May 14, 2012
Getty Images
By Amanda Gardner
MONDAY, May 14, 2012 (Health.com) — A vivid memory can be an asset if you’re studying for an exam or trying to recall the details of a conversation, but that aptitude may backfire when it comes to forming long-term responses to emotional trauma.
In a new study, Swiss researchers have found that a certain gene associated with a good memory—and in particular, the ability to remember emotionally charged images—is also linked to an increased risk of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among survivors of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. Read More
May 7, 2012
Getty Images
By Amanda Gardner
MONDAY, May 7, 2012 (Health.com) — People who have symptoms of depression in middle age may be at increased risk of dementia decades later, a new study suggests.
Using medical records, researchers tracked more than 13,000 people in a large northern California health plan from roughly their 40s and 50s into their 80s. Compared to people who had never been depressed, those who experienced symptoms of depression in middle age—but not later in life—were about 20% more likely to go on to develop dementia. Read More
May 7, 2012
MONDAY, May 7 (HealthDay News) — People who suffer depression when they’re middle-aged or elderly may also have an higher risk of dementia later, a new study suggests.
Researchers evaluated long-term data from more than 13,000 people in California. They found that depressive symptoms occurred in about 14 percent of participants in midlife only, while about 9.2 percent of cases of depression developed in late life only. Just over 4 percent of people in the study had depression that stretched over midlife and late life.
Read More
May 4, 2012
FRIDAY, May 4 (HealthDay News) — Overweight teen girls who are happy with their size and shape have higher levels of self-esteem, are less likely to be depressed and are less prone to unhealthy behaviors than those who don’t like their bodies, researchers say.
For their study, University of California-San Diego researchers surveyed a group of more than 100 overweight teenagers between 2004 and 2006.
Read More
April 30, 2012
MONDAY, April 30 (HealthDay News) — Depression or anxiety affect one-third of Americans with arthritis who are aged 45 or older, a new study shows.
Researchers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also found that even though anxiety is nearly twice as common as depression among people with arthritis, doctors tend to focus more on depression in these patients.
Read More
April 27, 2012
FRIDAY, April 27 (HealthDay News) — Children who are bullied are three times more likely than others to self-harm by the time they are 12 years old, according to a new study.
A team of researchers from the United States and the United Kingdom said its findings, published online April 27 in the BMJ, could help identify those at greatest risk for this type of behavior.
Read More
April 20, 2012
FRIDAY, April 20 (HealthDay News) — Depressed people may be at higher risk for the debilitating circulatory condition known as peripheral artery disease (PAD), a new study suggests.
PAD is due to a narrowing of the arteries in the legs and pelvis. It was known that depression is a risk factor for the constriction of heart arteries, but its link with PAD specifically was unclear.
Read More
April 18, 2012
By Amanda Gardner
WEDNESDAY, April 18, 2012 (Health.com) — The short-lived high teenagers get from using amphetamines or the club drug MDMA—better known as Ecstasy—could lead to longer-lasting depression later on, a new study suggests.
Researchers in Canada interviewed 3,880 teenagers from low-income neighborhoods in Québec. Compared to their peers who used neither drug, teens who reported taking MDMA or amphetamines at least once in the tenth grade had 70% and 60% higher odds, respectively, of experiencing depression symptoms in the eleventh grade. Using both drugs nearly doubled the odds of depression. Read More
April 18, 2012
By Alan Mozes
HealthDay Reporter
WEDNESDAY, April 18 (HealthDay News) — Teens who use the party drugs ecstasy (MDMA) and speed (methamphetamine and/or amphetamine) appear to face a notably higher risk of depression afterward, new Canadian research suggests.
Interviews and mental health assessments conducted among nearly 3,900 10th-grade residents of Quebec revealed that, compared to non-users, adolescents who acknowledged taking either speed or ecstasy had a 60 percent to 70 percent greater risk of experiencing telltale signs of depression a year after their last recorded use.
Read More
April 17, 2012
By Carina Storrs
HealthDay Reporter
TUESDAY, April 17 (HealthDay News) — Researchers have developed a blood test that could one day help diagnose teens with depression.
To create the test, researchers identified 26 potential biological markers for depression. Then they tested the markers in a small group of teens and found that a handful of them could distinguish the teens with major depression from those without depression.
Read More
