Personal Health: News and Notes
Study questions opiates for depressed patients
Patients with a history of depression were prescribed long-term opiates for noncancer pain three times more frequently than people without depression, according to a new study that raised questions about the appropriateness of the treatment.The research, published in the current issue of the journal General Hospital Psychiatry, was based on hundreds of thousands of patient records at two large California health systems between 1997 and 2005. The authors said they could not determine from their data the reasons for the disparity, or whether potentially addictive drugs such as Vicodin were the best choice for the depressed patients' pain.
"It's a cause for concern because depressed patients are excluded from virtually all controlled trials of opiods as a high-risk group [for addiction]," said coauthor Mark Sullivan, a psychiatry professor at the University of Washington.
The relationship between depression and pain is complex, and they often occur together. So "it is very important that opiod treatment for chronic pain does not replace or distract from treating mental disorders," said Sullivan.
- Don Sapatkin
Heavy ketamine use can impair memory
Frequent users of ketamine, the club drug known as Special K, are likely to suffer from short-term memory problems and other cognitive deficits.That finding comes from what is billed as the first long-term study of those who use the drug. The study was done by researchers at University College London and is reported this month in the online edition of the journal Addiction.
The study followed 150 people, including frequent and infrequent users, ex-users, and those who had never taken the drug. Cognitive impairment was found mainly with frequent users, defined as more than four times a week.
Occasional use did not appear to pose a long-term threat to memory, but all users experienced mild delusions, including belief in such things as telepathy or conspiracy theories, the authors reported.
- Tom Avril
Talking around babies will be beneficial
Talk to your kids, even when they can't understand what you're saying.Research presented in New Orleans at the national convention of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association last week reported that children exposed to more words as infants demonstrate better language skills as toddlers.
The number of words spoken near a child between 2 months and 6 months of age corresponds to the child's language abilities at about age 2, according to the researchers from the University of California-Los Angeles, Chapman University, and elsewhere.
The study suggests that parents can improve their children's language skills simply by talking to them, and around them. And for children at risk of poor language development, the research could have implications for early intervention approaches.
- Josh Goldstein
No rah-rah in this: Cheerleading hurts
Cheerleading conjures images of girls in short skirts waving pom-poms, but it has become a dangerous gymnastic activity that needs better safeguards.That's the cheerless message of four studies and an editorial in the November issue of the Journal of Athletic Training.
Cheerleading injuries requiring emergency room visits increased from about 4,900 in 1980 to 26,700 in 2007, including almost 500 that required hospitalization, according to the editorial.
Researchers from Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, found that stunts, such as "human pyramids," accounted for 60 percent of the 567 injuries suffered by U.S. cheerleaders in 2006-07.
In his editorial, Frederick Mueller of the University of North Carolina recommends making cheerleading an official sport under the control of an athletic department, so it will be subject to the safety rules and protections of other sports.
- Marie McCullough
