The gap in life expectancy between American men and women is now the biggest it has been since the mid-1990s — almost six years. The pandemic and opioid overdoses are key factors in the gender difference in longevity, said researchers from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and Harvard University T.H. Chan School of Public Health. “There’s been a lot of research into the decline in life expectancy in recent years, but no one has systematically analyzed why the gap between men and women has been widening since 2010,” said first study author Dr. Brandon Yan, a resident in internal medicine at UCSF. In 2021, the gender gap in life expectancy rose to 5.8 years, its largest since 1996, he and his colleagues report. In 2010, the gap was its smallest in recent history, 4.8 years. Life expectancy in the United States was 76.1 years in 2021. That’s down from 78.8 years in 2019 and 77 years in 2020. Researchers cited the pandemic as the biggest factor in the widening gender gap; it took a heavier toll on men. Unintentional injuries and poisonings (mostly drug overdoses), accidents and suicide were other contributors. Another factor in Americans’ shrinking lifespan: so-called “deaths of despair.” That’s a nod to the rise in deaths owing to such causes as suicide, drug use disorders and alcoholic liver disease. These…  read on >  read on >

Young people who smoke and have prediabetes have triple the risk of suffering a stroke, a new study shows. Overall, hospitalized tobacco users with prediabetes had a 3.3 times higher risk that they were in the hospital due to a stroke, after researchers accounted for other risk factors. The findings “warrant early screening and prevention strategies for prediabetes in young tobacco users in order to curtail their risk of stroke,” said lead researcher Dr. Advait Vasavada, a resident in family medicine at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha. Vasavada plans to present the findings at the American Heart Association (AHA) annual meeting, being held from Nov. 11-13 in Philadelphia. Findings presented at a medical meeting should be considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal. For the study, Vasavada’s research team analyzed records for more than 1 million tobacco users ages 18 to 44 who were admitted to a U.S. hospital in 2019. All the young adults included in the study were considered healthy, with no heart disease risk factors like high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, elevated cholesterol or obesity. However, their charts showed that all were long-term tobacco users who were dependent on nicotine and had a hard time cutting back or quitting. Looking more closely, researchers found that about two out of every 1,000 also had prediabetes – elevated blood…  read on >  read on >

Having high insulin levels may be more than tough to manage when you have diabetes: New research shows it also appears to raise the risk of pancreatic cancer. In the study, scientists found excessive insulin levels overstimulated pancreatic acinar cells, which produce digestive juices. This overstimulation triggers inflammation that turns these cells into precancerous cells. “Alongside the rapid increase in both obesity and type 2 diabetes, we’re seeing an alarming rise in pancreatic cancer rates,” said co-senior study author James Johnson, a professor in the Department of Cellular and Physiological Sciences and interim director of the Life Sciences Institute at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver. “These findings help us understand how this is happening, and highlights the importance of keeping insulin levels within a healthy range, which can be accomplished with diet, exercise and, in some cases, medications,” Johnson said in a university news release. The study focused on pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). This is the most prevalent pancreatic cancer. It is highly aggressive with a five-year survival rate of less than 10%. By 2030, PDAC is expected to become the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths. The new study sheds light on the role of insulin and its receptors in pancreatic cancer risk. “We found that hyperinsulinemia [high insulin levels] directly contributes to pancreatic cancer initiation through insulin receptors in acinar…  read on >  read on >

A kinder, more thoughtful workplace can lead to better heart health among older employees, a new study finds. Older workers’ heart health risk factors decreased significantly when their office employed interventions designed to reduce work-family conflicts, researchers report in the Nov. 8 issue of the American Journal of Public Health. Specifically, their heart risk factors reflected those of people 5 to 10 years younger when their workplace culture provided them better flexibility and support. “The study illustrates how working conditions are important social determinants of health,” said co-lead researcher Lisa Berkman, director of the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies. “When stressful workplace conditions and work-family conflict were mitigated, we saw a reduction in the risk of cardiovascular disease among more vulnerable employees, without any negative impact on their productivity,” Berkman added in a Harvard news release. “These findings could be particularly consequential for low- and middle-wage workers who traditionally have less control over their schedules and job demands and are subject to greater health inequities.” For the study, researchers worked with two companies — an IT company with 555 participating employees and a long-term care company with 973 participating employees. The researchers trained company supervisors on strategies that support employees’ personal and family lives. Teams of supervisors and employees also attended hands-on trainings to identify new ways to increase employees’ control over their…  read on >  read on >

WEDNESDAY, Nov. 8, 2023 (Healthday News) — A new drug to treat postpartum depression will cost nearly $16,000 for a 14-day course of treatment, a price tag that has doctors worried that some patients won’t be able to afford the medication. Zurzuvae (zuranolone) was first approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration back in August, and it carried the distinction of being the first postpartum depression (PPD) drug that can be taken as a pill. Despite Zurzuvae’s high cost, drugmaker Sage Therapeutics said Tuesday that the drug should hit the market by December, and that it and partner Biogen are now talking with insurers about coverage of the medication. The companies’ goal is “to enable broad and equitable access for women with PPD who are prescribed this drug,” Sage Chief Executive Officer Barry Greene said in a company news release. The hope is for patients to be able to get the medicine, “where possible, with little to no co-pay regardless of financial means.” He added that the two companies will also help cover costs or provide the drug free to certain patients. Mental health experts have welcomed the drug’s approval, not just because it presents a new way to treat postpartum depression but also because it “appears to be fast-acting,” Dr. Catherine Monk, chief of the Division of Women’s Mental Health in the Department of…  read on >  read on >

Everyone knows smoking to be a major cause of cancer. Now, exactly how tobacco smoke triggers tumor development just got a bit clearer, thanks to new Canadian research. According to a team at the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR) in Toronto, smoking appears to prevent the formation of proteins that work to keep runaway cell development in check. According to Nina Adler, a University of Toronto PhD student who led the study, smoking gives rise to what are known as “stop-gain” mutations in cellular DNA. In essence, the mutations tell the body to stop making these protective proteins. Without these proteins, tumors are more likely to occur. “Our study showed that smoking is associated with changes to DNA that disrupt the formation of tumor suppressors,” said Adler, who led the study during her postgraduate research in Dr. Jüri Reimand’s lab at OICR. “Without them, abnormal cells are allowed to keep growing unchecked by the cell’s defenses and cancer can develop more easily,” she explained in an OICR news release. The Toronto team already knew that a history of smoking leaves a unique imprint in a smoker’s DNA. In their research, they compared that genetic legacy to DNA collected from 12,000 tumor samples across 18 different types of cancer. They found that smoking appeared strongly connected to stop-gain mutations that leave people more vulnerable to…  read on >  read on >

California banned menthol cigarettes and flavored vaping products in late 2022, based on concerns the flavors encouraged teens to get hooked on nicotine. But a new study finds many smokers simply shrugged and turned to online shopping for their flavored vapes. Online shopping for flavored cigarettes and vapes increased significantly in the weeks following the implementation of the ban, according to findings published Nov. 7 in the journal Tobacco Control. Researchers discovered that shopping queries were 194% higher than expected for cigarettes and 162% higher than expected for vape products after the law went into effect. “Retailer licensing programs have proven to be effective in enforcing tobacco control laws. However, the exclusion of e-commerce retailers from these programs can undermine their impact,” said lead researcher Eric Leas, an assistant professor at the Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science at the University of California, San Diego, and director of the Tobacco E-commerce Lab. Web searches revealed that at least two and as many as 36 online retailers continue to offer access to flavored vapes or menthol cigarettes, researchers found. “The absence of explicit regulations on e-commerce sales can create loopholes in enforcing tobacco control laws, allowing consumers to easily access restricted products online,” Leas explained in a university news release. “By including e-commerce in the definition of ‘tobacco retailer’ and ensuring strict…  read on >  read on >

Many people with type 2 diabetes also struggle with depression, and this combination can lead to premature death, researchers say. “More than 35 million Americans have diabetes, and more than 95 million have prediabetes, making diabetes one of the leading causes of death in the U.S.,” said study co-author Jagdish Khubchandani. He is a professor of public health sciences at New Mexico State University, in Las Cruces. “Unfortunately, a large proportion of these people struggle with depression, anxiety or poor mental health,” Khubchandani said in a university news release. To explore this association, the researchers used data on nearly 15,000 people from the 2005 to 2010 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. The research team then linked the data to death records from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The investigators found that more than 10% of American adults suffer from depression or diabetes. Overall, participants with diabetes were 1.7 times more likely to die prematurely than those without diabetes, the data showed. The risk of death more than quadrupled for participants with both diabetes and depression compared to those without diabetes or depression. “Diabetes alone is a debilitating disease, and the co-occurrence of depression makes it worse,” Khubchandani said. “Unfortunately, many Americans with diabetes continue to struggle financially and emotionally, making it difficult to manage the disease.” Many demographic, psychosocial and biological…  read on >  read on >

Gun violence causes a ripple effect that creates a lasting impact on young people lucky enough to survive being shot, as well as their families, a comprehensive new study finds. Child and teenaged gunshot survivors carry the physical and emotional scars of violence, and their families suffer even more dramatic aftereffects, the Harvard-associated researchers found. “The unspeakable tragedy of youth gun violence has overshadowed the massive health crises that occur in the wake of injuries and deaths,” said study author Zirui Song, an associate professor of health care policy and medicine in the Blavatnik Institute at Harvard Medical School in Boston. Children 19 and younger who survive gun violence experience a 68% increase in psychiatric disorders and a 144% increase in substance use disorders, compared with young people who haven’t been shot, researchers found. Their moms and dads suffer alongside them, experiencing a 30% increased risk of psychiatric disorders compared with parents whose children haven’t sustained a gunshot injury, results show. “Gunshot survivors and their families often experience long-lasting, invisible injuries, including psychological and substance use disorders with roots in the shared trauma they have experienced,” Song, who is also a general internist at Massachusetts General Hospital, said in a hospital news release. “It’s important for clinicians to be aware that these families are at an increased risk for these conditions so that they can…  read on >  read on >