler more distractible, British researchers warn. The use of smartphones and tablets by babies and toddlers has soared in recent years. “The first few years of life are critical for children to learn how to control their attention and ignore distraction, early skills that are known to be important for later academic achievement,” said lead author Tim Smith, a professor at the Center for Brain and Cognitive Development at Birkbeck, University of London. “There has been growing concern that toddler touchscreen use may negatively impact their developing attention, but previously there was no empirical evidence to support this,” Smith added. To learn more, Smith’s team studied toddlers with different levels of touchscreen usage, assessing them at 12 months, 18 months and 3.5 years of age. At each visit, the toddlers did computer tasks while an eye-tracker measured their attention. Objects appeared in different locations of the computer screen, and researchers monitored how quickly the children looked at the objects and how well they ignored distracting objects. Toddlers with high daily touchscreen use were quicker to look when objects appeared and were less able to resist distraction than those with little or no daily screen time, the study found. Main researcher Ana Maria Portugal, an associate research fellow at Birkbeck University of London, said the team could not conclude,… read on > read on >

Exercise programs that are standard for heart attack survivors can also benefit people who’ve suffered a stroke, a new pilot study suggests. Researchers found that a three-month cardiac rehabilitation program improved fitness levels and muscle strength in 24 stroke survivors. While the study was small, the researchers said it offers evidence of what’s intuitive: People recovering from a stroke benefit from regular, structured exercise. Cardiac rehab programs have long been offered to people with heart disease. Yet insurance does not cover the therapy for stroke patients. That’s partly because after a stroke, the emphasis is often on rehab for any disabilities a patient might have, said Elizabeth Regan, a clinical assistant professor of physical therapy at the University of South Carolina, in Columbia. “We haven’t thought enough about the importance of cardiovascular endurance for stroke patients,” she said. After a stroke, people are often in a deconditioned state, so working on fitness and muscle strength is vital. Beyond that, Regan said, exercise can help lower their risk of having another stroke. Unfortunately, research shows that most stroke survivors do not exercise regularly. Regan said that cardiac rehab, which includes supervised exercise, might help people gain the self-confidence they need to exercise on their own. To study the question, she and her colleagues recruited two dozen stroke survivors. They ranged in age from 33 to 81,… read on > read on >

Kids aren’t scared when surgical staff wear personal protective equipment (PPE), and many feel reassured by use of the gear, researchers say. Anxiety is common before, during and after surgery, and can result in complications such as pain and delayed recovery. Concerns have been raised that seeing staffers wearing PPE such as hoods, masks and gowns during the coronavirus pandemic might increase anxiety among kids having surgery. To see whether that is true, researchers assessed 63 children, ages 2 to 16, for anxiety before surgery. Half had none, and there were no significant differences in anxiety levels between those who received a sedative and those who didn’t, the study found. That suggests that PPE didn’t have a greater effect on non-sedated children than on those who were given a sedative to manage their anxiety, according to researchers at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool, England. They also asked youngsters who were scheduled for day surgery how they felt about PPE. Sixty-five percent said it made them feel safe and happy. None said it made them feel anxious. Researchers also found that parents overestimated their children’s fear of PPE. The findings were presented at the winter meeting of the Association of Anaesthetists, held online last week. Research presented at meetings is typically considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal. The authors said their findings were… read on > read on >

Heart disease risk factors are common among men with breast cancer, a new, small study finds. Researchers analyzed the medical records of 24 male breast cancer patients, aged 38 to 79. Half had a family history of breast cancer. Nearly 8 in 10 of the patients had invasive ductal carcinoma, which is the most common type of breast cancer and occurs when cancer starts in the breast ducts and spreads into surrounding breast tissue. About 9 in 10 of the patients were overweight, 58% had high blood pressure and 54% had high cholesterol. All patients had a mastectomy, 4% received anthracycline chemotherapy, 8% received HER2-targeted therapy, 16% received radiation and 71% received hormone therapy. Six of the men were diagnosed with a secondary primary malignancy and three with a third primary malignancy. An abnormally increased heart rate (tachyarrhythmia) was already present in 8% of patients and developed in 13% of patients while undergoing treatment. Two patients had decreased ejection fraction (a decrease in how much blood the heart pumps out with each beat), and two patients developed heart failure after treatment. The study was presented Monday as part of the American College of Cardiology’s (ACC) Advancing the Cardiovascular Care of the Oncology Patient Virtual course. Such research is considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal. “Due to the rarity of male breast cancer, there… read on > read on >

In findings that may ring true to parents, a new government survey shows that a paltry 2% of U.S. high school students are eating enough vegetables. The study is the latest look at teenagers’ eating habits by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And experts described the results as “disappointing.” Of more than 13,000 high school students surveyed in 2017, only 2% were getting the minimum recommended allotment of veggies: 2.5 to 3 cups per day. Fruit, meanwhile, was only mildly more popular. About 7% of high schoolers were getting enough, and 100% fruit juice counted toward those servings. The figures show no progress since the CDC’s previous report on the topic: In 2013, as well, 2% of high school kids were eating their veggies as recommended. “The findings aren’t necessarily surprising, but they are discouraging,” said Marlene Schwartz, director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at the University of Connecticut, in Hartford. There have been some positive policy moves in recent years, according to Schwartz, who was not involved in the study. They include efforts to make fresh produce more accessible to low-income Americans through food stamps and the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program. There are also rules around fruits and vegetables in the National School Lunch Program. The problem is that relatively few high school students participate… read on > read on >