HEALTH AND WELLNESS

The Center for Disease Control issued a press release on 02/24/08 about the increased deaths and dangers of "the choking game."

At least 82 youth have died as a result of playing what has been called “the choking game,” according to a study released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in todays Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. The choking game involves intentionally trying to choke oneself or another in an effort to obtain a brief euphoric state or “high.” Death or serious injury can result if strangulation is prolonged.

Eighty–seven percent of these deaths were among males, and most fatalities occurred among those 11 years to 16 years old; the average age was 13, the report said. Choking game deaths were identified in 31 states, it said.

CDC found that most of the deaths occurred when a child engaged in the choking game alone, and that most parents were unaware of the choking game prior to their childs death.

Link: CDC Press Release - February 14, 2008.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - When migraine patients trained other migraine patients how to prevent migraine headaches, attacks declined and both trainers and trainees gained a greater sense of control over their attacks, researchers report.

Patient-trainers provide credible and recognizable disease-specific knowledge, Dr. Jan Passchier told Reuters Health. "Trainees appreciated the trainers' emotional and motivational assistance."

Moreover, trainers themselves benefited "in terms of large headache improvements and improved quality of life," noted Passchier, of Erasmus University Medical Centre in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

Passchier and colleagues evaluated the effects of migraine sufferers providing other migraine sufferers with home-based behavior training. Both trainers and trainees were under medical care for relatively frequent migraine (1 to 6 times per month), with or without aura, but had no underlying associated disease, the investigators explain in the journal Cephalalgia.

Passchier's team recruited trainers from a pool of patients who took behavioral training classes themselves. The 14 trainers were educated in how to train others to detect and modify their individual migraine triggers and use relaxation and breathing exercises, as well as other behavioral techniques to prevent attacks.

The investigators then had 60 adult migraine patients participate in seven 2-hour sessions taught by the patient-trainers. Another 67 migraine patients, placed on a waiting list for similar training, served as control group.

The 10-week intervention resulted in a non-significant decline in migraine frequency of 3.1 to 2.4 attacks per month among the 51 patients who completed the intervention, compared with a decline of 3.1 to 2.9 monthly attacks among 57 patients remaining on the wait-list.

Patients reporting greater numbers of migraines appeared to benefit more from training than did those with less frequent attacks, the researchers report.

Moreover, patients receiving behavioral training reported significantly increased self-confidence in their own ability to prevent migraine attacks, and a greater ability to manage and control attacks.

SOURCE: Cephalalgia, February 2008

Copyright © 2008 Reuters Limited.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Taking the herbal supplement ginkgo biloba may help delay the onset of cognitive impairment in normal elderly adults, according to a study published online Wednesday.

However, the study also showed a higher incidence of strokes and "mini-strokes" in ginkgo users. The reasons for this are unclear and require confirmation in other studies, the investigators say.

Extracts of ginkgo biloba are among the most widely used dietary supplements. The herb is marketed as a memory enhancer, and some studies have suggested it may help improve memory and other mental functions in people with dementia.

"One of the most pressing public health problems facing our society is the rapidly growing number of people who, due to their age alone, are at high risk of developing dementia. The potential to delay or prevent this is of great importance," study chief Dr. Hiroko H. Dodge, from the Oregon State University in Corvallis, said in a statement.

The three-year study involved 118 people age 85 and older with no memory problems. Half of them took ginkgo biloba extract three times a day and half took a placebo.

During the study, 21 people developed mild memory problems, or questionable dementia: 14 of those took the placebo and 7 of those who took the ginkgo extract. Although there was a trend favoring ginkgo, the difference between those who took ginkgo and those who took placebo was not statistically significant.

However, when the researchers took into account whether people followed directions in taking the study pills, they found that people who reliably took ginkgo had a 68 percent lower risk of developing mild memory problems than those who took the placebo.

"These results need to be clarified with larger studies, but the findings are interesting because ginkgo biloba is already widely used, readily available, and relatively inexpensive," Dodge said.

As noted, more strokes and mini-strokes were seen in the ginkgo group. Seven people taking ginkgo had strokes, while none of those taking placebo did. "Ginkgo has been reported to cause bleeding-related complications, but the strokes in this case were due to blood clots, not excessive bleeding, and were generally not severe," Dodge noted in a statement.

"Further studies are needed to determine whether ginkgo biloba has any benefits in preventing cognitive decline and whether it is safe," he added.

SOURCE: Neurology, online February 27, 2008.

Copyright © 2008 Reuters Limited.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A natural dietary supplement derived from seaweed could help improve pain and stiffness in people who suffer from osteoarthritis of the knee, according to a preliminary study.

The supplement, Aquamin, is made from red algae and contains calcium, magnesium and other minerals that some research suggests could help ease inflammation and slow deterioration due to arthritis, Dr. Joy L. Frestedt of the Minnesota Applied Research Center in Edina and colleagues note.

Frestedt and her team randomized 70 people with moderate to severe osteoarthritis of the knee to glucosamine, Aquamin, both supplements, or placebo. Fifty people completed the study, which was funded by Cork, Ireland-based Marigot Ltd., the company that makes Aquamin.

Only study subjects who took a single supplement - glucosamine or Aquamin -- showed improvements in their symptoms after 12 weeks, the researchers found, while the combination and placebo groups had no improvement.

People taking Aquamin were able to walk 101 feet more in 6 minutes than they could before the study (an improvement of 7 percent), while the glucosamine group walked an average of 56 more feet, or a 3.5 percent greater distance.

"Although these distances appear to be small, our subjects with severe osteoarthritis indicated that the ability to walk even a little bit further was important to them," Frestedt and colleagues write in the Nutrition Journal.

Individuals taking Aquamin also showed improvements in pain, stiffness and activity levels, while those on glucosamine had less pain and were more active but no improvement in stiffness.

"These pilot trial results suggest a potential treatment effect for Aquamin among subjects with moderate to severe osteoarthritis and this preliminary finding warrants further study," the researchers conclude.

SOURCE: Nutrition Journal, published online February 19, 2008.

Copyright © 2008 Reuters Limited.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Many older Americans are not up-to-date with their colorectal cancer screening exams, report researchers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta.

And primary care doctors may bear some responsibility, Zahava Berkowitz and colleagues at the CDC say. They found that not receiving a doctor's recommendation to get screened for colorectal cancer was one of the most common reasons cited for not getting tested.

Both the US Preventive Services Task Force and the American Cancer Society recommend regular colorectal cancer screening for people 50 and older, with an in-home test for blood in the stool performed annually; a flexible sigmoidoscopy or barium enema every five years; or a colonoscopy every 10 years.

Stopping screening for colon cancer could be warranted in some people with a "limited life expectancy," the researchers note in their report, but people 65 and older also face the greatest risk of colorectal cancer, and life expectancy among older people is increasing.

To investigate older people's knowledge of and attitudes toward colorectal cancer screening, Berkowitz and her team surveyed 1,148 men and women aged 65 to 89 with no history of colorectal cancer.

They found that 42 percent were not up-to-date with recommended screenings. One-quarter of those surveyed hadn't heard of the fecal occult blood test, while 17 percent had never heard of sigmoidoscopy or colonoscopy.

Among people who weren't up-to-date, more than 75 percent said their doctor hadn't recommended that they get screened.

Past research has found gaps in primary care physicians' knowledge about appropriate colorectal cancer screening, Berkowitz told Reuters Health; while one survey found 98 percent of doctors said they recommended it to their patients, some didn't know when screening should begin or how frequently it should be done.

"When the findings from this survey were combined with data from a national health survey of the general population to identify barriers to colorectal cancer screening, primary care physicians identified patient-related factors, such as anxiety or embarrassment and lack of awareness of the importance of screening by patients as the main barriers to screening," Berkowitz said. "However, very few adults aged 50 years and older reported anxiety or embarrassment as barriers to colorectal cancer screening."

The physical exam that 65-year-olds have when entering the Medicare system could be the "optimal" time for doctors to recommend screening to older patients, Berkowitz added.

"The issue of screening at older ages is complicated because some persons may benefit

from screening, while others may not," she said. "Given the complexity of this issue, decisions about whether to stop screening should be tailored to the individual rather than based primarily on age."

SOURCE: Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, February 2008.

Copyright © 2008 Reuters Limited.