MENTALLY HEALTHY DADS HELP CHILDREN
A Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center study finds a father's good mental health can reduce the negative influence of a mother's poor mental health. "If a mother and father are depressed, the odds that a child will have behavioral or emotional problems go up eight-fold," says study leader Dr. Robert S. Kahn. "The risk is less elevated if only the mother reported poorer mental health and not elevated at all if only the father reported poorer mental health." The study, published in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, also finds that when a mother and father have poor mental health, the influence on a child's behavioral problems is particularly strong for boys.
FLU EXPOSURE LINKED TO SCHIZOPHRENIA
U.S. researchers find that mothers exposed to influenza during pregnancy may increase risk of schizophrenia in their offspring -- years later. The risk of schizophrenia was increased threefold when influenza occurred during the first half of pregnancy; however when influenza occurred during the second half of pregnancy, no increased risk was observed, according to the study published in the Archives of General Psychiatry. "It is an exciting time for research that combines serologic documentation of infectious diseases during pregnancy, long-term follow-up, and careful assessments for schizophrenia and other disease outcomes," says study leader Dr. Alan Brown, of the New York State Psychiatric Institute and Mailman School of Public Health.
MILD ASTHMA CAN LEAD TO LUNG DAMAGE
About a quarter of children with mild to moderate asthma suffered lung function loss over the course of four to six years, Denver researchers find. National Jewish Medical and Research Center researchers say their findings indicate that even children with mild asthma can lose lung function, reports the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. "It can be difficult to detect this loss of lung function if children are tested only once," says study co-author Dr. Ronina Covar. "We believe it is important to monitor lung function in children with asthma over the course of several years in order to detect those patients with the declining trend."
SIGNS OF CATARACT
For those over the age of 50 experiencing vision problems, the cause may be a cataract, says Dr. Alan Carlson of Duke University in Durham, N.C. Cataracts develop inside the eye, gradually clouding a lens behind the pupil and the most common cause is aging, says Carlson, chief of the Corneal and Refractive Surgery Service at the Duke University Eye Center. "Many patients notice a decreasing ability to drive at night, also an increased problem with glare, bright sunlight and oncoming headlights," he says. If the problem can't be corrected with glasses, a specialist can surgically remove the cataract and replace it with a tiny intraocular lens implant in minutes, with patient recovery in a few days.
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(Editors: For more information on DADS, contact Jim Feuer at (513) 636-4656 or [email protected]. For SCHIZOPHRENIA, Randee Sacks at (212) 305-8044 or [email protected]. For ASTHMA, William Allstetter at (303) 398-1002 or [email protected]. For CATARACT, Cabell Smith at (919) 681-8067 or [email protected])
