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Aspirin, other NSAIDs at standard doses may lower endometrial cancer risk in obese women

Jairia Dela Cruz, 11 Jan 2019

Use of standard-dose aspirin or other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) appears to confer protection against the risk of endometrial cancer in overweight and obese women, according to a meta-analysis.

Most Singaporean teens don’t get enough sleep on school nights

Tristan Manalac, 11 Jan 2019

Less than 15 percent of Singaporean adolescents get the recommended 8–10 hours of sleep on a school night, reports a recent study, noting that such short sleep duration is linked to symptoms of depression, overweight or obesity, and poorer self-rated health.

Sleep apnoea a potential risk factor for male-pattern baldness

04 Jan 2019

Obstructive sleep apnoea may increase the risk of male-pattern baldness in men with a family history of hair loss, and this association appears to be mediated by low serum transferrin saturation levels related to hypoxia, a study suggests.

Persistent pulmonary hypertension of newborn tied to higher mortality, sepsis

28 Apr 2018

Rare diseases, under the Singapore law, refer to the illnesses that are “life-threatening and severely debilitating” – and are often not easy to be spotted.

Persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn (PPHN) is a common phenomenon in infants with moderate or severe hypoxic ischaemic encephalopathy (HIE), a recent study has shown. Moreover, PPHN is linked to lung disease, sepsis and increased mortality.

Drawing from two randomized trials of therapeutic hypothermia, researchers analysed the information of 303 infants with HIE, of whom 22 percent (n=67; mean gestational age at birth 38.7±1.8 weeks; 57 percent male) had PPHN. Maternal hypertension (6 percent vs 16 percent) and uterine rupture (3 percent vs 13 percent; p<0.05 for both) were all significantly less common in the PPHN group.

Meconium aspiration syndrome (39 percent vs 7 percent), pulmonary haemorrhage (12 percent vs 3 percent), sepsis (12 percent vs 3 percent), cardiac dysfunction by echo (27 percent vs 5 percent), cardiomegaly (15 percent vs 1 percent) and systemic hypotension (65 percent vs 28 percent) were all significantly more common in infants with vs without PPHN (p<0.05 for all).

Patients with PPHN also had a significantly longer duration of hospital stay (26.0±21.3 vs 16.4±14.3 days; p<0.05).

In-hospital mortality was likewise significantly higher in those with PPHN (27 percent vs 16 percent; p<0.05), though the significance was attenuated upon adjusting for baseline HIE severity (adjusted odds ratio [OR], 1.52; 95 percent CI, 0.76–3.02; p=0.24).

Notably, in those with moderate HIE, the PPHN vs no-PPHN group had significantly higher mortality rates (18 percent vs 8 percent; adjusted OR, 2.73; 1.01–7.39; p=0.048).