Drug found ineffective for Veterans' stress

Jae C. Hong/associated press

A United States Navy maintained, psychological tests at the Marine Corps Air ground combat Center in Twentynine palms, California, in 2009 to take.

Generally prescribed drugs for the treatment of severe post-traumatic stress symptoms for veterans are not more effective than placebo and come with serious side effects including weight gain and fatigue, researchers on Tuesday reported.

The amazing statement, from the largest study of its kind in veterans, challenges current treatment standards so directly, that it could soon change some experts to practice said.

Ten to 20 per cent of those who get under heavy fight developing permanent symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, and one-fifth of the treatment for a recipe for a so-called antipsychotic drugs, according to government figures.

The new study, published in the journal of the American Medical Association, focused on a drug, RISPERDAL. But experts said that their results will most likely expand to the entire class, including drugs such as Geodon, Seroquel and Abilify.

"I think it is a very important study" given how often the drugs were prescribed, said Dr. Charles Hoge, was senior scientist at the Walter Reed Army Institute of research, not involved in the study, but wrote him a document accompanying editorial. He added: "it is certainly in question make the use of antipsychotics in General for PTSD calls."

The use of such drugs has grown in the last decade, as thousands of soldiers and Marines have found that their post traumatic stress symptoms supports drugs not respond to antidepressants, the only one by the scientific evidence for the disease. Doctors have to antipsychotics, transformed the mood, extend treatment, almost entirely on their experiences with them and how they operate expect based strongly influence.

To test these assumptions, 123 veterans with the disease start a therapy, a team of researchers with the Veterans Affairs medical system had joined their treatment RISPERDAL added. Some patients, others in the Iraq or Afghanistan; served in Viet Nam, Antidepressant tried all treatments and little help found.

After six months of treatment actions these veterans no better than a similar group of 124 veterans, the placebo received. Restored around 5 percent in both groups, and 10 to 20 percent reported at least some improvement is based on standardized measures.

"There is no suggestion that the medication was an overall benefit to their lives," said Dr. John H. Krystal, the Director of the Division of Clinical Neurosciences of the Department of Veterans Affairs National Center for PTSD and main author of the study.

Dr. Krystal said the benefits that many doctors thought, they were always of the drugs "may be treatment, came from establishing just the patient, not the drugs." He said that Neuroleptics features, as well as post-traumatic symptoms could help certain individuals with psychotic but that the study was not designed to identify them.

The findings come at a time when the departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs burden to offer treatment, service members who are not only concerned about the stigma of mental illness, but are also often skeptical return the value of the treatment. Surveys have found that this thought treatment need only about half actually find it.

Yet studies indicate that talk therapy, alone or in combination with antidepressants, speed up the liberation of common symptoms such as nightmares & withdrawn behavior. Tends to be relaxation skills include these psychotherapy; incrementally increased exposure to stress triggers; and on some inaccurate assumptions, the fear of fuel pump.

Time should also take into account, be new research has found. "We find that is about 24 months after an a year deployment of enough" for the body even physiologically reset, Dr. Hoge said.

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Vital signs: screening: mammography seen ineffective in Europe

An analysis of data from six European countries suggests that mammography had screening has no effect on breast cancer -Mortalität.

Deaths from breast cancer significantly industrialized to countries in most declined, but it is difficult to know how much of the decline due to early detection, treatment or the efficiency of health systems.

Researchers used a natural experiment in three pairs of countries. Some, initiated regular mammography screening much earlier than others, but their health systems and socio-economic levels were nearly identical. The countries that for the comparison were paired in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland; the Netherlands and Belgium; and Sweden and Norway.

The study, published in the British medical journal BMJ, found online July 28, that in all three cases, previous implementation of screening had no effect on mortality. For example, in Northern Ireland, screening was introduced in the early 1990s, and 75 percent of the women got 1995, mammography. In the Republic of Ireland screening was introduced until 2000, and it was not until 2008 that showed 76% of the population. From 1989 to 2006, breast cancer mortality were 29.6 percent in Northern Ireland and by 26.7 per cent in Ireland.

"We were surprised and very sad to find that breast cancer screening does not work," said Dr. Philippe Autier, lead author. "We had expected to find the opposite."

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