By Nancy Lapid, Health Science Editor |
Hello Health Rounds readers! It's good to be back after two weeks off! Today we highlight a study that suggests treating postpartum depression with antidepressants has benefits not just for mothers but for their babies, too. We also report that cardiologists attending a recent international meeting got some answers to a question they've debated for years: How many clogged arteries can you safely reopen during a single procedure after a major heart attack? And finally, we report on asthma emergencies when Canadian wildfire smoke drifted south into New York state in June. In breaking news, see these stories from our Reuters journalists: U.S. names first 10 drugs for Medicare price negotiation; Companies file court challenges to Medicare drug price negotiation plan; Australian doctors discover parasitic worm in woman's brain; Air pollution now a major risk to life expectancy in South Asia; Japan says seawater radioactivity below limits near Fukushima; and U.S. CDC advisers to vote on updated COVID vaccines next month. |
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Treating severe postpartum depression with antidepressant medication not only improves outcomes for mothers but may also prevent behavior problems in their growing babies, a study from Norway suggests. REUTERS/Darren Staples |
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Antidepressants for new mothers may help babies, too |
Treating severe depression after childbirth has benefits not only for mothers but for their children as well, a new study from Norway suggests. Researchers recruited more than 61,000 mothers in week 17 or 18 of pregnancy and tracked them until their babies were five years old, according to a report published on Tuesday in JAMA Network Open. Six months after giving birth, 8,671 mothers met the diagnostic criteria for postnatal depression. Only 2% received treatment with antidepressants known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). In that group, researchers saw lower rates of depression at 1.5 years and five years after childbirth, higher partner relationship satisfaction throughout the study, fewer behavioral difficulties in their children at 18 months and five years old, and fewer attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms at age five. Among untreated women, more severe postnatal depression was associated with higher levels of future maternal depression and poorer relationship satisfaction. Mothers' untreated postnatal depression also was linked with higher levels of child emotional and behavioral difficulties, poorer motor and language development and increased ADHD symptoms. The vast majority of women with postnatal depression do not receive treatment for it, likely due in part to concerns about the impact that taking antidepressant medications in the postnatal period may have on children, study leader Dr. Kate Liu of King's College London said in a statement. The study found no evidence of long-term risks, she said. The findings suggest that postnatal SSRI treatment can reduce maternal depression and child behavioral difficulties that are associated with postnatal depression, Liu said. |
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Essential Reading on Reuters.com |
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Major heart attack does not preclude vessel reopenings |
Stable patients who suffer a major heart attack and have extensive coronary artery disease can safely have multiple blood vessels unclogged during the initial emergency procedure without worsening the risk of adverse outcomes, researchers reported on Sunday. During minimally-invasive interventions in patients with a type of heart attack known as ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), the primary goal is to reopen the clogged artery causing the heart attack – the so-called culprit lesion. Doctors have long debated whether they can safely work on a patient's other clogged or narrowed arteries during the same intervention rather than delay that for a follow-up procedure. At 37 hospitals in Europe, 840 stable patients with STEMI and multi-vessel coronary artery disease who had never undergone a similar procedure were randomly assigned to either immediate reopening of all clogged and narrowed coronary arteries or reopening of just the culprit lesion followed by staged treatment of other lesions within 45 days. Overall rates of death, nonfatal heart attack, stroke, need for emergency heart procedure, or hospitalization for heart failure were 8.5% in the immediate group and 16.3% in the staged group, according to the report presented at the European Society of Cardiology meeting in Amsterdam and published in The New England Journal of Medicine. Nonfatal heart attacks occurred in 2.0% of the multi-vessel group and 4.1% of the staged group. Emergency heart procedures were required by 5.3% and 9.3% in the immediate and staged groups, respectively. The risks of death, stroke, and heart failure hospitalization were similar in the two groups. An immediate multi-vessel approach may reduce patients' exposure to dye and radiation, avoid the need for an additional procedure, and shorten the time spent in the hospital, the researchers wrote. "Immediate multi-vessel (procedures) may be preferred by some patients because delaying the treatment of nonculprit lesions may be worrisome to them," they added. |
Asthma emergencies spiked during New York wildfire event |
Smoke from Eastern Canadian wildfires caused asthma-related emergency department (ED) visits to spike across New York state, public health officials reported. The impact of wildfire smoke events on asthma patients has been well documented, but never before in the northeastern United States, where until recently residents had been spared from inhaling orange-tinted, smoke-filled air. On June 7, the day with the heaviest pollution from the fires, the average number of asthma-associated ED visits increased by 82% statewide and by at least 35.4% for all regions except the Adirondack mountains, compared with June 1-5, researchers reported in the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Upstate, closest to the fires, asthma-associated ED visits increased by 179% on June 7. While asthma-associated ED visits on that day did not increase among the state's youngest children, numbers rose by 197.6% among those ages 10–29. They were up 77%, 89%, and 76.5% for ages 30–49, 50–69, and those over age 70, respectively, according to the report. The researchers said doctors should communicate the risks of wildfire smoke to patients with asthma and called on schools to develop effective wildfire smoke response plans. "As wildfire smoke events become more frequent and widespread, the findings from this analysis can enhance risk communication and better focus response efforts toward persons at increased risk," they concluded. This newsletter was edited by Bill Berkrot. |
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