Tuesday, Nov 29, 2005

HEALTH IN BRIEFS

Obesity Might Force Use Of Longer Needles

That traditional shot in the heinie might be doing less and less good as people become plumper, according to a new study presented Monday.

“Our study has demonstrated that a majority of people, especially women, are not getting the proper dosage from injections to the buttocks. There is no question that obesity is the underlying cause,” said Dr. Victoria Chan, a researcher at the Adelaide and Meath Hospital in Dublin, Ireland.

Her study found that as few as one in 10 women and six in 10 men might be getting proper doses from injections because the needle can’t reach the target.

The region is considered a good spot to inject drugs and vaccines because it has relatively few major blood vessels, nerves or bones to be damaged by a needle, yet has many small blood vessels that speed absorption of drugs.

But the new study showed that “68 percent of intramuscular injections do not reach the muscles of the buttock,” Dr. Chan said. “The amount of fat tissue overlying the muscles exceeds the length of the needles commonly used for these injections.” The solution, unfortunately, she said, may be tome longer needles.