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Mesothelioma: A Killer
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Study: living in the suburbs can make you sick
Last Updated: 2004-09-27 10:32:07 -0400 (Reuters Health)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Living in the suburbs may have once been part of the American dream but it can lead to high blood pressure, arthritis and headaches, researchers reported on Monday.
An adult living somewhere like Atlanta, with its spread-out suburbs and car-heavy culture, will have a health profile that looks like that of someone who lives in Seattle -- but who is four years older, the study found.
And the culprit seems to be exercise, or the lack of it, the researchers report in the October issue of the journal Public Health.
"This is the first study that analyzes suburban sprawl and a broad range of chronic health conditions," said Roland Sturm, an economist at the Rand Corp.'s Rand Health unit who helped write the study.
"We know from previous studies that suburban sprawl reduces the time people spend walking and increases the time they spend sitting in cars, and that is associated with higher obesity rates. This probably plays an important role in the health effects we observe."
The differences between city and suburban people remained even when Sturm's team took into account factors such as age, economic status, race and the local environment.
"To improve our health, the study suggests that we should build cities where people feel comfortable walking and are not so dependent on cars," said Deborah Cohen, another Rand researcher.
There was no link between suburban sprawl and mental health. The RAND team found no differences in the rates of depression, anxiety or psychological well being between people living in downtown areas and those in suburbs.
The RAND team looked at a survey, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which included 8,600 people living in 38 metropolitan areas across the country. The subjects were asked a variety of questions about their health and well being in 1998 and 2001.
Sprawling suburban areas were defined as those with poorly connected streets such as cul-de-sacs, separated areas for schools, housing and shops and a lower population density.
The most extreme examples included the Riverside-San Bernardino region of California, Atlanta and Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
Dense urban areas where people lived close to each other and the schools and shops included New York City, San Francisco and Boston.
SOURCE: Public Health, October 2004.
Copyright © 2004 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.
Face-lifts safe for healthy elderly: study
Last Updated: 2004-09-24 14:21:13 -0400 (Reuters Health)
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Elderly men and women trying to turn back the clock should not be denied a face-lift based on age alone, according to researchers.
Their study found that adults in their late 70s or older can safely have the procedure, as long as they are in reasonably good health. In fact, the 33 elderly patients the researchers followed had a risk of complications that was on par with that of middle-aged patients.
It seems face-lifts are no longer only the stuff of mid-life crisis. Reporting in the Archives of Facial Plastic Surgery, the study authors note that a poll of U.S. plastic surgeons that found that between 1999 and 2001, the number of cosmetic procedures performed on patients in their 70s doubled. And the number performed on adults older than 80 jumped four-fold.
To assess the safety of cosmetic surgery in the elderly, Drs. Ferdinand F. Becker and Richard D. Castellano reviewed the cases of 33 patients age 75 or older who had a face-lift between 1998 and 2002. They were compared with 74 patients between the ages of 45 and 61 who underwent a face-lift during the same period. Becker, who is with the University of Florida College of Medicine at Gainesville, performed all the procedures.
Overall, the researchers found, there were no serious face-lift complications among patients in either age group. Five of the 33 elderly patients had more-minor complications, such as delayed wound healing or a buildup of fluid known as seroma. Seven of the 74 younger patients had similar complications.
The findings, according to Becker and Castellano, suggest that in the context of reasonably good health, "face-lifting can be just as safe in patients 75 and older as it is in middle-aged patients."
The risk of complications remains, the researchers point out. However, they add, it seems appropriate to gauge that risk based on patients' health rather than their age.
SOURCE: Archives of Facial Plastic Surgery, September/October 2004.
Copyright © 2004 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.
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