Marion County Medical Center

Health Shorts

August 2005

Depression Screening Now Part
Of Medicare Preventive Examination
Depression screening is included in the one-time Initial Physical Examination offered for the first time this year to new enrollees in Medicare Part B.

For anyone testing positive on the screening exam, Medicare rules call for “education, counseling and referral.”
[SOURCE: Stephen Barlas, “Depression Screening Included in New Medicare Preventive Exams,” Psychiatric Times, February 1, 2005]

Antidepressants Help Stroke Patients
Stroke patients given antidepressant medication for 12 weeks were less likely to die than those given a placebo, according to a study at the University of Iowa. About 68 percent of subjects given antidepressants were alive nine years later compared to only 36 percent of those taking a placebo.

About 40 percent of patients develop some form of depression within two years of a stroke. The study, however, included subjects who never showed symptoms of depression.
The authors stressed that more studies are needed before antidepressants can be recommended as part of stroke treatment.
[SOURCE: “Depression Tops List of Attending Problems for Rehabilitation Patients: Researchers Advocate Routine Depression Screening,” Rehab Continuum Report, April, 2004]

New Ways To Keep Mosquitoes Away
If you’re battling mosquitoes this summer, you have two products, newly recommended by the Centers for Disease Control, to add to your arsenal.

In addition to products containing DEET, the CDC recommends repellents containing picardin (Cutter Advanced) and oil of lemon eucalyptus (Repel). Unlike DEET, picardin is odorless but appears to work as well at comparable concentrations. Oil of lemon eucalyptus is an all-natural product that provides protection similar to lower-concentration DEET products.
[SOURCE: Johns Hopkins Medical Letter, August, 2005]

National Depression Screening Day
Free and anonymous screening for depression and other mood and anxiety disorders will be available on National Depression Screening Day 2005, scheduled for October 6 at more than five thousand sites across the country.
This year’s program will target a number of mental health issues, including bipolar depression, general anxiety disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder and postpartum depression as well as depression.
For further information call 1-800-520-NDSD or visit www.mentalhealthscreening.org.
[SOURCE: “National Depression Screening Day 2005,” Legislative Network for Nurses, June 6, 2005]

Vision Problems Up Depression Risk
Older Americans suffering from macular degeneration or other vision problems have an increased risk of depression that frequently gets overlooked. Patients may see their situation as hopeless and their feelings regarding vision loss often go beyond any disability they suffer.

One study found that at least a third of seniors with vision impairment had symptoms of depression. Many ophthalmologists routinely screen for depression.
[SOURCE: “Depression Tops List of Attending Problems for Rehabilitation Patients: Researchers Advocate Routine Depression Screening,” Rehab Continuum Report, April, 2004]

Protecting Yourself from Radon
Radon gas, a product of the natural decay of uranium, is prevalent throughout the earth’s crust and is present at unacceptably high levels in about six percent of American homes. To protect yourself, the Environmental Protection Agency recommends that you:

1.   Test your home with a do-it-yourself kit available in many grocery and hardware stores or through a certified contractor.
2.   If the level exceeds 4.0 pCi/L, follow up with another test–either short-term or long-term.
3.   If the level on the second test is still 4.0 pCi/L or higher, have the radon level in your home reduced. This usually involves sealing cracks in the foundation and perhaps installing a ventilation system. (Contact the EPA office in your state capital for a list of qualified contractors.)
[SOURCE: EPA, “A Citizen’s Guide to Radon: The Guide To Protecting Yourself and Your Family from Radon,” Revised, May, 2004; Evelyn B. Kelly, “Radon: The Seeping Home Invader,” Current Health 2, February, 1995]

Radon Raises Risk in Non-Smokers
About 14,000 Americans each year die of lung cancer attributed to exposure to radon gas in their homes. After cigarette smoking, radon exposure is the second leading cause of lung cancer.
Exposure to both tobacco smoke and radon greatly increases the risk, but studies have demonstrated that even non-smokers are at risk from radon. According to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association [262(5): 629-633, 1989], non-smoking miners exposed to radon had risks of lung cancer 9 to 12 times that of other non-smokers.
[SOURCE: EPA, “A Physician’s Guide–Radon: The Health Threat with a Simple Solution,” EPA Document #402-K-93-008]

Gluten-Free Products Meet Need
The prevalence of celiac disease is much wider than previously believed, according to those attending the first conference on the disorder sponsored by the National Institutes of Health. And a wide range of gluten-free products are becoming available in mainstream supermarkets as well as health food stores.

In celiac disease, gluten from wheat, rye and barley products damages the small intestine and makes it difficult to absorb essential nutrients. About 1 of every 133 Americans has gluten intolerance and many more are sensitive to gluten, according to the Center for Celiac Diseases.

Treatment involves banishing gluten from the diet, and this has been made easier by the availability of gluten-free bread, pasta, pizza, bagels and cookies. These products substitute rice flour, arrowroot, potato and tapioca for wheat.
[SOURCE: Candice Choi, “Gluten-Free Market Goes Mainstream,” Associated Press, July 27, 2005]

Good To Quit–Early or Late
Female smokers who quit before they turn 30 are no more likely to die of lung cancer than women who have never smoked, according to a 2005 study.

But even those who smoke for many years still benefit from quitting. One study found that subjects who quit smoking in their 60s significantly lowered their risk of developing lung cancer and extended their life expectancy by several years.
[SOURCE: “Cigarettes: The Lung Cancer Risk Lingers,” Harvard Health Letter, July, 2005]

If at First You Don’t Succeed...
Most Americans need more than one shot to successfully kick the smoking habit. Some 46 percent of smokers try to quit every year.
The success rate for quitting is about five percent for those who go cold turkey, and 20 to 40 percent for smokers who quit with the aid of nicotine replacement and behavioral therapy.

Much of the difficulty in quitting is believed to stem from opioid receptors in the brain associated with cravings–overwhelming urges that trigger relapses weeks or months after quitting.

Experiments on mice show that blocking specific opioid receptors may help control cravings.
[SOURCE: Anette Breindel, “Cueing in on Reward Pathways: Opioid Research Suggests New Way To Treat Nicotine Cravings,” Bioworld Today, June 24, 2005]

Smoking as a Children’s Disease
Children don’t have to smoke to suffer smoking-related ills. Even before birth, smoking can affect a child’s health.
Prenatal exposure causes genetic damage, increases the risk of childhood asthma by up to 15 percent and is responsible for 40 percent of low-birth-weight babies.

Prenatal exposure also increases the likelihood that a child will become dependent on tobacco later in life. Brains of newborns exposed to tobacco smoke show increased numbers of nicotine receptors.
[SOURCE: Michael Weitzman, “Counsel Parents To Stop Smoking,” Family Practice News, April 1, 2004]

No Hip Huggers for Teen Smokers
There are many good reasons an adolescent should avoid the smoking habit, but a study published in Circulation [August 1, 2005] may be convincing to those who like to wear hip huggers and bare midriffs. According to this study, teen smokers were more likely than others to develop the metabolic syndrome, which involves excess belly fat and an increased risk of premature heart disease and diabetes.

Among 2,273 subjects 12 to 19 years of age, nine percent of active smokers developed metabolic syndrome compared to five percent of those exposed to second-hand smoke and one percent of those with little or no exposure.
[SOURCE: Jamie Stengle, “Study Links Tobacco Smoke with Belly Fat,” Associated Press, August 1, 2005; American Heart Association, Circulation, August 1, 2005]

Gotta Go? Bladder Size Not the Problem
If you urinate frequently–with the “gotta go” syndrome portrayed on TV ads–it’s not because you have a small or shrinking bladder. The condition, known as overactive bladder, occurs when the bladder goes into spasm before becoming full, creating a false sensation of having to urinate.

Although overactive bladder occurs more frequently with advancing age, a recent study found that bladders retain about the same fluid capacity regardless of age.
Not a normal consequence of aging, overactive bladder can be treated.
[SOURCE: Tufts University Health & Nutrition Letter, August, 2005]

Health Shorts

August 2005

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