http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. Most medical imaging equipment is not designed with overweight and obese patients in mind. As a result, these individuals can be exposed to higher levels of radiation during routine X-ray and CT scans. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-obese-patients-higher-exposure-ct.html Medical research Thu, 05 Apr 2012 10:57:30 EST news252842237 In the first published study of its kind, researchers from the Catholic University/Policlinico Gemelli in Rome, Italy, and NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center found that bariatric surgery dramatically outperforms standard medical treatment of severe type 2 diabetes. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-bariatric-surgery-outperforms-standard-treatment.html Diabetes Mon, 26 Mar 2012 12:38:30 EST news251984190 Obesity appears to significantly increase the risk of death tied to sleeping pills, nearly doubling the rate of mortality even among those prescribed 18 or fewer pills in a year, researchers reported Friday. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-obesity-death-tied-pills.html Sleep apnea Fri, 16 Mar 2012 16:11:11 EST news251133062 A program that helps obese patients improve healthy behaviors is associated with modest weight loss and improved blood pressure control in a high-risk, low-income group, according to researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Duke University, Harvard University and other institutions. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-lifestyle-obese-patients-linked-modest.html Health Mon, 12 Mar 2012 16:00:05 EST news250779348 A physical activity and diet program implemented by health educators in physician offices appears to be associated with modest reductions in waist circumference among obese patients, according to a report published Online First by Archives of Internal Medicine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-behavioral-intervention-physician-offices-linked.html Health Mon, 27 Feb 2012 16:00:01 EST news249573729 It's well known that exercising reduces body weight because it draws on fat stores that muscle can burn as fuel. But a new study at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute (Sanford-Burnham) suggests that the heart also plays a role in breaking down fat. In their study, published February 6 in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Sheila Collins, Ph.D. and colleagues detail how hormones released by the heart stimulate fat cell metabolism. These hormones turn on a molecular mechanism similar to what's activated when the body is exposed to cold and burns fat to generate heat. This study adds another dimension to our understanding of how the body regulates fat tissue and may someday lead to new ways to manipulate the process with drugs to reduce weight in obese patients or maintain it in individuals who experience pathological weight loss during chronic heart failure. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-heart-hormone-fat-metabolism.html Medical research Mon, 06 Feb 2012 12:00:01 EST news247751749 A patient's body mass index (BMI) may not be the only factor at play when a physician diagnoses a patient as obese. According to a new study led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the diagnosis could also depend on the weight of your physician. Researchers examined the impact of physician BMI on obesity care and found that physicians with a normal BMI, as compared to overweight and obese physicians, were more likely to engage their obese patients in weight loss discussions (30 percent vs. 18 percent) and more likely to diagnose a patient as obese if they perceived the patient's BMI met or exceed their own (93 percent vs. 7 percent). The results are featured in the January issue of Obesity. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-physician-weight-obesity-diagnosis.html Health Thu, 26 Jan 2012 10:21:37 EST news246795688 Giving overweight or obese patients a gut hormone that suppresses appetite leads to clinically beneficial weight loss as well as reduced blood pressure and cholesterol levels, finds a study published in the British Medical Journal today. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-gut-hormone-weight-loss-overweight.html Overweight and Obesity Tue, 10 Jan 2012 18:54:21 EST news245444054 Ironically, despite excessive caloric intake, many obese women are deficient in vitamins vital to a healthy pregnancy. This and other startling statistics abound when obesity and pregnancy collide. Together, they present a unique set of challenges that women and their doctors must tackle in order to achieve the best possible outcome for mom and baby. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-myths-truths-obesity-pregnancy.html Sleep apnea Wed, 21 Dec 2011 11:10:42 EST news243688210 Obesity doubles the risk of cancer recurrence and cancer-related death in patients with esophageal cancer who have been treated with surgery, researchers at Mayo Clinic found. Their 778-patient study, which appeared in the Dec. 1 issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology, found that five-year survival in obese patients -- those with a body mass index of 30 or higher -- with esophageal cancer was 18 percent, compared to 36 percent in patients of normal weight. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-obesity-linked-higher-year-death.html Surgery Tue, 20 Dec 2011 13:16:18 EST news243609347 Obese patients with early-stage HER2-positive breast cancer may have worse outcomes than patients who are normal weight or overweight, Mayo Clinic researchers found in a study presented today at the 2011 CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. HER2-positive breast cancer gets its name from a protein called human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 that promotes cancer cell growth. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-obese-patients-her2-positive-breast-cancer.html Cancer Thu, 08 Dec 2011 08:28:58 EST news242555331 Obesity is associated with worse outcomes overall in early-stage breast cancer, researchers reported at the 2011 CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, held Dec. 6-10, 2011. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-obesity-linked-worse-outcomes-early.html Cancer Thu, 08 Dec 2011 04:40:02 EST news242539870 A low-calorie diet eliminates insulin dependence and leads to improved heart function in obese patients with type 2 diabetes, according to a study presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-restricted-calorie-diet-heart-function.html Cardiology Mon, 28 Nov 2011 01:04:21 EST news241664402 Can a visit to your primary care doctor help you lose weight? Primary care physicians, working with medical assistants in their practices, helped one group of their obese patients lose an average of 10.1 lb during a two-year lifestyle intervention, according to a new study by researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Their 10 lb weight loss was associated, over the two years, with improvements in cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors, including waist circumference and HDL cholesterol levels. The results of the POWER-UP (Practice-based Opportunities for Weight Reduction at the University of Pennsylvania) trial were reported in the latest edition of the New England Journal of Medicine and at the American Heart Association annual meeting today. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-primary-care-based-weight-intervention-obese.html Health Mon, 14 Nov 2011 16:30:19 EST news240510612 Eating a Mediterranean diet combined with physical activity can help to improve some of the symptoms of sleep apnoea, according to new research. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-mediterranean-diet-apnea-symptoms.html Sleep apnea Wed, 02 Nov 2011 10:44:26 EST news239449446 Obesity and depression both dramatically increase health care costs, but they mainly act separately, according to a study published in the November 2011 Journal of General Internal Medicine by Group Health Research Institute scientists. Gregory Simon, MD, MPH, a Group Health psychiatrist and Group Health Research Institute senior investigator, led the research. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-obesity-depression-independently-health.html Health Mon, 31 Oct 2011 16:40:26 EST news239298019 Any dieter knows that it's hard to keep off weight you've lost. Now a study finds that even a year after dieters shed a good chunk of weight quickly, their hormones were still insisting, "Eat! Eat! Eat!" http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-fault-hormones-linked-weight-regain.html Health Wed, 26 Oct 2011 17:40:54 EST news238869646 Pediatric obesity ends up costing $3 billion annually in the U.S., but a significant amount of that could be saved by streamlining medical coverage to address health issues affecting young obese patients now rather than waiting to treat conditions they develop as they get older, according UCLA researchers and colleagues. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-payment-pediatric-obesity-money.html Health Tue, 06 Sep 2011 09:29:14 EST news234520140 The prevalence of physician-diagnosed asthma is increasing partly because of a link between asthma and obesity. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-08-misdiagnosis-obese-patients.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Thu, 18 Aug 2011 04:11:59 EST news232859506 The NHS is poorly prepared to care for obese patients, lacking dedicated equipment and adequately trained staff, among other things, reveals an analysis of patient safety incidents, published online in Postgraduate Medical Journal. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-nhs-ill-obese-patients.html Health Tue, 26 Jul 2011 03:41:54 EST news230870505 Obese people with high levels of abdominal fat and liver fat may face increased risks for heart disease and other serious health problems, according to research published in Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology: Journal of the American Heart Association. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-liver-belly-fat-high-heart.html Cardiology Thu, 21 Jul 2011 16:25:18 EST news230484299 (Medical Xpress) -- Bariatric surgery is not only cost-effective for treating people who are severely obese, but also for those who are mildly obese, according to a new study from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The findings support making bariatric surgery available to all obese people, the researchers say. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-weight-loss-surgery-cost-effective-obese.html Other Thu, 14 Jul 2011 06:26:54 EST news229843599 Researchers have discovered that obese adults undergoing surgery are less frequently developing respiratory insufficiency (RI) and adult respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), and that when they do, they are less likely to have fatal outcomes. The researchers say they have several theories of how obesity protects patients from mortality associated with RI/ARDS, and pinpointing the protective mechanism could help them develop interventions to help non-obese patients avoid adverse outcomes. The finding comes from a study published online ahead of print in the Journal of Intensive Care Medicine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-obese-patients-die-respiratory-distress.html Health Mon, 11 Jul 2011 04:16:22 EST news229576568 (Medical Xpress) -- Obese patients are nearly 12 times more likely to suffer a complication following elective plastic surgery than their normal-weight counterparts, according to new research by Johns Hopkins scientists. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-surgical-complications-twelve-obese-patients.html Other Thu, 30 Jun 2011 15:17:01 EST news228665809 Obesity is a risk factor for Alzheimer's disease, but weight loss due to bariatric surgery may reduce the risk of this common dementia, a new study suggests. The results will be presented Sunday at The Endocrine Society's 93rd Annual Meeting in Boston. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-weight-loss-gastric-bypass-surgery.html Medical research Mon, 06 Jun 2011 09:35:05 EST news226571685 The drug topiramate can help people lose weight as long as they can tolerate the side effects, according to authors of a new study that reviewed the medical literature. Brazilian researchers will present the results Saturday at The Endocrine Society's 93rd Annual Meeting in Boston. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-topiramate-benefit-weight-loss-drug.html Medications Mon, 06 Jun 2011 09:31:15 EST news226571383 Obese patients appear to have a significantly increased risk of developing a surgical site infection after colectomy (procedure involving either partial or full removal of the colon), and the presence of infection increases the cost associated with the procedure, according to a report published online today that will appear in the September issue of Archives of Surgery. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-links-obesity-postoperative-infection-colon.html Other Mon, 16 May 2011 16:57:44 EST news224783846 Obese patients with high blood pressure and diabetes are at much higher risk for major complications following non-cardiac surgery compared to otherwise healthy obese patients and patients of normal weight. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-04-obesity-surgery.html Health Mon, 18 Apr 2011 11:11:41 EST news222343892