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People who suffer from major depression are at risk for low bone mineral density (BMD), research hints.

In the last 14 years, “ample research” has implicated major depression in bone loss and the bone-thinning disease osteoporosis, Dr. Raz Yirmiya and Dr. Itai Bab from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel note in the journal Biological Psychiatry.

To investigate further, the investigators pooled data from 23 studies involving 2327 depressed and 21,141 non-depressed adults.

Overall, depressed individuals had less dense bones than non-depressed individuals, they found. Depressed individuals also had increased levels of bone resorption markers.

Based on these findings and prior studies, “We propose that all individuals psychiatrically diagnosed with major depression are at risk for developing osteoporosis, with depressed women — particularly those who are premenopausal — showing a higher risk than men,” Yirmiya and Bab conclude.

People with major depression should have their BMD checked periodically, they conclude.

A longer period of preventive treatment after kidney transplant can help reduce the risk that the patient will become infected with a virus that can cause devastating problems, new research suggests.

Healthy people can usually fight off the virus, called cytomegalovirus, but those with kidney transplants have weakened immune systems and are more susceptible to infection, the authors of the study noted in a news release from the American Society of Nephrology.

In the comparison study, Dr. Fu Luan, of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and colleagues gave kidney transplant patients either three months or six months of treatment with the antiviral drug valganciclovir. They found that those who were given the longer treatment had a rate of infection that was half that of those who received treatment for three months (12 percent vs. 24 percent).

When the researchers took into account other factors that could have played a role, they found that the longer treatment regimen lowered the risk of cytomegalovirus by nearly two-thirds.

The study also found that the longer treatment is cost-effective, although it is expensive. But the study authors contend that it’s cheaper in the long run to prevent infections that could end up being very costly.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today advised consumers not to use certain respiratory medications purchased after Sept. 8, 2009 and manufactured by Dey L.P., a subsidiary of Mylan Inc., because the medications might have been part of a shipment being transported on a tractor-trailer stolen in Tampa, Fla., on Sept. 8, 2009.

The respiratory medications, Ipratropium Bromide Inhalation Solution, 0.02%, and Albuterol Sulfate Inhalation Solution, 0.083%, unit-dose vials, have not been recovered and may be dangerous to use because the drugs may not have been stored and handled properly.

Dey issued an advisory on Sept. 11, 2009 regarding the theft. Although the FDA is not aware of any reports of adverse events, the agency is advising patients who use these respiratory medications to check to see if products received or purchased after Sept. 8, 2009 are from one of the following lots:

Albuterol Sulfate Inhalation Solution (892,000 doses; all lots contain 3.0 ml vials and display the brand name “Dey”)
Lot number 9G04, NDC # 49502-697-29
Lot number 9FD8, NDC # 49502-697-61
Lot number 9FD9, NDC # 49502-697-61
Lot number 9FE1, NDC # 49502-697-61

Ipratropium Bromide Inhalation Solution (432,000 doses; all lots contain 2.5 ml vials and display the brand name “Dey”)
Lot number F09089, NDC # 49502-685-31
Lot number C09119, NDC # 49502-685-62
Lot number C09120, NDC # 49502-685-62

Do not use Albuterol Sulfate Inhalation Solution or Ipratropium Bromide Inhalation Solution if it is from one of these lots and was purchased or received after Sept. 8, 2009. Replace it with the same product from another lot.

Notify your health care professional of any adverse effects you may have experienced as a result of taking these medications.

Bring products from these lots back to the pharmacy where you received the medicine to exchange for products from a different lot or call Dey customer service at 800-527-4278. Contact your health care professional if you must switch to another product for any reason for possible dose adjustments.

Gay, lesbian and bisexual teenagers may be at higher risk of binge-eating and purging than their heterosexual peers, starting as early as age 12, a new study finds.

Past research has found connections between sexual orientation and the risk of eating disorders in adults — showing, for instance, that gay men have higher rates of symptoms than their heterosexual counterparts.

Less has been known about how sexual orientation affects teenagers’ risks of various eating disorders.

For the new study, researchers at Harvard University and Children’s Hospital Boston used data from a U.S. survey of nearly 14,000 12- to 23-year-olds to look at the relationship between sexual orientation and binge-eating and purging.

They found heightened rates of binge-eating among both males and females who identified themselves as gay, lesbian, bisexual or “mostly heterosexual.”

Purging, by vomiting or abusing laxatives, was also more common among these teens, the researchers report in the Journal of Adolescent Health.

“We found clear and concerning signs of higher rates of eating disorder symptoms in sexual-minority youth compared to their heterosexual peers even at ages as young as 12, 13 or 14 years old,” lead researcher S. Bryn Austin, an assistant professor of pediatrics, told Reuters Health in an email.

Among females, lesbian, bisexual and mostly heterosexual respondents were all about twice as likely as their heterosexual counterparts to report binge-eating at least once per month in the past year.

Bisexual and mostly heterosexual girls and women were also more likely to say they had purged in the past year in order to control their weight.

Among males, the highest risks were seen among homosexuals — who were seven times more likely to report bingeing and nearly 12 times more likely to report purging than heterosexual males.

Bisexual and mostly heterosexual boys and men also had elevated risks of both problems — with rates anywhere from three to seven times higher than those of their heterosexual counterparts.

The survey data do not offer a potential reason for the findings, but past studies give some insight, according to the researchers.

“We know that gay, lesbian, and other sexual-minority kids are often under a lot of pressure,” Austin said, noting that these teens are often “treated like outsiders” in their own families and schools, and may be excluded, harassed or victimized by bullies.

“This kind of isolation and victimization can take its toll on a young person,” Austin explained, “and one of ways it can play out is in vulnerability to eating-disorder symptoms and a host of other stress-related health problems.”

She added that because negative attitudes and discrimination against sexual minorities are still pervasive in society, families need to be a source of support.

It is “incredibly important,” Austin said, “for parents and other family members to reach out and make sure these youth know they are loved and supported, that they can count on their families to stay by their side.”