Women who have taken the contraceptive pill are protected from some types of cancer for as long as 30 years after they stopped taking it, according to new research.
Those who have used the pill “during their reproductive years” are less likely to have bowel cancer, endometrial cancer or ovarian cancer than women who had never taken it, a study at the University of Aberdeen found.
Researchers also looked at the risk of all types of cancer in women who have taken the pill during their reproductive years and found it does not lead to new cancer risks later in life.
The results are the latest published from the longest-running study in the world into the effects of taking the contraceptive pill.
Established by the Royal College of General Practitioners in 1968, the Oral Contraception Study was set up to look at the long-term health effects of oral contraceptives.
The latest study, led by Dr Lisa Iversen, relates to 46,000 women followed for up to 44 years.
Iversen, research fellow in the Institute of Applied Health Sciences at the university, said: “Because the study has been going for such a long time we are able to look at the very long-term effects, if there are any, associated with the pill.
“What we found from looking at up to 44 years’ worth of data was that having ever used the pill, women are less likely to get colorectal, endometrial and ovarian cancer.
“So, the protective benefits from using the pill during their reproductive years are lasting for at least 30 years after women have stopped using the pill.
“We were also interested in what the overall balance of all types of cancer is amongst women who have used the pill as they enter the later stages of their life. We did not find any evidence of new cancer risks appearing later in life as women get older.
“These results from the longest-running study in the world into oral contraceptive use are reassuring. Specifically, pill users don’t have an overall increased risk of cancer over their lifetime and that the protective effects of some specific cancers last for at least 30 years.”
The study, which has received funding from bodies including the Medical Research Council, Imperial Cancer Research Fund and the British Heart Foundation, published its latest findings in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.
Long-term and/or high-dose use of a class of medications used for hay fever, depression and other ills has been linked in a new study to a higher risk of dementia.
sponsored stories
trending now
MONDAY, Jan. 26, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Long-term and/or high-dose use of a class of medications used for hay fever, depression and other ills has been linked in a new study to a higher risk of dementia. The drugs — called anticholinergics — include nonprescription diphenhydramine (Benadryl) and tricyclic antidepressants like doxepin (Sinequan). This class of medications also includes older antihistamines like chlorpheniramine (Chlor-Trimeton) and “antimuscarinic” drugs for bladder control, such as oxybutynin (Ditropan). However, the study could only point to an association between long-term or high-dose use of these drugs and a higher risk of dementia, it could not prove cause-and-effect. Also, the relationship “did not occur at the lowest dosage range but did occur at higher dosages used long-term,” said one expert, Dr. Alan Manevitz, a clinical psychiatrist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. He was not involved in the new study. Manevitz also stressed that consumers “should not abruptly stop any current medication treatment but rather should first consult with their physician.” The new study was led by Shelly Gray of the Group Health Research Institute-University of Washington. Her team explained that the anticholinergic class of medications work by blocking a neurochemical called acetylcholine, in both the brain and body. Manevitz noted that people “suffering from Alzheimer’s disease typically show a marked shortage of acetylcholine.” The new study tracked outcomes for more than 3,500 seniors who were followed for more than seven years. Gray’s group found that people who took at least 10 milligrams per day of Sinequan, 4 mg per day of Benadryl, or 5 mg per day of Ditropan for more than three years were at greater risk for developing dementia. Manevitz noted that occasional use of these medications did not seem to be tied to a rise in dementia risk. “The risk of dementia was due to a cumulative total of exposure, not to an acute short course of treatment,” he said. And, Gray said in an institute news release, “Older adults should be aware that many medications — including some available without a prescription, such as over-the-counter sleep aids — have strong anticholinergic effects. And they should tell their health care providers about all their over-the-counter [drug] use,” she added. However, “no one should stop taking any therapy without consulting their health care provider,” said Gray, director of the geriatric pharmacy program at the University of Washington’s School of Pharmacy. Instead, “health care providers should regularly review their older patients’ drug regimens — including over-the-counter medications — to look for chances to use fewer anticholinergic medications at lower doses,” she advised. The study, published Jan. 26 in JAMA Internal Medicine, is the first to link higher use of anticholinergic medications to increased risk of dementia, the researchers said. It is also the first to suggest that the dementia risk associated with these drugs may not be reversible even years after people stop taking them. Manevitz called the new study “well designed,” and said the reversibility issue is a troubling one. “The general view has been that mild cognitive impairment is reversible in discontinuation of anticholinergic medication therapy,” he said, but this study seems to find otherwise. According to Manevitz, “we need to educate patients and their families about over-the-counter medicines and alternative therapies. Also, elderly people in nursing homes tend to have a long list of medicines that need to be reviewed periodically for need to continue, interactions and redundancy.” He believes doctors should think about substitutes for anticholinergics when possible, prescribe the lowest dose possible, and stop the medication as soon as is medically advisable. Gray offered similar advice. “If providers need to prescribe a medication with anticholinergic effects because it is the best therapy for their patient, they should use the lowest effective dose, monitor the therapy regularly to ensure it’s working, and stop the therapy if it’s ineffective,” she suggested. She said that substitutes are available for some anticholinergic drugs, including a selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressant like citalopram (Celexa) or fluoxitene (Prozac) for depression, or a second-generation antihistamine such as loratadine (Claritin) for allergy relief.More information The American Academy of Family Physicians has more about dementia.
The proximity of North Devon district hospital to Anne-marie Wiles’ home – it is less than five minutes away – is crucial.
Her twin sons, Jed and Peirce, were given just six months to live after being born with multiple complex health needs. They are now doing well, aged 16, thanks in large part to the efforts of a loving family, but also the dedicated staff at the hospital in Barnstaple.
“I intentionally live opposite the hospital because when the boys stop breathing there is not enough time to call an ambulance,” said Wiles. Jed has been resuscitated three times at the NDDH and both have been nursed countless times at the Caroline Thorpe children’s ward.
“If these services end then my boys will for certain die once they become ill,” said Wiles. “I am fearful of losing my children.”
She is one of thousands who have joined marches, written to local MPs, organised benefit gigs, signed petitions over the Wider Devon STP – sustainability and transformation plan – which is proposing radical changes to healthcare in the county.
If the plan comes to fruition in its present form, 600 community and acute beds across this sprawling, largely rural county will be gone within five years.
Cherished community hospitals at Honiton in the east – nicknamed the Honiton Hilton because it so beloved – Okehampton in central Devon and Paignton and Dartmouth in the south would go. There have been howls of protest everywhere – but nowhere more than in and around Barnstaple.
Here there is deep alarm that the plan may lead to the shutting down of maternity, neonatology and paediatric services as well as triggering the loss of other departments, including A&E. The Royal Devon and Exeter hospital is 50 miles away – an hour and 10 minutes by car down a winding road if conditions are good, much more if not.
Tina Day’s son, Jaiden-Lee, was born at the NDDH with a collapsed lung and spent a week in the special care baby unit for a week before developing type 1 diabetes. “It terrifies me if services like maternity and A&E are re-located. People will die, guaranteed,” said Day.
John Tate claimed his wife and daughter would both have died had the NDDH not been near. “My daughter had her umbilical cord wrapped around her neck. She had breathing problems and was trapped head down. This caused my wife life-threatening problems. An emergency cesarean saved their lives. Both would have died if Barnstaple was not there.”
Crystal Steinberg said the closure of the maternity department would make her think twice about having a second child. She underwent an emergency caesarean section because her unborn baby, Dylan, was in distress. “I do not want to be stranded at the side of the road while my uterus ruptures and my baby and I die.”
It is not just mums who are worried. Tracy, 46, suffers from a mental health condition that leaves her suicidal. “I have been to A&E three times this month after being picked up by police.” Should the A&E close she believes she would be held in a cell or have to head to Exeter. “I’d have no way of getting there but to walk or hitch. Both are a scary.”
Jacob Egan, seven, was so concerned when he got wind of the proposals that he dictated a letter to Theresa May. He has brittle asthma, which can result in severe attacks, and has been admitted to the NDDH around 10 times.
Jacob Egan with his mother and his letter to Theresa May. Photograph: Jim Wileman for the Guardian
“Dear prime minister,” he said. “Just think about it, every time any child in our area of north Devon needed to go to hospital they would have to go to Exeter. Exeter is a long distance away and if your heartbeat stopped you couldn’t just wait for a train or car to get you there.”
At the heart of the plan is a “new model of integrated care” that will “reduce reliance on bed-based care and enable people to live healthy independent lives for longer, closer to where they live”. In other words the idea is to look after people at home rather than in hospital.
According to the latest draft of the report, which is up for consultation, every day more than 600 people in Devon are medically fit to leave hospital beds but do not.
The plans argues change must take place. Health and social care services in Devon are likely to be £557m in deficit in 2020/21 if nothing is done, the plan says. It also says the system as it stands isn’t working. The 95% standard for patients being seen in A&E within four hours is not being met – the Devon system is currently achieving 91.6%.
Devon’s demographics also have to be taken into account. There are more elderly people here than in other parts of the UK – in one area of Torquay almost one in 10 are aged over 85. Some need a lot of care – in north, east and west Devon, 40% of people use almost 80% of health and social care.
Angela Pedder, lead chief executive for the plan, said she understood people’s concerns. “But if we sit back and say let’s just let things happen, that’s a much bigger risk not just for the whole of Devon.
“We have to be pro-active. We have responsibilities to make sure the service is safe and sustainable two, five, 10 years down the line. That’s what we’ve got to plan for. That’s the framework we are trying to put in place.”
Politicians, activists and patients are not impressed.
The East Devon Tory MP Hugo Swire said: “We are in danger of putting the cart before the horse. Until we can absolutely ensure that we have got social care right, we should not look at unnecessarily closing community beds.”
Jan Goffey, the mayor of Okehampton, called the proposals cruel and claimed the NHS was being “dismembered”. If the people who actually live in Barnstaple are worried, those that live even further north – and so even further from Exeter – are even more concerned.
Sarah Vander, who runs a shop in the cliff-top village of Lynton, 20 miles north-east of Barnstaple, said her mother had been saved from a stroke and her husband from a diabetic hypo – a drop in blood glucose level – because they got to the NDDH quickly. “We are incredibly remote and we must be able to rely on the excellent services of NDDH otherwise the simple fact is, people will die unnecessarily.”
The seaside town of Ilfracombe, 12 miles north of Barnstaple, suffers a double whammy. The town is isolated and some areas are deprived: life expectancy in central Ilfracombe is 75 compared with 90 in parts of east Devon.
Rebecca McGarry, from Ilfracombe, the mother of daughters aged two and three, said she felt sick thinking about the prospect of losing services. Both her children have received excellent treatment in Barnstaple including for severe croup, which makes it difficult for them to breathe.
McGarry’s husband is a carer and needs the car for work so she often has to take her children to the hospital on the bus. “I honestly don’t know how we would manage if these appointments were moved even further away. The idea that such a remote region should lose these vital services is totally absurd. People will lose their lives if these closures do happen.”
Mealtime is a common battleground in many families. Exasperated parents may be relieved to learn their children’s fussy eating might not be their fault. New research suggests picky eaters are just as likely to be influenced by their genes as environmental factors. But fussy children can grow into fussy adults – so if there’s one food you particularly despise, it’s worth thinking back to what might have caused this.
Young children have many more sweet tastebuds than adults to encourage them to drink milk and not eat bitter berries. Over time, tastebuds are ‘pruned’ to tolerate many new flavours. But a single bad experience can be enough to put someone off a food for life.
Violent vomiting after eating dodgy fish or a terrible tantrum before eating spinach can create an almost permanent connection in the brain between the food and a strong adverse reaction to it. The psychologist Martin Seligman, who tested this theory on rats, called it ‘sauce-béarnaise syndrome’ after his own bad experience with a gone-off French dish.
Time to stop nagging the kids to eat spinach or brussels sprouts, perhaps.
Dr Daniel Glaser is director of Science Gallery at King’s College London
Consuming water on empty stomach as the 1st factor in the morning, this is a new trend which advised by Japanese health care authorities. And study has been proven that you would get plenty of wellness benefits by insisting performing this.
Firstly, You Have To Know What To Do
Drink 4 six oz. glasses of water when you wake up in the morning.
Consume or drink something after at least 45 minutes.
And when a meal you are done consuming that original meal, really don’t consume anything at all for two hours.
Some Particular Ailments That Can Be Cured Or Relieved By Drinking Water On Empty Abdomen
High blood pressure
Diabetes
Arthritis
Constipation
Tuberculosis
Heart condition
Headaches
Kidney stone
Throat infections
Body aches and pains
Gastritis
Adhere to this simple method will improve your total wellness and without having any side results, as water aids keep your entire body hydrated, which is vital to keep all the functions correctly in the body:
The water transports oxygen into cells
Boosts the metabolism
Moisturizes the air in lungs
Promotes the nutrients absorbed
Detoxifies the entire body
Protects the joints
And Asia folks like hot tea much more than cold water, as tea is far better than cold water for digestion soon after meals.
How To Use Tea As Medicine
Green tea:
With robust anti-viral, anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-cavity properties, green tea is 1 of the most valued and widely consumed teas all more than the globe. It has been established by research that great for oral overall health, bone health, fat management, skin overall health and even prevents cancers.
Pu’er tea:
A lot more and a lot more folks drink pu’er tea as they believe it has ability to:
Minimize cholesterol degree,
Avert diabetes,
Aid to avert heart condition,
Boost circulation,
Help in excess weight reduction,
Battle against cancer,
Support digestion,
Improve rest top quality, and
Assist prevent pressure and nervousness.
Oolong tea:
This tea aids in weight reduction and promotes healthy bones, healthful skin, controls diabetes and also with anti-cancer properties. Drink some cups of oolong tea each and every day, it will be very good for enhancing your all round wellness and is also a delicious and calming treat.
Peppermint tea:
Overall health professionals recommends consuming peppermint tea to alleviate stomach fuel and bloating. It also functions to cure the indigestion and heartburn problems.
Ginger tea:
Ginger tea is properly identified for its capacity to support digestion, it can also be used to deal with an upset stomach and nausea.
Chamomile tea:
When you have a cold or flu, remember to drink chamomile tea, as it can alleviate the signs and symptoms of cough and bronchitis. As a calming herbal tea, chamomile tea can be also beneficial for insomnia also. Lemon balm tea:
Rooibos tea:
Rooibos tea has powerful anti-oxidant properties, collectively with loaded with vitamin C, it may possibly aid battle towards numerous diseases and slow the indicators of aging.
Up coming time when you want a well being increase, consider a cup of scorching tea to relieve the frequent ailments without any side results.
Sources: besthealthmag.ca, motherearthliving.com,healthfreedoms.org Read More By Writer Alex Jordon.
Sitting for extended periods of time has been a sort of 21st century epidemic – TV-gazing isn’t new, but streaming movies and tablets aren’t helping our habit of sitting. In research, sedentariness has been connected to obesity, metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular ailment and diabetes it’s even linked to an earlier death. Now, a new research in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute suggests that sitting is also linked to cancer – not all types, but to colon and endometrial (uterine) cancer. And it is not just because sitting requires us away from doing exercises – even individuals whosit a lot and exercising have an elevated danger for these cancers. This indicates that there is some thing intrinsic about the unhealthiness of sitting apart from lack of physical exercise.
To study this query, the group from University of Regensburg carried out a meta-evaluation of 43 earlier studies, such as above four million folks. The research had all periodically queried the participants on how significantly time they invested sitting – Television-related sitting, occupational sitting, and complete sitting time. More than the years, there had been almost 69,000 cancer cases.
English: A little one watching Tv. (Photo credit score: Wikipedia)
The more a particular person sat, the increased the cancer chance for two varieties of cancer: Endometrial and colon. Sedentariness was linked to a 24% increased threat of colon cancer and a 32% increased chance of establishing endometrial cancer. For every single two-hour boost in total sitting time, the danger of cancer rose 8% for colon cancer and ten% for endometrial cancer (it rose 6% for lung cancer, but the association was just borderline).
On the upside, breast, rectal, ovarian, prostate, abdomen, esophagus, testicular, kidney, and non-Hodgkin lymphoma had been not linked in any way to sitting.
Of course, the famously negative pastime of sitting-although-watching-Tv was associated with the biggest chance: a 54% improved threat of colon cancer and 66% higher chance for endometrial cancer. But it’s very most likely that physique weight plays a part here, given that Tv-viewing is often accompanied by snack foods and soda – and bodyweight is a acknowledged danger issue for particular cancers (much more on this below).
“We identified that Tv viewing was connected with an enhanced risk of cancers of the colon and the endometrium,” says lead author Daniela Schmid. “We additional observed that the outcomes have been independent of physical action, displaying that sedentary habits represents a prospective cancer danger factor distinct from physical inactivity.”
And this final level she makes is the more striking locating – that the connection amongst sitting and cancer was evident regardless of the workout a individual received. In other phrases, even individuals who sat a great deal and exercised had the elevated danger. This means that there is anything intrinsically negative about sitting, apart from lack of workout.
What are the mechanisms that could probably make clear this? Schmid tells me that portion of the connection could definitely be mediated by entire body bodyweight. “Obesity could mediate carcinogenesis via a number of pathways, like insulin resistance…and reduced-grade systemic inflammation,” she says. She adds that in postmenopausal women, excess fat tissue represents the primary source of estrogen obese and obesity are a effectively-identified threat aspects for endometrial cancer
“Moreover,” Schmid adds, “vitamin D deficiency, which far more typically happens in obese folks compared to normal excess weight individuals poses a risk for improvement of colon cancer.”
But there seems to be one thing else going on, because even holding physique bodyweight consistent, there’s even now a website link between sitting and cancer. One possibility might be that lack of motion triggers an inflammatory cascade that contains a rise in the biomarkers C-reactive protein (CRP) and interleukin-6 (IL-6).
“In experimental trials, 14 days of bed rest in youthful volunteers elevated C-reactive protein and pro-inflammatory interleukin six levels,” says Schmid. Animal studies have arrived at comparable results, she adds.
Much more research will be necessary to comprehend why a lack of motion may be connected to cancer development. But at least we know what the remedy is. Exercising a lot more isn’t adequate – you have to punctuate extended intervals of sitting with normal periods of movement.
“Cutting down on Tv viewing and sedentary time is just as important as turning out to be far more energetic,” says Schimd. “For these whose jobs demand them to sit at a desk for most of the day, we advocate breaking up the time spent sitting by incorporating quick bouts of light bodily activity into the everyday program.”
Here are a number of much more ideas:
- Walk over and speak to your colleagues rather than emailing or calling.
Residing in a county with a massive aging population, I regularly see information reviews about accidents and tragedies involving elderly drivers. In latest instances, older drivers have crashed into plate glass storefronts, hit pedestrians, driven into a physique of water and even disappeared altogether when evening driving. Maybe household had advised them or asked them to cease without good results.
The struggle to get an aging mother or father to give up driving can be quite tough for family members, notably when the aging individual thinks he or she is perfectly fine. Loss of independence is a very threatening factor for most people. An aging mother or father who is determined to preserve driving, regardless of warning signs that it is time to give up the keys may not be ready to listen to family members members. But, the elder may possibly be persuaded to get a driving evaluation by an goal particular person just to “prove I’m fine”.
The Burke Institute http://www.burke.org/outpatient/services/occupational-therapy in White Plains, N.Y. delivers what seems to be to me like a model program for drivers who might be marginal. It’s their Driver Evaluation System, carried out by licensed occupational therapists.
The plan is described on their site as evaluating “vision, perception, attention, reaction time, memory, judgment, security awareness and cognition. Every single is completely assessed to determine if the patient can carry on to drive safely for themselves and those all around them. The in-motor vehicle evaluation, performed by participating certified driving instructors, permits a third party professional to assess how all locations come with each other throughout the actual job of driving. This thorough testing allows experts to make a dependable recommendation based mostly on health care expertise.”
I have extended been an advocate of making use of licensed occupational therapists to do the work of assessing the several abilities concerned in aging parents’ driving, rather than relying only on family’s opinions when there is a conflict with the elder. This is the first system I’ve seen that is conducted in a rehabilitation facility by a group of expert occupational therapists. It lends an air of credibility to the idea of assessment and could make it easier to get the elder there for evaluation. A doctor’s prescription is necessary. That also will take the onus off the medical professional, who may possibly be reluctant to say that an aging patient need to end driving when the medical professional and patient have had a lengthy relationship and the medical doctor has never ever witnessed the elder’s driving. There could be indicators of early dementia in the elder, but everybody, like the physician, is hesitant to say that the elder ought to end driving now.
As a retired individual damage lawyer who represented victims of car accidents, some brought on by these aging drivers who must have offered up the keys just before they hurt my clientele, I can only applaud the Burke Institute for its plan. I would like to see packages like it all over the nation, making use of their method as a model. Getting this type of testing is 1 sure way to inform if your aging parent need to give up the car keys for good.
The cost of the program is $ 268, like a one particular-hour evaluation (potential testing), with recommendations and a report that is sent to the driver or doctor requesting the evaluation. With a report describing driving impairments in hand, it would be less complicated for any doctor to tell an aging client it’s time to quit driving. If the elder gave permission to the family members to acquire the details, all concerned could strategy for substitute transportation arrangements to preserve the elder’s pursuits. And the expense of this testing is far reduced than the value a dangerous driver hurting someone or even damaging a automobile.
From what I’ve observed with aging folks, nevertheless, the greatest challenge for families may not be finding an occupational therapist to do such an evaluation of driving potential. It will be receiving the elder to go for evaluation. Perhaps individuals who need it most will protest the loudest and refuse to be tested. It may possibly be up to responsible family members members to use other signifies of persuasion.
Till up coming time, Carolyn Rosenblatt AgingParents.com
