Tag Archives: reuters health

More kids have autism than thought: U.S. study

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More kids have autism than thought: U.S. study

You may have heard the oft-quoted statistic that autism affects 1 in 150 US children. Turns out it’s more like 1 in 91 — and about 1 in 58 boys, according to new figures released Sunday.

That’s an estimated 673,000 US children — or approximately 1 percent of all U.S. kids, the researchers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, and Harvard Medical School, Boston report in the journal Pediatrics.

Bob Wright, co-founder of the autism advocacy group Autism Speaks, told Reuters Health he’s not at all surprised by the new figures. “We’ve been screaming about the numbers going up; now there is a relatively complete recognition of it.”

“The statistical aspect of autism is just staggering,” he said, and not enough is being done about it. “If we had 1 in 58 boys getting swine flu, the country would be crazy,” Wright said.

Autism is a brain disorder characterized by problems with social interaction, repetitive behavior and other symptoms. People with a mild version called Asperger’s syndrome usually function relatively well in society, although they have problems relating to others. People with the most extreme symptoms may be unable to speak and may also suffer severe mental illness and retardation.

No one knows what causes autism — it’s generally thought to have genetic and environmental triggers — and there is currently no good treatment.

Autism is “an urgent public health concern,” Dr. Ileana Arias, deputy director of CDC, told reporters on a conference call Friday ahead of public release of the data.

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Doubts on suicide-anti-smoking drug Chantix link

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Doubts on suicide-anti-smoking drug Chantix link

Despite earlier health agency warnings, there is no strong evidence that the anti-smoking drug Chantix raises the risk of suicidal thoughts or depression compared to other stop-smoking products, researchers reported Thursday in the British Medical Journal.

Back in July of this year, U.S. health officials ordered strong “black box” warnings be added to Chantix (also called varenicline) as well as anti-smoking drug Zyban, following more than five thousand reports of depression, hostility and other behavioral changes possibly associated with use of these drugs.

“There have been recent concerns that varenicline, a relatively new smoking cessation product, may increase the risk of suicidal behavior and suicide,” study co-author Dr. David Gunnell of the University of Bristol, UK, explained in an email to Reuters Health.

“We found no clear evidence of an increased risk of self-harm or depression associated with varenicline,” he said.

The findings stem from data on more than 80,660 would-be quitters in the UK who used different smoking cessation products between September 2006 and May 2008.

A total of 63,265 of these individuals used nicotine replacement products, 10,973 used Chantix, and 6,422 used Zyban, an antidepressant also called bupropion, which has been found to help smokers quit.

When researchers looked at medical records, they didn’t find any evidence of an increased risk of serious mental health problems (i.e., self-harm, suicidal thoughts or depression) while they were using these products and during the three months after the last prescription was filled.

Gunnell cautioned, however, that based on the size of the study, it’s still possible that Chantix does increase the risk of suicide – or even decrease it.

“Other studies should be undertaken to provide further evidence on this issue,” he concluded.

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Yoga may decrease age-related dowager’s hump

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Yoga may decrease age-related dowager’s hump

Are you at risk for dowager’s hump? Findings from a small study suggest you may want to try yoga to decrease this age-related curve of the upper spine.

Among a group of elderly study participants, those who did yoga for six months saw their upper spine curve lowered by about 5 percent compared to those who did no yoga, Dr. Gail Greendale, at the University of California at Los Angeles, and colleagues report in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

Those with greater spinal flexibility showed a 6 percent improvement in their upper spine curve, which suggests yoga “when the spine is relatively more malleable” may be most effective, Greendale said.

“Men and women with more flexible spines at the start of the study got even more benefit from the yoga,” Greendale told Reuters Health in an email.

Greendale’s team took regular measurements of the upper spine curvature of 118 otherwise healthy individuals with indicators of moderate hyperkyphosis – the medical term for dowager’s hump.

The study group was mostly — 81 percent — female, about 75 years old on average, and reported almost no physical limitations. However, about three-quarters reported body pain during the 4 weeks prior to study entry, and 60 percent said their pain was frequent or daily.

On 3 days each week for 6 months, 58 individuals took yoga classes using breathing techniques and poses to increase awareness, flexibility, and strength of their back muscles. The remaining 60 participants (the control group) attended 6 monthly informational luncheons.

Compared with spinal curve measures at study entry, the yoga group showed decrease spinal curvature, while the control group had increased curvature, after 6 months.

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