MIAMI – A study by the National Institutes of Health suggests that adults with obesity may benefit from an advanced form of breathing support when they’re admitted to the ICU for respiratory failure.
Dr. Juan Salgado, Critical Care Lead with the Lung Center at Jackson Health, said the study challenges a long-held belief that use of Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation, or ECMO, among obese patients could be harmful.
“The assumption that being obese would have bad outcomes had historically had physicians and providers hold back from offering this support, so that’s why I think this study is interesting because it demonstrates not that there was just no difference, but there even was an interesting and surprising finding of obese patients doing better than patients that weren’t obese,” he said.
Salgado said the study is the largest to date to assess ECMO survival outcomes among obese adults.
TAKING STEPS TO REDUCE DIABETES RISK
Walking could lower your risk of Type 2 diabetes and your pace may be affected by how much.
A recent study found that people who walked at an average or normal pace had a 15 percent lower risk of developing type-two diabetes compared to those who walked casually.
Walking at a “fairly brisk” pace meant a 24 percent lower risk than those who easily or casually walked.
Brisk-stride walking had the biggest benefit: a 39 percent reduction in risk.
CANCER THERAPY RISK
According to the Food and Drug Administration, the life-saving cancer treatment CAR-T may sometimes cause cancer.
The treatment is used when patients have already had at least one round of conventional treatment with intense chemotherapy and radiation.
Cancer specialists said CAR-T treatments have saved thousands of lives and that the benefits outweigh the risks.