Our weekly roundup of the latest developments in the world of health. This week we look at why cancer should not be a worry for cell phone users, at why new mothers face a higher risk for mental health problems, and at the risks of drug-coated stents. We also look at the pros and cons of a new type 2 diabetes drug and at the lower risk of suicidal thoughts when older people take antidepressants.
Stay well.
This Issue:
Cell Phones and Cancer New Moms' Mental Health Stents and Clot Risk Avandia's Benefits and Risks Antidepressants Less Risky for Elderly In the News:
Cell Phones and Cancer There's more evidence that you don't have to worry about your cell phone giving you cancer. A Danish study found that cell phone users were not more likely to develop cancer than anyone else. The study, published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, looked at records of 420,000 cell phone users; 52,000 of the subjects had been using the phones for 10 years or more. The researchers compared the phone records with the Danish Cancer Registry, and found no increase in cancer incidence or in the risk of any particular type of tumor. The study is the largest to date to find no link between cell phones and cancer, The Associated Press reports. The researchers plan to continue studying cell phones users until some have used the phones for 30 years, the AP says.
New Moms' Mental Health
First-time mothers are at higher risk for severe mental disorders, particularly in the first three months after birth. That's the finding of a Danish study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, that looked at medical records of 2.3 million people over a 30-yearperiod. The study found that during the first 10 to 19 days after birth, new mothers were seven times more likely to be hospitalized for a psychiatric disorder than women with older babies. New moms were four times more likely to be hospitalized for these conditions than childless women. They also were more likely to get outpatient psychiatric treatment than other women. New fathers did not appear to have the same increase in risk as the women, the researchers found. Other experts say the study findings suggest the importance of psychiatric screening and treatment for new mothers, The Associated Press reports.
Stents and Clot Risk
People who have drug-coated stents implanted to open their blocked arteries might need to stay on clot-preventing medications indefinitely. Recent studies suggest that patients who stop taking the clot-preventer Plavix have a higher risk of premature heart attack and death than patients who continue to take the drug. Labels on the stents recommend that patients take baby aspirin and Plavix for either three or six months after surgery. These new studies raise the question of whether the drug needs to be continued beyond six months, The Associated Press reports. At the same time, the Food and Drug Administration is looking into the safety of drug-coated stents as compared to bare metal stents. Among the things the FDA needs to determine is how long drug-coated stent patients should remain on clot-busting drugs; the agency points out that the risks of long-term treatment with Plavix are unknown, the AP says.
Avandia's Benefits and Risks
The drug rosiglitazone (trade name Avandia) for type 2 diabetes can delay the progression of the disease -- but it has a downside. A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that the insulin-sensitizing drug controlled blood sugar better than older medications, but caused more weight gain and bone fractures. The study looked at 4,360 people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. After five years, only 15% of those taking Avandia had to add a second drug to keep blood sugar levels under control, compared to 21% of those taking the first-line treatment, metformin, and 34% of those taking another older drug, glyburide. However, the researchers found that patients taking Avandia gained an average of more than 10 pounds over the course of the study, while people taking metformin lost six pounds or more and glyburide users gained three pounds and then stabilized. People taking Avandia, especially women, had nearly twice the number of fractures compared to those taking the older drugs, the researchers found. The Associated Press quotes experts who say the study findings suggest that metformin should remain the first choice for most newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes patients.
Antidepressants Less Risky for Older People
The risks of taking certain antidepressants may decline with age. After reviewing 372 studies involving nearly 100,000 patients and 11 antidepressants, the Food and Drug Administration concluded that the drugs increased the risk of suicidal thoughts for younger people, but that the risk declined in older adults. Although in the long term antidepressant use decreases the number of suicides, in the short term the medications carry an increased risk of suicidal thoughts or suicide attempts in some patients, The Associated Press reports. Antidepressants carry a "black box" warning about the increased risk in children and adolescents undergoing treatment, the AP says.
Used with the permission of the copyright owner. All rights reserved. The above summaries are not intended to provide advice on personal medical matters, nor are they intended to be a substitute for consultation with a physician.
