Depression ups risk of stroke in women

A new study has linked depression with increased risk of stroke in women.

In six years of follow-up of women in the Nurses' Health Study, researchers found that a history of depression was associated with a 29 percent increased risk of total stroke - even after considering other stroke risk factors.

Women who used anti-depressant medication - particularly selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors- had a 39 percent increased risk of stroke.

Anti-depressant medication use may be an indicator of depression severity, said Kathryn Rexrode, M.D., the study's senior author and Associate Physician at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Mass.

"I don't think the medications themselves are the primary cause of the risk. This study does not suggest that people should stop their medications to reduce the risk of stroke," she stated.

Compared to women without a history of depression, depressed women were more likely to be single, smokers and less physically active.

They were also slightly younger, had a higher body mass index and more coexisting conditions such as high blood pressure, heart disease and diabetes.

"Depression can prevent individuals from controlling other medical problems such as diabetes and hypertension, from taking medications regularly or pursuing other healthy lifestyle measures such as exercise," said Rexrode, who is also Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.

"All these factors could contribute to increased risk," she added.

The finding was reported in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association. (ANI)

Low vitamin D linked to early menstruation, health problems later in life

Low vitamin D in young girls may lead to early menstruation, which is a risk factor for a host of health issues for teen girls as well as ladies later in life, according to a brand new study.

Researchers from the University of Illinois School of Public Health measured the blood vitamin D levels in 242 girls ages 5-12 from Bogota, Colombia, and followed them for 30 months.

Girls low on vitamin D were two times as likely to start menstruation in the work of the study than those with sufficient vitamin D, said epidemiologist Eduardo Villamor, associate professor in the U-M SPH.

Early menstruation is a risk factor for behavioural and psychosocial issues in teenagers.

Also, girls who have an earlier menarche appear to have increased risk of developing cardiometabolic diseases and cancer-particularly breast cancer, as adults.

In the research by Villamor and colleagues, 57 percent of the girls in the vitamin D-deficient group reached menarche in the work of the study, compared to 23 percent in the vitamin D-sufficient group.

In terms of age, girls who were low in vitamin D were about 11.8 years elderly when they started menstruating, compared to the other group at about age 12.6 years elderly.

This 10-month difference is substantial, Villamor said, because although ten months may not appear like a long time, at that age a lot is happening quickly to a young girl's body.