Sleep disturbances linked to increased dementia risk

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden report that sleep disturbances in midlife or in late life are associated with a higher risk for developing dementia in old age. The results are published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association. The results show that in midlife, when participants were in their 40s or 50s, insomnia was associated with […]

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Switching to certain antidiabetic drugs linked to increased risk of major complications

For people with type 2 diabetes, switching to sulfonylurea drugs to control blood sugar levels is associated with an increased risk of complications compared with staying on the drug metformin, finds a study in The BMJ today. As such, the researchers say that continuing metformin when introducing sulfonylureas is safer than switching. Metformin is a “first-line” therapy (the first drug […]

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Recorded penicillin allergy linked to increased risk of ‘superbug’ infections

Patients who have a penicillin allergy recorded in their medical records are at an increased risk of developing the drug resistant ‘superbug’ infection MRSA and healthcare-associated infection C difficile, finds a study published by The BMJ today. The risk is largely due to the use of more ‘broad spectrum’ antibiotics as alternatives to penicillin, which may be fuelling the development […]

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Erectile dysfunction means increased risk for heart disease, regardless of other risk factors

Erectile dysfunction (ED) indicates greater cardiovascular risk, regardless of other risk factors, such as cholesterol, smoking and high blood pressure, according new research published in the American Heart Association’s journal Circulation. In the study, which followed more than 1,900 men, ages 60 to 78, over 4 years, those who reported ED were twice as likely to experience heart attacks, cardiac […]

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Job strain linked to increased risk of premature death for men with cardiometabolic disease

Having a demanding job and little control over it is associated with an increased risk of premature death in men with coronary heart disease, stroke, or diabetes, according to an observational study tracking more than 100000 men and women with and without cardiometabolic disease from Finland, France, Sweden, and the UK for almost 14 years, published in The Lancet Diabetes […]

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High protein diet associated with small increased heart failure risk in middle-aged men

For middle-aged men, eating higher amounts of protein was associated with a slightly elevated risk for heart failure than those who ate less protein, according to new research in Circulation: Heart Failure, an American Heart Association journal. Despite the popularity of high protein diets, there is little research about how diets high in protein might impact men’s heart failure risk. […]

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Increased smartphone use and selfie-taking linked to lower connection to nature and higher anxiety in new study

A team of academics at the University of Derby has conducted the first study into the link between smartphone use, the number of selfies a person takes and how connected they feel to nature – and what this means for their health and wellbeing. With Britain now a ‘smartphone society’ (68 percent of adults currently own a smartphone), concerns about […]

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Asthma and hay fever linked to increased risk of psychiatric disorders

Patients with asthma and hay fever have an increased risk of developing psychiatric disorders, finds a new study published in open-access journal Frontiers in Psychiatry. Almost 11% of patients with common allergic diseases developed a psychiatric disorder within a 15-year period, compared to only 6.7% of those without – a 1.66-fold increased risk. While previous studies have linked allergies with […]

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Nicotine-imbibing teenage rats show an increased risk for drinking alcohol as adults

Rats that were dosed with nicotine during their adolescence grew up to drink more alcohol than those that weren’t exposed to nicotine or were only exposed to it during adulthood, found researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Exposure to nicotine at a young age changes the neuronal circuitry in the brain’s reward pathways, according […]

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