Doctors prescribe more analgesics to women than to men just for being female

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Regardless of pain, social class or age, a woman is more likely to be prescribed pain-relieving drugs. A study published in Gaceta Sanitaria (Spanish health scientific journal) affirms that this phenomenon is influenced by socioeconomic inequality between genders in the Autonomous Community in which the patient resides.

In 1999, a researcher at the University of Harvard, Ishiro Kawachi, observed that in the states of the USA with a larger proportion of women with a high social class, mortality in both genders was lower.

Are you too aggressive? Blame secondhand smoke exposure in childhood

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Children who are exposed to secondhand smoke in early childhood are more likely to grow up to physically aggressive and antisocial, regardless of whether they were exposed during pregnancy or their parents have a history of being antisocial, according to Linda Pagani and Caroline Fitzpatrick of the University of Montreal and its affiliated CHU Sainte-Justine hospital. No study to date has controlled for these factors. "Secondhand smoke is in fact more dangerous that inhaled smoke, and 40% of children worldwide are exposed to it.

'Doctor shopping' by obese patients negatively affects health

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Overweight and obese patients are significantly more likely than their normal-weight counterparts to repeatedly switch primary care doctors, a practice that disrupts continuity of care and leads to more emergency room visits, new Johns Hopkins research suggests.

Glaucoma drug can cause droopy eyelids

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BOSTON (May 21, 2013) – Prostaglandin analogues (PGAs), drugs which lower intraocular pressure, are often the first line of treatment for people with glaucoma, but their use is not without risks. PGAs have long been associated with blurred vision, dryness, changes in eye color and other side effects. Now a new study has found that these drugs also cause upper and lower eyelid drooping and other issues that can interfere with vision. The findings are described in PLOS ONE.

People on higher incomes are happier with new knees

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Study shows COPD is associated with significant and persistent pain

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ATS 2013, PHILADELPHIA – Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is primarily associated with the respiratory symptoms that are its hallmark, but in fact, patients who struggle with the disease also experience significant amounts of chronic pain. A new study conducted by researchers in Pennsylvania and New Mexico estimates the degree of pain suffered by these patients to be close to that experienced by patients with osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis.

The research results will be presented at the ATS 2013 International Conference.

Inflammation is associated with depression in COPD patients

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ATS 2013, PHILADELPHIA ─ Depression is common in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and has been linked with disease severity and impaired quality of life. Now, for the first time, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh have linked the systemic inflammation associated with COPD with depression in these patients.

Challenges encountered in surgical management of spine trauma in morbidly obese patients

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Sexual function in older adults with thoracolumbar&#8211pelvic instrumentation

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Delayed transfer to the ICU increases risk of death in hospital patients

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ATS 2013, PHILADELPHIA ─ Delayed transfer to the intensive care unit (ICU) in hospitalized patients significantly increases the risk of dying in the hospital, according to a new study from researchers in Chicago.