CDC: Alarming increase seen in West Nile cases

U.S. health officials say there's been an alarming increase in the number of West Nile cases.

So far there have been more than 1,100 cases reported through the middle of August. That's three times as many as usually seen at this point in the year. About half the cases are in Texas. Most West Nile infections are reported in August and September.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported the new numbers Wednesday. They say the mild winter, early spring and very hot summer have fostered breeding of the mosquitoes. Mosquitoes pick up the virus from birds and then spread it to people.

West Nile virus was first reported in the United States in 1999.

View the Original article

Lower vitamin D could increase risk of dying, especially for frail, older adults

ScienceDaily (July 26, 2012) — A new study concludes that among older adults -- especially those who are frail -- low levels of vitamin D can mean a much greater risk of death.

See Also:Health & MedicineVitamin DVitaminCholesterolDietary SupplementVitamin CVitamin BReferenceB vitaminsEssential nutrientVitamin DNutrition and pregnancy

The randomized, nationally representative study found that older adults with low vitamin D levels had a 30 percent greater risk of death than people who had higher levels.

Overall, people who were frail had more than double the risk of death than those who were not frail. Frail adults with low levels of vitamin D tripled their risk of death over people who were not frail and who had higher levels of vitamin D.

"What this really means is that it is important to assess vitamin D levels in older adults, and especially among people who are frail," said lead author Ellen Smit of Oregon State University.

Smit said past studies have separately associated frailty and low vitamin D with a greater mortality risk, but this is the first to look at the combined effect. This study, published online in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, examined more than 4,300 adults older than 60 using data from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

"Older adults need to be screened for vitamin D," said Smit, who is a nutritional epidemiologist at OSU's College of Public Health and Human Sciences. Her research is focused on diet, metabolism, and physical activity in relation to both chronic disease and HIV infection.

"As you age, there is an increased risk of melanoma, but older adults should try and get more activity in the sunshine," she said. "Our study suggests that there is an opportunity for intervention with those who are in the pre-frail group, but could live longer, more independent lives if they get proper nutrition and exercise."

Frailty is when a person experiences a decrease in physical functioning characterized by at least three of the following five criteria: muscle weakness, slow walking, exhaustion, low physical activity, and unintentional weight loss. People are considered "pre-frail" when they have one or two of the five criteria.

Because of the cross-sectional nature of the survey, researchers could not determine if low vitamin D contributed to frailty, or whether frail people became vitamin D deficient because of health problems. However, Smit said the longitudinal analysis on death showed it may not matter which came first.

"If you have both, it may not really matter which came first because you are worse off and at greater risk of dying than other older people who are frail and who don't have low vitamin D," she said. "This is an important finding because we already know there is a biological basis for this. Vitamin D impacts muscle function and bones, so it makes sense that it plays a big role in frailty."

The study divided people into four groups. The low group had levels less than 50 nanograms per milliliter; the highest group had vitamin D of 84 or higher. In general, those who had lower vitamin D levels were more likely to be frail.

About 70 percent of Americans, and up to a billion people worldwide, have insufficient levels of vitamin D. And during the winter months in northern climates, it can be difficult to get enough just from the sun. OSU's Linus Pauling Institute recommends adults take 2,000 IU of supplemental vitamin D daily. The current federal guidelines are 600 IU for most adults, and 800 for those older than 70.

"We want the older population to be able to live as independent for as long as possible, and those who are frail have a number of health problems as they age," Smit said. "A balanced diet including good sources of vitamin D like milk and fish, and being physically active outdoors, will go a long way in helping older adults to stay independent and healthy for longer."

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:

View the Original article

Above-normal weight alone does not necessarily increase short-term risk of death, U.S. data suggest

ScienceDaily (July 6, 2012) — An evaluation of national data by UC Davis researchers has found that extra weight is not necessarily linked with a higher risk of death.

See Also:Health & MedicineObesityDiet and Weight LossFitnessDiseases and ConditionsHypertensionChronic IllnessLiving WellReferenceOverweightDiabetes mellitus type 2Body mass indexHypertension

When compared to those with normal weight, people who were overweight or obese had no increased risk of death during a follow-up period of six years. People who were severely obese did have a higher risk, but only if they also had diabetes or hypertension.

The findings, which appear in the July-August issue of The Journal of American Board of Family Medicine, call into question previous studies -- using data collected when obesity was less common -- linking higher short-term mortality with any amount of extra weight.

"There is currently a widespread belief that any degree of overweight or obesity increases the risk of death, however our findings suggest this may not be the case," said Anthony Jerant, professor of family and community medicine and lead author of the study. "In the six-year timeframe of our evaluation, we found that only severe obesity was associated with an increased risk of death, due to co-occurring diabetes and hypertension."

Based on the study, Jerant recommends that doctors' conversations with patients who are overweight or obese, but not severely obese, focus on the known negative effects of these conditions on mental and physical functioning, rather than on an increased short-term risk of death.

By contrast, Jerant added that it is important for doctors to talk with severely obese patients who also have diabetes or hypertension about their increased short-term mortality risk and treatment, including weight loss.

"Our results do not mean that being overweight or obese is not a threat to individual or public health," said Jerant. "These conditions can have a significant impact on quality of life, and for this reason alone weight loss may be advisable."

In conducting the study, Jerant used nationwide data from 2000 to 2005 of nearly 51,000 adults aged 18 to 90 years who participated in the Medical Expenditure Panel Surveys on health-care utilization and costs. The surveys include information on health conditions such as diabetes and hypertension.

Body mass index (BMI), or weight adjusted for height, was calculated for each respondent. The study categorized people as underweight (BMI < 20), normal weight (BMI 20 to < 25), overweight (BMI 25 to < 30), obese (BMI 30 to 35) or severely obese (BMI > 35).

Mortality was assessed using the National Death Index. Of the 50,994 people included in the UC Davis analysis, just over 3 percent (1,683) died during the six years of follow-up.

The investigators found that severely obese people were 1.26 times more likely to die during follow-up than people in the normal weight group. However, if people with diabetes or hypertension were eliminated from the data, those who were overweight, obese or even severely obese had similar or even lower death rates than people of normal weight. Consistent with a number of prior studies, underweight people were nearly twice as likely to die than people with normal weight, regardless of whether diabetes or hypertension was present.

The prevalence of overweight and obesity has increased dramatically in recent decades. An estimated one-third of all U.S. adults over age 20 are obese and another one-third are overweight. In addition to diabetes and hypertension, health problems associated with these conditions include heart disease, osteoarthritis and sleep apnea.

The relationship between weight and mortality is a controversial topic in public health. Although studies based on data collected 30 years ago showed that mortality risk rose as weight increased, analyses of more recently collected data, including the current one, call this assumption into question.

"Our findings indicate that the risk of having an above-normal BMI may be lower than in the past," said Jerant. "While this study cannot explain the reasons, it is possible that as overweight and obesity have become more common, physicians have become more aware of associated health issues like high blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar, and are more aggressive about early detection and treatment of these conditions."

Jerant said that the six-year period of his investigation limits the ability to make assumptions about the link between unhealthy weight and the risk of death over a longer timeframe.

"We hope our findings will trigger studies that re-examine the relationship of being overweight or obese with long-term mortality," said Jerant.

The study co-author was Peter Franks, professor in the UC Davis Department of Family and Community Medicine. Franks and Jerant used public access data in conducting the study, which involved no external funding.

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:

View the Original article

Weight Loss May Increase Testosterone Levels

HealthDay – 31 mins ago WEDNESDAY, June 27 (HealthDay News) -- Shedding pounds may help overweight men with low testosterone boost their levels of the male hormone, new research finds.

Overweight men are more likely to have low levels of testosterone, according to the study, which involved nearly 900 overweight, middle-aged Irish men with pre-diabetes. People with pre-diabetes have abnormally high blood glucose levels, but the levels aren't yet high enough to be considered diabetes.

Men were assigned to one of three treatments. One group was told to eat a lower-fat, lower-calorie diet and exercise at least 150 minutes a week; a second group took the diabetes drug metformin; and a third group took a placebo pill.

Among men in the healthy-lifestyle group, the rate of low testosterone levels dropped from 20 percent to 11 percent after a year. The rate of low testosterone didn't budge in the diabetes-drug group or the placebo group.

The study was expected to be presented this week at the Endocrine Society's annual meeting in Houston.

"Doctors should first encourage overweight men with low testosterone levels to try to lose weight through diet and exercise before resorting to testosterone therapy to raise their hormone levels," study co-author Dr. Frances Hayes, a professor at St. Vincent's University Hospital in Dublin, said in a society news release.

The healthy lifestyle group lost an average of 17 pounds.

"Losing weight not only reduces the risk of pre-diabetic men progressing to diabetes, but also appears to increase their body's production of testosterone," Hayes said.

Because this study was presented at a medical meeting, the data and conclusions should be viewed as preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal. Experts also note that the study found an association between weight loss and higher testosterone, but did not prove that losing weight caused testosterone levels to rise.

More information

The American Diabetes Association provides more information on prediabetes.

View the Original article

Could Psoriasis Increase Odds for Type 2 Diabetes?

HealthDay – 4 hrs ago MONDAY, June 18 (HealthDay News) -- People suffering from the autoimmune skin disorder known as psoriasis may face an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes, a new study suggests.

"People with psoriasis are at increased risk of developing diabetes that is independent of traditional risk factors like being obese," said lead researcher Dr. Joel Gelfand, associate professor of dermatology at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

The risk is highest in those with the most severe psoriasis, and these patients should be screened for diabetes, he said. The reasons for this risk may be genetic, or psoriasis may cause increased insulin resistance, Gelfand said.

He also noted that obesity is a risk factor for psoriasis as well as diabetes. People who develop psoriasis should try to maintain a healthy weight to help prevent diabetes, he said.

The report was published in the June 18 online edition of the journal Archives of Dermatology.

For the study, Gelfand's team collected data on more than 108,000 people with psoriasis listed in the British Health Improvement Network, and compared it with data on more than 430,000 people without the skin disorder.

The researchers found that the risk of developing type 2 diabetes was 11 percent higher for those with mild psoriasis and 46 percent higher for those with severe psoriasis, compared to those who did not have the disorder.

In addition, the researchers found that people with severe psoriasis were more likely to be taking medications for diabetes.

Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory disease of the skin characterized by scaling; it affects 2 percent to 4 percent of adults, the researchers said.

Since both psoriasis and diabetes are partially caused by inflammation in the body, this research may explain the link between them, the researchers speculated. Inflammation can increase insulin resistance, which is a cause of type 2 diabetes, they noted.

Dr. Michele Green, a dermatologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, said many of her obese psoriasis patients also suffer from diabetes.

"I can tell you that I have seen patients who are obese and their psoriasis is worse and their diabetes is worse -- they go hand-in-hand," she said.

Green said it is not psoriasis that causes diabetes but obesity, which is the root cause of both conditions. Moreover, psoriasis is harder to treat in obese patients, she said. The only way to improve both conditions is to lose weight.

Although this research showed an association between psoriasis and type 2 diabetes, it did not prove a cause-and-effect relationship.

More information

For more on diabetes, visit the American Diabetes Association.

View the Original article

CT scans in childhood increase cancer risk: study

"A youth undergoes a CT Scan at a hospital. Children exposed to multiple CT scans could be up to three times likelier to contract cancer of the blood, brain or bone marrow later in life, according to research published Thursday. (AFP Photo/)" title

View the Original article

For Dementia Patients, Feeding Tubes May Increase Bed Sores

HealthDay – 1 hr 38 mins ago MONDAY, May 14 (HealthDay News) -- Feeding tubes increase the risk of bed sores in bedridden dementia patients, according to a new study.

The finding challenges the long-held belief that providing nutrition through feeding tubes helps prevent bed sores or helps promote their healing in this group of patients, the authors of the Brown University-led study said.

The researchers did not look at how feeding tubes could cause bed sores (also called pressure ulcers), but they noted that feeding tubes can cause agitation in patients, who then have to be restrained and sedated. Feeding tubes also may increase the risk of diarrhea.

Together, these factors may cause and worsen bed sores, the researchers said.

The researchers examined data from nursing homes and Medicare claims in order to compare thousands of dementia patients. Among patients who did not initially have a bed sore, 35.6 percent with a feeding tube ended up with at least a stage 2 bed sore, compared with 19.8 percent of patients without a feeding tube.

A stage 2 bed sore is an open sore in the upper layer of the skin. A stage 4 bed sore is the most serious type.

After making statistical adjustments, the researchers concluded that patients with a feeding tube were 2.27 times more likely to develop a bed sore than those without a feeding tube. The risk of developing a stage 4 bed sore was 3.21 times higher for those with a feeding tube.

Among patients who already had a bed sore, short-term improvement in the sore occurred in 27.1 percent of patients with a feeding tube and in 34.6 percent of those without. Patients without a feeding tube were 0.7 times more likely to have an improvement in a sore than those with one, the researchers determined.

The study was published May 14 in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine.

"This study provides new information about the risks of feeding tube insertion in people with advanced

View the Original article

Could Eating Fast Increase Diabetes Risk?

HealthDay – 4 hrs ago TUESDAY, May 8 (HealthDay News) -- Eating too quickly may raise your risk of diabetes, a small, preliminary study suggests.

Researchers from Lithuania compared 234 people with type 2 diabetes and 468 people without the disease and found that those who gobble down their food were 2.5 times more likely to have diabetes than those who take their time while eating.

Study participants with diabetes also were more likely to have a higher body-mass index (a measurement of body fat based on height and weight), and to have much lower levels of education than those without diabetes, the researchers said.

The findings were set for presentation this week at the joint International Congress of Endocrinology and European Congress of Endocrinology in Florence, Italy.

"The prevalence of type 2 diabetes is increasing globally and becoming a world pandemic," study leader Lina Radzeviciene, of the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, said in a European Society of Endocrinology news release. "It appears to involve interaction between susceptible genetic backgrounds and environmental factors. It's important to identify modifiable risk factors that may help people reduce their chances of developing the disease."

Although the study found an association between eating fast and incidence of diabetes, it did not prove a cause-and-effect relationship.

Because this study was presented at a medical meeting, the data and conclusions should be viewed as preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.

More information

The U.S. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases has more about diabetes risk factors.

View the Original article

CDC: Ads spark huge increase to quit smoking line

More than twice as many people called a toll-free number to help them quit smoking a week after the launch of a $54 million ad campaign that shows graphic images of diseased smokers, federal health officials said Friday.

Calls to 1-800-QUIT-NOW totaled more than 33,000 last week

View the Original article