Dr. John's Health Matters
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The articles posted here are from various sources who are duly acknowledged. I would appreciate being immediately notified, if any copywritten material needs to be removed. This blog is not intended to replace the qualified advice of a licensed health practitioner. Readers should exercise their own judgment. Enjoy, subscribe, participate and tell others :)
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Posts tagged "hip"
Wednesday, Sep 2nd, 2009 ↓Waist-hip Ratio Better Than BMI For Gauging Obesity In Elderly, Study Finds →
Sept 2, 2009 (Sciencedaily.com)—Body mass index (BMI) readings may not be the best gauge of obesity in older adults, according to new research from UCLA endocrinologists and geriatricians. Instead, they say, the ratio of waist size to hip size may be a better indicator when it comes to those over 70.
In a new study published online in the peer-reviewed journal Annals of Epidemiology, researchers from the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA found that the waist-to-hip circumference ratio was a better yardstick for assessing obesity in high-functioning adults between the ages of 70 and 80, presumably because the physical changes that are part of the aging process alter the body proportions on which BMI is based.
“Basically, it isn’t BMI that matters in older adults — it’s waist size,” said Dr. Preethi Srikanthan, UCLA assistant professor of endocrinology and the study’s lead investigator. “Other studies have suggested that both waist size and BMI matter in young and middle-aged adults and that BMI may not be useful in older adults; this is one of the first studies to show that relative waist size does matter in older adults, even if BMI does not matter.”
For full article, see link above.
Hip, spine fractures linked to higher death risk →
Aug 4, 2009 (Cbc.ca)—Nearly 25 per cent of Canadian men and women over 50 who break a hip die within five years of the injury, and more needs to be done to reduce the likelihood of the fractures, researchers say.
In Tuesday’s online issue of the Canadian Medical Association Journal, researchers analyzed fracture rates among 2,187 men and 5,566 women older than 50 over a five-year period.
People with a hip fracture showed a 3.2 fold increase in the likelihood of dying during the research period compared with those without a hip fracture. Those with a spine fracture had a 2.7 fold increase compared with those without such a fracture, said the study’s lead investigator, George Ioannidis, who studies health research methodology at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ont.
In absolute terms, 24 per cent of those with a hip fracture died in the five years of the study, and 16 per cent died if they had a vertebral fracture over the same time.
“Fractures will not only change your life but could end your life,” Ioannidis told CBC News. “But the good news here is that we have therapies and do other interventions to reduce your fracture risk.”
Unlike previous studies that looked at people living in health-care facilities, this one focused on healthy people living in the community and represented about 40 per cent of Canadian population.
The study also looked at more than one type of fracture, including the risk of death after pelvic, forearm or wrist and rib fractures.
For full article, see link above.
Tags: hip spine fracture risk death cardiovascular disease heart attack stroke blood clot movement rib osteoporosis fall
Infants Should Be Screened For Hip Trouble →
July 17, 2009 (Sciencedaily.com)—Developmental hip dysplasia is the most common congenital defect in newborns. The condition occurs when a hip joint is shallow, unstable or when the joint is dislocated. Infants with the condition are often at risk of developing arthritis of the hip as a young adult. A new study published in the July 2009 issue of The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery (JBJS) finds that screening all infants for hip dysplasia can significantly decrease their chance of developing early arthritis.
“This study systematically evaluated what we know about hip dysplasia to determine the best screening strategy for newborns,” said study author Susan Mahan, MD, Pediatric Orthopaedic Surgeon with Children’s Hospital in Boston and instructor in orthopaedic surgery at Harvard Medical School. “Our study confirms that pediatricians need to continue their current screening strategies for hip dysplasia. However, our findings refute a recent report from The United States Preventive Services Task Force that was unable to recommend screening strategies.”
For full article see link above.
Proton-Pump Inhibitors, H2 Antagonists Linked to Hip Fracture Risk →
June 4, 2009 (Medscape) — A case–control study of nearly 34,000 patients with hip fractures taking proton-pump inhibitors (PPIs) and histamine-2 receptor antagonists (H2RAs) shows that the risk for hip fracture is approximately 30% higher than in matched controls not taking these medications, researchers announced here at Digestive Disease Week 2009.
For full article see link above.
Carotenoids linked to fewer hip fractures →
Mar 26. 09 (FoodNavigator-USA.com) — Increased intakes of antioxidant pigments from plants may lower the risk of hip fracture in older men and women, according to a 17-year study from the US.
Of the individual carotenoids studied, lycopene was found to have the greatest protective effect, while beta-carotene had a weak association with fewer hip fractures, according to data published in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research.
For full article, see link above.
Tags: carotenoid plant food nutrition elderly hip fracture bone density osteoporosis
Hip Fracture Risk Increases With Vitamin D Deficiency →
Mar 18 09 (NaturalNews) Menopausal women with low blood levels of vitamin D are significantly more likely to suffer from hip fractures, according to a study conducted by researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine.
Researchers measured vitamin D blood levels in 800 white women from 40 clinics across the United States. All of the participants were between the ages of 50 and 79, and none of them were taking part in estrogen or other bone-active therapies. Half the participants had previously suffered from hip fractures.
The researchers found that the women with the lowest concentrations of vitamin D had a 70 percent greater chance of suffering a hip fracture in the next seven years than the women with the highest concentrations. There was no difference in the number of falls between the two groups, and the risk of hip fracture was unrelated to age.
For full article see link above.
Natural Osteoporosis Management can Reduce Hip Fractures, Mortalities →
Nov 28 08 (NaturalNews) According to Richard M. Dell, an orthopedic surgeon at the Kaiser Permanente Bellflower Medical Center, the mortality rate arising from fractures related to osteoporosis is higher than the mortality rates for breast and cervical cancers put together. That is perhaps somewhat surprising, given how much damage we know those diseases are causing. The good news is that recent research led by Dr Dell has revealed that certain proactive measures which promote healthy bones can reduce the hip fracture rates of those who are at risk by an average of 37.2%.
For full article, see link above.
Hip Fracture Risk Increases With Vitamin D Deficiency →
Jan 22 09 (NaturalNews) Menopausal women with low blood levels of vitamin D are significantly more likely to suffer from hip fractures, according to a study conducted by researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine.
Researchers measured vitamin D blood levels in 800 white women from 40 clinics across the United States. All of the participants were between the ages of 50 and 79, and none of them were taking part in estrogen or other bone-active therapies. Half the participants had previously suffered from hip fractures.
For full article, see link above.
Risk of Hip Fractures Increases With Vitamin B Deficiency →
Dec 15 08 (NaturalNews) Low blood levels of B vitamins can increase a person’s risk of suffering from hip fracture, according to a study published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.
Researchers took blood samples from more than 1,000 elderly adults and tested them for levels of vitamin B6, vitamin B12 and the blood protein homocysteine. Prior research has linked high levels of homocysteine to increased risk of hip fractures, and levels are known to go up as B vitamin levels go down.
For full article, see link above.
Childbirth and Subsequent HRT Boost Need for Joint Replacement →
OXFORD, England, Oct. 31 08 (Medscape) — Increasing parity for women who later take postmenopausal hormone replacement therapy appear to have a higher incremental risk of severe hip or knee and osteoarthritis, according to the Million Women Study here.
Compared with women who were nulliparous, each child was associated with a 2% adjusted increase in risk of having a hip replacement (95% CI 1% to 4%) and an 8% hike in risk of knee replacement (95% CI 6% to 10%), found Bette Liu, Ph.D., of the University of Oxford, and colleagues.
Current use of postmenopausal hormone replacement therapy was associated with 38% and 58% increases in hip and knee replacements, respectively (95% CI 30% to 46%; 48% to 69%), the researchers reported online in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases.
For full medical article, see link above.
Heart Failure Preliminarily Linked to Bone Fractures →
October 21, 2008 (medscape) — Patients who are newly diagnosed with heart failure (HF) in the emergency department are at least four times as likely to suffer serious bone fractures over the next year compared with patients presenting to the emergency department with other cardiovascular (CV) disorders, suggests a study based on hospital data from >16,000 patients [1].
“The main public-health message is that in addition to the risks heart-failure patients already have, here is another burden they could potentially face,” primary author Dr Justin A Ezekowitz (University of Alberta, Edmonton) told heartwire. Providers, he said, should see heart failure “as another red flag that the person needs to be screened [for osteoporosis] and treated appropriately.”
For full medical article, see link above.
Heart Failure Linked to Higher Hip Fracture Risk →
EDMONTON, Alberta, Oct. 20 (Medscape) — Older heart failure patients have an increased risk of fracture, particularly of the hip, researchers found.
Patients ages 65 and older who presented to an emergency room for heart failure were four times more likely to suffer a fracture over the next year than patients with other cardiovascular diseases (OR 4.0, 95% CI 3.0 to 5.2), Justin Ezekowitz, M.B.B.Ch., of the University of Alberta here, and colleagues reported online in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.
For full medical article, see link above.
Hospitalization Linked to Increased Fracture Risk in Elderly →
August 12, 2008 (medscape) — Elderly patients who are admitted to the hospital frequently have increased risks for hip fractures and other types of fractures, according to the results of a prospective cohort study reported in the August 11/25 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.
“Hospitalization may cause bone loss and decrease physical function; however, the risk of fracture following hospitalization is not known,” write Rebekah L. Gardner, MD, from the University of California-San Francisco, and colleagues.
For full medical article, see link above.
Common Reflux Drugs Are Causing Hip Fractures →
Oct 10 08 - (NaturalNews) A very large Canadian study has confirmed that using drugs to treat reflux enormously increases your chances of having a hip fracture — by nearly five times after several years of taking the drugs! Often prescribed by allopathic doctors for minor or nebulous complaints such as undiagnosed stomach discomfort, these drugs are highly habit forming and tend to be taken for years afterward, no matter how minor the original problem was. Yet they may be among the riskiest drugs prescribed today, leading directly to osteoporosis for far too many. Losec, Prevacid, Nexium, Pantoloc and Pariet are the most recent, most powerful, and most problematic of these drugs; but Zantac and other first generation proton-pump inhibitors are only somewhat less dangerous, and then only somewhat less dangerous precisely because they are somewhat less effective.
The problem? You need acid to absorb calcium. Cut down on your available stomach acid after you’ve eaten and the calcium you can’t absorb, but need, has to be taken directly out of your bones. Over just a few years, the study shows, this more than doubles your risk of fracture, and the odds keep climbing steeply after that. Yet these drugs are commonly taken, not just for years, but for decades! That’s because a lack of calcium also causes — wait for it… yup, reflux.
For full article, see link above.
Tags: acid reflux GERD drug Losec prevacid nexium pantoloc pariet osteoporosis bone hip fracture
Therapeutic Exercise Effective for Hip Osteoarthritis Pain →
Sep 26 08 (Medscape) — Treatment strategies for osteoarthritis (OA) of the hip have traditionally involved pharmacologic pain relief, surgical intervention and other measures such as weight reduction, education and heat or cold therapy. While exercise is frequently incorporated in the treatment for hip OA, this recommendation is based on studies of knee OA because there is a lack of information regarding exercise for patients with hip OA. In fact, the American College of Rheumatology recommends consulting with a physical therapist for these patients, but no further specifics regarding exercise are provided. A new study examined the results of clinical trials on the effects of therapeutic exercise on hip OA and found that it is an effective treatment. The study was published in the September issue of Arthritis Care & Research.
For full article, see above link.
