MedicalResearch.com offers the latest news, interviews, and insights in medical research, covering topics like a, cancer research, addiction, fitness and health.
Author Interviews, Coffee, Fertility, Lifestyle & Health, NIH, OBGYNE / 24.03.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Germaine M. Buck Louis, Ph.D., M.S. Office of the Director Division of Intramural Population Health Research Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Rockville, Maryland 20852. MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: To understand the association between couples’ lifestyles and risk of pregnancy loss.  Couples were recruited upon discontinuing contraception to try for pregnancy and followed daily for up to one year of trying or until pregnancy.  Pregnant women were followed daily for 7 weeks following conception then monthly. (more…)
Author Interviews, Lifestyle & Health, Weight Research / 17.03.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr Ellen Flint Lecturer in Population Health MRC Strategic Skills Fellow Department of Social & Environmental Health Research London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine London MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Flint: Globally, physical inactivity is a major cause of obesity, chronic disease and premature mortality. Improving population levels of physical activity is therefore a key public health policy aim, in high and middle income countries. In the past, functional active travel was a key source of physical activity for many people. However, since the mass adoption of private motorised travel in the 20th century, the vast majority (63%) of working adults in the UK commute to by car. Using UK Biobank data from more than 150,000 middle-aged adults, we found that those who commuted to work via cycling or walking had significantly lower body fat percentage and lower body mass index (BMI) compared to adults who commuted by car. The strongest associations were seen for adults who commuted via bicycle. For the average man in the sample (age 53 years; height 176.7cm; weight 85.9kg), cycling to work rather than driving was associated with a weight difference of 5kg or 11lbs (1.71 BMI points). For the average woman in the sample (age 52 years; height 163.6cm; weight 70.6kg), the weight difference was 4.4kg or 9.7lbs (1.65 BMI points). Even people who commuted via public transport also showed significant reductions in BMI and percentage body fat compared with those who commuted only by car. This suggests that even the incidental physical activity involved in public transport journeys may be important. The link between active commuting and obesity reduction was independent of other factors such as income, area deprivation, urban or rural residence, education, alcohol intake, smoking, general physical activity, dietary energy intake and overall health and disability. If you're often using public transport, particularly around the New York Area, check out this babylon schedule. (more…)
Author Interviews, Lifestyle & Health / 16.03.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr Nipun Shrestha MBBS, MPH Health Research and Social Development Forum Thapathali, Kathmandu, Nepal MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: These days our work in the offices isn't the same as it used to be. Almost everybody is working with a computer nowadays and that makes you sit still all day. We do not need to move from our chair to do most of the things. This is not just the case in developed countries but for developing countries as well. One would argue though we are sitting in the office hours but we are regularly doing lots of exercises. However researchers have found that sedentary behavior is an independent risk factor for many chronic diseases like diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and cancer. So breaking up time that we spend sitting is important. There are many commercial innovations available in the market which are being advertised heavily by the manufacturers. The evidence on effectiveness of such innovation is however not available. We found that there is limited evidence on effectiveness of interventions that aim to reduce sitting at work. There is some evidence that sit-stand desk may reduce sitting at work between 30 minutes to 2 hours without any adverse effects. (more…)
Aging, Author Interviews, Lifestyle & Health / 15.03.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Ding Ding (Melody), Ph.D., MPH NHMRC Early Career Senior Research Fellow/Sydney University Postdoctoral Research Fellow Prevention Research Collaboration Sydney School of Public Health The University of Sydney MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Ding: This study used data from the Sax Institute’s 45 and Up Study, a large Australia based cohort of adults aged 45 or older. We followed around 25,000 participants who were working at baseline (2006-2008) for an average of 3 years (follow-up in 2010). During the follow-up period, around 3,000 participants retired from the workforce. Participants were asked to report their health-related lifestyle behaviors, such as physical activity, smoking, and sleep time at both baseline and follow-up. We found that those who retired overall had significant improvement in their lifestyle as compared with those who did not, including more physical activity, less sitting time, and more sleep. Female smokers who retired were also more likely to have quit smoking. (more…)
Alzheimer's - Dementia, Author Interviews, Exercise - Fitness, Lifestyle & Health / 14.03.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Cyrus A. Raji, MD, PhD Resident in Diagnostic Radiology UCLA Health System  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Raji: The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between caloric expenditure from leisure physical activities (15 different ones were assessed from walking to gardening to dancing to swimming etc.). Increased caloric expenditure from these physical activities were related to larger gray matter volumes in key brain areas for memory and learning (hippocampus, precuneus) that are also affected by Alzheimer's. These findings were demonstrated in 876 persons who had MRI scans and caloric expenditure assessed. Five years after the scan a subset of 326 persons from the larger group of 876 were followed cognitively and it was found that those with larger gray matter volumes associated with physical activity in the orbital frontal cortex and precuneus had a 2 fold reduction in the risk for cognitive decline to mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's dementia.  (more…)
Author Interviews, Lifestyle & Health, Pediatrics, Weight Research / 08.03.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Chance York PhD School of Journalism and Mass Communication Kent State University MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?  Dr. York: A number of studies have examined the effects of heavy television viewing during childhood on childhood levels of Body Mass Index (BMI), but my study added a new element to this literature: it explores the long-term effects of TV viewing on adult-era BMI. The major takeaway is that heavy television viewing during childhood results in an individual propensity to watch TV much later in life, and this propensity to watch television results in increased BMI. In other words, kids who watch a lot of television tend to remain heavy TV users as adults, and the fact that they're heavy TV viewers as adults has a separate, unique effect on their adult BMI. (more…)
Author Interviews, Diabetes, Exercise - Fitness, JAMA, Lifestyle & Health, Pediatrics / 08.02.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Mélanie Henderson, MD, FRCPC, PhD Pediatric Endocrinologist and Assistant Clinical Professor Division of Endocrinology and Diabetes University of Montreal/Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Ste-Justine Montréal, Québec Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Henderson: Dysregulation in insulin sensitivity and insulin secretion are the basic elements in the pathophysiology of type 2 diabetes. There is extensive data suggesting that better lifestyle habits are associated with the prevention or the delay in onset of type 2 diabetes in adults, with improved lifestyle habits having been more effective than pharmacologic agents at diabetes prevention in one study. Little work however has been done to determine whether this holds true in children. Cross-sectional studies in youth have found conflicting results and no study has considered the combined effect of physical activity, fitness and sedentary behavior on insulin dynamics in children. Understanding the impact of lifestyle habits on insulin dynamics in childhood has become paramount, given that less than 7% of Canadian children are currently meeting physical activity guidelines and that 1/3 of school-aged Canadian children and 2/3 of Canadian teenagers are exceeding the current guidelines in terms of screen time, which advocate for a maximum of 2 hours daily. Our study shows that adiposity is the central predictor of insulin dynamics in children, and that physical activity and screen time play an important role, in part through their effect on adiposity. Thus, establishing and maintaining a highly physically active lifestyle early on in life, while minimizing sedentary behaviour (specifically screen time) appear to be important strategies to consider to prevent type 2 diabetes in youth. (more…)
Author Interviews, Diabetes, Diabetologia, Lifestyle & Health / 06.02.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Julianne van der Berg  PhD candidate Social Medicine Universiteitssingel Maastricht The Netherlands  Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: The study investigated in data from The Maastricht Study, a large study in the Netherlands, associations of total duration and patterns of sedentary behavior with type 2 diabetes. We show that participants with type 2 diabetes spent the most time of day sedentary, 26 min more than participants without diabetes. Each additional hour of sedentary time was associated with a 22% increased risk of type 2 diabetes. Important is that these results were independent of high-intensity physical activity. (more…)
Author Interviews, Diabetes, Lifestyle & Health / 03.02.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: David Drozek, D.O. Assistant Professor of Surgery Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine Athens, Ohio 45701 Medical Research: What is the background for this study? Response: Half of the U.S. population has diabetes or prediabetes.  The rate is even higher in Appalachia.  As a society, we cannot sustain this level of disease.  It exacts a heavy toll on our productivity and our health care costs. Current approaches to diabetes, primarily with medication, are not sufficient.  More attention needs to be placed on the underlying cause of diabetes, and its traveling partners, overweight / obesity, heart disease and many common cancers.  That cause is our lifestyle.  Medical Research: What are the main findings? Response: As has been demonstrated in many other studies of lifestyle modification programs, chronic illnesses, like diabetes, can actually be reversed, and in some cases, even cured, by instituting a plant-based, whole food diet, increased physical activity and stress management techniques.  Our study reinforces that this is possible, even in a rural, poverty stricken region, when people are ready to make healthy changes.  Our study participants, on average, lost weight, and improved their blood sugar, lipid panel and blood pressure, by participating in The Complete Health Improvement Program (CHIP), a lifestyle medicine program. (more…)
Author Interviews, Exercise - Fitness, Heart Disease, Lifestyle & Health / 02.02.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Gabriel E. Shaya MS University of Miami Miller School of Medicine MD/MPH Candidate 2016 Medical Research: What is the background for this study? Response: High exercise capacity has been established as an important protective factor against a wide array of poor health indicators and outcomes including cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Most of the studies assessing the association of exercise capacity and cardiovascular outcomes have done so over an extended period of followup, however, whether high exercise capacity may influence the risk of early mortality following a first myocardial infarction has not been investigated. This is the question that we sought to answer in our study. Medical Research: What are the main findings? Response: Our study found that high exercise capacity was associated with statistically significant and clinically meaningful risk reductions in mortality in the short-term following a first myocardial infarction. Achieving the highest category of fitness in our cohort was associated with as much as a 60% mortality risk reduction relative to those in the least fit category, and similar magnitudes of benefit were observed to persist up to 1 year after a myocardial infarction. Importantly, the greatest risk reductions were observed when comparing the least fit patients to those with moderate fitness, suggesting that those with relatively low fitness may stand to benefit most from even just modest fitness improvements. (more…)
Author Interviews, Lifestyle & Health, Nutrition, UCSF / 09.12.2015

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Maria T. Chao, DrPH, MPA Assistant Professor of Medicine Osher Center for Integrative Medicine & Division of General Internal Medicine - SFGH UCSF San Francisco, CA 94143-1726 Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Chao: Many Americans use complementary and integrative health (CIH) approaches to help them manage the symptoms of chronic diseases. To date, most of these treatments are only available in outpatient clinics. In this study, we asked oncology inpatients which of 12 different CIH approaches they currently use or have tried in the past, and also which approaches they would like to be available in the hospital. We found that 95% of patients had tried at least one  complementary and integrative health approach in the past, and that a similarly high number were interested in accessing these services as an inpatient. More than three quarters of our sample expressed interest in receiving nutritional counseling and massage during their hospital stay, and approximately half were interested in acupuncture, biofeedback, and mindfulness meditation. (more…)
Author Interviews, Lifestyle & Health, PLoS / 06.12.2015

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Ding Ding (Melody), Ph.D., MPH NHMRC Early Career Senior Research Fellow Sydney University Postdoctoral Research Fellow Prevention Research Collaboration Sydney School of Public Health The University of Sydney  Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response:  The study followed a large sample (around 200,000) of Australian adults aged 45 or older. Participants reported their lifestyle behaviours (smoking, excessive alcohol use, physical inactivity, unhealthy diet, prolonged sitting, short/long sleep duration) at baseline (2006-2009) and were followed up for around 6 years (up to June 2014). Based on linked administrative data (death records), we found a clear relationship between the total number of lifestyle risk behaviours and the risk of mortality---the more risk behaviours, the higher risk for mortality. This pattern of associations was consistent in men and women, participants in different age groups, of different socioeconomic status, and with and without major chronic disease. Certain behavioural risk factors have synergistic associations with mortality and appear more harmful together than individually. For example, if people only sit for long hours (defined as >7 hours a day), without having other co-occurring risk behaviours, the risk for mortality was only elevated by 15%, and if people are only physically inactive without having other co-occurring risk behaviours, the risk for mortality was elevated by 60%. However when the two risk factors were combined, say if one is not physically active AND sit for long hours, the combined risk has become much larger (increased by 140%, compared with those with zero risk behaviours).  Similarly, the combination of smoking and excessive alcohol use appeared a lot more “deadly” than the two risk factors alone. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cognitive Issues, Exercise - Fitness, JAMA, Lifestyle & Health / 02.12.2015

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Tina Hoang MSPH Staff Research Associate Northern California Institute for Research and Education, Veterans Affairs Medical Center Dr. Kristine Yaffe MD Professor of Psychiatry, Neurology, and Epidemiology University of California San Francisco, CA  94121 Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: We assessed physical activity and TV watching in young adults over 25 years to see if there was an association with cognitive function in middle age.  Most previous studies have only considered this association in older adults. We found that both low physical activity and high TV watching over time were associated with worse cognitive function. (more…)
Author Interviews, Lifestyle & Health, NIH / 05.11.2015

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Sarah K. Keadle, PhD, MPH Cancer Prevention Fellow Nutritional Epidemiology Branch Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics National Cancer Institute   Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Keadle: Television viewing is extremely prevalent in the U.S. Ninety-two percent of Americans have a television at home and watching TV consumes more than half of their available leisure time, potentially displacing more physical activities. Previous studies have reported a relationship between TV viewing and increased risk of death from the two most common causes of death in the U.S., cancer and heart disease. In our study, we followed more than 221,000 healthy Americans aged 50-71 years old for 14 years to look at this relationship. We confirmed the association with increased risk of death from cancer and heart disease. In addition, we found that TV viewing was associated with an increased risk of six other causes of death, including diabetes, influenza/pneumonia, Parkinson’s disease, and liver disease. Also, compared to individuals who watched less than one hour per day, those who watched 3-4 hours of TV per day were 15% more likely to die from any cause, and individuals who watched seven or more hours of TV per day were 47% more likely to die over the study period. (more…)
Author Interviews, Exercise - Fitness, Lifestyle & Health / 28.09.2015

Dr Gareth Hagger-Johnson PhD Senior Research associate Epidemiology & Public Health, Div of Population Health University College, LondonMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr Gareth Hagger-Johnson PhD Senior Research associate Epidemiology & Public Health, Div of Population Health University College, London   Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Even among adults who meet recommended physical activity levels and who sleep for eight hours per night, it is possible to spend the vast majority of the day (up to 15 hours) sitting down. We were concerned about possible harm resulting from sitting for long periods combined with not moving. Breaks in sitting time have previously been shown to improve markers of good health, such as body mass index and your body’s glucose and insulin responses. But until now, no study has ever examined whether fidgeting might modify an association between sitting time and mortality. We noticed that The UK Women’s Cohort Study collected data (from 1999 to 2002) on health behavious, chronic disease, physical activity levels, sitting time - and fidgeting (a self-report scale ranging from 0 to 10, where 10 means ‘constantly’). More than 12,000 responses were received. We looked at the data to see who had died over the next 12 years. Among women with low levels of fidgeting who also sat for 7 or more hours per day (compared to less than 5 hours), there was around a 30% increase in the risk of mortality over 12 years follow-up. Among women with medium or high levels of fidgeting, we did not see this harmful effect of sitting time, even after adjusting for other lifestyle factors including physical activity level. (more…)
AHA Journals, Author Interviews, Gender Differences, Heart Disease, Lifestyle & Health, McGill / 18.09.2015

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Sylvie S.L. Leung Yinko, MSc, RD Division of Clinical Epidemiology Research Institute of McGill University Health Centre (RI MUHC) Montreal (QC) and Louise Pilote, MD, MPH, PhD Professor of Medicine McGill University and Director of the Division of General Internal Medicine McGill University Health Centre Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Patients with premature acute coronary syndrome (ACS) are a vulnerable population of young or middle-aged adults at risk for future cardiovascular events. However, while health behaviors such as diet, physical activity, smoking, alcohol consumption and recreational drug use are important lifestyle factors that can influence cardiovascular risk, there is limited information about health behaviors in this population group. Additionally, there is indication in the literature regarding sex and age differences in health behaviors, but whether such differences exist in patients with premature acute coronary syndrome remained to be explored. Using data from GENESIS-PRAXY (GENdEr and Sex determInantS of Cardiovascular Disease from bench to beyond in PRemature Acute Coronary Syndrome), a large-scale prospective cohort study across Canada, US and Switzerland, we explored the health behavior profile of patients with premature ACS. As well, we examined whether there is a change in health behaviors 1 year post-ACS and assessed sex differences. Our results showed that the health behavior profile of men and women with premature Acute Coronary Syndrome are worse than that of the general population. We found a high prevalence of poor health behaviors in a young population with only modest changes after Acute Coronary Syndrome. Health behaviors remained suboptimal and worse than the general population, especially with regards to diet, smoking and recreational drug use. Sex differences existed in the prevalence of these behaviors at baseline and 1 year post-ACS but not in the magnitude of change after the ACS event. (more…)
Author Interviews, Lifestyle & Health, Sugar / 18.09.2015

Louise Brunkwall Nutritionist, MPH and Phd-student Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease, Genetic Epidemiology Lund University, Clinical Sciences Malmö, Sweden MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Louise Brunkwall Nutritionist, MPH and Phd-student Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease, Genetic Epidemiology Lund University, Clinical Sciences Malmö, Sweden  Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: There has been a huge interest for sugar sweetened beverages (SSB) the last years and SSB has been associated with various diseases like type 2 diabetes and obesity, while juice for example which have approximately the same amount of energy have not. We find this very interesting and wanted to know more about who the people were that consumed a lot of these different beverages. We started of by looking at diet and found that the different beverages were associated with different dietary patterns. Sugar sweetened beverages were associated with a more unhealthy diet while juice was associated with a more healthy diet. We see the same for tea which is a beverage previously associated with a lower risk of several diseases, that it is associated with an overall very healthy diet. Therefore we draw the conclusions that beverages are a part of the overall diet which might contribute to the previous findings of associations with different diseases. This also tells us that it is of great importance to know more about the overall diet than just consumption of a single product when investigating beverages-dieases association studies. (more…)
Author Interviews, Diabetes, Diabetes Care, Lifestyle & Health / 14.08.2015

Dr. Kaberi Dasgupta MD, MSc, FRCPC Associate Professor, Department of Medicine Divisions of Internal Medicine, Clinical Epidemiology, and Endocrinology and Metabolism Royal Victoria Hospital Quebec, Canada MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Kaberi Dasgupta MD, MSc, FRCPC Associate Professor, Department of Medicine Divisions of Internal Medicine, Clinical Epidemiology, and Endocrinology and Metabolism Royal Victoria Hospital Quebec, Canada   Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Dasgupta: We know that health behaviours can contribute to developing gestational diabetes and type 2 diabetes (e.g., eating out frequently, lack of fruits and vegetables, not walking enough, spending most of the day sitting). We also know that genetic factors are important. Sometimes we focus more on the genetic factors than on health behaviours. By showing that spouses share diabetes risk, we highlight the importance that behaviour and environment play as spouses are not generally related biologically. In a previous meta-analysis, we showed that spouses were concordant for diabetes (if one had it, there was a 24% relative risk increase that the other did too.) In the study Gestational Diabetes Mellitus in Mothers as a Diabetes Predictor in Fathers: A Retrospective Cohort Analysis, we took it further and compared men whose partners had gestational diabetes and men whose partners did not. Over a 13 year period of follow-up, the men whose partners had gestational diabetes were 33% more likely to develop diabetes.  (more…)
Author Interviews, Exercise - Fitness, Lifestyle & Health / 11.08.2015

Lucas J. Carr, PhD Department of Health and Human Physiology University of Iowa Iowa City IA 52242MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Lucas J. Carr, PhD Department of Health and Human Physiology University of Iowa Iowa City IA 52242 Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Carr: Office employees are exposed to hazardous levels of sedentary work which is now known to contribute negatively to both physical and mental health. This study tested the effect of retrofitting standard office desks with portable elliptical machines for the purpose of increasing the physical activity levels of sedentary office workers while they are at work. This approach is slightly different that traditional approaches which ask employees to be more active during non-working hours.  We found employees provided the pedal devices became more active while at work and pedaled an average of 50 minutes per day over four months. These findings suggest this approach was successful at increasing physical activity levels of employees while at work and over a fairly long period of time. (more…)
Author Interviews, Lifestyle & Health / 22.07.2015

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Maria-Gabriela Garcia Ph.D candidate Sensory-Motor Systems Lab, ETH Zurich Zurich, Switzerland and Dr. B.J. Martin University of Michigan, Ann Arbor Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Many workers are required to stand for prolong periods of time at their workplace. Several investigations have associated prolonged standing with back pain, and musculoskeletal disorders.  The accumulation of muscle fatigue is assumed to lead to such disorders.  However, the long-lasting effects of fatigue in the lower limbs induced by prolonged standing work have received little attention. Our main findings indicate that 5 hours of standing work including regular seated rest breaks lead to a significant long-term fatigue in the lower leg muscles.  The objective measures showed that the effects persisted at least 30 min after a seated recovery period while they were not subjectively perceived.  Thus, subjective evaluations may not be sensitive to the long-term effects of fatigue.  In addition, fatigue was not observed after 2 hours of standing work.       (more…)
Author Interviews, Heart Disease, Lifestyle & Health / 17.07.2015

Carl "Chip" Lavie MD, FACC FACP, FCCP Medical Director, Cardiac Rehabilitation and Prevention Director, Exercise Laboratories John Ochsner Heart and Vascular Institute Professor of Medicine Ochsner Clinical School-UQ School of Medicine Editor-in-Chief, Progress in Cardiovascular DiseasesMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Carl "Chip"  Lavie MD, FACC FACP, FCCP Medical  Director, Cardiac  Rehabilitation and Prevention Director, Exercise Laboratories John Ochsner Heart and Vascular Institute Professor of Medicine Ochsner Clinical  School-UQ School of Medicine Editor-in-Chief, Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Lavie: This was a review of the literature on this topic.The main findings are that various lifestyle choices, including obesity,  hypertension, metabolic syndrome/diabetes, obstructive sleep apnea , moderate and  high alcohol intakes, and sedentary lifestyle but also very high exercise doses are all associated with increased risk of atrial fibrillation (AF). (more…)
Author Interviews, Brigham & Women's - Harvard, Heart Disease, JACC, Lifestyle & Health / 08.07.2015

Liana C. Del Gobbo, PhDPostdoctoral Research Fellow Friedman School of Nutrition Science & Policy Tufts University Boston MAMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Liana C. Del Gobbo, PhD Postdoctoral Research Fellow Friedman School of Nutrition Science & Policy Tufts University Boston MA Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Del Gobbo: Heart failure most commonly develops in adults over 65 years old- the most rapidly growing portion of the US population. The condition greatly reduces the quality of life of older adults. Heart failure is the leading cause of hospitalizations in the US among those on Medicare, and is associated with large  health care costs. Prevention is key for reducing the burden of this disease. A detailed analysis of factors that might help prevent heart failure, such as a person's pattern of eating (as well as individual foods), in addition to other lifestyle factors (eg. smoking, physical activity, etc), had not been previously examined all together, in the same study. To get a fuller picture of how to prevent this condition, this study examined the relative importance of dietary habits and other lifestyle factors for development of heart failure. Our paper shows that older adults can cut their risk in half by adhering to a few healthy lifestyle factors, including moderate physical activity, modest alcohol consumption (eg. more than one drink/week, but not more than 1-2 drinks/day), not smoking, and maintaining a healthy weight. (more…)
Author Interviews, Lifestyle & Health, NYU / 19.06.2015

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Stella Yi, PhD, MPH New York University Langone School of Medicine, Department of Population Health New York, NY 10016 MedicalResearch: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Yi: Sedentary behaviors, such as sitting time, are an emerging risk factor in the field of physical activity epidemiology. Recent studies have demonstrated the negative health consequences associated with extended sitting time, including metabolic disturbances and decreased life expectancy independent of the effects of regular exercise. We also assessed mean values of self-reported sitting time to characterize these behaviors in a diverse, urban sample of adults. The average New York City resident sits more than seven hours a day—greatly exceeding the three hours or more per day that is associated with decreased life expectancy. Among the findings:
  • At the lower economic end, individuals spent 6.3 hours per day sitting, while those with higher incomes spent 8.2 hours per day sitting
  • College graduates spent 8.2 hours per day sitting, compared with 5.5 hours per day for those with less than a high school education
  • Whites spent on average 7.8 hours per day sitting, African Americans spent 7.4 hours sitting, Hispanics spent 5.4 hours sitting, and Asian Americans spent 7.9 hours per day sitting
  • Sitting time was highest in Manhattan, compared to other boroughs.
In the current analysis, we also assessed the validity of a two-question survey method of sitting time during waking hours using accelerometers to measure sedentary time in a subsample of our study participants. The correlation between sitting time reported in the survey and accelerometer-measured sedentary time was modest (r=0.32, p<0.01) with wide limits of agreement. We interpreted this to mean that while self-reported sitting might be useful at the population-level to provide rankings and subgroups, it may be limited in assessing an individual’s actual behavior. (more…)
Author Interviews, Education, Heart Disease, Lifestyle & Health, Radiology / 16.06.2015

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Ms. Rikke Elmose Mols Department of Cardiology, Lillebaelt Hospital-Vejle, Vejle, Denmark. MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Current ESC guidelines for patients with chest pain and low to intermediate pre-test probability of coronary artery disease (CAD) recommend control and modification of risk factors. However, patients with an elevated cardiovascular risk profile are frequently inadequately motivated for lifestyle changes and medicine adherence from knowledge about risk factors and information about risk reduction alone. Coronary artery calcification (CAC) is a marker of coronary atherosclerosis. The degree of coronary artery calcification may be assessed by the Agatston score (AS) derived by non-enhanced cardiac computed tomography, whereas non-invasive CT imaging of the coronary arteries require contrast-enhancement (coronary computed tomography angiography [CTA]). The presence of CAC is associated with an elevated probability of obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD) and an unfavorable clinical outcome. In symptomatic patients, demonstration of non-obstructive CAD identified by coronary CTA is associated with risk modifying behavior and intensified prophylactic medical treatment in observational studies. Among asymptomatic individuals, those with the highest Agatston score levels seem to be motivated for the adoption of risk modifying behaviour and visualization of CAC may stimulate adherence to lipid-lowering therapy and aspirin and a healthier lifestyle. The aim of the present prospective, randomized controlled study was to test the effect of adding visualization of coronary artery calcification to the standard information about risk and lifestyle modification on cholesterol levels and other risk markers in patients with a new diagnosis of non-obstructive CAD. Visualization of coronary artery calcification and brief recommendations about risk modification (ESC guidelines) after coronary CTA in symptomatic patients with hyperlipidemia and non-obstructive CAD may have a favorable influence on plasma total-cholesterol concentration, adherence to statin therapy and risk behavior. Further investigations are needed. (more…)
Author Interviews, Lifestyle & Health, Menopause / 22.05.2015

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Jasmine Lee, M.Sc. and Chris I. Ardern, Ph.D. School of Kinesiology and Health Science York University Toronto, ON, Canada Medical Research: What is the background for this study? Response: Although the benefits of physical activity are well known, the health and mortality risks associated with sedentary time (activities <1.5 MET)—which can occur in long, continuous bouts, such as at the workplace, during motorized transportation and via screen time— have been less frequently explored, and may differ across subgroups of the population. Like physical activity, sedentary time may fluctuate with major life events and occupation (e.g. aging, retirement, etc.), which raises the question of the short-term relationship between changes in sitting time and mortality risk. Medical Research: What are the main findings? Response: Maintenance of minimal sedentary time, as well as short-term reduction in sedentary time, were found to reduce the risk of all-cause and cancer- mortality amongst a sample of middle-aged and older women (50-79 y) who are prone to high rates of physical inactivity and sedentary time. (more…)
Author Interviews, Diabetes, Lifestyle & Health / 03.05.2015

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Marianna Virtanen PhD Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Helsinki, Turku and Tampere, FinlandMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Marianna Virtanen PhD Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Helsinki, Turku and Tampere, Finland Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Virtanen: Diabetes is a common chronic condition among working-aged populations but few studies have investigated work disability associated with diabetes. In this study, we examined trajectories of register-based work disability days over a 5-year period and lifestyle-related factors predicting these trajectories. Five trajectories described work disability: ‘no/very low disability’ (41.1% among diabetes cases, 48.0% among controls); ‘low–steady’ (35.4%, 34.7%); ‘high–steady’ (13.6%, 12.1%); and two ‘high–increasing’ trajectories (10.0%, 5.2%). Diabetes was associated with ending up to the ’high-increasing disability trajectory’, however, this affected only 10% of the population with diabetes. Obesity and physical inactivity predicted an adverse trajectory similarly among people with diabetes and those without diabetes while smoking was a stronger risk factor for an adverse trajectory in diabetes. (more…)
Aging, Author Interviews, Exercise - Fitness, Geriatrics, Lifestyle & Health, Nutrition / 01.05.2015

Yunhwan Lee, MD, DrPH Director, Institute on Aging Professor of Preventive Medicine & Public Health Ajou University School of Medicine Suwon, South KoreaMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Yunhwan Lee, MD, DrPH Director, Institute on Aging Professor of Preventive Medicine & Public Health Ajou University School of Medicine Suwon, South Korea Dr. Lee wishes to acknowledge Jinhee Kim, PhD, the lead author of the study. Medical Research: What is the background for this study? Dr. Lee: We have known for some time that there is a progressive loss of muscle mass with aging, where older people lose on average about 1% of their skeletal muscle mass per year. A decline in muscle mass is serious in that it increases the person’s risk of falls, frailty, disability, and death. Because there is currently no “cure” for muscle mass loss, prevention is the best strategy. Over the years, researchers have studied various lifestyle factors to identify potentially modifiable behaviors that may prevent or slow the loss of muscle mass. The majority of prior research so far have found that diet, in the form of protein supplementation, and exercise, especially resistance exercise, may confer some benefits. More recently, the scientific community have begun to pay attention to the positive role of vegetables and fruits intake on the muscle. The role of aerobic exercise on muscle mass is, however, less clear. Also, because people tend to adopt various lifestyles, we were interested in finding out whether those engaging in healthier patterns of diet and exercise retained higher muscle mass. This is why bodybuilders pay such close attention to their diet and make sure their muscle mass is at it's peak. They can also take supplements like SARMs (see SARMS.io for more information about that) to improve muscle mass but their diet has a massive effect on it too. This is where some of the inspiration for this research came from as we knew what an effect food had on bodybuilders so we wondered how it could effect the elderly. Using data from a nationally representative sample of older adults, we investigated whether those who had healthier diet and participated in regular exercise, individually and in combination, maintained higher muscle mass. We looked at five healthy lifestyle factors that included dietary intake of three food groups (meat, fish, eggs, legumes; vegetables; and fruits) and participation in two types of exercise (aerobic and resistance). (more…)
Author Interviews, Diabetes, Diabetologia, Lifestyle & Health, University of Pittsburgh / 02.04.2015

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Bonny Rockette-Wagner, Ph.D. Director of physical activity assessment, University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health and Andrea Kriska, Ph.D. Professor of epidemiology, University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health Researchers’ Note: Drs. Kriska and Rockette-Wagner: It should be noted that this study looked at adults at high risk for diabetes. Not everyone in the general population would be at high risk. We would hypothesis that the risk increase from TV watching may be lower in those not at high risk for diabetes, but obviously could not test that in our study population. MedicalResearch: What is the background for this study? Response: In this research effort focused on participants in the Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) study (published in 2002 and funded by the National Institute of Digestive and Diabetes and Kidney Diseases [NIDDK] section of the US National Institutes of Health [NIH]). That study enrolled 3,234 overweight US adults (1996–1999) of at least 25 years of age with the goal of delaying or preventing type 2 diabetes in high risk individuals with either a metformin drug or lifestyle intervention. The DPP demonstrated that the lifestyle intervention was successful at reducing the incidence of diabetes and achieving its goals of 150 minutes per week of moderate intensity activity (such as brisk walking) and a 7% weight loss (New England Journal of Medicine, 2002). There was no goal to reduce sitting in the Diabetes Prevention Program. Results from other studies suggest that it is unclear if interventions focusing on increasing physical activity also reduce time spent sitting. This current investigation examined whether the Diabetes Prevention Program lifestyle intervention, which was shown to be effective at increasing physical activity, also decreased self-reported sitting time. The effect of sedentary behavior on diabetes development was also examined. MedicalResearch: What are the main findings? Response: For the lifestyle participants, a reduction in reported TV watching alone and the combination of TV watching and work sitting was observed. This reduction was significantly greater than any changes seen in the other two randomized groups, who did not receive the intervention. Because these reductions were accomplished without an explicit program goal to reduce sitting we feel optimistic that with better awareness of sitting behaviors and goal setting to reduce sitting it may be possible to have an even greater impact than what was achieved in this cohort. Additionally, our results showed that for every hour spent watching TV there was a 3.4% increased risk of developing diabetes during the 3 year follow-up period in individuals at high risk for diabetes. This finding means that reductions in sitting can translate into a positive health effect separate from improvements in moderate-vigorous activity. (more…)
Author Interviews, Exercise - Fitness, Lifestyle & Health, Weight Research / 18.03.2015

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Sirpa Soini, MHC, researcher Department of General Practice and Primary Health Care University of Helsinki Medical Research: What is the background for this study? Response: Short-term weight loss is often successful, but he obtained results are difficult to maintain. Therefore, a study focusing on obese people who successfully lost weight, with special  emphasis upon methods applied and background factors, is of major importance. Many people are successful in losing weight by themselves without taking part in any organized group activity. The knowledge about their success and the methods applied does not usually reach the health care personnel and is one reason why it is difficult to get reliable information about those who are successful in losing weight. (more…)