It’s not a happy holiday thought, but an important one: The number of babies who die of SIDS, or sudden infant death syndrome, surges by 33 percent on New Year’s Day.
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risk factors
Dec
21
2010
SIDS spikes 33% on New Year’s Day
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Shorter sleep duration was associated with increased carotid artery wall thickening intima-media thickness among men but not women.
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Research findings presented at Sleep 2009, the 23rd Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies, a link exists between the severity of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and weight gain.
Results indicate that people with an apnea-hypopnea index (AHI), the average of the combined episodes of apnea and hypopnea that occur per hour of sleep, of over 15 had an increase in body mass index (BMI) of 0.52 kg/m2 compared to those with an AHI between five and 15, who saw an increase of 0.22 kg/m2.
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Mar
13
2009
Napping increases risk of diabetes
People with a habit of getting in a power nap during lunch could increase the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes, according to the findings of a research study being presented this week at in Glasgow, Scotland.
Researchers at the University of Birmingham looked at the napping habits of 16,480 people and found that diabetes prevalence increased with napping frequency, and those who napped had a 26 percent greater risk of developing Type 2 diabetes compared to those who never napped.
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Metabolic disorders such as obesity and diabetes appear to share risk factors with and may influence the development of Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia, according to several reports published in the March 2009 issue of Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Women with the cluster of cardiovascular risk factors known collectively as the metabolic syndrome appear likely to develop cognitive impairment over a four-year period. Kristine Yaffe, M.D., of the University of California, San Francisco, and the San Francisco Veterans’ Affairs Medical Center, and colleagues assessed 4,895 older women (average age 66.2) who did not have cognitive impairment at the beginning of the study.
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Individuals who experience trauma during childhood appear more likely to develop chronic fatigue syndrome as adults, according to a report in the January, 2009, issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. In addition, neuro–endocrine dysfunction — or abnormalities in the interaction between the nervous system and endocrine system — appears to be associated with childhood trauma in those with chronic fatigue syndrome, suggesting a biological pathway by which early experiences influence adult vulnerability to illness.
Chronic fatigue syndrome affects as many as 2.5 percent of U.S. adults, according to background information in the article. Little is known about the causes and development of the condition. Risk factors include female sex, genetic predisposition, certain personality traits and physical and emotional stress. “Stress in interaction with other risk factors likely triggers chronic fatigue syndrome symptoms through its effects on central nervous, neuro–endocrine and immune systems, resulting in functional changes that lead to fatigue and associated symptoms such as sleep disruption, cognitive impairment and pain,” the authors write.
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