Diseases & Conditions Archive

The easiest way to protect your eyes from the sun's hazardous radiation is to wear sunglasses, not only in the summer months, but year-round. Ultraviolet (UV) light can damage the iris, retina, lens, and cornea, leading to permanent vision loss. It's a good idea to request UV protection (an invisible coating) on all of your prescription glasses.

UV light has three wavelengths:

UVA is long, looks almost blue in the visible spectrum, and is responsible for skin tanning and aging. It may also contribute to skin cancer risk.

Obstructive sleep apnea affects an estimated 20% of the population, and if untreated it has negative effects on cardiac and metabolic health as well as quality of life. If the condition is moderate or severe, a CPAP machine is the first-line treatment, but there is less consensus about treatment of mild OSA.

Research we're watching

Eating a vegetarian diet may lower your risk of stroke, according to a study in the March 17 issue of Neurology.

The study included two groups of people from Buddhist communities in Taiwan, where vegetarian diets are encouraged. About 30% of the more than 130,000 participants were vegetarian, meaning they didn't eat any meat or fish. Their average age was 50, and none had a prior stroke.

Research we're watching

People with clogged arteries in their hearts (coronary artery disease) or legs (peripheral artery disease) face a high risk of having a heart attack or stroke, particularly if they also have diabetes. For such people, a combination of clot-preventing drugs lowers the risk of those dangerous outcomes, according to a study published online March 28 by the journal Circulation.

The study included just over 18,300 people with coronary or peripheral artery disease; about 38% also had diabetes. They all took low-dose aspirin daily, but half also took 2.5 milligrams of rivaroxaban (Xarelto) twice daily while the others took a placebo. Like aspirin, rivaroxaban helps discourage blood clots, but through a different mechanism.

Research we're watching

Could a single blood test one day enable doctors to diagnose Alzheimer's disease? Researchers writing in the March 2 issue of Nature Medicine say they've made advances in this area. The blood test they developed measures the concentration of pTau181 — a form of the tau protein associated with brain changes in Alzheimer's disease — in the body's blood plasma. They used the test on samples collected from more than 400 people who were part of an ongoing -memory study.

The researchers found that the blood test was able to accurately detect which patients had Alzheimer's, which were healthy, and which had a different type of dementia caused by a neurodegenerative disease. Today, doctors typically diagnose Alzheimer's using a series of tests designed to rule out other causes, but the process is time-consuming and costly. The researchers are now aiming to refine the test further, in hopes that it will someday make it easier to detect Alzheimer's at an early stage, when the disease may be easier to treat.

New information may affect your approach to treatment.

Millions of people turn to prescription and over-the-counter medications to cope with heartburn from gastroesophageal reflux disease or other stomach conditions. But navigating the risks of heartburn remedies can leave a sour taste in your mouth, since some have been tied to health concerns. Here's what you need to know about two mainstays of treatment, and how the latest developments may affect you.

H2 blockers

Histamine₂-receptor antagonists, better known as H2 blockers — such as famotidine (Pepcid) and cimetidine (Tagamet) — are available over the counter or by prescription. They block a chemical that signals the stomach to produce acid, and are the go-to drugs when an antacid like calcium carbonate (Tums) or aluminum hydroxide (Maalox) isn't strong enough.

On call

Q. When should I worry about changes in the color of my urine? What color is considered healthy?

A. If a person is well hydrated, the normal color of urine is a pale yellow. Someone who drinks large amounts of fluid or takes diuretics (water pills) can have almost clear-looking urine. A dark yellow color may indicate a need to increase your fluid intake.

News briefs

The guidelines are changing when it comes to screening for hepatitis C, a silent viral infection that attacks the liver and can cause cirrhosis, liver cancer, or liver failure. Back in 2012, the CDC recommended a one-time hepatitis C screening for the so-called baby boomer generation (anyone born between 1945 and 1965), a group that made up about 75% of all hepatitis C cases at that time. The following year, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) agreed. Now the USPSTF is expanding the screening age to all adults ages 18 to 79. The move is meant to identify more people in early stages of infection and comes as hepatitis C cases have increased almost fourfold since 2010. The USPSTF also advises screening for people outside of the recommended age range if they have ever used injected drugs. The recommendations were published online March 2, 2020, by JAMA. The CDC is in the process of developing similar recommendations. The screening requires only a simple blood test.

Image: jarun011/Getty Images

What does that skin spot or growth mean, and when should you have it checked?

Even if you're diligent about sun protection (and you should be), you can still develop skin spots, growths, or other abnormalities.

But are they always cause for concern, or just a normal part of aging skin?

In the journals

Bleeding is a common side effect of anticoagulants (blood thinners). However, people with atrial fibrillation (afib) who take the drug for stroke prevention should not ignore any bleeding from their lower gastrointestinal (GI) tract, as it may signal colon cancer. That study finding was published online Feb. 7, 2020, by the European Heart Journal.

Researchers analyzed 125,418 patients who took anticoagulants for afib. Only 2,576 had lower GI bleeding during the first six months of treatment, regardless of age. Yet those who did experience bleeding had 10 times the risk of being diagnosed with colon cancer during the subsequent year compared with those who hadn't had any bleeding.