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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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December 5, 2009 | Half of teen girls have STIs by 2 years of first sexWithin 2 years of having sex for the first time, half of teenage girls may be at least one of three common sexually transmitted infections (STIs), according to results of a study published today. Often, those girls are infected by the age of 15. Researchers followed 386 urban adolescent ...
December 4, 2009 | Antidepressants May Change Your PersonalityTaking antidepressants may not only help alleviate depression, but could make you more extraverted and less neurotic, new research suggests. Extraversion, which is associated with positive emotions, is believed to help protect from depression, while neuroticism, the tendency to experience ...
December 3, 2009 | Smoking Exposure Now Linked to Colon, Breast CancersAdd colorectal cancer to the list of malignancies caused by smoking, with a new study strengthening the link between the two. And other studies are providing more bad news for people who haven't managed to quit: Two papers published in the December issue of Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, a themed issue on tobacco, strengthen the case for the dangers of secondhand smoke for people exposed to fumes as children and as adults. Inhaling ...
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