A new peer-reviewed paper published in The Gerontologist  provides the most comprehensive scientific response to date addressing recent critiques of the so-called “blue zones,” regions of the world known for unusually high concentrations of people living long, healthy lives. In the article, “The validity of blue zones demography: a response to critiques,” authors Steven N. Austad, PhD (Scientific Director, American Federation for Aging Research/AFAR and Distinguished Professor, Protective Life Endowed Chair in Healthy Aging Research at the University of Alabama at Birmingham) and Giovanni M. Pes, MD (Professor of Medicine at the University of Sassari) detail decades of demographic research showing that ages in the original blue zones have been rigorously validated using the highest standards of modern gerontological demography. 

The latest issues of four American Psychiatric Association journals (The American Journal of Psychiatry, Psychiatric Services, American Journal of Psychotherapy and Psychiatric Research and Clinical Practice) are now available online.

Low back pain (LBP) is a prevalent condition associated with disability, work loss and economic burden to healthcare. Significant risk factors include poor sleep, physical and psychological stress, inactivity, advanced age and smoking. The contribution of greater weight and body mass index (BMI) to risk of LBP is less clear. Many past clinical studies have been small (fewer than 1,000 patients) or in specific patient groups, such as young men or patients who come to a subspecialty pain clinic, making those results more specific to those populations. 

In a new study from Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, researchers have found individuals who are overweight or obese have a significantly higher risk of developing LBP compared to those with a normal BMI.