Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.health From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: health Wed, Mar 18 1992 Date: Wed, 18 Mar 92 05:44:27 EST Message-ID: 03-18 0000 DECISIONLINE: Health USA TODAY Update March 18, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network DEPRESSION STRIKES ONE IN FOUR: Multiple symptoms of depression may strike more than 25% of Americans at some time in their lives. But many suffer because doctors don't adequately treat depression that isn't "major." So say researchers in Journal of the American Medical Association Wednesday. They say the answer is to better recognize non-clinical depression and treat it in primary care. (For more, see special Depression package below.) NUTRITION BOOKLET AVAILABLE: A free booklet giving nutrition tips for expectant mothers is available through the March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation. To receive "Healthy Eating During Pregnancy," send a self-addressed mailing label to: Healthy Eating, P.O. Box 1144, Rockville, Md. 20850. HOSPITAL TO EXHIBIT LASER: A hospital in Pompano Beach, Fla., will show off its tattoo-removing Q-Switched Ruby Laser on Thursday. News media will witness the removal of an eight-inch-by-four-inch tattoo from the derriere of a 23-year-old woman who hopes to become a Playboy Playmate. Playboy says a tattoo doesn't disqualify a prospective Playmate. BLACKS GET BYPASS LESS OFTEN: Black Americans on Medicare are more than three times less likely to receive bypass surgery than white Medicare patients. A study in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association says that in the rural southeast, blacks are seven times less likely to have bypasses than whites. PEPPERS MAY KEEP SNIFFLES AWAY: Red hot chili peppers may be used to stop runny noses. What causes the peppers' burning sensation - a chemical called capsaicin - can desensitize nerves in the nose that cause running, sneezing and congestion. Johns Hopkins Asthma and Allergy Center says just eating them isn't enough. It's exploring putting capsaicin into nose sprays to help people who suffer from over-sensitive noses. TEENAGERS ARE AT RISK: Four in 10 teenagers have had sex in the past three months and half of them didn't use a condom, increasing their danger of hepatitis B infection, according to a survey by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. Almost 90% of sexually transmitted diseases occur among people age 15-29, according to the CDC, and hepatitis B is the second-most commonly reported sexually transmitted disease. EPIDEMIC IS PREVENTABLE: A potential hepatitis B epidemic is preventable because there is a vaccine for the disease. "Eighteen million adolescents in this country are at enormous risk of hepatitis B infection today and we must do everything possible to vaccinate them," said Dr. Caroline Hall, chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Infectious Diseases. RAINSTORMS INCREASE ALLERGIES: A new study shows that rainstorms can increases allergies. Researchers at the University of Melbourne and Alfred Hospital in Prarhan, Australia, reported that 50 times more grains of pollin could be found in air samples taken after a rainstorm than before one. It also suggests humid homes can increase the risk of allergies from the biggest source of asthma, the house dust mite. GAYS GET MORE BENEFITS: Gay and lesbian employees' efforts to win health insurance benefits are gaining momentum. Levi Strauss and Minnesota Communications Group recently joined Lotus Development and about a dozen other U.S. companies in extending health benefits to gay partners. SPECIAL PACKAGE ON DEPRESSION: MAJOR DEPRESSION HITS 6%: A study out Wednesday found that 6% of those surveyed had suffered major depression or feelings of sadness (called dysthymia) for at least two years of their lives. The study, headed by epidemiologist Myrna M. Weissman, New York State Psychiatric Institute, interviewed 18,551 adults in a random sample from New Haven, Conn.; St. Louis; Baltimore; Durham, N.C.; and Los Angeles. 23% HAVE HAD SYMPTOMS: Of those surveyed, 23% have had two or three depression symptoms for two weeks or more. Symptoms include sleep or appetite problems, guilt, fatigue or lack of interest in sex. Minor depression accounted for 22% of doctor visits for emotional problems; major depression 11%. DEPRESSION GOES UNTREATED: Many people with minor depression go undiagnosed, Weisman says. Researchers say it's "ironic" many patients seeing doctors for emotional problems don't fit a diagnosis. "There should be better recognition of them and effort to treat them in primary care," Weissman says. (End of package.) Health Editor: Ed Kelleher. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution violates federal law. This article is copyright 1992 Gannett News Service. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM