Loneliness Needs to Be Treated Like Any Other Health Condition, Researcher Suggests
PHILADELPHIA — Loneliness among both seniors and younger people is a health problem that needs more attention, Kelsey McNamara, MPH, senior director of research at Papa, an organization that provides paid companionship to people in need of social support, said at the Population Health Colloquium here. “Loneliness increases the risk of premature death, independent of […]
A quarter of people are undoing the benefits of healthy meals by unhealthy snacking
A quarter of people are undoing the benefits of healthy meals with unhealthy snacks, which increases the risk of strokes and cardiovascular disease. The findings, published today in the European Journal of Nutrition by researchers from the School of Life Course & Population Sciences and ZOE, details the snacking habits of 854 people from the […]
Dementia Risk Tied to Sedentary Lifestyle
People 60 and older who spent more time being sedentary — passively watching TV, for example — had a higher risk of incident all-cause dementia, prospective data suggested. The study followed about 50,000 U.K. Biobank participants living in England, Scotland, or Wales for nearly 7 years. Participants wore a wrist accelerometer for a week to […]
Patients With Narcolepsy Face Mood and Pain Disorders
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — People with narcolepsy frequently had mood and pain comorbidities that complicated diagnosis and treatment plans, observational data showed. In a propensity-matched cohort analysis of more than 4,000 individuals, people with narcolepsy were more than twice as likely to be diagnosed with depression (OR 2.11, 95% CI 1.86-2.40, P<0.001) or chronic pain syndrome […]
Lorundrostat Stands a Chance Against Obesity-Related Hypertension
Among selected people with uncontrolled hypertension, blood pressure (BP) could be successfully reduced with a highly selective aldosterone synthase inhibitor, a phase II dose-finding trial found. In hypertensive patients with suppressed renin — theoretically the group most likely to benefit from reining in aldosterone production — reductions of automated office systolic BP reached up to […]
Prescription for fruits, vegetables linked to better heart health, food security
People at increased risk for cardiovascular disease who participated in produce prescription programs increased their consumption of fruits and vegetables, which was associated with improved body mass index (BMI), blood sugar and blood pressure levels, as well as a decrease in food insecurity. This new research was published today in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes, […]
Afib Ablation Exceeds Expectations in Sickest Heart Failure Patients
AMSTERDAM — Catheter ablation conferred large clinical benefits to people with end-stage heart failure and symptomatic atrial fibrillation (Afib) in the small CASTLE HTx randomized trial that was terminated prematurely for efficacy. The trial, originally planned for 2 years, was brought to a halt upon the discovery that these patients undergoing catheter ablation had fewer […]
Iron Infusions Narrowly Miss the Mark for Clinical Benefit in Heart Failure
AMSTERDAM — Ferric carboxymaltose (FCM) did not go so far as to improve hard outcomes in people with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) and iron deficiency in the well-powered HEART-FID trial, and it is questionable whether it is headed in that direction based on the totality of the evidence. Between study participants randomized […]
Dementia Risk From Midlife Onward Predicted With New Tool
A novel 14-year risk score helped identify people from age 50 onward at risk for all-cause dementia, a large U.K. study showed. The tool, called the U.K. Biobank Dementia Risk Score (UKBDRS), was developed and validated in two U.K. cohorts, reported Raihaan Patel, PhD, of the University of Oxford in England, and co-authors. The area […]
High-fat diets alter gut bacteria, boosting colorectal cancer risk in mice
The prevalence of colorectal cancer in people under the age of 50 has risen in recent decades. One suspected reason: the increasing rate of obesity and high-fat diets. Now, researchers at the Salk Institute and UC San Diego have discovered how high-fat diets can change gut bacteria and alter digestive molecules called bile acids that […]