No Need for a Suitcase
People whose doctors suspect they suffer from sleep apnea may be able to find out without costly overnight sessions in a sleep lab. University of British Columbia researchers report in the Annals of Internal Medicine that the condition, which causes repeated breathing lapses and has been associated with a higher risk of heart disease and stroke, can be identified as effectively using simple tests in the doctor's office or at home. The tests measure snoring episodes and blood-oxygen levels, for example. Treatment with continuous positive airway pressure, or CPAP, machines, which blow air into the mouth to keep breathing passages open, worked equally well in both groups. One difference: The home group was more apt to stick with treatment. The findings are good news for people with no access to a sleep lab but shouldn't be taken to mean there's no need to see a specialist, says Ana Krieger, director of the sleep disorders center at New York University. Apnea may not be the whole story. - Matthew Shulman
More Help in the Battle of the Bulge; When It's Junior Who's Fighting Fat; Not Exactly What the Doctor Ordered
More Help in the Battle of the Bulge
A new weight-loss weapon will hit stores this summer, after getting the nod last week from the Food and Drug Administration. The new over-the-counter version of orlistat, to be named alli, will be packaged at half the strength of its prescription counterpart, Xenical, and is expected to cost $50 for a 30-day supply. Taken before every meal containing fat, the drug blocks absorption of about 25 percent of the fat in the gastrointestinal tract. In clinical trials, people who coupled alli with a diet and exercise program lost 50 percent more than a group not on the drug-about 5 to 10 pounds over six months. (Possible side effects if a low-fat diet isn't followed: a change in bowel habits, including gas and increased urgency.) While alli is meant for overweight adults, some experts worry about its appeal to teenage girls. To work, it should be used with a cutback in calories and an exercise regimen. - Deborah Kotz
When It's Junior Who's Fighting Fat
Parents struggling to help a youngster stay trim may want to send him to bed early. A study in the current issue of Child Development reports that children who sleep more tend to weigh less than children who get fewer z's and are less apt to be overweight five years later. An extra hour of sleep cut the likelihood from 36 percent to 30 percent in children ages 3 to 8, and from 34 to 30 percent in those ages 8 to 13. "If kids need to get up at 6:30 or 7 a.m., parents of young children want to focus on an 8 o'clock bedtime," says lead author Emily Snell, a Northwestern University doctoral candidate in human development and social policy. Researchers aren't sure what might explain an association, but Snell speculates that a lack of shut-eye affects appetite-regulating hormones. Other factors probably play a role, too: More waking hours equal more time to eat. - Adam Voiland
Not Exactly What the Doctor Ordered
A drug used on some people getting coronary artery bypass grafts may be a killer instead of a lifesaver. "The bottom dollar is 10,000 deaths over five years," says Dennis Mangano, lead author of a study in last week's Journal of the American Medical Association on the effects of the drug, Trasylol. Used to control bleeding in very sick patients whose arteries are in bad shape, the drug works by disabling the body's ability to dissolve clots. That may be a good idea during surgery, but afterward clots can lead to strokes, kidney failure, heart attacks, and death. Mangano found a greater incidence of just those problems when he compared Trasylol with two similar but shorter-acting drugs in more than 3,000 patients. But T. Bruce Ferguson, a cardiothoracic and vascular surgeon at East Carolina University, suggests the patients on Trasylol may have been much sicker to start with. That could explain the increased deaths. Patients should ask about drug choices before the operation. - Josh Fischman
This story appears in the February 19, 2007 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.
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