Debris, fluid skew results

Second hearing test urged for infants

Newborns should be tested for hearing more than once before leaving the hospital, a study has found, because initial tests may falsely indicate problems.

A four-year study at Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas — whose 17,000 annual births make it the largest birthing center in the U.S. — found that between 2.4 and 4.7 percent of newborns were initially diagnosed with hearing problems after just one test. If a second test was given before discharge, results were more accurate, with just 0.5 to 1 percent of the infants appearing to have auditory problems. About half of those infants were found to have actual hearing problems in follow-up tests done within 10 days.

Many states mandate auditory testing on newborns. If problems are found early, hearing aids or cochlear implants can help avert potential development delays.

Researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School who performed the study found that temporary debris in the external ear canal or middle-ear fluid often caused the false positives. The study appeared in the January edition of Pediatrics.

NIMH report

DHEA may beat midlife depression

A supplement sometimes marketed as a "fountain of youth" may help combat midlife depression, doctors say.

The drug DHEA — dehydroepiandrosterone — "may have a useful role in the treatment of mild to moderately severe midlife-onset major and minor depression" in some patients, said the report from the National Institute of Mental Health.

The findings were based on a small study involving 46 men and women aged 45 to 65 who had major or minor depression of moderate severity.

Some got the drug and others an inert placebo, and the process was repeated switching the groups. At the end, the participants were tested for depression.

In all, 23 showed a reduction of at least 50 percent in their depression after they received the drug. In addition, 13 showed improvement after the placebo.

The report was published in the Archives of General Psychiatry.

The authors said since only half of those studied found improvement with the drug and it is not clear why or for whom it best works, a more conventional antidepression drug would likely be the first choice for treatment.

But for those patients who do not respond to such drugs or are unwilling to take them, DHEA may be useful, it added.

DHEA, a hormone produced by the adrenal glands, is widely touted on the Internet and elsewhere as a "fountain of youth" drug that can slow the aging process. It also has been studied as an alternative HIV/AIDS therapy.

CDC research

U.S. leads in deaths from sexual activity

Americans, and especially women, are three times more likely to suffer premature death and adverse health due to sexual activity than people in other rich nations, scientists say.

Researchers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found some 20 million cases of adverse health conditions and 29,745 deaths in the U.S. in 1998 were related to sexually transmitted diseases.

"The research showed the sexual behavior-attributable health burden is about three fold higher in the U.S. than other developed countries," said Dr. Shahul Ebrahim, one of the authors of the CDC study.

"All of it is totally preventable and that's the message."

Ebrahim said the health burden included conditions such as infertility, abortions and infections such as gonorrhea.

Women accounted for 62 percent of all adverse health cases, with most female deaths attributable to cervical cancer and HIV.

Deaths from curable sexually transmitted diseases were, however, rare among both men and women.

The paper, published in the journal Sexually Transmitted Infections, was the first attempt to generate comprehensive findings on the health burden related to sexual behavior in the U.S.

Seattle Times wire services