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News: December 1, 2009
Ecstasy Users at Higher Risk of Sleep Apnea
December 1, 2009The widely used club drug ecstasy appears to increase the risk of sleep apnea, say U.S. researchers.
"People who use ecstasy need to know that this drug damages the brain and can cause immediate and dangerous problems such as sleep apnea," study author Dr. Una McCann, of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, said in a news release.
McCann and colleagues conducted sleep tests on 71 people who'd used ecstasy (MDMA) and 62 people who'd never used the illegal drug. Ecstasy users had a more than eight-fold increased risk of sleep apnea compared to non-users. Mild sleep apnea rates were similar in both groups (21 percent of ecstasy users and 27 percent of non-users), but only ecstasy users had moderate (13 percent) or severe (1 percent) sleep apnea.
The longer a person used ecstasy, the more sleep apnea episodes they experienced, said the researchers. They also found that ecstasy use was a greater risk factor for sleep apnea than obesity.
"Our findings may be explained by how ecstasy damages neurons related to serotonin, a chemical in the brain that is involved in sleep regulation and breathing, among other important functions," McCann said. "Sleep apnea in itself is dangerous, but it can also contribute to thinking problems in people who use ecstasy because chronic sleep disruption is known to have a negative effect on how a person functions during the daytime."
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November 8, 2009 | American Diabetes Association Launches Campaign to "Stop Diabetes"How much do you know about diabetes? Many Americans do not know much about this disease that strikes someone every 20 seconds in the United States. That is one reason why the American Diabetes Association (ADA) has launched its "Stop Diabetes" campaign as part of American Diabetes Month. According to the results of a survey conducted by the American Diabetes Association over the last 18 months, Americans have many misconceptions and believe ...
November 7, 2009 | Strong Immune Response by Healthy Pregnant Women to H1N1 VaccineAn ongoing clinical trial finds that healthy pregnant women have a strong immune response after receiving just one dose of H1N1 influenza vaccine. The trial, which began on September 9, is sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID) of the National Institutes of Health. Both the ...
November 6, 2009 | Salt and diet soda can both take a toll on kidneysResearch from Brigham and Women's Hospital shows that salt and diet soda can take a toll on our kidneys. Consuming a high salt diet and artificially sweetened drinks was linked to greater kidney function declines over an eleven year period. Women participating in the Nurses' Health Study were examined to find the association between diet soda and salt on kidney function decline, and included 3000 women. The ...
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