Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments,
compiled by editors of HealthDay:
Impotence Drugs to Carry Hearing Loss
Warnings
New warnings about the potential risk of sudden hearing loss will be
added to the labels of Viagra and other drugs to treat erectile
dysfunction, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration says.
While it's not clear whether the drugs actually do cause hearing loss,
the FDA said that since 1996 there have been 29 reports of hearing
problems among users of these kinds of drugs, the Associated Press
reported.
The new warnings will be carried by the impotence drugs Viagra, Cialis
and Levitra, as well as the pulmonary hypertension drug Revatio, which
contains the same ingredient as Viagra.
In the 29 reports noted by the FDA, hearing loss occurred within hours
to two days after patients took one of the drugs, said FDA ear-and-nose
specialist Dr. Robert Boucher.
“We don't know enough to say that it's ironclad caused by the drugs,
but we see enough to say we can't ignore it either,” he told the
AP.
People who take the drugs and experience hearing loss or ringing in the
ears should stop the medications and contact their doctor, the FDA
said.
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San Francisco May Consider Safe-Injection
Site
In what may turn out to be the first step toward opening a
safe-injection site, San Francisco officials co-sponsored a symposium
Thursday on a facility in Vancouver, British Columbia, the only such
program in North America, the Associated Press reported.
At the Vancouver site, about 700 intravenous drug users shoot up
heroin, cocaine and other narcotics under the supervision of nurses. San
Francisco health officials may consider a safe-injection site as a way to
reduce the city's high rate of fatal drug overdoses.
“Having the today will help us figure out whether this is
a way to reduce the harms and improve the health of our community,” said
Grant Colfax, director of HIV prevention for the San Francisco Department
of Health, the AP reported.
However, a federal official said the city's consideration of a
safe-injection site was “disconcerting” and “poor public policy.”
“The underlying philosophy is, 'We accept drug addiction, we accept the
state of affairs as acceptable. This is a form of giving up,” Bertha
Madras, deputy director of demand reduction for the White House Office of
National Drug Control Policy, told the AP.
There are 65 safe-injection sites in 27 cities in eight countries. So
far, San Francisco is the only U.S. city to consider creating a legal
safe-injection site, said Hilary McQuie, Western director for the
nonprofit Harm Reduction Coalition, which promotes alternative drug
treatment methods.
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CDC Redesigns Spanish Web Site
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says it's
redesigned its Spanish Web site, CDC en Espanol, with a new look and features meant to
make it more usable and functional.
The redesigned site has a more useful and powerful search engine, quick
access to the 20 most-requested topics of information, a user-friendly A-Z
index, and other features that will make it easier for people to find the
health and science information they seek, the CDC said.
The site, which provides information in Spanish on health issues of
special interest to Hispanic communities, has more than six million
visitors a year and its weekly distribution list includes almost 6,000
members in more than 40 countries.
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Sunlight May Decrease Risk of Advanced Breast
Cancer
Exposure to sunlight — which boosts levels of vitamin D in the body –
may reduce the risk of advanced breast cancer, according to a U.S. study
published online this week in the American Journal of
Epidemiology.
The study of 1,788 breast cancer patients and 2,129 women who didn't
have the disease found that women with high sun exposure had half the risk
of developing advanced breast cancer than women with low sun exposure.
However, this effect was noted only in women with naturally light skin
color.
“We believe that sunlight helps to reduce women's risk of breast cancer
because the body manufactures the active form of vitamin D from exposure
to sunlight,” lead researcher Esther John, of the Northern California
Cancer Center, said in a statement. “It is possible that these effects
were observed only among light-skinned women because sun exposure produces
less vitamin D among women with naturally darker pigmentation.”
John and her colleagues emphasized that women should not sunbathe in an
attempt to reduce their breast cancer risk.
“If future studies continue to show reductions in breast cancer risk
associated with sun exposure, increasing vitamin D intake from diet and
supplements may be the safest solution to achieve adequate levels of
vitamin D,” co-researcher Gary Schwartz, of the Cancer
Center at Wake Forest University School of Medicine, said in a
statement.
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Bad Habits Increase Osteoporosis
Risk
Smoking, excess alcohol consumption, being underweight, lack of
exercise, and poor nutrition are factors that could increase the risk of
osteoporosis later in life, says an International Osteoporosis Foundation
(IOF) report released to mark World Osteoporosis Day on Oct. 20.
Osteoporosis risk factors fall into two main categories, modifiable and
fixed. People can't control fixed risk factors — such as age, gender, and
family history — but they can do things that may lessen their
effects.
Following a bone-healthy lifestyle — including eating a nutritious
diet, getting regular exercise, and avoiding smoking and excess alcohol
consumption — can help build strong bones and prevent fractures, the IOF
said.
By 2050, it's estimated that the incidence of hip fracture (a major
consequence of osteoporosis) will increase by 310 percent in men and 240
percent in women, according to IOF Chief Executive Officer Daniel
Navid.
Report author and IOF board member Professor Cyrus Cooper said if
“people recognize osteoporosis risk factors when they are young and take
appropriate action, it can have enormous positive impact on their bone
health in later years.”
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Millions of American Teens Smoke, Drink, Use
Drugs Each Day: Report
On an average day in 2006, 1.2 million American teens smoked
cigarettes, 631,000 drank, 586,000 used marijuana, almost 50,000 used
inhalants, 27,000 used , 13,000 used cocaine, and 3,800 used
heroin, according to a government report released Thursday.
It also found that on an average day, almost 8,000 adolescents ages 12
to 17 drank alcohol for the first time, about 4,300 used an illicit drug
for the first time, about 4,000 smoked cigarettes for the first time,
almost 3,600 used marijuana for the first time, and about 2,500 abused
pain reliever for the first time.
The report, by the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration (SAMHSA), is based on national surveys conducted and
analyzed by the agency's Office of Applied Studies.
“While other studies have shown that significant progress has been made
in lowering the levels of substance abuse among young people in the last
few years, this report shows many young people are still engaging in risky
behavior,” SAMHSA Administrator Terry Cline said in a prepared
statement.
“By breaking the data down and analyzing on a day-to-day basis, we gain
fresh perspective on how deeply substance abuse pervades the lives of many
young people and their families,” Cline said.
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