4 July, 2013

Painkiller overdose killing more US women

Deaths due to overdose of prescription painkillers have risen sharply in recent years among women in the United States, a medical report said.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said that between 1999 and 2010, the death toll from painkiller overdose increased more than 400 percent among American women, compared to 265 percent in American men, Xinhua reported.

A total of 48,000 American women died due to painkiller overdose during the period, it said.

"Prescription painkiller deaths have skyrocketed in women," CDC director Tom Frieden said in a statement.

"Stopping this epidemic in women - and men - is everyone's business. Doctors need to be cautious about prescribing and patients about using these drugs."

The study included emergency department visits and deaths related to drug misuse or abuse and overdose, as well as analyses specific to prescription painkillers.

It found that more than 6,600 American women died from prescription painkillers in 2010, which is four times the number that died fromcocaine and heroin combined.

The death rate was highest among women ages 45 to 54.

There were also more than 200,000 emergency department visits for opioid misuse or abuse among women during that year, the CDC said. Research suggests that women are more likely to have chronic pain, be prescribed prescription painkillers, be given higher doses, and use them for longer time periods than men, the health agency said.

Women may also become dependent on prescription painkillers more quickly than men, it said.

"The prescription painkiller problem affects women in different ways than men and all health care providers treating women should be aware of this," said Linda Degutis, director of CDC's National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. "Health care providers can help improve the way painkillers are prescribed while making sure women have access to safe and effective pain treatment," Degutis said.

Source: www.timesofindia.com

04.07.2013

Cut kidney brain connection to lower high BP

A new technique that removes the nerves that connect the brain and kidney has shown promise to reduce blood pressure and decrease the risk of stroke, heart and renal disease.

The procedure, which has very few side effects, has already shown promising results in hard-to-treat cases of high blood pressure.

The technique was performed by a team led by Professor Julian Paton at the University of Bristol who found that in an animal model of hypertension removing nerves connecting the kidney to the brain reduced blood pressure and improved its long-term stability.

Inspired by these results, cardiologists Dr Angus Nightingale and Dr Andreas Baumbach from the Bristol Heart Institute (BHI) adopted the technique called 'renal denervation' to remove the nerves to the kidney in patients with high blood pressure.

The procedure, which has been successfully trialled on 19 patients at the BHI and is performed using a fine tube that is inserted in an artery in the patient's leg and positioned in the artery feeding blood to the patient's kidneys.

Dr Nightingale, who runs the Specialist Hypertension Clinic at the BHI, said: "This is an excitingnew treatment for these patients who have struggled with high blood pressure which tablets are not controlling."

Source: www.timesofindia.com

04.07.2013

Every day may not be good, but there is something good in every day