Attentiveness to resting leg cramps may afford greater insight into advancing age and declining health

Patient-reported prevalence, characteristics, and impact of leg cramps in an urban primary care clinic

2023-09-25

(Press-News.org) Attentiveness to Resting Leg Cramps May Afford Greater Insight Into Advancing Age and Declining Health

Researchers developed and conducted a cross-sectional survey to examine the prevalence and characteristics of leg cramps in 294 primary care patients (with a mean age of 46.5 years), with 51.7% reporting leg cramps. Patients who experience resting or exercise-induced leg cramps were more likely to be older (mean age 49.1 years) and female (which comprised 69% of surveyed participants and 72% of the cohort experiencing leg cramps). Cramp severity among patients averaged 5.6 on a scale of 1-10 and disturbed sleep was “sometimes” or “often” present in 55% of patients. Most patients did not discuss cramps with their clinician. Authors recommend that clinicians should review resting leg cramps as a symptom of declining health and advancing aging. Clinicians should also be aware of the high prevalence of leg cramps to spur additional research on the physiological condition.

What We Know: Primary care physicians commonly see patients experiencing leg cramps, which can cause significant distress and symptoms that can last many hours. Cramps may cause sleep disruption, reduced quality of life, and depression. Although common, there is a dearth of research about leg cramps, their prevalence, and their impact on primary care patients in the United States.

What This Study Adds: This study not only contributes to the development of a validated survey to identify leg cramps, it also updates information from the last major study conducted on leg cramps conducted in 1991. The new study reveals that patients don’t often bring up the subject with their doctors despite having lived with leg cramps for an average of four years. The authors state that there is emerging evidence that leg cramps are a symptom of declining health, diminishing fitness, and/or advancing aging. Primary care doctors should review leg cramps, regard them as a symptom of impaired quality of life, and be active in addressing the issue as a part of optimizing healthy aging.

Patient-Reported Prevalence, Characteristics, and Impact of Leg Cramps in an Urban Primary Care Clinic

Birgit Khandalavala, MBBS, et al
University of Nebraska Medical Center, College of Medicine, and Department of Family Medicine, Omaha, Nebraska

Pre-embargo article link (Link expires at 5 p.m. EDT Sept. 25, 2023)
Permanent link

END

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Staffing challenges and general time constraints may harm primary care teams’ ability to implement quality improvement efforts

2023-09-25

Researchers aimed to identify factors leading primary care practice personnel to decline participation in quality improvement (QI) projects, and strategies to improve the feasibility and attractiveness of QI projects in the future. Representatives from 31 practices agreed to participate in the study. Overwhelmingly, respondents said that staff turnover, staffing shortages, and general time constraints, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, prevented participation in QI projects. Challenges with electronic health records (EHR); an expectation for greater financial compensation for participation; and confidence in the practices’ current care ...

Primary care investigators, clinicians, patients and community members reflect on NAPCRG’s 50 years of leadership and service

2023-09-25

Primary Care Investigators, Clinicians, Patients and Community Members Reflect on NAPCRG’s 50 Years of Leadership and Service A team of primary care investigators, clinicians, learners, patients, and community members reflected on the North American Primary Care Research Group (NAPCRG) as it passed a 50-year milestone at its 2022 meeting. NAPCRG was started in 1972 by a small group of general practice researchers in the US, Canada, and the UK. It has evolved into an international, interprofessional, interdisciplinary, and intergenerational group devoted to improving health and health care through primary care research. The authors of the special report write that NAPCRG provides ...

September/October Annals of Family Medicine 2023 tip sheet

2023-09-25

Transgender Persons Face Challenges When Seeking Clinical Care, Including Decisions About What Information to Disclose and Risk of Substandard Care Researchers conducted a qualitative study to investigate transgender people’s experiences with sharing health information in clinical encounters. They held seven qualitative focus groups with 30 transgender adults living in North America. Four themes emerged: 1) Transgender people often perceive clinicians’ questions as voyeuristic, stigmatizing, or self-protective; 2) Patients describe being pathologized, denied, given substandard care, or harmed when clinicians ...

Combination radiation with immunotherapy shows promise against “cold” breast cancer tumors

2023-09-25

Researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine have discovered that radiation therapy combined with two types of immunotherapy—one that boosts T cells, and another that boosts dendritic cells—can control tumors in preclinical models of triple negative breast cancer, a cancer type that’s typically resistant to immunotherapy alone. Immunotherapy activates the body’s own immune system to fight cancer but isn’t effective for difficult-to-treat “cold” tumors, like this. The findings were published Aug. 24 in Nature Communications. Though radiation therapy has previously been combined with T-cell boosting immunotherapy, it rarely succeeds ...

A new AI model has been developed to improve accuracy of breast cancer tumor removal

2023-09-25

Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning tools have received a lot of attention recently, with the majority of discussions focusing on proper use. However, this technology has a wide range of practical applications, from predicting natural disasters to addressing racial inequalities and now, assisting in cancer surgery. A new clinical and research partnership between the UNC Department of Surgery, the Joint UNC-NCSU Department of Biomedical Engineering, and the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center has created an AI model that can predict whether or not cancerous ...

Finding the balance: Opioids and pain control after surgery

2023-09-25

ROCHESTER, Minn. — In a recent Mayo Clinic study, researchers found that most patients prescribed fewer opioids after surgery were able to maintain satisfactory comfort levels without requiring more prescription refills later. Under new evidence-based guidelines, patients undergoing various surgeries received fewer opioid pills, and 88% reported feeling "very" or "somewhat" satisfied with their pain management. Researchers worked with the Mayo Clinic Survey Research Center to survey patients undergoing a range of elective surgeries. The survey investigated their post-surgery experiences, overall pain management approach and opioid use. The study’s ...

UC Irvine scientists reveal what fuels wildfires in Sierra Nevada Mountains

2023-09-25

Irvine, Calif., Sept. 25, 2023 — Wildfires in California, exacerbated by human-driven climate change, are getting more severe. To better manage them, there’s a growing need to know exactly what fuels the blazes after they ignite. In a study published in Environmental Research Letters, Earth system scientists at the University of California, Irvine report that one of the chief fuels of wildfires in California’s Sierra Nevada mountains is the decades-old remains of large trees. “Our findings support the idea that large-diameter fuel build-up is ...

US Department of Energy Office of Science awards $115M for High Rigidity Spectrometer project at FRIB

2023-09-25

Images EAST LANSING, Mich. – The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science, or DOE-SC, has awarded $115 million for the High Rigidity Spectrometer, or HRS, project at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, or FRIB, at Michigan State University. The HRS instrument will enable scientists to characterize the properties of isotopes that are created in rare-isotope reactions produced at about 50% of the speed of light. With the ability to measure properties such as the mass, charge and velocity of rare isotopes produced in those conditions, HRS will be a centerpiece experimental instrument ...

Algorithm would predict disease relapses

2023-09-25

A University of Texas at Arlington research team has received a $450,000 grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences to use statistical machine learning to review patient data and better predict which patients will need additional treatments. “With recent advances in screening, diagnosis and treatment, many diseases like cancer or cardiovascular disease can be identified in an early stage,” said Suvra Pal, associate professor of statistics in the Department of Mathematics. “Fortunately, a significant proportion of patients living ...

Exercise-mimicking drug sheds weight, boosts muscle activity in mice

2023-09-25

A brand-new kind of drug, tested in mice, shows promising new results that could lead to the development of a new weight-loss drug that mimics exercise. The new compound, developed and tested by a University of Florida professor of pharmacy and his colleagues, leads obese mice to lose weight by convincing the body’s muscles that they are exercising more than they really are, boosting the animals’ metabolism. It also increases endurance, helping mice run nearly 50% further than they could before. All without the mice lifting ...

Attentiveness to resting leg cramps may afford greater insight into advancing age and declining health

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES: