Can asthma drugs cause
stunting?
Children
who use inhaled steroid drugs for asthma end up growing slightly shorter as
adults than children who don’t use the drugs, findings from a comprehensive
asthma study show.The study led by Robert C. Strunk, professor of paediatrics
at Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis involved more than 1,000
children aged five to 12 years who were treated for mild to moderate asthma as
part of the Childhood Asthma Management Programme (CAMP) clinical trial.
They
received treatment for more than four years at eight centres, including
Washington School of Medicine, the “New England Journal of Medicine” reports.
They were divided into three groups: one received twice-daily budesonide, an
inhaled corticosteroid medication; a second group received nedocromil, an
inhaled non-steroid medication; and a third group received a placebo. All
children received albuterol, a fast-acting drug for relief of acute asthma
symptoms, and oral corticosteroids as needed for asthma symptoms, according to
a Washington statement.
The
researchers followed 943 participants in the trial at regular intervals until
they reached adult height. Females were considered to be at adult height at age
18 or older and males at age 20 or older, Strunk says. In the first 4 1/2 years
after the end of the trial, researchers took patients’ height and weight every
six months. Over the next eight years, height and weight were measured once or
twice a year. The mean adult height was about one-half inch, or 1.2 cm, shorter
in the group that received budesonide than in the patients who received
nedocromil or placebo. The patients who experienced the slower growth were
primarily between 5-11 years old when they began using budesonide.
“This
was surprising because in previous studies, we found that the slower growth
would be temporary, not affecting adult height,” Strunk says. “But none of
those studies followed patients from the time they entered the study until they
had reached adult height.”
These
findings were presented at the European Respiratory Society meeting in Vienna,
Austria.
Source: http://health.india.com
05.09.2012
Housework helps cut breast cancer
risk
Housework, brisk walking and
gardening can help women reduce their risk of developing
breast cancer, according to new research.
The research looked at the link between diet, lifestyle and the disease in more than 8,000 women who had suffered from breast cancer.
The European Prospective Investigation Of Cancer (EPIC), co funded by Cancer Research UK, found that those who were the most physically active were 13 per cent less likely to develop the disease compared with those who were physically inactive. Women who took part in moderate exercise had an 8 per cent lower chance of getting breast cancer.
"This study in itself isn't completely ''new'' news but it does fit in very well with what we already know about breast cancer and physical activity, so it''s just making that more solid," Sky News quoted Sarah Williams, from Cancer Research UK, as saying.
"The good news for women is that this research doesn't just look at the time we spend in the gym, it involves anything where you're basically getting a little bit out of breath, getting a bit warm, moderate activity.
"So while it obviously includes running and cycling, it also includes the gardening, playing football with the kids, anything where you're moving around, it counts," she added.
Source: www.timesofindia.com
05.09.2012
He who wishes to
secure the good of others, has already secured his own
No comments:
Post a Comment