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Painkiller use linked to irregular heartbeat
ConclusionThis prospective cohort study claims an association between NSAIDs usage and developing atrial fibrillation. However, there are many limitations to this research.Despite this being a large prospective cohort study that followed people over a period of time, the assessments within it were predominantly cross-sectional. That means it assessed the person’s current or recent prescription of NSAIDs at the time they were diagnosed, but this cannot prove that using NSAIDs caused atrial fibrillation. A better method may have been to assess the use of NSAIDs in people without atrial fibrillation at the start of the stud...
Source: NHS News Feed - April 9, 2014 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Heart/lungs Medication Older people Source Type: news

Women who spend too long sitting may die earlier
Conclusion This cohort study looking at the link between sedentary time in postmenopausal women and their risk of death, benefits from its large sample size of almost 100,000 women, and 12 year follow-up. It finds, as previous research has found, that increased sedentary time is generally associated with increased risk of death. The main risk was for women with the highest sedentary time (greater than 11 hours sitting per day) who were at increased risk of death from any cause and deaths from heart disease or cancer compared with women sitting for less than four hours a day. The links were less clear for women sedentary ...
Source: NHS News Feed - January 17, 2014 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Lifestyle/exercise Heart/lungs Source Type: news

Study may bust myth of 'fat and fit' healthy obesity
Conclusion This meta-analysis provides further evidence about the known risk factors for cardiovascular disease and mortality. What this study adds is the indication that people who are metabolically unhealthy regardless of their weight are at increased risk. However, interestingly, no increase in risk was seen for the category of people who are metabolically healthy though overweight. A strength of this meta-analysis is the large sample size. However, the results should be interpreted with caution as: The studies did not use the same criteria for assessing metabolic status. The studies did not use the same criteri...
Source: NHS News Feed - December 4, 2013 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Food/diet Lifestyle/exercise Obesity Source Type: news

High salt levels in soluble drugs may raise heart risk
Conclusion This large case control study suggested that people who had experienced disease of the heart and blood vessels were more likely to have taken sodium-containing medicines than people without cardiovascular disease. Put in other words this can be interpreted that people who took sodium-containing medicines were at a higher risk of experiencing cardiovascular disease than people who took the same medications in formulations free of sodium. The increased risk appeared to be driven mostly by an increased risk of hypertension and to a lesser extent, non-fatal stroke. The study has some strengths including its large s...
Source: NHS News Feed - November 27, 2013 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Heart/lungs Medication Medical practice Source Type: news

ACE inhibitor use may be linked to kidney failure
Conclusion ACE inhibitors and ARAs are recognised as a potential risk factor for AKI in some patients. This particular study has tried to estimate the possible size of the problem, but its findings should be viewed with some caution. As the authors point out: some of the conditions these drugs are prescribed for are themselves a risk factor for AKI changes in hospital coding and better recognition of AKI could explain the rise in admissions an ageing population leads to both increased prescribing of these drugs and an increased risk for AKI increased use of these drugs may be a marker for increased use of other...
Source: NHS News Feed - November 7, 2013 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Medication Heart/lungs Source Type: news

Can DIY and gardening help you live longer?
Conclusion This study found that in a population-based sample of older adults (aged 60), high levels of non-exercise physical activity, or ‘an active daily life’ was associated with better levels of cardiovascular risk factors. When followed over time, it was found an active daily life was associated with approximately 30% reduced risk of both a cardiovascular event (stroke, angina, heart attack) and death from any cause. These associations were seen after adjusting for regular exercise, and for a number of other factors that could explain the association seen (confounders). This study was a cross-sectional and cohort...
Source: NHS News Feed - October 29, 2013 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Lifestyle/exercise Heart/lungs Source Type: news

Could exercise be as effective as medication?
Conclusion The researchers found that there are very few trials that directly compare exercise with drug therapy for any condition. They were only able to find enough trials to be able to analyse results for four major conditions. They found that exercise reduced death rates for people after a stroke (although this analysis has limitations and should be interpreted cautiously), and that drug therapy with diuretics improved death rates for people with heart failure. They did not find any difference between exercise and drug therapy for death rates after a heart attack or in people with pre-diabetes. There were several limit...
Source: NHS News Feed - October 2, 2013 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Lifestyle/exercise Heart/lungs Medication Source Type: news

Just a few extra pounds increases heart failure risk
Conclusion This large study uses an interesting genetic approach (Mendelian randomisation) to suggest obesity increases the risk of heart failure and adverse changes in liver enzymes. The combination of a very large sample, prospectively collected information, and a wide range of cardiometabolic measures lend credibility to the findings. The method the researchers used is also thought to reduce the chances of factors other than BMI influencing results, and the chance that the ‘outcome’ could be causing the ‘exposure’ (reverse causality). The main limitation of this kind of research is that assumptions need to be m...
Source: NHS News Feed - June 26, 2013 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Obesity Lifestyle/exercise Source Type: news

High-dose painkiller heart risk: small but significant
Conclusion This large review adds to, and expands on, the current evidence on the risks of vascular disease and gastrointestinal complications for different NSAIDs. It largely concentrates on trials of high doses of NSAIDs that can only be prescribed by a doctor. It is unclear from this study whether there is any risk from taking lower doses available over the counter. While most experts advise that low-dose NSAIDs, taken occasionally, are safe for most people, an accompanying editorial points out that there are still “large gaps” in evidence on the risks with lower doses of NSAIDs. While the risk to individuals is sma...
Source: NHS News Feed - May 30, 2013 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Medication Heart/lungs Source Type: news

No evidence that the price of fame is an early death
Conclusion Given our obsession with celebrity lifestyles, it’s perhaps not surprising that this study has attracted so much interest. It seems to support popular beliefs about the cost of fame in terms of drug addiction and high-risk behaviours such as smoking, drinking and drug abuse. However, as the lead author – Professor Epstein, from the School of Medicine, University of Queensland – conceded, a one-off analysis of obituaries published in a specific newspaper, with no comparison group, proves very little. Examining another random sample of 1,000 deaths of high-profile people, or the general population, from the...
Source: NHS News Feed - April 18, 2013 Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Lifestyle/exercise Source Type: news

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