STAT Quick reads about health topics in the news
Health expo Saturday
Participants run in the Corvallis Half Marathon last April. The fourth annual event begins this Sunday at 9:30 a.m.
The inaugural Corvallis Healthy Living & Sports Expo is scheduled for 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, April 12, at the Boys & Girls Club of Corvallis, 1112 N.W. Circle Blvd. Admission is free. The expo, presented by the Corvallis Chamber of Commerce, will feature about 50 exhibitors in health care-and-sports-related businesses, from acupuncturists, chiropractors, physical therapists, massage therapists, nutritionists, to healthy food offerings, sports equipment and outdoor activities. The expo will also include presentations on a variety of health-related topics, health screenings, activities for kids, and physical demonstrations, such as family Zumba, new trends in fitness movement, and pickleball. For more details and a schedule, go to the chamber’s website, corvallischamber.com. — To Your Health
MARK YLEN | DEMOCRAT-HERALD, FILE
SCREEN grant
Walk away from excess running? Researchers concerned about effects of endurance exercise By EDWARD M. EVELD / KANSAS CITY STAR
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f running 15 miles a week is heart-healthy, running 45 miles a week gives you a cardiovascular system three times as clean and strong, right?
A new study sounds a serious alarm about such thinking, adding to a growing body of research on the topic of excessive endurance exercise. You’ve heard of the runner’s high. Researchers now want you to hear about runner’s plaque — coronary artery plaque. In short: Running super-long distances for many years might backfire on you. “Years of extreme exercise efforts appear to erase some benefits you get from moderate exercise, so that your risk of heart disease, of dying of coronary disease, is the same as a sedentary person,” said James O’Keefe, preventive cardiologist at St. Luke’s Hospital in Kansas City, Mo. O’Keefe said the study found that men who were marathon runners for 25 years had 62 percent more plaque buildup in their coronary arteries than men who were sedentary but were similar to the runners in other respects, including age. And the increased quantity of plaque in the marathoners’ arteries included both hard, or calcified, plaque and the more dangerous soft, fatty plaque. The latter is the kind that can be predisposed to rupture and cause a heart attack.
at it for years. O’Keefe is co-author of the paper, which Two years ago, in a report published in the appears in the latest issue of Missouri journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings, O’Keefe Medicine, the journal of the Missouri State and fellow authors cited evidence that Medical Association. The study was conducted by Robert Schwartz and colleagues at extreme endurance training may cause the Minneapolis Heart Institute Foundation. structural damage to the heart, making it An unwavering advocate of exercise and its stiff and enlarged. That paper showed that moderate running distances two to five health benefits, O’Keefe said the new study adds weight to the idea that the potent ben- times a week at moderate speeds offered the best health benefits and that even 15 minutes efits of exercise are “dose dependent.” a day of physical activity was helpful. That is, the right amount matters. Being Eladio Valdez, coach of sedentary is unhealthy. the Runner’s Edge trainRegular, moderate exer“Years of extreme exercise ing group in the Kansas cise bestows long-term City area, said he is aware benefits. efforts appear to erase of recent research about While logging huge some benefits you get the potential ill effects of numbers of miles and years of long-distance running marathons can from moderate exercise, running, and last year he keep you thinner, lower so that your risk of heart held a clinic for his your risk for type 2 diadisease, of dying of coronary clients on the topic. betes and offer other “I told my runners, ‘We benefits, it appears the disease, is the same can’t ignore this subsequent wear and as a sedentary person.” research,’” he said. tear on the heart is a potential drawback, While such studies JAMES O’KEEFE O’Keefe said. don’t offer definitive ST. LUKE’S HOSPITAL The study’s answers yet, Valdez said, the research is “sobermarathoners, who had ing,” and he encourages his long-distance run at least one 26.2-mile race a year for 25 runners to see their cardiologist and to conyears, had a lower weight, resting heart rate sider a scan. and body mass index than the non-runners. Running fewer miles also reduces overuse The average age of both groups was in the 50s. injuries, and he has seen clients gravitate to That works out well for the 3-milers — more moderate regimens. keep doing that, O’Keefe said — but it’s “Moderation may be the answer in runcautionary news for marathoners and ultramarathoners, at least those who have been ning, as with everything else in life,” he said.
Precautions important for allergic asthma sufferers Before exercising, talk to your doctor and warm up lungs
allergic and nonallergic asthma are the same — coughing, wheezing, shortness of breath or rapid breathing and chest tightness. But allergic asthma is triggered by inhaled allergens such BY MARY MEEHAN as dust mites, pet dander, pollen LEXINGTON HERALD-LEADER or mold. Spring has sprung, and in Some people may not realize addition to welcoming the beauthey are suffering from allergic ty and warmth of the season, asthma, said Dr. Jamshed Kanga, many folks welcome — though chief of the division of pediatric maybe not with eager anticipapulmonology at the University tion — seasonal allergies. of Kentucky. Most people assoAnd for some, allergies and ciate asthma with wheezing and asthma go hand in hand. More asthma attacks, but a persistent than 50 percent of the 20 million cough is often the most prevaAmericans with asthma have lent symptom of allergic asthallergic asthma, according to the ma. Allergic asthma can also be Allergy and Asthma Foundation misdiagnosed as bronchitis, he of America. Over 2.5 million said. children under age 18 suffer Determining the cause of from allergic asthma. breathing trouble in children can also be difficult. Today’s kids Many of the symptoms of
don’t run and play as they once did, so what may look at first like asthma may be lack of conditioning, he said. But if parents are concerned about their child, they should talk to the coach or teacher who can identify whether the child is having out-of-the-ordinary challenges. If you have breathing troubles, which make exercising more difficult, it can be easy to avoid exercise, said Dr. Tracie Overbeck, of Allergy Partners of Central Kentucky. But your lungs need to be worked just like the rest of your body, she said. People with allergic asthma need to take a few extra steps to prepare for exercise. A debilitating asthma attack is very rare if people take their asthma medication regu-
larly and take some precautions when exercising, said Kanga. First, Overbeck suggested, ask your doctor to help you get a baseline of your breathing. That way you can note changes in symptoms as you exercise. Then, she said, it’s important to warm up your lungs just as you warm up your body. Take 10 minutes to warm up before exercising, she said, taking slow deep breaths, breathing in through your nose and out through your mouth. Ask your doctor about prescribing an inhaler for asthma, Kanga said, and use it about 15 minutes before you begin to exercise. It is important to continue to take the medicine as prescribed even when you start to feel better.
The mid-Willamette SCREEN program recently received its fourth-year grant renewal from the Oregon and Southwest Washington affiliate of Susan G. Komen. Based within Samaritan Health Services, the SCREEN program will receive $60,000 per year, for 2014 — 2016. SCREEN is a grassroots initiative that relies on volunteers to spread the message that early detection of breast and cervical cancer saves lives. Since its inception in 2011, the program has reached an estimated 56,000 people throughout Benton, Lincoln, Linn and Lane counties. The SCREEN program provides free presentations to clubs and groups, and is seeking volunteers. For more information, visit samhealth.org/SCREEN, email kcaul@samhealth. org, or call 541-768-5470. — To Your Health
Stroke diagnosis Analyzing federal health care data, a team of researchers led by a Johns Hopkins specialist concluded that doctors overlook or discount the early signs of potentially disabling strokes in tens of thousands of Americans each year, a large number of them visitors to emergency rooms complaining of dizziness or headaches. The findings from the medical records review, reported online April 3 in the journal Diagnosis, show that women, minorities and people under the age of 45 who have these symptoms of stroke were significantly more likely to be misdiagnosed in the week prior to sustaining a debilitating stroke. Younger people in the study were nearly seven times more likely to be given an incorrect diagnosis and sent home without treatment despite such symptoms. “It’s clear that ER physicians need to be more discerning and vigilant in ruling out stroke, even in younger people,” says Dr. David E. Newman-Toker, an associate professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. — Johns Hopkins Medicine
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Tuesday, April 8, 2014
To Your Health