Health Updates-December 2010

Pediatrics:

Vapor Rubs (VR) shown to be effective in alleviating night time cold symptoms

Pediatrics, 6 December 2010

Many people use vapor rubs to help their child with cough, congestion and sleeping during a cold. The efficacy of these remedies has not been clear as to whether they are better, worse or same as a placebo. In this study surveys were administered to parents on 2 consecutive days—on the day of presentation when no medication had been given the previous evening, and the next day when VR ointment, petrolatum ointment, or no treatment had been applied to their child’s chest and neck before bedtime according to a partially double-blinded randomization scheme. There were 138 children aged 2 to 11 years in the study. In all surveys, the vapor rub group scored the best, and no treatment scored the worst. Petrolatum was not significantly better than no treatment for any outcome. Irritant adverse effects were more common among VR-treated participants.

Bottom Line: In a comparison of vapor rub, petrolatum, and no treatment, parents rated vapor rub most favorably for symptomatic relief of their child’s nocturnal cough, congestion, and sleep difficulty caused by upper respiratory tract infection. Despite mild irritant adverse effects, vapor rub provided symptomatic relief for children and allowed them and their parents to have a more restful night than those in the other study groups. Probably worth a try! Let us know your experience.

And a second important study this month as well:

Use of probiotics to minimize chronic abominal pain in children. Pediatrics Dec 6 2010

A total of 141 children with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) or functional pain were enrolled. Children entered a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial and received probiotics or placebo for 8 weeks and entered follow-up for 8 weeks. The primary outcome was overall pain at the end of the intervention period.
RESULTS: At week 12, treatment success was achieved in 48 children in the probiotic group compared with 37 children in the placebo group (P < .03); this difference still was present at the end of follow-up (P < .03). Bottom Line: Probiotics significantly reduces the frequency and severity of abdominal pain in children with irritible bowel syndrome or chronic abdominal pain. Probably worth a try after we’ve ruled out everything else.

Adult Medicine

Pregnancy loss and risk of cardiovascular disease: a prospective population-based cohort study (EPIC-Heidelberg) 1 December 2010

A recent study of 11 518 women who had ever been pregnant (aged 35–66) in a certain area of Germany suggests that women who have had multiple spontaneous miscarriages are at higher risk of heart attack later in life. Out of the participants, 2876 (25%) had at least one miscarriage, 2053 (18%) had at least one abortion and 209 (2%) had at least one stillbirth. During the follow-up, 82 cases of heart attack and 112 of stroke (confirmed by medical records) occurred in these women. Each stillbirth increased the risk of heart attack 2.65 times (adjusted for age, smoking, alcohol consumption, body mass index, waist to hip ratio, physical activity, education, number of pregnancies, hypertension, hyperlipidaemia and diabetes): Recurrent miscarriage (>3) was associated with about nine times higher risk of heart attack. No significant association was found between abortion and heart attack or between any type of pregnancy loss and stroke.

Bottom line: These results suggest that women who experience spontaneous pregnancy loss are at a substantially higher risk of heart attack later in life. Thus women who have had recurrent miscarriage and stillbirth should probably have their cardiac function, blood pressure and lipids monitored closely and should be more proactive about prevention of cardiac disease (exercise, weight, diet, etc. )

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