News by Subject Medicine & Health

A study of almost 500,000 women indicates that taking paracetamol or other painkillers during pregnancy is not responsible for increasing the risk of asthma in children. The research, which uses prescription data on painkillers, does support earlier findings that women taking paracetamol during pregnancy are more likely to have children who develop asthma. However, it also suggests that the painkillers are not the cause of this increase.

National and state trends for opioid prescriptions filled at US retail pharmacies are estimated from 2006 through 2017 in this analysis of data from outpatient prescribing records. Each year an average of nearly 234 million opioid prescriptions were filled. Several key measures of opioid prescribing varied among states.

A new study shows that an innovative communication program developed by Ariadne Labs and tested at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute resulted in more, earlier and better conversations between patients and their oncology clinicians, and led to significant reductions in emotional suffering for patients with advanced cancer.

Pain management after surgery is a vital part of patient care. Researchers at Hospital for Special Surgery compared acetaminophen in the intravenous versus pill form as part of the overall pain management plan after hip replacement. They found that both forms worked equally well.

Orthopedic surgeons at Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) have developed a pain management pathway designed to reduce the use of opioid analgesics after joint replacement surgery.

With researchers suggesting that 'sitting is the new smoking,' sit-stand desks (SSD) have become a common tool to quell sedentary behavior in an office environment. As this furniture becomes ubiquitous, conflicting opinions have arisen on its effectiveness. Researchers from the University of Pittsburgh and Tufts gathered data from 53 studies and published a scoping review article detailing current information on the benefits of SSDs.

A research group at Hiroshima University observed a potential new target for chronic pain treatment. Further research using this receptor could lead to new, more effective drugs to use in pain-relieving treatment for chronic pain.

Dry eye disease is when tears can't adequately lubricate the eyes and patients may feel a stinging, burning or scratchy sensation. This study looked at whether there is association between dry eye disease and migraine headaches.