HEALTH

Warming linked to early births

WOMEN are at risk of giving birth early due to warmer temperatures brought on by the climate crisis, a new United States study finds.
The study, published in the journal Nature Climate Change, found that on days when temperatures soar past 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32.2 degrees Celsius), birth rates increase 5 per cent. Births rates are also elevated on the following day, perhaps because labour and delivery continued into the next day, the study said. After temperatures drop, birth rates decrease.
A 5 per cent increase may not sound like much, but the authors estimate that over a 20-year period, an average of 25,000 infants per year were born earlier in the United States as a result of warm temperatures. That equates to a loss of more than 150,000 gestational days annually in the United States from 1969 to 1988.
Researchers think this is likely an undercount.
The average reduction in gestational length is about 6.1 days, the study found, but in some cases, babies were born up to two weeks early.
Previous studies have found that mothers face an increased risk of preeclampsia, hypertension and other health problems with higher temperatures.
During a baby’s last weeks in the womb, there’s dramatic maturation in the brain and rapid physical growth. Studies have shown that babies born early have a higher risk of diseases such as asthma, higher risk of developmental delays and greater risk the child will need to be hospitalised early on in life.
The study doesn’t explain the connection between extreme heat and earlier births. Studies in animals have shown that heat stress can increase the amount of oxytocin a mother produces. In human mothers, levels of this neuropeptide increase when labor begins. Another theory is that extreme heat might cause earlier deliveries due to cardiovascular stress.
Other studies have noted the negative connections between warmer temperatures and births in both humans and in animals. This large study encompassed 56 million births. Instead of using gestational length records, which could be misreported, the authors looked at daily birth rates, which tend to be more accurate. They also factored in regional temperature differences, the study said.
With the climate crisis expected to bring more extremely hot days, early births could become a much bigger problem in the United States and around the world. This study looked at data from 1969 to 1988.
There have been many more record-breaking hot days since then and more are expected in the future, if the world doesn’t cut carbon emissions and prevent further warming.
According to climate projections, the new study says, there could be additional 250,000 gestational days lost every year by the end of the century. –CNN

Smartphone ‘addiction’

Young people ‘panicky’ when denied mobiles
ALMOST a quarter of Britain’s young people are so dependent on their smartphones that it becomes like an addiction, suggests psychiatrists.
A study by King’s College London, says such addictive behaviour means that people become “panicky” or “upset” if they are denied constant access.
The youngsters also cannot control the amount of time they spend on the phone.
The study warns that such addictions have “serious consequences” for mental health.
The research, published in BMC Psychiatry, analysed 41 studies involving 42,000 young people in an investigation into “problematic smartphone usage”.
The study found 23 per cent had behaviour that was consistent with an addiction – such as anxiety over not being able to use their phone, not being able to moderate the time spent and using mobiles so much that it was detrimental to other activities.
‘Here to stay’
Such addictive behaviour could be linked to other problems, says the study, such as stress, a depressed mood, lack of sleep and reduced achievement in school.
“Smartphones are here to stay and there is a need to understand the prevalence of problematic smartphone usage,” says one of the report’s authors, Nicola Kalk, from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at King’s College London.
“We don’t know whether it is the smartphone itself that can be addictive or the apps that people use,” said Dr Kalk.
“Nevertheless, there is a need for public awareness around smartphone use in children and young people, and parents should be aware of how much time their children spend on their phones.”
Co-author Samantha Sohn warned that addictions “can have serious consequences on mental health and day-to-day functioning, so there is a need for further investigation into problematic smartphone usage”.
But Amy Orben, research fellow at the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit at the University of Cambridge, warned against assuming there were causal connections between problematic smartphone use and outcomes such as depression.
“It has been shown previously that smartphone effects are not a one-way street, but that mood can impact the amount of smartphone use, as well,” said Dr Orben. -BBC

Ketamine may reduce craving

A ONE-OFF dose of ketamine may help heavy drinkers cut back on alcohol, an experimental trial by University College London suggests.
When the sedative was used to disrupt people’s memories of why they wanted to drink, they drank less and their urge to drink lowered over nine months.
The researchers say ketamine could be a helpful treatment for alcohol and other addictions.
Experts said the findings were worthy of further investigation.

What is ketamine?
Ketamine is widely used in the NHS as an anaesthetic, sedative and pain reliever.
It is also commonly used on animals.
Because of its hallucinogenic effects, it is also thought of as a “party drug”.
But it can cause serious harm to the body, and be fatal, if used this way.
Ketamine is classed by the government as a Class-B drug, which means it is illegal to take, carry, make or sell.
Recreational use risks:

• serious bladder problems
• feelings of sickness
• confusion
• memory problems
• paralysis of the muscles
• hallucinations
• depression
• flashbacks

What did the study find?
The study involved 55 men and 35 women who were drinking about 30 pints of beer a week – five times the recommended limit – but had not been diagnosed with alcohol addiction and were receiving no treatment.
First, they were shown pictures of beer and other drinks, asked to rate their urge to drink and the pleasure it would give them and then given a beer.
Next, they were split into three groups and:

• the process was repeated but instead of a beer, they were given a small dose of ketamine via an intravenous drip
• the process was repeated but instead of a beer, they were given a placebo (dummy drug) via an intravenous drip
• the process was not repeated and they were given a small dose of ketamine via an intravenous drip

During the following nine months, all three groups managed to reduce their drinking.
But the first group had the greatest overall improvement:

• cutting their alcohol intake by about half
• drinking on fewer days
• when given a small beer, having less urge to drink it and enjoying it less

What do the experts say?
Lead study author Dr Ravi Das, a psychopharmacologist at University College London, said: “This is a first demonstration of a very sensible, accessible approach.
“We want to make treatment better for people with addictions, so we now need to replicate this in a full clinical trial.”
Matt Field, a professor of psychology at the University of Sheffield, said the findings were “promising” and “worthy of further investigation”.
But “further investigation with a larger sample size” was needed to support claims using ketamine to rewrite reward memories led to unprecedented long-lasting reductions in alcohol consumption.
Celia Morgan, a professor of psychopharmacology at the University of Exeter, said:
“Ketamine is an addictive substance and associated with harms to bladder and a risk of accidents, so we have to be cautious when using it in groups who are prone to addictive behaviours.
“But this is important work trying to drive the science of ketamine and memory forwards.” –BBC