Community Magazine January 2014

To • • Health SMOKING AFFECTS FACIAL SKIN A study comparing the faces of identical twins confirms what many smokers fear — the habit causes premature aging of the skin, taking a serious toll on looks even after just five years. The researchers found that twins who were smokers showed many more signs of skin aging, featuring many more wrinkles, creases, droops and jowls. “Smoking harms virtually every organ in the body, including your skin,” said Danny McGoldrick, Vice President for Research at the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. “Whether you are doing it for vanity or your health, one of the most important health decisions of your life is not to start smoking, or to quit if you have.” Researchers also compared the faces of twins who both smoke, but one had been smoking for at least five years longer than his or her sibling. They found more baggy eyes, baggy cheeks and lower-lip wrinkles in twins who had been smoking longer. Thepremature agingcausedby smoking seemed to mainly affect the lower two-thirds of a person’s face, the authors said. There were no apparent differences between smokers and nonsmokers when it came to forehead wrinkles or crow’s feet, for example. Smoking can affect a person’s skin tone by robbing cells of needed oxygen, said Dr. Cheryl Healton, President and CEO of the anti-tobacco advocacy group Legacy. “It’s widely known that tobacco causes cardiac problems and disrupts oxygenation,” Healton said. “Getting good oxygenation really affects a person’s complexion.” Healton said people should heed the findings as yet another reason to quit smoking immediately, noting that, as the study found, even five years can make a significant difference in skin quality. PROTECTION FROM THE FLU “Immunization is the most important step in protecting yourself against the flu,” saidDr. Kenneth Bromberg, Director of the Vaccine Research Center and Chairman of Pediatrics at the Brooklyn Hospital Center, in a hospital news release. “Everyone over the age of 6months who does not have a life-threatening reaction to flu shots should be immunized,” he urged, adding, “If someone cannot tolerate a flu shot, he can get immunized with a nasal spray, if under the age of 49.” Bromberg noted that it takes about 10 days for flu immunization to be effective, so people should not wait to get vaccinated. Even if the immunization does not prevent the flu, it reduces the risk of death from the flu. Another expert emphasized that immunization is safe. “Flu vaccines are safe. They will not give you the flu,” said Dr. David Hill, Professor of Medical Sciences and Director of Global Public Health in the School of Medicine at Quinnipiac University, in a university news release. Along with a flu shot, there are other “common sense” ways that you can protect yourself and others against the flu, Hill added. These include: • Avoiding close contact with people who are coughing and sneezing. One to two meters distance is considered a safe distance. • Washing hands frequently. • Covering your cough: Sneeze or cough into a tissue and promptly discard it safely in a wastebasket. If you don’t have a tissue, cough into your upper sleeve or elbow. And after coughing or sneezing into a tissue, wash your hands. • If you have flu symptoms, stay home from work and school, and don’t go to public places. WOMEN’S FATAL PRESCRIPTION DRUG OVERDOSES ON THE RISE Every day, 42 women die from a drug overdose, and nearly half of those overdoses are from prescription painkillers. According to newly-released figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the number of women dying from prescription drug overdoses has increased by more than 400 percent since 1999 – nearly double the 265 percent increase of deaths in men. “In 2010, more than 6,600 women died from prescription painkillers,” says CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden. These numbers are proportional to the increasingly high use of prescription painkillers in the last decade, Frieden says, but “the overwhelming number of these deaths... more than 70 percent were unintentional.” TheCDCfoundthatawomanwasadmitted to the emergency room for prescription drug overdose or misuse every three minutes. While women between the ages of 25-54 were the ones most likely to go to the ER, it was women between the ages of 45 and 54 who had the highest risk of dying from a prescription painkiller overdose. Frieden says that prescription painkiller overdose is more common among women because women are more likely to suffer chronic pain, like fibromyalgia, and thus be prescribed painkillers. Women may also be given higher doses and use them for longer periods of time. Additionally, as women tend to be smaller than men, the relative dosage may have a more significant impact on a woman than a man. Frieden is calling for increased education for both physicians and patients, as well as more tracking and monitoring programs. “Doctors need to be cautious about prescribing and patients about using these drugs,” he says. “Together we can turn this epidemic around.” 88 COMMUNITY MAGAZINE