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Black children and teens drown in swimming pools at rates seven times higher than white children, but a new survey suggests that special swimming programs could make a difference and help save lives. The survey, from the Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, found that only 25% of Hispanic parents and 28% of Black parents were comfortable with their own swimming skills. That’s compared to 56% of white parents. About 33% of Black parents and fewer than 40% of Hispanic parents felt their children were competent swimmers, compared to nearly 60% of white parents. The problem may span generations: More than 26% of Black parents said they had never learned to swim and the same was true for more than 32% of Hispanic parents. On the other hand, fewer than 4% of white parents said they’d never learned to swim. Meanwhile, about 46% of Black children and 47% of Latino children had swimming lessons, compared to 72% of white children. “Our results underscore that racial and ethnic gaps in swimming competence run in families, and that children are less likely to swim when their parents can’t swim,” said senior study author Dr. Michelle Macy, an emergency medicine physician at Lurie Children’s. “To improve swimming abilities in Black and [Hispanic] communities, we need to address swim comfort and skills for both parents and… read on > read on >

Exercise and mindfulness are known for their health benefits, but a new study found that didn’t extend to boosting memory or thinking skills in healthy seniors. That doesn’t mean these activities wouldn’t be beneficial for memory if practiced for a longer period of time or in adults with impairments, the researchers noted, just that there were not apparent benefits during the study. “We know beyond any doubt that exercise is good for older adults, that it can lower risk for cardiac [heart] problems, strengthen bones, improve mood and have other beneficial effects — and there has been some thought that it also might improve cognitive [thinking] function,” said study first author Dr. Eric Lenze. He is head of the department of psychiatry at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. “Likewise, mindfulness training is beneficial because it reduces stress, and stress can be bad for your brain. Therefore, we hypothesized that if older adults exercised regularly, practiced mindfulness or did both, there might be cognitive benefits — but that’s not what we found,” Lenze said in a university news release. The researchers studied this in 585 adults aged 65 to 84 for up to 18 months. None had been diagnosed with dementia, though all worried about minor memory issues. “Minor memory problems often are considered a normal part of aging, but it’s also normal… read on > read on >

It’s tempting to follow the latest trend when it comes to health care, but for patients who live with heart failure, some alternative treatments could have serious consequences. To address the issue, the American Heart Association (AHA) has published a new scientific statement covering a wide range of alternative therapies and their impact on heart failure. It also offers guidance for health care professionals and recommendations for patients. “Patients should talk to their health care team first,” said Dr. Sheryl Chow, who was part of the AHA’s writing group for the statement. The AHA paper offers guidance on supplements such as CoQ10, vitamin D, ginkgo, devil’s claw, fish oil, thiamine, hawthorn, vitamin E, blue cohosh, lily of the valley and aloe vera, while offering additional advice on alcohol, caffeine and grapefruit juice. “Because these agents are largely unregulated by the [U.S. Food and Drug Administration], manufacturers do not need to demonstrate efficacy or safety,” explained Chow, an associate professor of pharmacy practice and administration at Western University of Health Sciences in Pomona, Calif. “It is important that both health care professionals and consumers are educated about potential efficacy and risk of harm, so that shared and informed decision-making can occur.” The committee also reviewed yoga and tai chi, commonly suggested for relaxation. About 6 million Americans aged 20 and up have heart failure, where their… read on > read on >

Skiiers and snowboarders, take note: You’re less likely to get hurt if you ease back into the winter sports season. “We see a lot of patients in the After-Hours Clinic (of the department of orthopaedic surgery) on their way back from skiing and snowboarding,” said Dr. Sabrina Sawlani, a sports medicine physician at UCLA Health, in Los Angeles. Sawlani, whose UCLA sports medicine fellowship included training at the urgent care ski clinic at Northstar Resort in Lake Tahoe, offered some tips for those who want to hit the slopes without getting hurt. Before downhill skiing, she recommended six weeks of cardiovascular conditioning through running, biking, stair-climbing or using an elliptical machine. Target muscles involved in skiing, such as your core, hamstrings, quadriceps and glutes. “Those are the areas I’d really try to focus on — really stretching out those areas, and your low back and shoulders,” she said in a UCLA Health news release. “There’s no perfect routine, but really incorporating strength, endurance, stability and your overall fitness and flexibility to keep your body safe from injury is important.” Have your equipment checked by a professional if you haven’t used it in a couple of years, she urged. “Retest that release mechanism with a certified shop every year,” said Sawlani, who is a skier and snowboarder. “You want to test that self-release each day while… read on > read on >

Former elite football players may age faster than their more average peers, a new study suggests. NFL players, especially former linemen, had fewer disease-free years and earlier high blood pressure and diabetes diagnoses. Two age-related diseases, arthritis and dementia, were also more commonly found in former football players than in other men of the same age. This research was part of the ongoing Football Players Health Study at Harvard University. “We wanted to know: Are professional football players being robbed of their middle age? Our findings suggest that football prematurely weathers them and puts them on an alternate aging trajectory, increasing the prevalence of a variety of diseases of old age,” said senior investigator Rachel Grashow, director of epidemiological research initiatives for the Football Players Health Study. “We need to look not just at the length of life but the quality of life,” she said in a university news release. “Professional football players might live as long as men in the general population, but those years could be filled with disability and infirmity.” For this research, nearly 3,000 former NFL players completed a survey for investigators at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health and Harvard Medical School. “Our analysis raises important biological and physiological questions about underlying causes but, just as importantly, the results should serve as an alarm bell telling clinicians… read on > read on >

One might expect identical twins to have the same health outcomes. But it’s not just genetics that makes a notable difference in their weight and in how their genes behave, according to a new study. Exercise can alter genetic markers of metabolic disease — any of the diseases or disorders that disrupt normal metabolism. The study could help explain exercise’s key role in health. “The findings provide a molecular mechanism for the link between physical activity and metabolic disease,” explained study co-author Michael Skinner, a biologist at Washington State University, in Pullman. Scientists have previously found that a majority of identical twins develop different diseases as they get older, even though they have the same genes. Epigenetics — the study of how your behaviors and environment affect the day-to-day function of genes — may explain that, Skinner said. “Physical exercise is known to reduce the susceptibility to obesity, but now it looks like exercise through epigenetics is affecting a lot of cell types, many of them involved in metabolic disease,” he noted in a university news release. For this study, the researchers swabbed the cheeks of 70 pairs of identical twins, who also participated in an exercise study through the Washington State Twin Registry. The team, led by registry director Glen Duncan, collected data on the twins at several different points between 2012 and 2019.… read on >

Adding a little yoga to an exercise routine can be the fix someone needs to drop high blood pressure, a small study suggests. “As observed in several studies, we recommend that patients try to find exercise and stress relief for the management of hypertension [high blood pressure] and cardiovascular disease in whatever form they find most appealing,” said Dr. Paul Poirier, of the Quebec Heart and Lung Institute — Laval University in Quebec, Canada. “Our study shows that structured yoga practices can be a healthier addition to aerobic exercise than simply muscle stretching,” he said. The findings were published Dec. 8 in the Canadian Journal of Cardiology. “While there is some evidence that yoga interventions and exercise have equal and/or superior cardiovascular outcomes, there is considerable variability in yoga types, components, frequency, session length, duration and intensity. We sought to apply a rigorous scientific approach to identify cardiovascular risk factors for which yoga is beneficial for at-risk patients and ways it could be applied in a health care setting, such as a primary prevention program,” Poirier said in a journal news release. Yoga is, of course, a spiritual and exercise practice for millions of people worldwide. It is widely accepted as a form of exercise. The researchers recruited 60 people for this study. Each had been diagnosed with high blood pressure and metabolic syndrome, which… read on > read on >

Olympic athletes aren’t like the rest of the population — but this time it’s in a far less positive way. Two new studies show that athletes who performed at the top of their sport have a higher risk of developing arthritis and joint pain in later life. The linked studies found that 1 in 4 former Olympians dealt with these issues. Those who’d been injured during their sporting career had a higher chance of knee and hip osteoarthritis when compared with the general population. These athletes also had an increased risk of lower back pain overall. “High performance sport is associated with an increased risk of sport-related injury and there is emerging evidence suggesting retired elite athletes have high rates of post-traumatic osteoarthritis,” said lead author Debbie Palmer, from the University of Edinburgh’s Moray House School of Education and Sport in Scotland. “This study provides new evidence for specific factors associated with pain and osteoarthritis in retired elite athletes across the knee, hip, ankle, lumbar and cervical spine, and shoulder, and identifies differences in their occurrence that are specific to Olympians,” Palmer said in a university news release. The international research included almost 3,400 retired Olympians, averaging about 45 years of age, who’d participated in a total of 57 different sports. Researchers asked about the health of their bones, joints, muscles and spine, as well… read on > read on >

Steroid users, especially teen boys and young men, seem indifferent to the serious side effects and dependency associated with use of the drugs, a new study finds. “We’re seeing more young adults and adolescent boys engaging in risk behaviors, such as the use of steroids, to achieve what many see as the ideal male body,” said lead author Kyle Ganson, an assistant professor at the University of Toronto’s Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work. For the study, the researchers analyzed data from more than 2,700 adolescents and young adults in the Canadian Study of Adolescent Health Behaviors. The investigators found steroid use relatively common: Almost 2% of adolescents and young adults surveyed across Canada reported having used steroids during their lifetime. About 82% of those who used the drugs were male. Up to one-quarter of steroid users surveyed reported symptoms of dependence on the drugs, including cravings or a strong desire to use steroids again. One in six said they continued to use them despite recurrent physical or psychological side effects. These side effects included mood changes, insomnia, increased blood pressure, acne and abnormal cholesterol levels. In addition, 20% said they used more steroids or used them longer than planned. And steroid users were also more likely to use marijuana, cocaine, stimulants, MDMA (Ecstasy/Molly) and psilocybin (also known as magic mushrooms), the findings showed. “Most prior… read on > read on >

An exercise program, even if it’s not as intense as national guidelines suggest, could help breast cancer patients undergoing radiation therapy reduce fatigue and have a better quality of life, new research suggests. Researchers from Edith Cowan University in Australia included 89 women in this study — 43 participated in the exercise portion; the control group did not. Exercisers did a 12-week home-based program. It included weekly resistance training sessions and 30 to 40 minutes of aerobic exercise. Researchers found that patients who exercised recovered from cancer-related fatigue more quickly during and after radiation therapy compared to the control group. Exercisers also saw a significant increase in health-related quality of life, which could include measures of emotional, physical and social well-being. “The amount of exercise was aimed to increase progressively, with the ultimate target of participants meeting the national guideline for recommended exercise levels,” said study leader Georgios Mavropalias, a postdoctoral research fellow in the School of Medical and Health Sciences. “However, the exercise programs were relative to the participants’ fitness capacity, and we found even much smaller dosages of exercise than those recommended in the [Australian] national guidelines can have significant effects on cancer-related fatigue and health-related quality of living during and after radiotherapy,” Mavropalias said in a university news release. The Australian national guidelines for cancer patients call for 30 minutes of moderate… read on > read on >