Medical Bulletin 23/November/2022

A National Institutes of Health-supported study recently found that while low levels of HDL cholesterol predicted an increased risk of heart attacks or related deaths for white adults - a long-accepted association - the same was not true for Black adults. Additionally, higher HDL cholesterol levels were not associated with reduced cardiovascular disease risk for either group.

The team wanted to understand this long-established link that labels HDL as the beneficial cholesterol, and if that's true for all ethnicities.

Reference:

Zakai NA, Minnier J, Safford MM, et al. Race-dependent association of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels with incident coronary artery disease. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2022; doi: 10.1016/j.jacc.2022.09.027.

Blood pressure highly likely to cause anxiety and depression: Study

High blood pressure is a major risk for cardiovascular disease and thought to be associated with psychological factors, such as anxiety, depression, and neuroticism-a personality trait characterized by susceptibility to negative emotions, including anxiety and depression.

But which causes which isn't entirely clear.

In a bid to find out, the researchers used a technique called Mendelian randomization. This uses genetic variants as proxies for a particular risk factor-in this case, blood pressure-to obtain genetic evidence in support of a causal relationship, reducing the biases inherent in observational studies.

Reference:

Cai L, Liu Y, He L, Investigating genetic causal relationships between blood pressure and anxiety, depressive symptoms, neuroticism and subjective well-being, General Psychiatry, 2022;35:e100877. DOI 10.1136/gpsych-2022-100877.

Acupuncture a potential therapy for lower back/pelvic pain often experienced during pregnancy

Acupuncture is emerging as a potential therapy for various different types of pain, because it doesn't involve the need for drugs and is considered safe. Exactly how it might ease pain isn't clear, but is thought to involve the release of the body's innate 'happy' chemicals-endorphins-plus increases in blood flow to local skin and muscle.

But whether it can ease the debilitating low back and/or pelvic pain experienced by up to 90% of women during their pregnancy remains hotly contested.

A pooled data analysis of the available evidence, published in the open access journal BMJ Open found that acupuncture can significantly relieve the lower back and/or pelvic pain frequently experienced by women during their pregnancy.

Reference:

Yang J, Wang Y, Xu J, et al. Acupuncture for low back and/or pelvic pain during pregnancy: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. BMJ Open2022;12:e056878. DOI 10.1136/bmjopen-2021-056878.

Steroid use linked to serious side effects among adolescents and young adults

Recent research has found the use of anabolic-androgenic steroids among adolescents and young adults to be associated with serious side effects. The study also revealed that steroid use among this population is relatively common, with up to 25% of steroid users reporting symptoms of dependence. The findings have been published in the journal Performance Enhancement & Health.

The large-scale study analyzed data from over 2,700 adolescents and young adults from the Canadian Study of Adolescent Health Behaviors.

Reference:

Ganson, K. T., Hallward, L., et al. (2022). Anabolic-androgenic steroid use: Patterns of use among a national sample of Canadian adolescents and young adults. Performance Enhancement & Health, 100241. DOI 10.1016/j.peh.2022.100241.