Medical Bulletin 08/December/2023

Here are the top medical news of the day:

Exercising video games might help diabetic patients, finds study

The authors of a new study are warning people with type-1 diabetes to use fitness video games with caution. The study has found that 'exergames' can change people's perceptions of how fatigued they are -- which is potentially harmful for those with the condition. Study published in Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies.

Most patients use a simple chart to measure how exerted they feel on a scale of 1 -- 10, from hardly at all to using maximum effort. While this has proven to be effective for traditional exercise, researchers wanted to investigate whether this scale can also be used when exercising with video games.

Reference: Jorge Luiz de Brito Gomes, Pooya Soltani, Rhennan Rodrigues Barbosa, José Adevalton Feitosa Gomes, Manoel da Cunha Costa. Is rating of perceived exertion a valid method for monitoring exergaming intensity in type-1 diabetics? A cross-sectional randomized trial. Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies, 2023; 36: 432 DOI: 10.1016/j.jbmt.2023.05.018

Best treatment for excessive daytime sleepiness

The standard treatment for Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) is a positive airway pressure (PAP) mask that uses compressed air to support lung airways during sleep. However, some people with OSA still experience excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) and may benefit from anti-fatigue medication.

Researchers in a recent study published in Annals of Internal Medicine have found that the drug solriamfetol is the most effective treatment for excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) for people with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA).

Reference: Tyler Pitre, Jasmine Mah, Sarah Roberts, Kairavi Desai, Yusing Gu, Clodagh Ryan, Jason W. Busse, Dena Zeraatkar. Comparative Efficacy and Safety of Wakefulness-Promoting Agents for Excessive Daytime Sleepiness in Patients With Obstructive Sleep Apnea. Annals of Internal Medicine, 2023; DOI: 10.7326/M22-3473

Brain changes to behavioral problems in children who snore

A large study of children has uncovered evidence that behavioral problems in children who snore may be associated with changes in the structure of their brain's frontal lobe. The findings support early evaluation of children with habitual snoring (snoring three or more nights a week). The research, published in Nature Communications, was supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and nine other Institutes, Centers, and Offices of the National Institutes of Health.

The team of researchers mined this wealth of data from more than 11,000 9- and 10-year-old children to examine the relationships among snoring, brain structure, and behavioral problems.

Reference: Isaiah A, et al. Associations between frontal lobe structure, parent-reported obstructive sleep disordered breathing and childhood behavior in the ABCD dataset. Nature Communications, 2021 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-22534-0