A round-up of other health stories in brief
JOBS AND BLOOD PRESSURE: A new study has confirmed what many office managers, senior management officials and other white-collar workers have suspected for years: working in highly stressful jobs can increase your blood pressure.
"We found that cumulative exposure to job strain resulted in significant increases in systolic blood pressure among male white-collar workers, especially those with low levels of social support at work," wrote Dr Chantal Guimont of Laval University, Quebec in this month's American Journal of Public Health.
Some of the studies assessing the impact of job strain on blood pressure have yielded conflicting results, so Dr Guimont and her colleagues looked at the issue again in a study of 6,719 men and women white-collar workers, aged 18-65 years.
These participants completed a questionnaire about their physical activity level, smoking history and other potential items that might increase their risk of high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease, as well as characteristics of their work and social life. At follow-up, 7½ years later, men who were exposed to high levels of job strain throughout the course of the study had blood pressures that were nearly two points above that of men with no exposure to job strain. In particular, men with the most job strain were 33 per cent more likely to experience an increase in blood pressure.
What is more, men with a high level of job stress at follow-up, who initially reported no such stress, had similarly increased blood pressure.
BODY DYSMORPHIC DISORDER: People with body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) are 45 times more likely to commit suicide than people in the general population, a new study shows.
The findings underscore the importance of recognising and treating this "often secretive" psychiatric disorder, Dr Katherine A Phillips, the study's co-author, said.
Individuals with BDD have a distorted body image and think obsessively about their appearance, often for hours a day, said Dr Phillips, of Butler Hospital and Brown Medical School, Providence, Rhode Island.
The disorder frequently led to self-loathing and social isolation, she said. It is not uncommon for people with BDD to tell no one about their condition, even a spouse or very close friends.
"In my clinical experience they're often thinking about suicide. They're an unusually distressed group of people," Dr Phillips said.
The findings are reported in the American Journal of Psychiatry.
DEPRESSION LECTURE: Dr Martina Corry, consultant psychiatrist, St Patrick's Hospital, will look at the do's and don'ts of depression in the next lecture in the Aware Monthly Lecture Series. The lecture takes place tomorrow at 7.30pm sharp in the Swift Lecture Theatre, St Patrick's Hospital, James's St, Dublin.
Admission is free and all are welcome.
DEFIBRILLATOR RECALL: A US study has found a high rate of recall of defibrillators which are used to regularise a person's heartbeat if the heart suddenly stops pumping effectively.
The devices, known as automated external defibrillators, are regarded as potentially life-saving devices and are carried by emergency rescue services. There have also been calls for the widespread installation of them in the Republic, including at sports events.
The study, which was conducted by Dr William Maisel, of the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Centre in the US, studied the recall rate for the devices between 1996 and 2005.
It found that there were more than 775,000 devices in circulation and there had been 370 fatal AED-related malfunctions.
He stressed that the number of malfunctions paled in comparison to the number of lives saved. However, he said the FDA in the US and manufacturers needed to develop a better recall system.
Dr Maisel said people who purchased a device should return the card that came with it so that they could register their name and address with the manufacturer and, therefore, be contacted directly if the device had a problem.
BREASTFEEDING BENEFIT: Breastfed babies cope better with stress in later life than bottle-fed infants, according to new research.
A study found that children who had been breastfed were far more likely to cope well with stress, such as their parents getting divorced.
But the researchers said it could be the close mother-child bonding that leads to better stress management, as well as the hormone leptin in breast milk, which may have a calming effect.
The study, published in the Archives of Disease in Childhood, involved following almost 9,000 children, who were part of the 1970 British Cohort Study.