Author: Marie Benz MD FAAD
08 Oct Rivaroxaban For Venous Thromboembolism Prevention In Cancer Patients
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Prof Martin H Prins MD Maastricht University Medical Centre, Maastricht, Netherlands Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Prins: Patients with active cancer, i.e. a cancer that was diagnosed or treated within 6 months before the episode, that was recurrent or metastatic, or that was diagnosed during treatment, who had a symptomatic episode of venous thromboembolism, were included in this pooled subgroup analysis of the Einstein DVT and PE studies. The incidence of recurrent venous thromboembolism was similar between groups. It occurred in 16 (5%) of 354 patients allocated to rivaroxaban and 20 (7%) of 301 patients allocated to enoxaparin and vitamin K antagonist (hazard ratio [HR] 0•67, 95% CI 0•35 to 1•30). Clinically relevant bleeding was also similar and occurred in 48 (14%) of 353 patients receiving rivaroxaban and in 49 (16%) of 298 patients receiving standard therapy (HR 0•80, 95% CI 0•54 to1•20). However, major bleeding was less frequent among rivaroxaban recipients and occurred in eight (2%) of 353 patients receiving rivaroxaban and in 15 (5%) of 298 patients receiving standard therapy (HR 0•42, 95% CI 0•18 to 0•99). Mortality was also similar.08 Oct Hepatitis C Linked To Higher Risk of Coronary Artery Disease
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Naga Pothineni, MD Division of Cardiology University of Arkansas for Medical Science MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Pothineni: Hepatitis C is a blood borne infection that is very common worldwide. Most pateints who contract hepatitis C develop a chronic form on infection that progresses to liver damage and eventually hepatocellular cancer. Coronary heart disease is a worldwide problem as well. There has been interest in chronic infections being a mechanism of progression of atherosclerosis and coronary heart disease. We wanted to study the association of coronary heart disease events in patients with hepatitis C. We conducted a retrospective study of around 24,000 patients of which around 10,000 were hepatitis C positive. Our study showed that patients who have hepatitis C have a higher incidence of coronary heart disease events (myocardial infarction) when compared to patients who are negative for hepatitis C. In our analysis, we found that hepatitis C positivity is an independent risk factor for coronary events after adjusting for traditional cardiovascular risk factors like age, hypertension, smoking and diabetes. Another interesting finding in our study was that patients with hepatitis C have lower levels of cholesterol compared to patients without hepatitis C. Low cholesterol levels in these patients do not seem to be protective against future coronary heart disease events.08 Oct Prior Bird Flu Vaccination Offers Some Protection Against Newer Strains
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Robert B Belshe, MD
Division of Infectious Diseases, Allergy & Immunology
Saint Louis University School of Medicine
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Response: A vaccine that protects against an old strain of avian flu primes the immune system to mount a rapid response when a vaccine designed to protect against a related but different and new strain of avian flu is given a year later, according to Saint Louis University research findings reported in JAMA.
In addition, when combined with an adjuvant, which is a chemical that stimulates the immune system to produce more antibodies, a lower dose of the new avian flu vaccine worked better in triggering an immune response than a stronger dose without adjuvant. That means the amount of vaccine against a new strain of bird flu can be stretched to protect more people if an adjuvant is added.
Both findings represent important strategies researchers can continue to study to fight new strains of bird flu that people previously have not been exposed to, and consequently can rapidly turn into a pandemic outbreak and public health emergency, said Robert Belshe, M.D., professor of infectious diseases, allergy and immunology at Saint Louis University and the lead author of the article, which appeared in the Oct. 8, 2014 issue of JAMA.
08 Oct US Dietary Quality Better But Leaves Room For Improvement
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Daniel (Dong) Wang MD, MSc
Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health
Boston, MA 02115
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Wang:
- The overall dietary quality in US adults improved modestly from 1999 to 2010, but the quality of US diet remains far from optimal and huge room exists for further improvements.
- The improvement in dietary quality was greater among adults with higher socioeconomic status and healthier body weight, thus disparities that existed in 1999 increased over the next decade.
- More than half of the improvement in diet quality was due to a large reduction in consumption of trans fat.
08 Oct Specialized MRI May Predict Early Cognitive Decline
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Sven Haller, M.D.
University of Geneva in Geneva, Switzerland.
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Haller: The main finding is that some elderly individuals with intact cognitive function at baseline already have visible alterations of the brain perfusion measured in Arterial Spin Labeling (ASL) MRI, which is similar to patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). This elderly individual may initially maintain intact cognitive functions due to the activation of their cognitive reserve, yet eventually the cognitive reserve is exhausted and those individuals develop subtle cognitive decline at follow-up 18 months later.
Consequently, Arterial Spin Labeling MRI may predict the very earliest form of cognitive decline.
08 Oct Dietary Interventions Depend On Community Nutrition Environment
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Wenjun Li PhD
Associate Professor of Medicine (Biostatistics)
University of Massachusetts Medical School of Medicine
University of Massachusetts Medical School
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Li: The study discovered that the effectiveness of dietary interventions is significantly influenced by the presence of a supportive community nutrition environment.
07 Oct Team Management of Stroke Improved Patient Satisfaction, Decreased Hospital Days
Posted at 23:49h
in Stroke
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
John Falconer MD FRCPC
Neurologist, Kelowna General Hospital;
Clinical Associate Professor of Neurology,
University of British Columbia
Medical Research: What are the main findings of this study?
Dr. Falconer: This study set out to investigate the possible benefits of having a
physician with a proprietorial interest (Pro-MD) in a stroke unit, tightly
combined with a multidisciplinary inter-professional team, and including
the family and the patient in as essential members for the management of a
stroke patient. This also involved the introduction of a geographic
located Acute Stroke Unit. We compared Acute Bed Days used by patients
from the five months before to five months after this system was put in
place. Our main end point was number of days in acute hospital care before
and after, but we also informally tracked patient and caregiver
satisfaction and staff morale.
The Proprietary Physician, or Pro-M Drefers to a physician who has a “proprietorial” interest in a hospital unit or ward. In other words, I was working at this unit in a
wholistic sense, trying not only to manage patients as best they can, but
also interested in the patient flow and family-patient communications.
We found that patient bed days were reduced by approximately 25% overall,
while at the same time, patient and family satisfaction was improved, and
staff morale increased.
Initially, we had supposed that patients and their family would be more
satisfied, but we were surprised at the reduction in Acute Bed Days that
resulted.
07 Oct Understanding BRCA2 Molecule May Lead To Cancer Prevention Strategies
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Professor Xiaodong Zhang
Professor of Macromolecular Structure and Function
Department of Medicine
Imperial College, London, UK
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Prof. Zhang: Since its discovery 20 years ago, the BRCA2 gene and its protein product, BRCA2, have been under intensive investigations. The importance of the BRCA2 protein lies in the central roles it plays in the most faithful DNA damage repair pathway. Mutations in BRCA2 thus can cause defects in this repair pathway, making the repair inefficient or forcing cells to use alternative repair methods that are prone to mistakes, all of which contribute to mutations in the genomic DNA, thus increase the risk of cancer development. Our study aims to understand how BRCA2 works through studying its 3-dimensional structures and its interactions with other key partners in the repair pathway.
Our study provides first 3-dimensional views of BRCA2 and BRCA2-RAD51 and reveals that BRCA2 molecules exist as pairs and a BRCA2 pair recruit two sets of RAD51 molecules arranged in opposite orientations. Our study also shows a single stranded DNA binds across the BRCA2 dimer and that BRCA2 increases the frequency of RAD51 filament formation events, presumably to increase the efficiency of establishing a longer filament required for searching for matching strands of DNA in intact sister chromatin. Our results thus not only define the precise roles of BRCA2 in helping RAD51 filament formation, but how it helps RAD51 loading onto single stranded DNA.
07 Oct Lowering Hospital Readmissions Through Peer-to-Peer Coaching
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Elizabeth Blanchard Hills, BSN MSJ
President, Informed Health Solutions
Medical Research: What is your role?
Response: My name is Elizabeth Blanchard Hills, BSN, MSJ. My company, Informed Health Solutions, currently has the privilege of “transitioning” Dr. Smith’s work into clinical practice. We have been conducting an on-going pilot project with the University of Kansas Hospital since November 2013, and our results are corroborating the results of Dr. Smith’s randomized clinical trial. We have renamed SMAC-HF; it is now called CareConnext.
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Response: That we could, in fact, significantly lower hospital readmissions among heart failure patients.
07 Oct Animal Studies Suggest Testosterone May Increase Prostate Cancer Risk
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Maarten C. Bosland, DVSc, PhD
Professor of Pathology
Department of Pathology, College of Medicine
University of Illinois at Chicago
Chicago, IL 60612
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Bosland: The two main findings are :
(1) that long-term, low-dose testosterone treatment induces prostate cancer in rats (none occurred in control rats) and increases the number of rats with malignant tumors at any site in the body compared to control rats, and
(2) that in rats treated long-term with testosterone after a single prostate-targeted chemical carcinogen treatment a high incidence of prostate cancer is induced, even at a very low testosterone dose.
07 Oct Evaluating Beta-Blockers In Patients With/Without Prior Myocardial Infarction
MedicalReseach.com Interview with:
Sripal Bangalore, MD, MHA, FACC, FAHA, FSCAI,
Director of Research, Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory,
Director, Cardiovascular Outcomes Group,
The Leon H. Charney Division of Cardiology,
Associate Professor of Medicine,
New York University School of Medicine New York, NY 10016.
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Bangalore: Using data from the Clopidogrel for High Atherothrombotic Risk and Ischemic Stabilization, Management, and Avoidance (CHARISMA) trial, we found that β-blocker use in patients with prior myocardial infarction but no heart failure was associated with a lower composite cardiovascular outcome, driven mainly by lower risk of recurrent myocardial infarction with no difference in mortality. However, in patients without prior myocardial infarction there was no benefit of β-blocker use with a suggestion of increase in stroke risk.
07 Oct Metformin May Alter Thyroid Hormone in Diabetics
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Jean-Pascal Fournier, MD, PhD Centre for Clinical Epidemiology, Lady Davis Institute, Jewish General Hospital, Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health, McGill University, Montreal, Canada and Laurent Azoulay, PhD Centre for Clinical Epidemiology, Lady Davis Institute, Jewish General Hospital, Montreal, Department of Oncology, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study? Response: Patients with type II diabetes and treated hypothyroidism showed a 55% increased risk for low levels of thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) (below 0.4 mIU/L) when initiating metformin, compared with those initiating sulfonylurea (hazard ratio [HR] 1.55, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.09–2.20). In contrast, this effect of metformin was not observed in euthyroid patients, with an adjusted HR for low TSH of 0.97(95% CI 0.69–1.36).07 Oct Neurotic Symptoms In Midlife May Presage Alzheimer’s Dementia
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Lena Johansson, PhD, MSc, RN
Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology
Department of Psychiatry and Neurochemistry
Sahlgrenska Academy at Gothenburg University
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Johansson: We found that a higher degree of neuroticism in midlife was associated with increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease over 38 years. On the 24 point scale, the risk increased with 4% per each step. Women who score high on the neuroticism scale were more likely to experience feelings such as anxiety, nervousness, worry, and irritability, and they were more moodiness and stress-prone.
The association between neuroticism and Alzheimer’s disease diminished after adjusting for longstanding perceived distress symptoms, which suggest that the associations was at least partly depended on long-standing distress symptoms.
When the two personality dimensions were combined, women with high neuroticism/low extraversion had a double risk of Alzheimer’s disease compared to those with low neuroticism/high extraversion.
07 Oct TIAs, Strokes Decline Over Last Decade
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Vijaya Sundararajan, MD, MPH, FACP
Associate Professor
Head, Health Outcomes Group, Head, Biostatistics Hub
Research Advisor, Centre for Palliative Care
Department of Medicine Eastern Hill Academic Centre
Melbourne Medical School
Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences University of Melbourne
Medical Research: What are the main findings of this study?
Dr. Sundararajan: The main findings of the study are that over the last 10 years, there has been a measurable decline in people having a stroke 3 months after a new mini stroke (TIA); a mini stroke is also known as a ‘warning sign for stroke’. There has also been an overall decline in of the proportion of people having these mini strokes in the Australian State of Victoria (population 5.6million). These trends probably reflect improved primary and secondary prevention efforts for the last decade. These improvements are likely to include increased use of preventive medications and surgery for carotid artery narrowing in people identified as being at high risk of having a stroke, as well as improved behaviors (e.g. reducing smoking, improving diets, uptake of physical activity, among others).
The most important aspect of our results is many fewer strokes occur when people with a TIA are managed in a hospital with a stroke unit (up to 6%). Even when the patient’s TIA is managed in an Emergency Department and the patient released without admission, if the hospital has a stroke unit, these patients appear to have better outcomes. This likely reflects the cohesion and organization of the stroke unit in implementing the necessary tests and treatments promptly, and setting up the infrastructure to follow patients up.
07 Oct Sexting Teens More Likely Sexually Active
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Jeff R. Temple, PhD
Associate Professor and Psychologist
Director, Behavioral Health and Research
Department of Ob/Gyn
UTMB Health Galveston, TX 77555-0587
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Temple: Through previous research, we know that teen sexting is related to actual sexual behaviors, but we did not have any information on the temporal link between these two behaviors.
In short, we found that teens who sexted had 32% higher odds of being sexually active over the next year relative to youth who did not sext – this was even after controlling for history of prior sexual behavior, ethnicity, gender, and age. We also found that active sexting (actually sending a naked picture to another teen) mediated the relationship between passive sexting (asking for or being asked for a sext) and sexual behaviors. In other words, while sending a sext was predictive of subsequent sexual behavior, asking for/being asked for a sext was only associated with sexual behavior through its relationship with active sexting.
06 Oct Cafffeine Intake Associated With Reduced Kidney Stone Risk
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Pietro Manuel Ferraro, MD PhD Candidate
Division of Nephrology
Catholic University of the Sacred Heart
Rome Italy
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Ferraro: We analyzed the association between caffeine intake and the risk of developing kidney stones in three large cohorts of U.S. health professionals. The 217,883 participants included did not have any history of kidney stones when follow-up began. During 20 years of follow-up, 4,982 of them developed a kidney stone. In all three cohorts, participants with higher intakes of caffeine had a reduced risk of developing kidney stones. Intake of caffeine from sources other than coffee was also associated with reduced risk of kidney stones. Among 6,033 participants with 24-hour urine data, intake of caffeine was associated with higher excretion of calcium but also higher urine volume and lower likelihood of calcium and uric acid stone formation.
06 Oct Oxygen Sensors In Skin Dressings Can Enhance Wound Repair
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Conor L. Evans, PhD
Assistant Professor Harvard Medical School
Wellman Center for Photomedicine
Massachusetts General Hospital
Affiliate Faculty, Harvard University Biophysics Program
Charlestown, MA
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Evans: The main finding of this research is that topically applied rapid-drying wound dressings containing optical sensors for oxygen can be used to quantify skin oxygenation status in a way that reflects the viability of the underlying tissue, and therefore has the potential to aid in the clinical care for patients with burns, grafts and various other skin conditions.
06 Oct As Tanning Became More Fashionable, Melanoma Became More Common
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
David Polsky, MD, PhD
Alfred W. Kopf, MD, professor of Dermatologic Oncology
Ronald O. Perelman Department of Dermatology
NYU Langone Medical Center
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Polsky: We utilized a multi-disciplinary approach including an analysis of socioeconomic factors to elucidate the evolution of attitudes and behaviors maximizing personal ultraviolet light exposure during the 20th century in the United States. We then compared melanoma incidence rates from national cancer registries to estimated skin exposure and found that they rose in parallel. Though causation cannot be made in an analysis such as this one, this paper describes a historical context for the changing attitudes promoting increased UV exposure, and the rising incidence of melanoma throughout the past century. It also provides a framework in which to consider public health and education measures that may ultimately help reverse melanoma incidence trends.
04 Oct Long Term Physical Activity May Decrease Cataract Risk
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Jinjin Zheng Selin, MSc Unit of Nutritional Epidemiology Institute of Environmental Medicine Karolinska Institutet Stockholm Sweden Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study? Response: Our results suggest that higher levels of total physical activity, especially in the long-term, as well as specific types of physical activity including walking/bicycling and work/occupational activity, may be associated with decreased risk of age-related cataract among middle-aged and elderly women and men. On the other side, high levels of leisure time inactivity may be associated with increased risk of cataract.04 Oct Alcohol Consumption Linked To Poor Semen Quality
MedicalResearch.com: Interview with:
Professor Tina Kold Jensen MD
Professor, Department of Environmental Medicine
Research leader, Odense Child Cohort
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Prof. Jensen: Our study suggests that even modest habitual alcohol consumption of more than 5 units per week had adverse effects on semen quality although most pronounced effects were seen in men who consumed more than 25 units per week. Alcohol consumption was also linked to changes in testosterone and SHBG levels.
03 Oct Deaths From Skin Diseases Differ Between Developed and Developing Countries
MedicalResearch.com: Interview Invitation Robert Dellavalle, MD, PhD, MSPH Chief, Dermatology Service Denver VA Medical Center Denver, CO 80220 Co-Authors: Lindsay Boyers and Chante Karimkhani Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study? Answer: This cross-sectional study of Global Burden of Disease 2010 results, investigated the rates of death from ten conditions with skin manifestations. There were statistically significant mortality differences in developed countries compared to developing countries. Developing countries had greater rates of death for all conditions except melanoma and basal and squamous cell carcinomas. The greatest death rates in developing countries were due to measles, syphilis, and varicella. Conversely, developed countries had greater rates of death of melanoma and basal and squamous cell carcinomas.03 Oct Marijuana May Be Protective Against Traumatic Brain Injury
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
David Plurad, MD
Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute.
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Based on a survey of patients with traumatic brain injuries, a group of Los
Angeles Biomedical Research Institute researchers found those who tested
positive for tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the active ingredient in marijuana, were more likely to survive than those who tested negative for the illicit substance.
We surveyed 446 patients who were admitted to a major urban hospital with
traumatic brain injuries between Jan. 1, 2010, and Dec. 31, 2012, who were
also tested for the presence of THC in their urine. We found 82 of the
patients had THC in their system. Of those, 2.4% died. Of the remaining
patients who didn't have THC in their system, 11.5% died.
While most - but not all - the deaths in the study can be attributed to the
traumatic brain injury itself, it appears that both groups were similarly
injured. The similarities in the injuries between the two groups led to the
conclusion that testing positive for THC in the system is associated with a
decreased mortality in adult patients who have sustained traumatic brain
injuries.
03 Oct Bariatric Surgery Effective For Both Weight Loss and Diabetes Remission
Posted at 02:54h
in Author Interviews, JAMA, Surgical Research, University of Pittsburgh, Weight Research
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Anita P. Courcoulas M.D., M.P.H., F.A.C.S
Professor of Surgery
Director, Minimally Invasive Bariatric & General Surgery
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Courcoulas: This paper was not a study but a summary of findings from a multidisciplinary workshop (and not a consensus panel) convened in May 2013 by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. The goal of the workshop was to summarize the current state of knowledge of bariatric surgery, review research findings on the long-term outcomes of bariatric surgery, and establish priorities for future research.
03 Oct Free Long-Acting Contraception Lowered Unwanted Pregnancy and Abortion Rates
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Jeff Peipert MD, PhD
Institute for Public Health
Robert J. Terry Professor, Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, School of Medicine
Washington University in St. Louis
Medical Research: What are the main findings of this study?
Dr. Peipert: In the Contraceptive CHOICE Project, over 70% of teenage girls and women who were provided no-cost contraception and were educated about the effectiveness and benefits of long-acting reversible contraceptive (LARC) methods selected the intrauterine device (IUD) or contraceptive implant. This group of over 1400 young women aged 15-19 years had rates of pregnancy, birth, and abortion that were far below national rates for sexually experienced teens.
03 Oct Increased Alcohol Use Linked To Greater Risk of HPV Infection
MedicalResearch.com: Interview with:
Matthew B. Schabath, Ph.D
Assistant Member, Department of Cancer Epidemiology
Moffitt Cancer Center Tampa, Florida
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Schabath: Overall, the results from these analyses demonstrated that men who consumed the highest amounts of alcohol were associated with an increased risk for genital human papillomavirus (HPV) infections.
03 Oct Fast Growth After Preterm Birth Linked To Persistent Neurocognitive Ability
MedicalResearch.com Interview,
Sara Sammallahti, MA
Institute of Behavioral Sciences
University of Helsinki, Finland.
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Answer: Not only did we find that faster growth right after preterm birth is
associated with better neurocognitive abilities - we also showed that
these effects persist into adulthood, that they are seen across a wide
spectrum of abilities, and that head growth very early on seems
especially relevant in predicting long-term outcomes. These
associations were found when we examined 103 young adults who were
born prematurely and with very low birth weight (under 1500 grams).
03 Oct Vitamin D: No Causal Link With Type 2 Diabetes
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr Nita Forouhi, MRCP, PhD, FFPHM
Lead Scientist and Programme Leader
MRC Programme Leader and Consultant Public Health Physician
MRC Epidemiology Unit
University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine
Cambridge Biomedical Campus Cambridge, UK
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Forouhi: This large study found that low blood concentrations of 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D], a clinical indicator of vitamin D status, were associated with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes, but this did not appear to be a cause-effect relationship. To investigate these associations, we did two things. We first did a systematic review and meta-analysis across 22 published studies and confirmed that there was a strong inverse relation between vitamin D levels and the risk of future new-onset type 2 diabetes among people who did not initially have diabetes. We then used a genetic approach, called Mendelian randomisation, which allows us to test a cause-effect relationship, and found that genetically lower vitamin D levels were not related to risk of type 2 diabetes. This means that we were able to distinguish between association and causation, and concluded that the vitamin D levels did not have a causal link with type 2 diabetes.
03 Oct Fish Oil Found Not Effective in Atrial Fibrillation Prevention
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Anil Nigam MD MSc FRCPC
Director, Research Program in Preventive Cardiology at ÉPIC Centre
Montreal Heart Institute
Associate Professor, Department of Medicine at Université de Montréal
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Nigam: The main finding is that high-dose fish oil rich in marine omega-3 fatty acids did not reduce recurrence of atrial fibrillation in individuals with paroxysmal or persistent atrial fibrillation not receiving conventional anti-arrhythmic therapy.
03 Oct TIA Increases Risk of PTSD
Posted at 00:11h
in General Medicine
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Kathrin S. Utz, PhD
Department of Neurology
University of Erlangen-Nuremberg
Erlangen, German
Medical Research: What are the main findings of the study?
Dr. Utz: A transient ischemic attack is caused when there is a temporary disruption in the blood supply to a person’s brain. It causes the person to experience symptoms, similar to those of a stroke, such as speech and visual disturbance and numbness or weakness in the arms and legs. A transient ischemic attack is only temporary and people make a full physical recovery from it. We found, however, that a TIA is not without cost. Specifically, we found that such persons are at a greater risk of going on to develop the psychiatric condition known as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). We found 1 in 3 patients develop it. PTSD, which is perhaps better known as a problem found in survivors of war zones and natural, can develop when a person experiences a frightening event that poses a serious threat. It leads the person to experience symptoms such as worry, nightmares, flashbacks and social isolation. We found that TIA patients who develop PTSD are also more likely to suffer from depression and anxiety symptoms. Taken together these symptoms pose a significant psychological burden for the affected patients and it therefore comes as no surprise that we also found TIA patients with PTSD have a measurably lower sense of quality of life than TIA patients who do not develop PTSD. We could also identify some potential risk-factors for the development of PTSD following a TIA. Younger patients and patients who overestimate their future stroke risk are more likely to develop PTSD. Also important in this context are the strategies that patients typically adopt to deal with stressful situations. Those patients who use certain types of coping strategies, such as denying the problem, blaming themselves for any difficulties or turning to drugs for comfort, face a greater risk of developing PTSD after TIA.