Hormone Replacement Therapy for Back Pain? – HealthCentral.com

Hormone Replacement Therapy for Back Pain?

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Aging is associated with an increased risk for low back pain caused by lumbar disc degeneration in both men and women. A recent study from China suggests that lower estrogen levels after menopause are associated with more severe disc degeneration in women and that hormone replacement therapy, also called HRT or HT, may help.

Several studies have shown a strong link between estrogen levels and disc generation. This study is the first to include men in the comparison group, according to an article published in Menopause, the journal of The North American Menopause Society (NAMS).

The researchers documented disc degeneration measured by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI scan) in men and women as they age. They discovered that younger, age-matched men are more susceptible to disc degeneration than premenopausal women, but postmenopausal women have a significant tendency to develop more severe disc degeneration than men of the same age.

Sourced from: The North American Menopause Society

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After heart attack or stroke, aspirin therapy can be lifesaving because it helps reduce the risk of additional cardiovascular events. But aspirin also raises the risk of abnormal bleeding. Although the benefits outweigh the risks for most heart patients, research published in the Lancet suggests that adults over 75 who take low-dose aspirin daily are at higher risk for stomach bleeding than previously thought.

For the study, researchers at Oxford University in England followed 3,166 stroke and heart attack patients prescribed aspirin or a similar blood-thinning drug. In patients under 65, the yearly rate of major or fatal bleeds was less than 0.5 percentabout one in 200. In those between the ages of 75 and 84, three in 200 experienced a major or fatal bleed, and the risk continued to increase with age.

According to the researchers, older people on aspirin therapy should also take a proton pump inhibitor (PPI) to protect the stomach and reduce the risk for abnormal bleeding.

Sourced from: BBC

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Fever during the second or third trimester of pregnancy is associated with a 40 percent higher risk of having a child with autism, according to researchers from Columbia University.

Results of a study published recently in Molecular Psychiatry suggest that women who develop a fever during pregnancy, especially during the second and third trimesters, are at increased risk for having a child with an autism spectrum disorder. This study supports the theory that autism may be a response to the fever caused by an infection rather than to the viral or bacterial infection itself.

This study was conducted in Norway and involved 95,000 children. In the United States, its estimated that about 20 percent of women who are pregnant develop a fever at some point during pregnancy.

Sourced from: NBC News

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Hormone Replacement Therapy for Back Pain? - HealthCentral.com