Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs), used to treat heartburn and acid reflux, may increase kidney-disease risk. In a study of over 10,000 adults who were followed for 15 years, PPI
users were 20% to 50% likelier to develop chronic kidney disease during this time than were non-PPI users. Another study of 240,000 adults found similar results. Tissue inflammation, linked with PPI use, or a PPI-caused decline in blood magnesium levels could play a role.
Women under 55 are more likely to experience a fatal heart attack than men but were 11% less likely to report being informed of their risk before a heart attack in a new Journal of the American College of Cardiology study. The women were 16% less likely to report discussing risk reduction with a health-care provider. Ask a doctor about your odds and the influence of gender – diabetes, for example has greater effects on risk in women.
Conversation may comfort patients before surgery more than medication. French researchers assigned 50 hand-surgery patients to receive a standard relaxation drug and 50 to have conversational hypnosis with no meds (both groups had regional anesthesia). Conversational hypnosis is positive chatter (such as “Keep calm and quiet” rather than “Please don’t move”) and diverts attention to other topics. Those who received hypnosis were much more relaxed, as measured by heart-rate variability.
Reader’s Digest
February, 2016