Archive for the 'Teens' Category
August 19th, 2008 by Nina Thompson, ARNP
Less than nine hours of good quality sleep puts teenagers at risk for high blood pressure, as well as a number of other physical and psychosocial health problems.
In a recent study from Case Western Reserve University, high blood pressure was significantly linked with inadequate sleep. In this research, teens who slept fewer than 6 1/2 hours a night had more than twice the risk of high blood pressure and those with troubled sleep had more than triple the risk.
Often referred to as “the Silent Killer”, high blood pressure can insidiously damage any organ in your body for years before symptoms develop.
Read more from Bay Area Medical Information (www.bami.us):
via Javaheri S, et al., “Sleep quality and elevated blood pressure in adolescents” Circulation 2008; DOI: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.108.766410
via MedPage Today, August 2008
August 13th, 2008 by Nina Thompson, ARNP
Cheerleading has evolved into the most dangerous sport of all for girls in both high school and college, according to an annual report released by the National Center for Catastrophic Sport Injury Research at the University of North Carolina.
Cheerleading is increasingly becoming a highly competitive, gymnastic sport, involving difficult and dangerous aerial acrobatics, yet the coaches often don’t not have the required training for such activity. Also, cheerleaders don’t have the proper equipment, like mats, or safety devices used in other sports. Catastrophic injuries, including a fractured back, permanent disability, and even death, are occurring at increasing and alarming frequency as a result. Gymnastics, track and field, and swimming trailed far behind in serious injuries, the statistics reveal.
via MedPage Today, August 2008
August 2nd, 2008 by Nina Thompson, ARNP
Eating at least two hamburger-based fast-food meals a day for one week, in combination with a sedentary lifestyle was accompanied by rapid and profound elevations in liver enzymes and hepatic triglycerides, researchers have found. These sharp increases in liver enzymes, which was similar to damage from alcohol, occurred after just one week and more than quadrupled over four weeks.
A large hamburger, fries, and a soda from many fast-food chains can easily add up to as much as 100 grams of fat (mostly saturated) and 100 grams of carbohydrate in just one meal. This is about five times the amount of a full-days allowance for fat, not to mention a huge carbohydrate load on top of it. The generally accepted recommendations for a healthy diet are to limit saturated fat to 15 to 20 gms per day; and for people with diabetes or heart disease, limit saturated fat to <10 grams/day.
via MedPage Today/Gut, Feb 2008
Read more:
July 2nd, 2008 by Nina Thompson, ARNP
Going barefoot or wearing the highest of heels is certainly part of our American way of life, but unfortunately our feet are more prone to injury than almost any other part of our body. Despite its small size, the foot is one of the most highly intricate and valuable structures in our body. It must provide agile mobility and critical balance while bearing an enormous amount of weight — an average day of walking brings a force equal to several hundred tons to bear on the feet.
Our feet are critical to our well being, yet we take them for granted. We let our children run barefoot over hard pavement and through murky mud puddles, while we women walk around all day in high-heeled shoes. It is no wonder that foot ailments are among the most common of our health problems today. And foot problems can become chronic sources of nagging and sometimes disabling pain.
But for those of you who choose to wear the highest of heels, or leave the shoes in the closet altogether, here are a few very important tips to keep in mind:
Continue reading ‘The price you pay for going barefoot or wearing high heels’
June 26th, 2008 by Nina Thompson, ARNP
Football has been frequently implicated as the source of MRSA outbreaks where there’s a combination of physical contact, cuts and skin abrasions, and contact with artificial turf and athletic equipment, but wrestling, fencing, and almost all other sports are not immune.
Also referred to as “Super Bugs” or “flesh-eating bacteria”, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections are a type of “staph” bacteria that are resistant to most oral antibiotics. Thus the term “methicillin-resistant”. These infections are a growing concern in the United States with the highest rates in the southern parts of the U.S., including Atlanta, Los Angeles and Texas.
A MRSA 
sports-related infection often causes a painful abscess with surrounding redness. A reddened bump may look like a pimple, a spider bite, or a boil and can be red, swollen, painful, and possibly be ulcerated and have pus or other drainage. Especially concerning are whitish pus-filled areas when there is associated fever or a general feeling of illness. Another warning sign is when skin infections seem to be passing from one family member to another or if two or more family members have skin infections simultaneously. Photo courtesy of the CDC
Most cases of MRSA are minor and resolve with little or no intervention, however some infections can be very serious and even life-threatening. MRSA infections can become invasive and spread to internal organs via the bloodstream. These are the infections that are the most concerning and the subject of a recent report from the CDC which reveals that they may be more common than previously suspected.
Contact your health care provider if you think you have a staph infection. Treatment of mild staph infections may be with topical or oral antibiotics, whereas more serious infections are treated with intravenous antibiotics. Many staph skin infections may be treated by draining the abscess or boil and may not require antibiotics. Drainage of skin boils or abscesses should only be done by a healthcare provider.
If after visiting your healthcare provider, the infection is not getting better after a few days, contact them again. If other people you know or live with get the same infection, tell them to go to their healthcare provider.
For a detailed list of preventive measures, visit MRSA at Bay Area Medical Information (www.BAMI.us)
via MedPage Today, Clinicians warned to watch for MRSA among athletes, June 25, 2008
via CDC, MRSA
June 9th, 2008 by Nina Thompson, ARNP
It’s called “21 for 21,” students down 21 alcoholic drinks on their 21st birthday, and some students are dying from this game, according to researchers at the University of Missouri.
In an article about this ritual in HealthDay, Dr. Evaristo Akerele, vice president and director of medical and psychiatric affairs at Phoenix House in New York City said, “What generally happens is that we are normally protected by alcohol when you pass out before you get too drunk and get to the stage of death. What happens here is somebody keeps the mouth open and keeps putting more and more alcohol so you override [the tendency to pass out first]. It’s potentially fatal.”
In an effort to get the word out to college students, many universities have instituted the “birthday card,” which is sent out before a student’s 21st birthday and provides information about the dangers of this type of drinking. Apparently this has had only limited success and the dangerous game continues.
via Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology/HealthDay/Medline Plus, June 2008
June 9th, 2008 by Nina Thompson, ARNP
Over 10% of teen girls and 3% of boys reportedly binge eat or purge at least once a week, according to a new study from the Children’s Hospital in Boston. These results are both surprising and concerning and the study’s authors caution both parents and physicians to stress healthy behaviors and not overemphasize the issue of weight to the children. In this study, teasing and negative comments about weight were linked with an increased risk for disordered eating.
An eating disorder is not just a behavior that a child can control. It is a medical condition that requires professional medical attention and treatment. If you suspect your child has a problem with disordered eating, call your doctor or health care provider for advice and referrals to qualified mental health professionals who have experience treating eating disorders in kids.
Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine/Medscape, June 2008
June 3rd, 2008 by Nina Thompson, ARNP
Marijuana is the most widely used illicit drug in the developed world yet little research, until now, has been done regarding its harmful effects. Researchers are now finding a link between long-term heavy cannabis use and shrinkage in certain areas of the brain.
The naive notion that smoking pot is harmless takes its toll on our society. Marijuana is not harmless and it is addictive. More young people are now in treatment for marijuana dependency than for alcohol or for all other illegal drugs combined.
via Arch Gen Psychiatry 2008;65(6):694-701, June 2008
via Office of National Drug Control and Policy
May 23rd, 2008 by Nina Thompson, ARNP
A large number of college students have tried smoking waterpipes, often with the erroneous assumption that they offer a “safer” way to smoke, researchers from the Virginia Commonwealth University report. Previous studies have shown that waterpipe smoke contains the same toxins as cigarette smoke.
via Journal of Adolescent Health, May 2008
May 15th, 2008 by Nina Thompson, ARNP
There has been mounting evidence that regular exercise is associated with a lower incidence of breast cancer. A recent study performed by the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle supported these findings and found that exercise had the greatest effect on women between the ages of 12 to 22. The amount of activity required to achieve the greatest reduction, 23 percent, was equivalent to 3.25 hours per week of running, or 13 hours per week of walking.
via Journal of the National Cancer Institute, May 21, 2008
