Caring for a grandchild might be the best way to fight the isolation of old age, new research suggests. This conclusion is based on 2014 data collected as part of an ongoing German survey of older adults. Among the nearly 3,900 grandparents in the survey, more than 1,100 said they cared for a grandchild. Those who had grandchildren to care for had lower scores on loneliness and social isolation tests, and a larger social network than those who didn’t care for grandchildren. Meanwhile, grandparents who didn’t care for a grandchild had higher loneliness scores and were in regular contact with fewer people important to them, the study authors said. The findings were unchanged even after the researchers took into account factors such as marital status, domestic arrangements, household income, self-rated health, physical activity levels and depressive symptoms. The study can’t prove that taking care of grandchildren by itself makes older people less lonely, only that there appears to be an association. It might be that grandparents who felt less lonely and isolated to start with are more likely to care for a grandchild, said study author Eleanor Quirke, of the department for health economics and health services research at Hamburg-Eppendorf University Hospital, and colleagues. The study also didn’t account for how near to their grandchildren grandparents lived or how often they provided care, all of…  read on >

Long hours spent working will do no favors for your blood pressure, a new Canadian study suggests. The five-year study tracked the working hours and blood pressure readings of 3,500 white-collar workers at three public institutions in the province of Quebec. Compared to those who worked less than 35 hours a week, those who worked 49 or more hours each week had a 70% higher risk of what’s known as “masked” hypertension — high blood pressure that can be missed during a routine medical appointment, but is detected when blood pressure is tracked at home. Lots of overtime was also tied to a 66% higher risk of “sustained” hypertension — high blood pressure that’s recorded both in and out of healthcare settings. The study couldn’t prove cause-and-effect, but even a few extra working hours per week seemed to matter to heart health. For example, people who worked between 41 and 48 hours a week had a 54% higher risk of masked hypertension and a 42% higher risk of sustained hypertension, the researchers reported Dec. 19 in the journal Hypertension. The exact connection between overtime and higher blood pressure isn’t clear, said lead author Xavier Trudel. “The link between long working hours and high blood pressure in the study was about the same for men as for women,” noted Trudel. He’s an assistant professor in the…  read on >

Rising obesity rates worldwide may be contributing to the climate crisis, researchers report. “Our analysis suggests that, in addition to beneficial effects on morbidity, mortality and health care costs, managing obesity can favorably affect the environment as well,” said study corresponding author Faidon Magkos, from the department of nutrition, exercise and sports at the University of Copenhagen, in Denmark. Like other oxygen-dependent creatures, humans emit carbon dioxide that’s produced by metabolic processes necessary to live, the scientists explained. The amount of carbon dioxide — a greenhouse gas — produced by a species is determined by its average metabolic rate, average body size and the total number of individuals of the species. Obese people produce more carbon dioxide than those of normal weight, the researchers said. Also, obese people consume greater quantities of food and beverages that need to be produced and transported to them, and transportation of obese people requires more consumption of fossil fuels. This means higher carbon dioxide emissions related to food production and transportation for obese people, the study authors explained. The researchers estimated that obesity contributes to an extra 700 megatons of carbon dioxide emissions per year worldwide, or about 1.6% of all human-caused emissions. Overall, being obese is associated with about 20% more greenhouse gas emissions (carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide) than being a normal weight, according to the…  read on >

Prescription-grade CBD may help control hard-to-treat seizures caused by a rare genetic disorder, a preliminary study suggests. The study involved 224 patients with tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) — a genetic condition that affects about one in 6,000 people, according to the U.S. National Institutes of Health. It causes noncancerous tumors to arise throughout the body, and — in 90% of patients — seizures that are often resistant to standard drugs. Researchers wanted to know whether these patients might respond to Epidiolex, a liquid medication that contains purified CBD (cannabidiol). Last year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Epidiolex for two other rare seizure disorders: Dravet syndrome and Lennox-Gastaut syndrome. That made it the first approved medication to contain an ingredient derived from cannabis plants. CBD is one of hundreds of chemicals found in cannabis, better known as marijuana. CBD differs from THC, the source of the famous marijuana “high.” CBD is present in marijuana but is more abundant in hemp — cannabis plants that have little THC. Despite the Epidiolex approval, researchers still aren’t sure why prescription-grade CBD can help control severe seizures. But standard antiseizure drugs all work by similar mechanisms — and CBD apparently tackles them in a different way, according to Dr. Elizabeth Thiele, who led the new study. “CBD works by a novel mechanism, but we don’t know exactly what…  read on >

If you are pregnant and live in a rural area of the United States, new research shows that you’re at higher risk of life-threatening complications or death during or after childbirth. “Our study suggests that geographic disparities may put rural women at an increased risk of requiring lifesaving interventions during or immediately after delivering a baby,” said study senior author Dr. Lindsay Admon. She’s an obstetrician-gynecologist at Michigan Medicine’s Von Voigtlander Women’s Hospital, in Ann Arbor. “Policies and programs aiming to improve maternal health and reduce adverse events associated with delivery must address the unique health needs and challenges faced by rural women,” Admon added in a University of Michigan news release. In the study, her team analyzed 6.8 million births nationwide between 2007 and 2015, and found that deliveries requiring emergency lifesaving treatment and mothers’ deaths rose from 109 to 152 per 10,000 childbirth hospitalizations during that time. The researchers also found that rural women were 9% more likely to have a dangerous childbirth situation than urban women, with about 4,400 more cases among rural women during the study period. The findings were published in the December issue of the journal Health Affairs. The study’s lead author, Katy Kozhimannil, said, “Where you live shouldn’t dictate the outcome of your pregnancy.” Kozhimannil is director of the University of Minnesota’s Rural Health Research Center. “In rural…  read on >

Some patients in remission from the blood cancer called follicular lymphoma can be considered cured, a new small study suggests. Using DNA sequencing, researchers were able to test the patients’ blood to see if mutations that caused the cancer were still present two years after treatment. If these mutations aren’t found, the patient can be given a clean bill of health, the study authors said. “While follicular lymphoma is not one of the more aggressive types of cancer we treat, the majority of patients continue to experience disease recurrence over many years and have to receive different types of therapy,” explained researcher Dr. Maryam Sarraf Yazdy. She is a hematologist/oncologist at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital, in Washington, D.C. “This disease has been considered incurable, but for some patients who have been disease-free for at least two years after remission, our pilot study gives hope that calling the disease incurable may no longer be accurate,” she said in an American Society of Hematology news release. Follicular lymphoma makes up about one-third of all non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas. About 20,000 people are diagnosed with the disease in the United States each year. The 68 people with follicular lymphoma in the study had all the usual treatments and had been in remission for more than two years. Of these patients, 43 were included in the final data. First, the researchers…  read on >

Keep the holidays happy, healthy and safe by following a few guidelines, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) says. “With a thoughtful approach, families can avoid some of the holiday frenzy, and focus on what is meaningful to them,” said Dr. Benjamin Hoffman, chair of the AAP’s Council on Injury, Violence, and Poison Prevention. “We know that children take their cues from their parents,” Hoffman said in an AAP news release. “By taking a step back and slowing down, parents can model better ways to cope with excitement and stress, and enjoy some quality time together.” When possible, maintain your child’s usual sleep and mealtime schedules. Doing so can keep them happy and prevent tantrums. Take care of your physical and mental health. Children are tuned into the emotional well-being of their parents and caregivers. If you cope with stress successfully, your children will learn how to do the same. Don’t overspend on gifts. Help your child make one or two gifts. Do volunteer work and include your child. Toys should suit a child’s age, abilities, skills and interest level. Be wary of toys that contain button batteries or magnets, which can be swallowed by small children and cause serious internal damage. Cooking with children can be a great way to bond. Follow food safety guidelines, wash hands frequently and keep hot foods and liquids…  read on >

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday gave expanded approval to a prescription form of fish oil called Vascepa, to help prevent heart trouble in people at high risk who are already taking statins. Vascepa (icosapent ethyl) was already FDA-approved for a small percentage of patients with exceptionally high blood levels of triglycerides, a type of blood fat. The new approval greatly expands the potential pool of patients, because it now includes people with simply high levels of triglycerides — at or above 150 milligrams per deciliter — and multiple risk factors for heart disease and diabetes. “Today’s approval will give patients with elevated triglycerides and other important risk factors, including heart disease, stroke and diabetes, an adjunctive treatment option that can help decrease their risk of cardiovascular events,” Dr. John Sharretts said in an FDA news release. He’s acting deputy director of the Division of Metabolism and Endocrinology Products in the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. Vascepa is a drug derived from fish that contains pure EPA, a key nutrient in fish oil. A month’s supply of Vascepa costs roughly $300. Friday’s approval follows on the positive results of a study on Vascepa presented in November at the annual meeting of the American Heart Association (AHA). Early findings from the clinical trial found that the drug slowed the development of artery-clogging…  read on >