Fatty liver disease on the increase
A study shows that overweight may be causing an increase in fatty liver disease.
Researchers at St Louis University School of Medicine say they are seeing an increase in fatty liver disease not related to alcohol consumption. Fatty liver disease, as its name implies, is marked by deposits of fat in the liver. It is often a ‘silent’ disease but may cause severe liver damage in the long term.
There seems to be a link between insulin resistance, the researchers say, and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) – the clinical name for fatty liver not caused by excess alcohol. In one third of patients, NASH can lead to scarring and cirrhosis of the liver, which may cause liver failure requiring a transplant. The condition …
Money worries linked to depression in breast cancer patients
A study shows that financial problems are linked to depression in women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer.
Having a diagnosis of cancer is a stressful event in itself, but occurs in a context of other stresses in people’s lives. Researchers at Ohio State University have been looking into the types of stress that women newly treated with breast cancer experience.
They looked at 210 women who had had surgery for breast cancer within the last three months. They found that about one in five had levels of depression high enough to indicate that they needed psychological help. Around three quarters of the whole group had experienced negative life events. But, of these events, only having financial difficulties seemed to be …
Heart attacks more serious for women
Women seem to be more seriously affected by heart attacks than men are, according to a study.
Researchers at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada, have been looking at how gender affects the outcome in both unstable angina and after heart attack. They found that women with these problems tended to be older than the men, have more co-existing health problems, and to be less likely to have procedures to unblocked clogged coronary arteries.
For unstable angina, death rates at five years were similar for women and men at 21.6 per cent and 19.5 per cent. But after heart attack, women were more likely to die than men – the mortality rate being 38.5 per cent for women at five years compared …
Half of symptoms do not have a physical cause
Symptoms that occur in medical outpatients often have either psychiatric or unknown causes, according to a study.
Researchers have been looking at medical records of randomly selected patients in an Indianapolis teaching hospital. This showed that 37 per cent of symptoms reported by the 289 patients had no known cause. Another ten per cent had a psychiatric cause.
The study suggests that better diagnostic strategies are needed to assessing and treating symptoms which don’t have an underlying physical cause. Where there is a psychiatric disorder, treating this may relieve the symptoms. Further analysis showed that one quarter of all symptoms persisted for at least a year after the patient’s first hospital visit.
The researchers also found that men, those with multiple medical problems …
Gene variant linked to heart attack risk
A study reveals that individuals with a variant in a common gene run a three times greater risk of having a heart attack.
It is already known that the sex hormone estrogen has many different effects in the body. When it binds to proteins called estrogen receptors, other genes – some of which regulate heart disease risk factors – are activated. Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have found that a variant form of the estrogen receptor gene itself has an important impact on the risk for heart disease.
They looked at a group of nearly 2,000 people who had been participating in the long-running Framingham Heart Study. They found that 20 per cent of the participants had inherited two copies …
Smoking increases sudden death risk
Being a current smoker significantly increases the risk of sudden death among heart patients.
Sudden cardiac death (SCD) accounts for one quarter of all complications affecting those with heart disease and for more than half of all deaths from heart problems. Generally, SCD comes from a disturbance of the heart rhythm. Given that nicotine can affect the heart beat, it’s very unwise for anyone with heart disease to continue smoking.
Researchers in Israel underline the dangers of smoking for those with heart problems. They surveyed a group of 3,122 patients who were taking part in a clinical trial of a cholesterol-lowering drug. All had had a heart attack previously or had stable angina. They were divided into current smokers, ex-smokers and those …
Enzyme linked to heart problems
A study shows that an enzyme involved in inflammation is indicative of heart attack.
Previous research has shown the importance of inflammation in heart disease. Doctors at the Cleveland Clinic, Ohio, have looked at an enzyme involved in inflammation called myeloperoxidase in heart patients. Myeloperoxidase is already known to be involved in lesions that are ruptured in patients who died suddenly from cardiac causes.
The researchers measured myeloperoxidase levels in a group of 604 patients presenting to the emergency room with chest pain. They found that the higher the level of this enzyme, the greater the risk of having a heart attack, and other problems in the following months. It could be that those people who have chest pain and elevated myeloperoxidase …
Local problems affect health
Where you live may affect your general health, according to a new report.
Researchers at University College, London, asked several hundred participants to identify neighbourhood problems and then assessed their physical and psychological health. The survey covered areas of both high and low socioeconomic status. The participants reported on factors like litter, pollution, noise, lack of facilities and vandalism.
The scientists found that the higher the score for these chronic stressors, the poorer the participants’ self-rated health, and the less able they felt to cope with everyday life. The environmental stressors probably have such a big impact, say the researchers, because they tend to be long-lasting and difficult to control. Since there was no link between environment and smoking, diet, alcohol or …
Healthy heart predicts healthy old age
The best way to ensure a healthy old age is to take steps to avoid heart disease.
Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh have been looking at some of the factors that help people to age well. This was part of the Cardiovascular Health Study which covers a group of nearly 3,000 people who were healthy at the start of the study. Eight years on, nearly half of the participants continued in good health – free of heart disease, cancer, lung disease, cognitive decline and disability.
So what were the factors distinguishing this healthy group of individuals? The researchers found that they were free of subclinical heart disease at the start of the study – that is, a condition that could be …
Stress slows down wound healing
A study shows that patients who worry about their operations are more likely to have a painful, slow recovery.
As soon as a surgical wound is made, the body produces chemicals that rush to heal the wound. Speedy wound healing after an operation is highly desirable – not only does the patient suffer less pain and spend fewer days in hospital, they also are less vulnerable to infection.
Doctors at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, have just discovered that stress is linked to a slowing down of wound healing. They studied a group of patients having a hernia repair, measuring levels of chemicals involved in wound healing. This revealed that those who were stressed at the idea of the operation had …
Role of obesity gene clarified
Researchers report on how a gene could influence some people to overeat and become obese.
Eating behavior is complex, and not completely understood, but when the genes that control it are defective, a person may not know when to stop eating. Understanding these genes may lead to new treatments for obesity, which has now become a serious public health issue.
A team at Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine in London, together with colleagues in the USA and France, reveals the importance of the appetite stimulating gene GAD2. The work suggests that one variant of this gene may cause people to overeat by over-stimulating the appetite circuit in the brain.
They looked at the genetic make-up of 576 obese and 646 normal …