May 16, 2012 — College football and hockey players sustain numerous blows to the head every season. Those hits, according to a new study published in the online edition of the journal Neurology, may add up to brain injuries that impact learning for some players.

The authors of the study followed football players at three schools: Dartmouth College, Brown University, and Virginia Tech. They also tracked ice hockey players — both male and female — at two of those schools. Altogether, they studied 214 athletes over the course of a season, comparing them to 45 players in non-contact sports such as track, crew, and Nordic skiing.

At the beginning and end of the season, all of the study participants took a 20-minute computer test to measure memory and reaction time, while a smaller number also took a comprehensive battery of mental tests. The preseason test results showed few differences between the contact and the non-contact players. For researcher Thomas McAllister, MD, that was encouraging.

“They are all Division I level and have been playing for many years, and the contact players have been hitting their heads for many years, so we thought we might see a difference between them and the non-contact players, but both looked pretty similar,” says McAllister, a professor of psychiatry and neurology at Dartmouth Medical School.

The players’ postseason scores, however, told a somewhat different story.

While the researchers found that a season’s worth of head impacts do not have a measurable effect on all athletes, some players do appear susceptible. On one of the tests, which is used to measure a person’s ability to learn and remember new things, 22% of the football and hockey players performed at a level that many clinicians would find “worrisome,” says McAllister. Only 4% of the non-contact players showed a similar negative result.

The football and hockey players each wore helmets rigged with the HIT System, which monitors and measures the impacts of blows to the head during both games and practice. The helmets recorded an average of 469 hits per player over the course of the season.

According to the study, those who suffered the heaviest blows in the last week of play did worse on two of the mental tests. This, McAllister says, suggests “a modest correlation” between both the number of hits and the force of the hits and brain performance.

Reactions to the Study

“This study provides some objective evidence that may eventually allow us to know what is a reasonable number of hits,” says neurosurgeon and sports medicine specialist Robert Cantu, MD, who was not involved in the research.

The researchers excluded athletes who suffered a concussion during the season, so that they could focus on the consequences of sub-concussive hits. Cantu, who co-directs Boston University’s Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy, says that such an exclusion might not have been possible.

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How’s this for a Mother’s Day treat? Lifetime Network’s new series “The Conversation with Amanda de Cadenet” debuted April 26, with alpha females Gwyneth Paltrow, Jane Fonda, Portia de Rossi, Sarah Silverman, and Lady Gaga (to name a few) discussing things women gab about with their closest girlfriends.

Hosted by former British TV presenter and current Los Angeles-based photographer Amanda de Cadenet, and executive-produced by actor Demi Moore, the show explores women’s health and well-being, tackling topics like body image, pregnancy, work/family balance, aging, and grief. It celebrates women’s penchant for emotional intimacy, underscoring research that links female friendships with longevity and good health.

Recommended Related to Women

Escape from the Worry Trap

By Diane Umansky When many of us are peacefully slumbering, Paula McClure, the owner of a spa in Dallas, is often jolted awake by what she refers to as her sleep committee. “The committee meets in my head at 3 a.m., and we run down a list of problems: all the things I didn’t get done that day, people I didn’t call back, decisions I’m worried about,” she says. The dark-of-the-night fretting may follow McClure into the daytime hours, often making her feel emotionally paralyzed. “My…

Read the Escape from the Worry Trap article > >

“Creating a community of girlfriends is one of the most important things we can do,” says de Cadenet, 40, who wants to inspire honest dialogue through these one-on-one chats with some of the world’s most famous women. “My girlfriends have carried me through everything — the show role-models those conversations.”

A mother of three and one-time tabloid fixture, de Cadenet is the ex-wife of Duran Duran’s John Taylor and now spouse of Strokes guitarist Nick Valensi — and the first to say she’s learned every lesson the hard way.

Her guests are equally frank. In an age of publicist-controlled sound bites, it’s unusual to hear Paltrow describe her difficulty connecting with her second baby; Fonda admitting she’s only recently begun to feel fulfilled; di Rossi discussing the eating disorder that shrunk her frame to a skeletal 82 pounds; and Lady Gaga insisting she wouldn’t dare undo her teenage mistakes.

For a Who’s Who of guests who’ve signed up to dissect modern-day womanhood, visit the show’s website at http://www.theconversation.tv/

Find more articles, browse back issues, and read the current issue of “WebMD the Magazine.”

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May 3, 2012 — More girls in the U.S. are remaining virgins until their late teens and into their 20s, with the biggest rates of decline in sexual activity seen among African-Americans and Hispanics, the CDC says.

More than half of girls between the ages of 15 and 19 — 57% — reported that they had never had vaginal intercourse in the latest CDC survey covering 2006-2010, up from 49% in 1995.

Your Birth Control Options

More Teens Using Birth Control

For the first time since the CDC began gathering data on teen sex practices, the percentage of teen girls who reported having never had sex was the roughly the same for African-Americans, whites, and Hispanics.

Racial disparities persist, however, in the number of teen girls using the most effective forms of birth control, including hormonal pills, patches, rings, implants, injections, and IUDs with or without condoms.

Roughly 60% of sexually active teens reported using these forms of birth control between 2006 and 2010, up from 47% in 1995.

In the latest survey, 2 out of 3 (66%) sexually active white teens said they used highly effective birth control, compared to 46% of African-American teens and 54% of Hispanic teens.

The delay of sexual activity and the increased use of birth control are largely responsible for a sharp decline in teen births in the U.S., says CDC epidemiologist Crystal Pirtle Tyler, PhD.

“Many teens still believe most of their peers are having sex, even though the data show that the majority aren’t,” she tells WebMD. “That is why it is so important to get the message out that the majority of teens are not having sex.”

Teen Pregnancy at 30-Year Low

Teen pregnancy rates have dropped more than 40% since their peak in 1990, and they remain at a 30-year low.

In 2010, the birth rate among 15- to 19-year-olds was 34 births per 1,000 teen females, a 44% decline in just two decades.

Tyler says it is clear from the declining birth rate and the latest survey that comprehensive sexual education and abstinence-based programs aimed at delaying teen sexual activity have had an impact.

She adds that organizations like the CDC, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and other groups are increasingly using social media to reach teens.

The new report was based on a nationally representative survey of 2,300 teen girls ages 15 to 19. Survey findings are published in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Among the other key findings:

Only about half of sexually active teen girls who said their partners used condoms reported consistent condom use.Between the first and most recent surveys, the percentage of teen girls who reported never having had sex increased by 34% among African-Americans, 29% among Hispanics, and 15% among whites.Even with the decline in teen pregnancies, the birth rate among teens in the U.S. is still among the highest of any industrialized nation.

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May 11, 2012 — Girls take longer to recover from sports-related concussions than boys do, according to new research.

High school athletes, both boys and girls, also have longer recovery times than do college athletes, says researcher Tracey Covassin, PhD, associate professor of kinesiology and a certified athletic trainer at Michigan State University.

“We have known that high school kids will take longer,” Covassin tells WebMD. “We are starting to show there are differences between female and male athletes.”

Covassin’s study evaluated 222 high school and college athletes who had sustained a concussion.

After a concussion, females also did worse than males on visual memory tests. They had more symptoms, Covassin found.

The study is published in The American Journal of Sports Medicine.

A Visual Guide to Concussions and Brain Injuries

Concussion: The Problem

A concussion, a type of traumatic brain injury, results from an impact to the head. Those affected can have headaches, concentration problems, memory and balance problems, blurry vision, and nausea.

A concussion changes the way your brain functions, according to the CDC. It can occur even with a helmet on. Most do not involve loss of consciousness.

The injuries can lead to memory and communication problems, depression, and early dementia, the CDC says.

From 2001 through 2005, more than 150,000 sports-related concussions occurred in young people 14 to 19, Covassin says. However, the actual number is probably much higher, she says. The statistics only reflect concussions treated at an emergency department.

Awareness of the problem has grown in the wake of hundreds of lawsuits from former National Football League players. They are suing the NFL for what they claim are concussion-related dementia and other brain problems.

Concussion, Gender, and Age: Study Details

After the concussions, Covassin gave standard tests to measure thinking skills such as verbal and visual memory. She evaluated symptoms. She repeated the tests two, seven, and 14 days later.

She also tested the athletes’ balance at one, two, and three days after the concussion.

The athletes played football, soccer, volleyball, basketball, wrestling, ice hockey, softball, rugby, crew, baseball, cheerleading, and lacrosse.

Among the findings:

High school athletes did worse than college athletes on tests of verbal and visual memory (such as recalling a group of words just read).Girls and young women did worse than boys and young men on visual memory.Girls and young women had more symptoms than boys and young men.

“Our high school athletes took longer to recover than college athletes,” Covassin says. “The college athletes had recovered by seven days. All [high school and college athletes] went back to normal within 14 days.” She cannot pinpoint exactly when the high school athletes recovered.

Exactly why girls have more symptoms is not certain, Covassin says. Some researchers suggest that women’s greater rate of blood flow in the brain compared to men’s may somehow make the symptoms worse and last longer.

Based on her new findings, teachers and coaches may need to make some accommodations for the athletes whose symptoms are worse and recovery slower, Covassin says.

Some athletes may need to be excused from classes for a few days after concussion, she says.

The study was funded by the National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment.

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May 11, 2012 — Certain chemicals that are widely used in sunscreens and other products because they protect against UV light are associated with an increased risk of developing the gynecological condition endometriosis, a new study shows.

But the Personal Care Products Council, a group that represents cosmetics manufacturers, called the study “weak” and “unconvincing” and said it shouldn’t scare people away from safe sun practices, including sunscreen use.

Sun-Damaged Skin Slideshow

Sunscreen Ingredient May Mimic Estrogen

The study, which is published in Environmental Science & Technology, measured concentrations of five kinds of chemicals called benzophenones in the urine of more than 600 women who were evaluated for endometriosis.

Benzophenones are used in a variety of products because they protect against UV light. In small amounts, that helps to stabilize the formulations of products that are stored in clear containers, like nail polish. At higher concentrations, and when they are applied to the skin, they are powerful sunscreens.

Endometriosis is a painful condition that occurs when tissue from the inside of the uterus grows outside of the uterus. When this tissue grows in other parts of the body, typically spilling into the abdomen around the ovaries or fallopian tubes, it behaves as if it were still in the uterus, thickening and shedding each month in sync with a woman’s menstrual cycle. Endometriosis can lead to scarring and infertility.

Studies estimate that about 1 in 10 women have the condition, and some research suggests that it is becoming more common.

Benzophenones are easily absorbed through the skin. Studies by the CDC have found benzophenones in the urine of 97% of people tested.

Scientists are concerned about benzophenones because the body may mistake them for hormones.

“These compounds are estrogenic. They mimic estrogen in the body,” says researcher Kurunthachalam Kannan, PhD, a professor of public health and environmental health sciences with the New York State Department of Health’s Wadsworth Center in Albany.

Kannan says benzophenone-3, which appears on sunscreen labels as oxybenzone, is even more strongly estrogenic than bisphenol-A (BPA), a chemical found in certain plastics that’s recently been the subject of regulatory scrutiny.

The cause of endometriosis is not known, but the condition is fed by the female hormone estrogen. Treatment sometimes involves taking medications that lower estrogen levels.

Study Ties Benzophenones to Endometriosis

Overall, the study found that only one kind of benzophenone, a chemical known as benzophenone-1, was significantly associated with the risk that a woman would have endometriosis.

Women with the highest amounts of benzophenone-1 in their urine had a 65% greater chance of having endometriosis compared to women with the lowest levels.

Benzophenone-1 is a chemical additive that’s mostly used in nail polishes, according to the cosmetics industry web site CosmeticsInfo.org, but it also forms when the body breaks down oxybenzone, the major ingredient in sunscreen.

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May 5, 2012 — Babies born after the use of certain infertility treatments have a higher risk of birth defects than babies born to couples with no history of infertility, a large new study shows.

But experts say it’s still not clear whether fertility treatments or the underlying medical problems that cause infertility are behind the increased risk.

The study also found that couples who eventually conceived naturally after a least a year of trying, a group doctors call “subfertile,” had a risk of having a baby with a birth defect that was about 40% higher than couples with no fertility problems. The risk seen in subfertile couples was also nearly equal to the risk seen in couples who used any assisted reproductive technology (ART) to conceive.

Still, one expert puts the risk into perspective, saying while the overall risk for birth defects due to assisted reproduction may be higher, the real risk is still just somewhat higher than that for a couple having a baby through unassisted conception. Another doctor even called the research “reassuring.”

ART includes procedures like in vitro fertilization (IVF) and intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI).

“People who receive ART are having fertility problems, and that does raise the risk of malformations in the infant by itself, because people are having trouble, and there could be some genetic or hormonal reason they would have an increased risk,” says Alfred A. Rimm, PhD, a professor of epidemiology and biostatistics in the School of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.

Rimm studies the risk of birth defects associated with ART, but he was not involved in the current research.

Trying to Conceive? Tips to Help You Get Pregnant

Tracking Birth Defects After Fertility Treatments

The study, which is published in the New England Journal of Medicine, is one of the largest to ever look at the relationship between fertility treatments and birth defects.

It linked 16 years of data — from 1986 to 2002 — on all infertility treatments at two clinics in South Australia to a registry of more than 300,000 births and 18,000 birth defects.

Researcher Michael Davies, PhD, MPH, an associate professor at the University of Adelaide in Australia, declined to mention specific types of defects, saying they are looking more deeply into that in his forthcoming research.

Overall, the study found that the risk of any birth defect in pregnancies involving assisted conception was 8% compared with 6% in babies conceived without?assisted techniques.

The risk of a birth defect after IVF was 7%. The rate of birth defects associated with ICSI was higher at 10%.

For IVF, doctors mix a woman’s eggs and the male’s sperm in a petri dish and later implant these into the female. In ICSI, doctors inject a single sperm directly into an egg to fertilize it. Resulting embryos are then placed into a woman’s uterus or can be frozen for future attempts.

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April 24, 2012 — Radiologists and orthopedic surgeons are the best paid of all doctors and pediatricians earn the least, Medscape/WebMD’s annual Physician Compensation Survey finds.

Overall, doctors are earning less and worrying more, according to the online survey of more than 24,000 doctors from 25 medical specialties.

The most disturbing finding: If they had it to do over again, 46% of doctors would not choose medicine as a career. That’s way up from last year, when only 31% regretted their career choice.

Best-Paid Doctors

Even so, the top-earning doctors aren’t going broke. The top 10 highest paid doctors are:

Radiologists: $315,000Orthopedic surgeons: $315,000Cardiologists: $314,000Anesthesiologists: $309,000Urologists: $309,000Gastroenterologists: $303,000Oncologists: $295,000Dermatologists: $283,000Plastic surgeons: $270,000Ophthalmologists: $270,000Worst-Paid Doctors

The 10 least paid doctors are:

Pediatricians: $156,000Family medicine doctors: $158,000Internal medicine doctors: $165,000Diabeticians/Endocrinologists: $168,000Psychiatrists: $170,000HIV/infectious disease specialists: $170,000Rheumatologists: $180,000Neurologists: $184,000Nephrologists: $209,000Ob-gyns: $220,000

Why Doctors Worry

A doctor’s specialty may make less of a pay difference than a doctor’s sex. Female doctors make 40% less than male doctors, although female primary care doctors make only 23% less than their male peers.

One possible reason: Female doctors spend more time with patients than male doctors do.

To some Americans, these salaries may seem pretty high. But only 11% of doctors consider themselves rich. And 45% of doctors agree that “My income probably qualifies me as rich, but I have so many debts and expenses I don’t feel rich.”

So what makes doctors worry? According to the survey:

Declining income worries and frustrates many doctors.Some doctors resent the greater pay earned by doctors in other specialties.Increased regulation and documentation take the joy out of medicine.Doctors fear how new accountable care organizations will affect their patients — and their pay.Doctors feel they must continue to practice “defensive medicine” to avoid malpractice claims.

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April 20, 2012 — Depression may increase the risk for peripheral artery disease (PAD), which commonly results from?narrowed leg arteries, a new study suggests.

The study results “demonstrate that there is an association between depression and PAD,” says researcher S. Marlene Grenon, MD. She is an assistant professor of surgery at the University of California, San Francisco. “We know that if you have depression, your risk for PAD is likely related to poor health behaviors like smoking and physical inactivity.”?

People who are depressed may be more likely to smoke and less likely to exercise and eat a healthy diet, all of which could raise the risk risk of heart disease and PAD.

The findings were presented at the American Heart Association’s Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology 2012 Scientific Sessions in Chicago.

In the study, 1,018 people with heart disease were followed for more than seven years. When the study began, 12% of people with depression had PAD, as did 7% of those who were not depressed.

People who were depressed were more likely to be younger and female. They were also more likely to have lower HDL (“good” cholesterol), high levels of C-reactive protein, which is a sign of inflammation in the body, and a history of heart attack, heart failure, or diabetes. They also tended to smoke and be physically inactive, and were less inclined to take their medications as directed.

Seven percent of depressed people and 5% of those without depression had a PAD-related event during the study period. These included surgery to open blocked leg arteries or other treatments.

What Is PAD?

PAD occurs when arteries away from the heart become narrowed and blocked.? The leg and pelvis arteries are most commonly affected. PAD involving the leg arteries can cause painwhile walking, climbing stairs, or exercising. This pain usually stops during rest.

Risk factors for PAD are similar to those of heart disease, including smoking, diabetes, high blood pressure, and elevated cholesterol.

PAD treatment includes lifestyle changes — such as eating a healthy diet, quitting smoking, and getting more exercise — that are aimed at reducing these risks. Medications to treat conditions that increase risk for PAD and/or surgery to open blocked leg arteries are also options.

“If people have pain with walking or lesions on their feet, they should be evaluated by a doctor to see if it is PAD,” Grenon says. “If they do have PAD, they should make sure that they get proper treatment.”

Is depression a red flag for PAD? “I don’t think we can say that yet, but we need to look at other risk factors in patients with depression,” she says. “People who have depression are at increased risk for heart disease and PAD in the future, but at present, they are more at risk of having certain poor health behaviors that could increase their risk of heart disease.”

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April 20, 2012 — Vitamin C supplements may help to lower blood pressure, a new study suggests.

In this review study, scientists analyzed data from 29 different clinical trials and about 1,400 adults aged 22 to 74.

The median dose of supplemental vitamin C taken by the study participants was 500 milligrams a day over a median of an eight-week period. In people who had high blood pressure, systolic blood pressure (the top number in a reading) dropped by nearly 5 points, while diastolic pressure (the bottom number) dropped by about 1.7 points.

“Our research suggests a modest blood pressure lowering effect with vitamin C supplementation,” researcher Edgar “Pete” R. Miller III, MD, PhD, says in a news release.

“But before we can recommend supplements as a treatment for high blood pressure, we really need more research to understand the implications of taking them,” says Miller, an associate professor in the division of general internal medicine at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore.

Other studies have suggested a possible link between people with higher intakes of vitamin C from food or supplements and lower blood pressure. But the evidence of this effect from clinical trials has been mixed.

Nearly 1 in 3 American adults has high blood pressure, which increases their risk for heart disease and stroke. The condition is typically treated by dietary changes, exercise, not smoking, losing weight, and medication.

Lowering Blood Pressure Slideshow: Exercise Tips for Getting Started

Modest Blood Pressure Changes

Across all the studies — some included healthy adults and others had people with high blood pressure — taking vitamin C supplements at a dose of about 500 milligrams a day appeared to reduce systolic blood pressure by nearly 4 points and diastolic pressure by about 1.5 points in about two months.  

Fruits and vegetables, especially red pepper, oranges, grapefruits, and kiwi, are the best dietary sources of this antioxidant-rich vitamin.

Adult women are advised to get 75 milligrams of vitamin C daily, and it’s recommended that adult men get 90 milligrams of the nutrient daily. The Institute of Medicine’s daily maximum limit that is considered safe is 2,000 milligrams of vitamin C for adult males and adult females.

But the scientists say that many of the studies were small, and in some of them, vitamin C was taken in addition to blood pressure medication. They are not yet suggesting that the supplement is a natural alternative to drugs that lower pressure.

It’s unclear whether taking vitamin C for more than two months will achieve long-lasting changes in blood pressure. 

“Although our review found only a moderate impact on blood pressure, if the entire U.S. population lowered blood pressure by 3 [points], there would be a lot fewer strokes,” Miller says.

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April 19, 2012 — HPV cancer isn’t just a female problem, new CDC figures show.

Although HPV causes 18,000 cancers in women each year, it also causes 8,000 cancers in men, the CDC calculates. To get the figures, CDC researchers analyzed data collected from 2004 to 2008 in two large cancer registries.

HPV, human papillomavirus, is the cause of nearly all cervical cancers. But that’s obviously not the only cancer caused by this sexually transmitted virus.

HPV also causes about two-thirds of mouth/throat (oropharyngeal) cancers, 93% of anal cancers, and more than a third of penile cancers. Men are four times more likely than women to get HPV mouth/throat cancer, while women are more likely than men to get HPV anal cancer.

Clearly, HPV is not just a female problem. Yet it was only last year that one of the two FDA-approved HPV vaccines was recommended for teen boys. Gardasil was recommended for girls in 2006; Cervarix was recommended for girls in 2009.

“HPV vaccines are important prevention tools to reduce the incidence of non-cervical cancers,” the CDC notes in a report in the April 20 issue of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. “Transmission of HPV also can be reduced through condom use and limiting the number of sexual partners.”

HPV vaccines are most effective when given before people become sexually active. Yet in 2010, less than a third of teen girls had received all three doses of HPV vaccines. Numbers aren’t yet available for boys.

The slow uptake of the vaccine by teen girls is in stark contrast to the contribution HPV makes to women’s cancer risk. Taken together, HPV cancers are more common than ovarian cancers, and nearly as common as melanoma skin cancers in women.

Among men, HPV cancers are about as common as invasive brain cancers.

HPV Prevention

HPV is an extremely common sexually transmitted infection. At least half of sexually active people get HPV at some time during their lives. At any given time, more than 20 million Americans carry the virus.

Each HPV infection usually clears after a year or two. But that doesn’t always happen. Those HPV infections that persist can lead to the development of cancers.

Although condom use and limiting the number of one’s sex partners reduce HPV spread, vaccination — before a person becomes sexually active — is the surest way to prevent infection.

The Cervarix HPV vaccine protects against the two HPV strains most likely to cause cervical cancer. The Gardasil HPV vaccine protects against these and two other HPV strains.

Routine vaccination with three doses of Cervarix or Gardasil is recommended for girls aged 11 or 12. Routine vaccination with three doses of Gardasil is recommended for boys aged 11 or 12. Catch-up vaccination is recommended for females through age 26 and for males through age 21.

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