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Middle-aged women with RLS at risk for high blood pressure
Middle-aged women with RLS may be at higher risk of developing high blood pressure, according to a study published online October 10 in Hypertension: Journal of the American Heart Association.
Middle-aged women with restless legs syndrome (RLS) may be at higher risk of developing high blood pressure, according to a study published online October 10 in Hypertension: Journal of the American Heart Association.
Salma Batool-Anwar, MD, MPH, the study’s first author and a researcher in the Sleep Medicine Division at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and an instructor in medicine at Harvard Medical School in Boston, and colleagues examined the relationship between RLS and hypertension among middle-aged women after noting that some research suggests a connection.
The researchers conducted a cross-sectional study of 97,642 women who participated in the Nurses Health Study II. Participants responded to a questionnaire based on the International Restless Legs Study Group criteria asking about their RLS symptoms and hypertension status. More than 80% of the participants responded. The average age of respondents was 50.4 years.
Data analysis demonstrated a significant relationship between the severity of RLS and blood pressure. In addition, greater frequency of RLS symptoms was associated with higher concurrent systolic and diastolic blood pressures (P trend: <.0001 for both). This association was independent of other potential covariates such as age, body mass index, smoking status, and presence of stroke or heart attack. The researchers concluded that women with RLS have a higher prevalence of hypertension, which increases with more frequent RLS symptoms.
“If future prospective research confirms this association, then early diagnosis and treatment of RLS might help prevent hypertension,” said Dr Batool-Anwar in a press release revealing the study outcome.
Coalition promotes important acetaminophen dosing reminders
November 18th 2014It may come as a surprise that each year Americans catch approximately 1 billion colds, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that as many as 20% get the flu. This cold and flu season, 7 in 10 patients will reach for an over-the-counter (OTC) medicine to treat their coughs, stuffy noses, and sniffles. It’s an important time of the year to remind patients to double check their medicine labels so they don’t double up on medicines containing acetaminophen.
Support consumer access to specialty medications through value-based insurance design
June 30th 2014The driving force behind consumer cost-sharing provisions for specialty medications is the acquisition cost and not clinical value. This appears to be true for almost all public and private health plans, says a new report from researchers at the University of Michigan Center for Value-Based Insurance Design (V-BID Center) and the National Pharmaceutical Council (NPC).
Management of antipsychotic medication polypharmacy
June 13th 2013Within our healthcare-driven society, the increase in the identification and diagnosis of mental illnesses has led to a proportional increase in the prescribing of psychotropic medications. The prevalence of mental illnesses and subsequent treatment approaches may employ monotherapy as first-line treatment, but in many cases the use of combination of therapy can occur, leading to polypharmacy.1 Polypharmacy can be defined in several ways but it generally recognized as the use of multiple medications by one patient and the most common definition is the concurrent use of five more medications. The presence of polyharmacy has the potential to contribute to non-compliance, drug-drug interactions, medication errors, adverse events, or poor quality of life.
Medical innovation improves outcomes
June 12th 2013I have been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer of the pancreas, a disease that’s long been considered not just incurable, but almost impossible to treat-a recalcitrant disease that some practitioners feel has given oncology a bad name. I was told my life would be measured in weeks.
