Janice Neumann of Reuters reports on the findings of a recently study on the effects of menthol versus non-menthol cigarettes. The 180-month study was conducted at the Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia and included more than 5,500 participants between the ages of 45 and 80 who smoked at least 10 packs of cigarettes a year. The group of menthol smokers was compared to the group of non-menthol smokers. The study resulted in the following findings: Both groups had similar frequencies of COPD exacerbations Menthol smokers were more likely to have severe exacerbations Menthol smokers were unable to walk as far in six minutes and were more short-of-breath Menthol smokers had a 29 percent higher risk of severe lung disease exacerbations While the study was a short one and the results are far from definitive, this does warrant the need for further study. Of course, all cigarettes are bad for you so neither type is a good alternative. You can learn more about this study by reading the full article here.

Sleep apnea, particularly when it is severe, is well-known to produce serious cardiovascular problems including heart-failure, heart-attacks and even death. This disorder can be treated by positive airway pressure (PAP) therapies. ScienceDaily® reported on a recent study by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine in an article entitled Treating sleep apnea in cardiac patients reduced hospital readmission. The study was conducted on 104 patients who showed symptoms of sleep apnea while hospitalized for cardiac problems, including heart failure, arrhythmias and myocardial infarction. Of these patients, 78 tested positive for sleep apnea in sleep studies. The patients with sleep apnea were started on PAP therapy which they continued for four or more hours a night on at least 70% of all nights following discharge from the hospital. The study’s authors report that none of the patients that used this PAP therapy was readmitted to the hospital within 30 days, a significant improvement over patients who did not use PAP therapy. This resulted in average savings of $13,000 to $18,000 per patient. You can learn more by reading the full article here.

In a recent article in the Daily Mail entitled Blood pressure too high? Your salty SKIN may be to blame… Roger Dobson reports that a new study conducted on 200 people with elevated blood pressure levels had some surprising results. We already knew that the salt that we consume in our diets can lead to higher blood pressure readings, but it turns out that so too can the salt our bodies naturally store in our muscles and skin. Salt, of course, is a natural and necessary component of our physiological makeup, but too much salt causes the body to retain water which can, in turn, elevate blood pressure. A team of researchers at Vanderbilt University is currently investigating whether removing this excess salt can improve patient health. Other researchers at Yale University are studying the effects of excess salt on the body’s immune system. As always, it is advisable to reduce your sodium intake to avoid excess salt build-up in the body. You can learn more by reading the full story here.