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Full doses of blood thinners can benefit patients hospitalized with COVID-19, but the severity of their illness matters, researchers say. The new global analysis found that hospitalized patients with moderate COVID-19 may benefit from the drugs’ clot-preventing powers, but patients with illness so severe it requires admission to an intensive care unit may not. “SARS-CoV-2 infection can increase the risk for developing blood clots by causing a significant inflammatory response in the body,” explained Dr. Aeshita Dwivedi, a cardiologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. “These blood clots can further lead to debilitating and life-threatening conditions like heart attacks, strokes or pulmonary embolisms,” said Dwivedi, who wasn’t involved in the new study. She said the new data “has demonstrated that a higher dose of blood thinners, in addition to being safe, reduced the need for life support and possibly even death” in moderately ill patients in the hospital. Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, doctors worldwide noted that COVID-19 patients had high rates of blood clots and inflammation that led to complications, such as lung failure, heart attack and stroke. At the time, it wasn’t known whether providing COVID-19 patients with high doses of blood thinners would be safe and effective. Last December, the same group of researchers released findings showing that routine use of full-dose blood thinners in more critically ill COVID-19 patients… read on > read on >

Talk therapy for new mothers with postpartum depression may also benefit their babies’ brains, Canadian researchers say. “We found that after their moms were treated that their infant’s brain activity normalized to the levels seen in our healthy infants,” said study co-author Ryan Van Lieshout, an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral neuroscience at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. The study included 40 infants of women with postpartum depression and 40 infants of non-depressed mothers. The mothers with postpartum depression received nine weeks of group cognitive behavioral therapy. This type of therapy aims to help patients change destructive thought patterns. Their infants were assessed before therapy began and nine weeks later. That included having mothers and their partners complete a questionnaire on their infants’ behavior. Cognitive behavioral therapy not only helped the mothers, but also led to improvements in their infants’ nervous and cardiovascular systems, as well as their emotions and behavior, according to the researchers. It is known that children of women with postpartum depression have changes in brain function that increase their risk of emotional and behavioral problems later in life, but it wasn’t known if treating the mother’s postpartum depression could reduce the risk. “We believe that this is the first time that anyone has shown that treating moms’ postpartum depression can lead to healthy changes in the physiology of the brains… read on > read on >

People with anxiety and depression are more likely to step up their drinking during the COVID-19 pandemic than those without these mental health issues, an online survey revealed. Alcohol use grew the most among young people, but older adults with anxiety and depression were about twice as likely to report increased drinking as older adults without those struggles, New York University researchers said. “We expected that younger people and those with mental health issues would report drinking as a coping mechanism, but this is the first time we’re learning that mental health is associated with differences in alcohol use by age,” study author Yesim Tozan said in a university news release. She is an assistant professor of global health at NYU’s School of Global Public Health. Lead author Ariadna Capasso, a doctoral student, said the increase in drinking, especially among people with mental health issues, is consistent with concerns that the pandemic may be triggering an epidemic of alcohol use. Drinking to cope with stress and traumatic events is not unusual. After the 2001 World Trade Center attack, 25% of New Yorkers increased their alcohol use. Likewise, COVID-19 has caused lots of stress, including isolation, disruption of routines, economic hardship, illness, fear of contagion. For the study, the researchers conducted an online survey of people across the United States in March and April. Of the… read on > read on >

Here’s one reason why past or current smoking may handicap you if you are battling breast cancer: New research suggests that nicotine promotes the spread of the disease to your lungs. Smoking is known to increase the risk that breast cancer will spread, which lowers the survival rate by one-third at diagnosis. But the role of nicotine in the spread of breast cancer to the lungs has been less clear. To learn more, researchers studied almost 1,100 breast cancer patients. They found that current smokers and former smokers had higher rates of breast cancer spread to the lungs than those who never smoked. In studies of mice, researchers found that nicotine fosters that spread. And this was true even after no exposure to nicotine for 30 days. That suggests there’s an ongoing risk for breast cancer patients who are former smokers, according to the team from Wake Forest School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, N.C. Their findings were published online Jan. 20 in the journal Nature Communications. “Our data shows that nicotine exposure creates an environment in the lungs that is ripe for metastatic growth,” said lead study author Kounosuke Watabe, a professor of cancer biology at Wake Forest. Long-term exposure to nicotine creates an “inflammatory microenvironment” in the lungs. That attracts immune cells called neutrophils, which release a protein that encourages the spread of cancer,… read on > read on >

The new year is the ideal time to focus on your health and one expert has some tips, especially for men, for doing that. According to Dr. Kevin McVary, director of Loyola Medicine Men’s Health Center, in Maywood, Ill., “Men don’t always focus on their health and, in fact, men are less likely to see a doctor or utilize health resources, and wait longer than women to seek care. Often, it’s a man’s spouse or partner who convinces him to see a doctor.” As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, “a focus on health is especially important this year,” McVary said in a Loyola news release. “We know that obesity, heart disease, diabetes and a lack of exercise can lead to poorer COVID-19 outcomes. In addition, some men may have stopped eating healthy during the past year, and/or may be consuming more alcohol due to stress. Others may have a condition or concern that they are not seeking treatment for due to the pandemic,” McVary explained. “And yet, lifestyle choices — exercising, eating healthy, not smoking, limiting alcohol consumption and managing stress — combined with preventive care can keep you healthy this year and throughout your lifetime,” McVary added. “And it’s never too late to start.” McVary offers the following tips: Boost your physical activity. Men should exercise 150 minutes each week. “That sounds like a lot… read on > read on >

The first monthly shots to treat adults with HIV were approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday. “Currently, the standard of care for patients with HIV includes patients taking daily pills to adequately manage their condition. This approval will allow some patients the option of receiving once-monthly injections in lieu of a daily oral treatment regimen,” said Dr. John Farley, director of the Office of Infectious Diseases in the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. “Having this treatment available for some patients provides an alternative for managing this chronic condition,” he added in an agency news release. One expert said the shots will likely be welcomed by HIV patients. The shots “will enhance quality of life” to need treatment just once a month, Dr. Steven Deeks, an HIV specialist at the University of California, San Francisco, told CBS News. “People don’t want those daily reminders that they’re HIV-infected.” Another expert agreed. “Even people who are taking one pill once a day … reported improvement in their quality of life to switch to an injection,” Dr. Judith Currier, an HIV specialist at the University of California, Los Angeles, told CBS News. She consults for ViiV Healthcare, the company behind the long-acting treatment, and wrote a commentary accompanying one study of the drug published recently in the New England Journal of Medicine. Not… read on > read on >