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Older working women are healthier than non-workers
Postmenopausal women who work tend be in better health than their unemployed contemporaries, says research from South Korea.
A team of scientists looked at records of 3,141 premenopausal Korean women and 2,115 postmenopausal women. Continue reading
Nerve stimulation eases pain in fibromyalgia
Stimulation of a nerve that runs up the neck and back of the head seems to improve pain and quality of life for people with fibromyalgia, says new research from Belgium.
Dr Mark Plazier implanted a lead just underneath the occipital protuberans (found on the back of the head) in 25 people with fibromyalgia. Occipital nerve stimulation was carried out for six months and a questionnaire indicated significant improvements in quality of life and pain.
Weather has tiny impact on fibromyalgia symptoms
People with fibromyalgia may not find that weather has an impact on their symptoms, says a study reported in Arthritis Care & Research.
A total of 333 women who had fibromyalgia for around two years and were aged on average47 years old were surveyed about their fatigue and pain symptoms for 28 days. Responses were linked to air temperature, amount of sunshine and precipitation, atmospheric pressure and relative humidity.
Analysis of the data suggested that weather variables had a small effect on pain or fatigue symptoms in 10% of cases. Continue reading
Grant given to help young people with arthritis
A team of researchers from Newcastle University are investigating how they can help young people with arthritis make better choices about the drugs they take to treat their condition.
Dr Tim Rapley’s team has been awarded £151,663 from Arthritis Research UK to carry out the three- year study.
“When young people are diagnosed with arthritis, their rheumatologists may prescribe drugs such as etanercept for their treatment,” says Dr Rapley. “These can be very effective but they may also have long-term risks, which are currently unknown, especially when taken by young people.” Continue reading
Hip replacement reduces heart failure, depression and diabetes
US scientists identified over 43,000 people with osteoarthritis of the hip from 1998 to 2009. They divided the patients into two groups: those receiving total hip replacements and those not. Participants were followed up for a year and nearly 24,000 were tracked for seven years.
As well as improving life quality and diminishing pain, total hip replacement was associated with reduced mortality, heart failure, depression and diabetes rates in people with osteoarthritis.
On the negative side, the hip replacement group in this study had increased risk of ischemic heart disease and atherosclerosis at one year, and an increased risk of “cardiovascular disease unspecified” over all time points. Continue reading
