Winter 2009 CASBHC Newsletter

Medical Myths Debunked Two researchers from the University of Indiana School of Medicine published the results of their investigation into six urban legends in the Christmas 2008 edition of the British Medical Journal. These myths are: sugar makes kids hyperactive, suicides increase during the holiday season, poinsettias are poisonous, most body heat is lost through the head, eating at night causes weight gain, and hangovers are cured by...(fill in the blank). Each of these was tested or researched and the "truth" of the matter revealed. Sugar does not make kids hyperactive; suicides are more common in warm and sunny seasons; poinsettias tend not to harm people; you will lose most heat through your head if it's the only uncovered area in cold temperatures; the time of eating does not appear to affect weight gain; the only known "cure" for a hangover is drinking in moderation. You can read the complete press release from the University of Indiana by clicking here.

Talking Dirty to get the Message Across The University of Denver recently issued a press release in the fall edition of the Journal of Communication in Healthcare. The press release describes the efforts of DU professor Renee Botta to encourage undergraduates to wash their hands after using the bathroom. She found traditional admonishments had little or no effect in changing their behavior. It wasn't until she began hanging posters with messages such as, "Poo on you, wash your hands," or "You just peed, wash your hands," accompanied by graphic images, that students took notice. Botta found handwashing increased by 26 percentage points for females and 8 percentage points for males during the four week poster campaign. During the same time period, observations in dormitories without the posters found a 2 percentage point decline in handwashing with females and a 21.5 percentage point decline with males. Botta recommends 20 seconds of vigorous handwashing to adequately clean the hands. Singing the ABC song while washing your hands takes about 20 seconds.

Pediatricians Found to be Under-Diagnosing Obesity The January 2009 edition of the journal Pediatrics reported on an analysis of over 60,000 electronic medical records of patients aged 2 through 18 between 1999 and 2007. The records indicated 19% of the children were overweight, 23% were obese, and 8% were severely obese as measured by their Body Mass Index (BMI). While 76% of severely obese children and 54% of obese children had their conditions diagnosed, only 10% of overweight patients received a diagnosis. In addition, females were more likely to be properly diagnosed than males and black and Hispanic patients were more likely to receive a diagnosis than white patients. Read the full text article by clicking here.

Childhood Anxiety Disorders can lead to Academic Under-Achievement An editorial in the December 25, 2008 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine states that childhood anxiety is under-recognized and therefore under-treated, leading to a host of problems. Dr. Graham Emslie of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center writes that various anxiety disorders affect up to 20% of the nation's children and adolescents. He says that research shows failure to identify such disorders early leads to educational under-achievement and increased rates of anxiety disorders, depression and substance abuse later in life. Dr. Emslie goes on to say that

anxiety disorders in children are often unnoticed because the child might complain of physical aches and be unable to verbalize "worry" or "fear." To read a press release from UT Southwestern Medical Center, click here.

PSSST...Be Happy, Pass It On The Harvard Medical School issued a press release on December 4, 2008 describing research reported in the British Medical Journal. Nicholas Christakis and James Fowler have found that happiness spreads through social networks up to three degrees of separation (friends, friends' friends, and friends' friends' friends) and the happiness can last up to a year. Using data from almost 5,000 individuals participating in the Framingham Heart Study over a 20 year span, the researchers found that you can be influenced by the emotions of somebody you do not know. In the recent past the same two researchers reported that behaviors, such as over-eating and smoking cessation, can travel through social networks, but this is the first study to show that emotions can also travel in much the same way. They also give us another reason to be happy...sadness does not spread through social networks nearly as well as happiness does.