Only some shoe inserts tied to lower risk of injuries

Contoured orthotics designed to alter the gait while walking and running might help lower the risk of stress fractures, but shock-absorbing insoles probably won’t prevent these injuries, a recent review suggests. Researchers analyzed data from 11 trials of foot orthotics and seven studies of shock-absorbing insoles that, combined, included more than 3,200 people. Overall, foot orthotics were tied to a 28 percent lower risk of injuries and a 41 percent lower risk of stress fractures, the study found. Shock-absorbing insoles, however, were not linked to a statistically meaningful reduction in…

Read More

Sleep Apnea Tied to Diabetes and Hypertension During Pregnancy

Pregnant women who experience certain breathing problems during sleep may be more likely to develop complications like high blood pressure and diabetes, recent U.S. research suggests. In the study of more than 3,000 women, researchers did home-based sleep studies twice during pregnancy to check for what’s known as apnea, a potentially serious sleep disorder that involves repeated stops and starts in breathing. Risk factors for sleep apnea include older age and obesity. Women who had sleep apnea were almost twice as likely to develop what’s known as preeclampsia, a type…

Read More

Past Depression Tied to Worse Breast Cancer Survival Odds

Women with a history of depression may have lower survival odds with breast cancer than patients without past mental health problems, research in Denmark suggests. In the study of more than 45,000 women with early-stage breast malignancies, 13 percent of patients previously treated with antidepressants died within five years of their cancer diagnosis, compared with 11 percent of women who hadn’t ever taken medication for depression. “We did not find that women with depression were diagnosed at later stages,” said lead study author Dr. Nis Palm Suppli of the Danish…

Read More

Vitamin D Levels Tied to Breast Cancer Survival

For women diagnosed with breast cancer, high vitamin D levels in the blood may be tied to better odds of surviving and having tumors with less deadly characteristics, suggests a new study. While the new study supports previous research on vitamin D and breast cancer, it can’t prove that boosting vitamin D levels will improve outcomes for women with breast cancer. “Overall, we found a 30 percent reduction of all-cause mortality associated with vitamin D levels at the time of diagnosis,” said the study’s lead author Song Yao, of the…

Read More

Distress and Depression With Type 2 Diabetes Tied to Skipping Meds

People with type 2 diabetes who also have symptoms of distress or depression are more likely than others to miss or skip their diabetes medications, according to a recent study. “Although it would seem intuitive to expect that depression would make the already difficult job of diabetes self-management that much harder, the available data have not been very clear,” lead author Jeffrey S. Gonzalez of Yeshiva University in New York said by email. It is clear, however, that treating depression may be necessary though it is unlikely to be sufficient…

Read More

Antidepressants in Pregnancy tied to Health Risks for Kids

Children exposed to a common type of antidepressant in the womb may be at an increased risk of complications soon after birth and years later, according to two new studies. One study suggests newborns are more likely to need intensive care after birth if their mothers take selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) during pregnancy. A second study finds those same children may be at an increased risk for speech and language disorders years later. Links between SSRIs and these types of birth outcomes have been seen before in previous studies…

Read More