Teenagers are vaping marijuana at rapidly rising rates. A report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention finds that among high school seniors last year, the rate of those who’d vaped marijuana in the last month nearly doubled, from 7.5% to 14%. Twenty percent of 12th graders vaped pot in the last year, and high school sophomores were only one percentage point behind. Experts are concerned because most of the 2,500 known vaping illnesses in the U-S have involved young people vaping marijuana.
Next week, we’ll have a report on concussions and why they can produce lifelong effects. A new study in the journal The Lancet confirms it, finding that more than half of homeless people have had a traumatic brain injury at some point. Nearly a quarter of them have had a moderate to severe brain injury, a rate far higher than what’s found among non-homeless people. Researchers say that makes it all the more important for doctors to ask about brain injuries in their patients.
Here’s yet another study confirming the importance of sleep. The study in the European Heart Journal finds that people with a high genetic risk of heart disease may be able to offset it with healthy sleep patterns, including seven to eight hours of sleep per night. The study of nearly 400,000 people shows that people with both a genetic heart risk and poor sleep patterns are two-and-a-half times as likely to develop heart disease and one-and-a-half times as likely to have a stroke compared to people who sleep well and have a low genetic risk.
And finally…a new survey of emergency rooms proves that smartphones make people run into things, triggering spikes in head and neck injuries. The study in the journal JAMA Otolaryngology — Head and Neck Surgery tracked injuries since 1998. It shows that the launch of the iPhone in 2007 and Pokemon Go in 2016 each prompted spikes in injuries, especially to the face, due to distracted driving and walking.
Medical Notes 20-02: Week of January 12, 2020
Teenagers are vaping marijuana at rapidly rising rates. A report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention finds that among high school seniors last year, the rate of those who’d vaped marijuana in the last month nearly doubled, from 7.5% to 14%. Twenty percent of 12th graders vaped pot in the last year, and high school sophomores were only one percentage point behind. Experts are concerned because most of the 2,500 known vaping illnesses in the U-S have involved young people vaping marijuana.
Next week, we’ll have a report on concussions and why they can produce lifelong effects. A new study in the journal The Lancet confirms it, finding that more than half of homeless people have had a traumatic brain injury at some point. Nearly a quarter of them have had a moderate to severe brain injury, a rate far higher than what’s found among non-homeless people. Researchers say that makes it all the more important for doctors to ask about brain injuries in their patients.
Here’s yet another study confirming the importance of sleep. The study in the European Heart Journal finds that people with a high genetic risk of heart disease may be able to offset it with healthy sleep patterns, including seven to eight hours of sleep per night. The study of nearly 400,000 people shows that people with both a genetic heart risk and poor sleep patterns are two-and-a-half times as likely to develop heart disease and one-and-a-half times as likely to have a stroke compared to people who sleep well and have a low genetic risk.
And finally, a new survey of emergency rooms proves that smartphones make people run into things, triggering spikes in head and neck injuries. The study in the journal JAMA Otolaryngology — Head and Neck Surgery tracked injuries since 1998. It shows that the launch of the iPhone in 2007 and Pokemon Go in 2016 each prompted spikes in injuries, especially to the face, due to distracted driving and walking.
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