1, September 2014

Overweight teens more likely to be addicted to cigarettes

A new study has suggested that overweight or obese teenagers are likelier to become regular smokers as compared to average weight teens. The study based on based on data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health showed a correlation between high body mass index (BMI) and cigarette smoking in young adulthood.

Lead author H. Isabella Lanza, Ph.D., research associate with the UCLA Integrated Substance Abuse Programs in Los Angeles, said that young people smoked cigarettes for a variety of reasons. Lanza said that for overweight or obese adolescents, the increased desire to improve social standing or fit in with others may also increase the probability of engaging in regular cigarette smoking.

Christopher N. Ochner, Ph.D., assistant professor of pediatrics and psychiatry at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, asserted that other studies evaluating a correlation between BMI and substance abuse had produced mixed results, but the size of the survey sample and the statistical processes used in this study suggested that the correlation between smoking and higher BMI may be clinically significant. The study is published in American Journal of Health Behavior.

Source: www.thehealthsite.com

01.09.2014

Self-monitoring hypertension programme could help keep BP under control

A new study has revealed that the hypertension self-management program can help reduce blood pressure for high-risk patients. It was found that among patients with hypertension at high risk of cardiovascular disease, a program that consisted of patients measuring their blood pressure and adjusting their antihypertensive medication accordingly resulted in lower systolic blood pressure at 12 months compared to patients who received usual care. ( Read more about hypertension)

Data from national and international surveys suggested that despite improvements over the last decade, significant proportions of patients have poor control of their elevated blood pressure. Self-monitoring of blood pressure with self-titration (adjusting) of antihypertensives results in lower blood pressure in patients with hypertension, but there are no data about patients in high-risk groups, according to background information in the article.

The authors mentioned that the trial has shown for the first time, that a group of high-risk individuals, with hypertension and significant cardiovascular comorbidity, are able to self-monitor and self-titrate antihypertensive treatment following a pre­specified algorithm developed with their family physician and that in doing so, they achieved a clinically significant reduction in systolic and diastolic blood pressure without an increase in adverse events. This would be the population with the most to gain in terms of reducing future cardiovascular events from optimized blood pressure control.

Peter M. Nilsson, M.D., said that future trials studying the effects of self-titration on cardiovascular events are needed and, a ‘bring it home’ blood pressure-lowering strategy appears suitable for patients with hypertension and comorbidities. The study is published in the issue of JAMA.

Source: www.thehealthsite.com

01.09.2014

It does not matter how slowly you go, so long as you do not give up and do not stop