New Health Website

New health advice website set to debut.
The New York Times (10/7, Elliott) reports, "Starting on Thursday, the Web site Sharecare.com is to arrive, offering what its proprietors call an interactive social Q.& A. platform to provide consumers with what they want to know on health and wellness subjects - with the A's being contributed by, among others, marketers." Sharecare.com "will begin with content contributed by organizations like AARP, the American Cancer Society, the American Heart Association, the American Red Cross, the Cleveland Clinic, Johns Hopkins and the National Academy of Sports Medicine." Some "visitors looking for objective answers to questions on health matters may raise their eyebrows at the presence of marketers," adds the Times.

Smoking Stats

New CPR Stats

"Hands-only CPR" may be associated with better survival than conventional method.
The CBS Evening News (10/5, story 11, 0:25, Couric) reported, "CPR saves lives every day." Now, a "major study suggests the best way to do it." According to the paper in the Journal of the American Medical Association, cardiac arrest "victims have a 70% greater chance of survival if CPR is administered by using only hand compressions rather than by using compressions and mouth-to-mouth."
The finding is noteworthy, because some 300,000 Americans suffer cardiac arrest every year, the Wall Street Journal (10/6, Dooren) reports. But, according to the American Heart Association (AHA), less than one-third of those patients receive CPR from bystanders. AHA maintains that many are hesitant about offering mouth-to-mouth to individuals who are more often than not strangers.
There are also "many reasons why mouth-to-mouth may not be advisable for lay people, beyond the fact that many simply do not want to perform it," the Los Angeles Times (10/5, Maugh) "Booster Shots" blog noted. "Among other things, there is a rapid deterioration of blood flow that occurs during even brief disruptions of chest pumping, the long ramp-up time for resumption of normal flow when compressions are begun again after a pause, the significant amount of time necessary to perform breathing, and the critical importance of keeping blood flow to the brain going during a heart attack. Moreover, most heart attack victims gasp for air every 15 to 20 seconds, and that provides more oxygen than mouth-to-mouth, experts said."
Lead investigator Dr. Ben Bobrow, of the Arizona Department of Health Services, told the AP (10/6, Johnson): "We wanted to take away all the reasons bystanders do nothing when they witness another person collapse." The state "reached 500,000 people through public service announcements, YouTube, free classes, emails, and inserts in utility bills, all promoting hands-only CPR." Aiming to gauge the success of those efforts, Dr. Bobrow and his colleagues "looked at 4,415 adult cardiac arrests outside of hospitals in Arizona from 2005 to 2009 during the campaign."
Of those cases, "2,900 received no CPR from witnesses, 666 (about 15 percent) received conventional CPR that includes rescue breathing and 849 (about 19 percent) received compression-only CPR," HealthDay (10/5, Goodwin) reported. "Over time, along with public education campaigns encouraging 'hands-only' CPR, the annual rate for bystanders attempting CPR improved from about 28 percent in 2005 to nearly 40 percent in 2009." That rise "coincided with the shift to the compression-only technique -- in 2005, only about 20 percent of lay rescuers did compression-only compared to nearly 76 percent in 2009."

Anorexia Family Therapy

Family-based treatment may benefit teens with anorexia.
The Wall Street Journal (10/5, Wang) reports that, according to a study published Oct. 4 in the Archives of General Psychiatry, the families of adolescent patients with anorexia nervosa are now being included more and more often in the treatment of the disorder. The study found that having parents supervise each meal to make sure their child eats may be more efficacious than traditional one-on-one treatment with a therapist.
The Chicago Tribune (10/4, Deardorff) "Julie's Health Blog" reported, "Family-based therapy, often called the Maudsley Approach, should be the gold standard or first-line outpatient treatment for medically stable teens, said study co-author Daniel Le Grange, director of the Eating Disorders Clinic at the University of Chicago Medical Center." For the study, "120 patients with anorexia were randomly assigned to one of the two treatments."
HealthDay (10/4, Gardner) reported, "At six months, 40 percent of those in family-based treatment were in full remission versus 18 percent of those in individual therapy. At one year, the numbers were 49 percent and 23 percent, respectively." HealthDay pointed out that "the family therapy explored in this study focused on parents actively helping kids learn to eat and gain weight, then turning more autonomy over to the patients as their functioning improves."

New Arthritis Drug Risk

Potential arthritis drug reduced pain more than expected, leading to overuse of joints.
Bloomberg News (9/30, Cortez) reports, "An experimental arthritis drug from Pfizer Inc.," called tanezumab, "reduced pain more than researchers anticipated, doctors said," and "allowed previously hobbled patients to overuse and permanently damage their joints." Pfizer halted the trials of the drug in June and July at the request of the FDA, but the company is now discussing the drug's development program with the agency, according to a company spokesman. "Studies of the drug in patients with cancer pain and chronic pancreatitis are under way."
MedPage Today (9/29, Walsh) also noted, "Patients who received various doses of tanezumab had significant reductions ranging from 31 to 45.2 points in knee pain while walking, as assessed on a 100-point visual analogue scale, compared with a change of 15.5 points for patients receiving placebo, according to Nancy E. Lane, MD, of the University of California Davis in Sacramento, and colleagues."

Smog and Diabetes

Smog may be linked to diabetes risk.
USA Today (9/30, Marcus) reports, "How smoggy your city is might affect your chances of developing diabetes," according to research published in the journal Diabetes Care. Researchers "obtained county-by-county data on pollution levels from the Environmental Protection Agency during 2004 and 2005, as well as Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and US Census information on the prevalence of adult diabetes," one of the study's authors "says." The investigators "found a strong correlation between adult diabetes and particulate air pollution, a correlation that persists even after adjustment for other risk factors."

Ambivalence Research

Scientists studying how ambivalence affects people's lives.
On the front of its Personal Journal section, the Wall Street Journal (9/28, D1, Wang) reports that researchers are looking at how ambivalence, or conflicting feelings about situations, affects people's lives. Some people can make quick decisions, even important ones as selecting a life partner, while those tending toward high ambivalence may spend hours before picking up a pair of socks they like from a store. Some scientists say higher ambivalence indicates a sign of maturity, because it helps people deal with reality better. Still, ambivalent people tend to have troubled relationships and are more likely to land in divorce courts. Scientists aren't sure why some people are wired to have greater ambivalence, but they believe personality traits or culture may play a role.

PSA Update

New research may simplify the PSA decision for some men.
According to the New York Times (9/27, D1, Parker-Pope) "Well" blog appearing on the front of the Science Times section, the decision to take "regular PSA tests" is "not an easy choice," considering that "studies show that the screening saves few, if any, lives." What's more, the test "often" pinpoints "cellular changes in the prostate that meet the technical definition of cancer," but "are so slow-growing that if left alone they will never cause harm." Now, researchers may be able to "offer simple, practical advice -- at least for men 60 and older." According to a paper in BMJ, "a man's PSA score at the age of 60 can strongly predict his lifetime risk of dying of prostate cancer." In addition, "at least half of men who are now screened after age 60 don't need to be, the study authors said."

Exercise Prescriptions

More physicians prescribe exercise, but research on its effectiveness seen as "mixed."
The Chicago Tribune (9/28, Deardorff) reports, "If some health advocates had their way, exercise would be the most widely prescribed 'drug' in the country." But, "research on whether the prescriptions are effective is limited and mixed." A study of "Australian women between the ages of 40 to 74 found that exercise prescriptions increased physical activity and quality of life over two years, though falls and injuries also increased." Other "work has found that exercise-referral schemes had a small effect in increasing physical activity in sedentary people," the Tribune adds.
More older people hiring physical therapists in place of personal trainers. The Wall Street Journal (9/28, Helliker) reports that an increasing number of older people are employing physical therapists in place of a personal trainer, despite the higher charges that come with their hiring. Physical therapists are typically hired by athletes crossing 50 to help deal with a problem, but increasingly more people are looking them up because they are very good at identifying problems that could potentially hinder exercise such as ankle or knee injuries, the Journal writes.
Tai chi may help fibromyalgia patients, study suggests. The New York Times' (9/28) health columnist Jane E. Brody writes of "potential health benefits" of Chinese martial art tai chi after reviewing "existing scientific evidence." The "many small studies of tai chi have found health benefits ranging from better balance and prevention of falls to reduced blood pressure, relief of pain and improved immunity." The latest study, financed mainly by NIH's National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, "was conducted among patients with debilitating fibromyalgia, a complex and poorly understood pain syndrome." Dr. Chenchen Wang and colleagues at Tufts Medical Center in Boston reported in August in the New England Journal of Medicine "that tai chi reduced pain and fatigue and improved the patients' ability to move, function physically and sleep."

Non Compliant Patients

Physician says patients who don't follow medical advice should be respected for their decisions.
In his column in the Los Angeles Times (9/27), physician Steve Dudley writes about patients who are classified as being "non-compliant" for not following the instructions of the "omniscient doctors." He says that although some of his "colleagues may differ" with him, he see the "patient is in the driver's seat" and his role as "that of a consultant, offering advice and assistance to those who seek it." He says there could be a number of reasons why patients become non-compliant, including "perhaps the drugs are too pricey and the patient is embarrassed to admit that finances are a problem." Dudley says he is also uncomfortable with "the 'non-compliance' label" as it "reflects a very authoritarian approach to the doctor-patient relationship." Notably, "What is more important to me is to try to figure out the 'why' behind the non-compliance."

"Valley of Death"

Many Parkinson's, Alzheimer's patients caught in "valley of death."
Dave Iverson, writing for PBS NewsHour (9/24), said, "I first heard about the problem known as the 'valley of death' from...the actor and philanthropist Michael J. Fox. The valley of death is the gap that sometimes exists between the world of pure science and the world of creating new treatments for a variety of diseases. Fox said patients inhabit the middle ground and are often overlooked in the search for treatments." Notably, NIH director Francis Collins "has voiced strong interest in narrowing the gap between what goes on in the lab and what patients need." Still, "bridging the valley of death will not bring about instant cures," because "conditions such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and multiple sclerosis are hugely complicated." Nevertheless, "recognizing this complexity is important for both patients and the news media."

Causes for ADHD Discussed

Causes of rise in AD/HD diagnoses discussed.
Time (9/23, Cloud) reports, "A new study finds that the rise in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, is not a uniquely American phenomenon." For example, "2.2% of kids were treated for hyperkinetic disorder (roughly speaking, the European equivalent of ADHD) in 2007; that's an increase of 53% for boys and 69% for girls since 2000." The "rise in ADHD diagnoses among kids indicates one of two things: either children are more fidgety and less able to focus these days, or parents and doctors have become less patient with the squirms and jiggles of childhood."

New MS Drug

FDA approves Novartis drug for MS.
Bloomberg News (9/22, Von Schaper) reports that Novartis AG says the FDA cleared its Gilenya (fingolimod) oral drug for sale as a treatment of recurring multiple sclerosis, allowing the company to beat Merck's Cladribine (leustatin) to market in the US. Standard treatments for MS relapses are injectable medications, but the National Multiple Sclerosis Society says some patients have difficulty maintaining the treatments "because they're difficult to use or have side effects," according to Bloomberg News. Both Novartis and Merck have received approval in Russia to use their drugs for MS, and Merck also has Australian approval. The Wall Street Journal (9/22, Greil) also covers the story.

Blueberry Drinks and Hypertension

Blueberry drink may lower systolic blood pressure, study suggests.
The Los Angeles Times (9/21, Forgione) "Booster Shots" blog reported that a study published in the Journal of Nutrition "found a seven- to eight-point drop in the systolic blood pressure of 66 pre-hypertensive men and women who included a blueberry drink in their diet once a day for eight weeks."

Lifestyle and Cancer Rates

Lifestyle choices may be spurring disparate US, global cancer rates.
The Chicago Tribune (9/22) reports, "Breast cancer rates in the US are nearly double those in Brazil and nearly triple those in China," according to data compiled by the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR). "Some of the disparity may be explained by a greater number of reported cancer diagnoses in the US, as AICR points out, but experts suggest that much of the blame for the higher incidence of breast cancer in the US can be pinpointed to lifestyle choices." For example, "studies indicate that being overweight, drinking alcohol, taking birth control pills, using hormone replacement therapy, and not having children or having your first child after age 35 can all increase your risk of developing breast cancer."
Early puberty's link to increased breast cancer risk examined. In a separate article, the Chicago Tribune (9/22, Elejalde-Ruiz) reports that there is more evidence which suggests the "earlier a girl gets her first period, the greater her risk of developing breast cancer later in life." So, "given reports that more girls are hitting puberty earlier, does that mean that more women might develop breast cancer, and at an earlier age? The answers, as with many medical questions, are yes, no, and maybe," because it is a "complicated connection to make. A host of other factors contribute to elevated breast cancer risk, including obesity, lifestyle, and genetics, that might also be tied to the age a girl gets her first period. Teasing apart the risk factors will take a long time."
Newer research appears to refute association between high soy intake, breast cancer risk. The Chicago Tribune (9/22, Markowitz) reports, "Soybeans and soy products...contain chemicals called isoflavones," and "institutions like the Pennsylvania State University's College of Agricultural Science and Susan G. Komen for the Cure caution that, because isoflavones are weak estrogens, and because high levels of estrogen have been linked with breast cancer cell growth, adding large amounts of soy and soy products to your diet may increase your risk of developing breast cancer." However, "newer findings suggest high-soy diets can reduce the risk of breast cancer recurrence and death." Specifically, a "2009 study involving 5,042 Chinese female breast-cancer survivors, reported in the Journal of American Medical Association, found that diets with high levels of soy reduced the risk of breast cancer recurrence and death."
Low breast cancer awareness among men may result in delayed treatment. The Chicago Tribune (9/22) reports, "Men's minimal breast development and negligible exposure to female hormones greatly reduces the likelihood that their breast duct cells will undergo cancerous changes, but it does not completely eliminate the possibility that they can get breast cancer." In fact, "in 2010, approximately 1,970 men will be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer." Indeed, "male breast cancer accounts for less than one percent of all breast cancer cases, according to the American Society of Clinical Oncology," but "because breast cancer awareness in men is much lower than in women" a large percentage of "male breast cancer diagnoses aren't made until the cancer is more advanced." Based on information from the University of Michigan, the Mayo Clinic, and other well known organizations, the Chicago Tribune (9/22) also presents a set of myths and facts regarding the disease.

Flu Vaccine and Heart Attack Risk

Adults vaccinated for seasonal influenza may be less likely to suffer heart attacks.
Bloomberg News (9/20, Randall) reported that, according to a study published online Sept. 20 in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, "adults vaccinated for seasonal influenza were less likely to suffer heart attacks." After examining "vaccination rates of 16,012 people who had heart attacks and 62,694 patients of similar age and background who didn't," researchers found that "people at least 40 years old who were vaccinated during the flu season showed a 20 percent reduction in first heart attacks within a year, compared with patients who didn't get shots."
"The relationship was stronger if immunization occurred early in the season (before mid-November)," MedPage Today (9/20, Neale) reported. However, the "pneumococcal vaccination did not show the same effect."
HealthDay (9/20, Holohan) reported that the study's findings "drew some criticism from US experts." For instance, "Dr. Kirk Garratt, associate director of the division of cardiac intervention at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, said the study found there were 19 percent fewer heart attack patients vaccinated in the previous year, not that there was a 19 percent reduction in heart attacks among the vaccinated." He added that "if getting a flu shot could prevent 19 percent of heart attacks, it would have been noticed before now." Dr. Harlan Krumholz, director of the Yale-New Haven Hospital Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation at Yale Medical School, observed that "the study's claim of a 19 percent reduction in heart attacks is not justified by the data."
HeartWire (9/20, Nainggolan) reported, "Asked if this could mean that the recommendations for vaccination could change," the study's lead author "said that it's unlikely at the moment, until the reduction in MI with flu vaccine is proven, because 'the risk of heart attack in the population among those aged 40 to 65 is generally low.'" However, were it indeed "proven, it's possible that the advice could be amended to recommend flu vaccination for those aged 40 to 65 who are at high risk of heart attack but not necessarily of flu and who are not covered by the current high-risk categories," such as "those who smoke and/or have high cholesterol, for instance," he explained.

Sugar in Food

Consumers urged to be wary of all kinds of sugars in food.
In her New York Times' (9/21) "Well" blog, Tara Parker-Pope writes that because a growing number of Americans is worried about high-fructose corn syrup in their diet, food makers are "reworking decades-old recipes," eliminating the item "used to sweeten foods like ketchup and crackers, and replacing it with beet or cane sugar." To "counter the backlash, the Corn Refiners Association last week suggested changing the name of the ingredient to 'corn sugar,' hoping a new moniker would help rebuild the product's image." Still, "most nutrition scientists say that consumer anxiety about the sweetener is misdirected" and "all added sugars," including "those from sugar cane and beets, are cause for concern."

Children Swallowing Batteries

Children who swallow disc-shaped batteries should be treated as quickly as possible.
The Los Angeles Times (9/20, Khan) "Booster Shots" blog pointed out that although disc-shaped batteries "should not be part of your child's food pyramid, they're increasingly becoming an issue in our high-tech environment." In addition to the choking hazard, "the alkaline in the power cells can destroy tissue, and small-voltage electrical shocks can cause internal burns." Therefore, children who are suspected of swallowing them "need to be treated as quickly as possible," according to a new paper in the Archives of Otolaryngology -- Head & Neck Surgery.
Dr. Toby Litovitz, director of the National Capital Poison Center, told the AP (9/21, Tanner) that "in the throat, 'the window for safely removing batteries is only two hours.'" And, the NPR (9/20, Hensley) "Shots" blog reported, "because damage to the esophagus can happen quickly, the" current study authors say "it's important for doctors to be on guard for the possibility that a battery could be to blame for children's symptoms," which often include "chest pain, drooling, and lethargy." Notably, such children are "often...misdiagnosed as having respiratory infections."
Before reaching those conclusions, "Stanley J. Kimball of Mount Carmel Health System in Columbus, Ohio, led a review of the treatments of 10 pediatric patients who accidentally swallowed a disc battery at some point between 1998 and 2008," HealthDay (9/20, Mozes) reported. "All 10 cases reviewed by Kimball involved endoscopic retrieval of such discs following X-rays and chest scans," but the "time that elapsed before treatment began ranged from six hours to 30 days."
For example, "two of the patients in the review were seen within three hours of accidentally swallowing a disc battery -- yet severe erosion and transmural necrosis were already present, and one child seen within four hours of ingesting a battery had developed esophageal stenosis," MedPage Today (9/20, Walsh) reported. "In two cases there was considerable delay in diagnosis," and the "authors stated that they found it 'surprising' that some clinicians recommend observation following ingestion of a disc battery, given that life-threatening complications can ensue."
The researchers went to "say that emergency endoscopic retrieval is necessary when children ingest disc batteries, and that a 'multidisciplinary approach involving otolaryngology and pediatric surgery can be very helpful, especially when a tracheoesophageal fistula and/or uncontained perforation is identified,'" WebMD (9/20, Hendrick) reported. Notably, the "American Association of Poison Control Centers reported a total of 2,063 disc battery ingestions in 1998, but that number increased 80% over the next eight years."

Early Female Puberty

Girls living in higher-income households without biological father may undergo puberty earlier.
The Los Angeles Times (9/17, Stein) "Booster Shots" blog reported that "there may be a link between early puberty and girls living in higher-income households without a biological father," according to a study published in the Journal of Adolescent Health. Researchers found that "not having a biological father at home was associated with earlier breast development, but only for girls who lived in families with incomes over $50,000." The investigators also found that "not having a father at home was linked with earlier development of pubic hair among African American girls living in higher income homes."
Time (9/17, Luscombe) reported that "the findings...were drawn from a longitudinal study by Kaiser Permanente on the environmental factors affecting puberty, which has so far followed 444 girls since they were 6 to 8 years old. (These results are from the first two years of analysis.)"
HealthDay (9/17, Doheny) reported, "The authors said they can only speculate on the reasons behind the connections. Exposure to more artificial light from TVs or computers is one theory." Still "other possibilities include weak maternal bonding, assuming a single mother is working long hours, or contact with chemicals that may have estrogenic effects -- perhaps hair straighteners in the case of black preteens."
Early puberty in girls associated with lack of maternal-infant bonding. Time (9/17, Rochman) reported that "new research is showing a link between early puberty in girls and a lack of maternal-infant bonding." For the study, researchers "crunched numbers on 373 girls who were followed from birth until their 15th birthday as part of a National Institute of Child Health and Human Development study on early child development." The investigators found that "formerly insecure babies hit puberty two to four months sooner than secure babies and got their periods earlier too."

Dietary Supplements and Arthritis

Supplements fail to relieve joint pain in patients with knee or hip osteoarthritis.
The AP (9/17) reports, "Two popular supplements used to treat joint pain don't work and health authorities should stop paying for them," assert the authors of a new paper appearing in BMJ. "For the past decade, glucosamine and chondroitin have been recommended by doctors to treat arthritis in the hip or knee." Accordingly, global "sales of glucosamine supplements hit nearly $2 billion in 2008."
To investigate the effectiveness of these drugs, researchers in Switzerland "searched electronic databases and conference proceedings from their beginnings to June 2009, and they also contacted appropriate experts and searched relevant Web sites," Medscape (9/16, Barclay) noted. "Inclusion criteria were large-scale, randomized controlled trials enrolling more than 200 patients with knee or hip osteoarthritis and comparing glucosamine, chondroitin, or their combination vs. placebo or head to head." Investigators eventually pinpointed 10 "trials meeting eligibility criteria" that included "a total of 3,803 patients."
The researchers soon realized that the trials -- "either taken together or separately -- failed to demonstrate a clinically significant benefit for patients with knee or hip osteoarthritis," MedPage Today (9/16, Gever) reported. "The more objective measurement of joint space narrowing also was not significantly improved with glucosamine or chondroitin," the authors explained. "Moreover, when benefits were found, they tended to be in industry-funded trials as opposed to those without commercial sponsorship."
Nevertheless, "the supplements are safe, the study researchers write," WebMD (9/16, Martin) reported. In agreement, Jason Theodosakis, MD, of the University of Arizona, said, "You have to ask yourself, would you take a supplement containing glucosamine and chondroitin, have about two-thirds of a chance of getting significant relief, with some evidence that you can slow your disease progression, or just numb your symptoms with acetaminophen or anti-inflammatory drugs and risk ulcers, allergies, kidney or liver damage, hypertension, heart attacks and possibly death." He added, "The risk/benefit for glucosamine and chondroitin far outweighs that of the FDA-approved drugs for osteoarthritis." HealthDay (9/16, Reinberg), and the Chicago Tribune (9/16) "Julie's Health Club" blog also cover the study.

Dietary Education Trend

Physicians appear to be ill equipped to help patients eat healthfully.
In a column in the New York Times (9/17), Pauline W. Chen, MD, writes that while "research has increasingly pointed to a link between the nutritional status of Americans and the chronic diseases that plague them," in general doctors are not "prepared to effectively spearhead or even help" people eat well. To help medical "schools with their nutrition curriculum, the University of North Carolina has offered a series of instruction modules free of charge." Delivered "online, the program, Nutrition in Medicine, is an interactive multimedia series of courses" that "helps address two issues that frequently arise: the relative dearth of faculty in a medical school with appropriate expertise and the lack of time in an already packed course of study." Additionally, the school is "working on online nutrition education programs geared toward practicing physicians."

Drug Resistance Update

Drug-resistant bugs spreading in US and other countries.
USA Today (9/17, Sternberg) reports, "Bacteria that are able to survive every modern antibiotic are cropping up in many US hospitals and are spreading outside the USA, public health officials say." For instance, "Israeli doctors are battling an outbreak in Tel Aviv that has been traced to a patient from northern New Jersey, says Neil Fishman, director of infection control and epidemiology at the University of Pennsylvania and president of the Society of Healthcare Epidemiologists." These "bugs, reported by hospitals in more than 20 states, typically strike the critically ill and are fatal in 30% to 60% of cases."

iPhone App for Drug Safety

Children's Hospital Boston launches iPhone application to track drug safety.
Writing in the Boston Globe's (9/16) "White Coat Notes" blog, Elizabeth Cooney said the "team from Children's Hospital Boston that brought 'Outbreaks Near Me' to smartphones during last year's H1N1 epidemic" has now "launched a similar application for tracking and reporting problems with drug safety." MedWatcher, "another app for the iPhone available free at the iTunes store, holds information about thousands of medications from US Food and Drug Administration databases." In addition to sending alerts from FDA and others on drugs, users can "submit reviews about problems with drugs."

Balance Training for Elderly

Balance exercises "critical" to elderly.
The New York Times (9/16, SPG4, Hanc) reports, "Balance is a critical issue to older people. And more and more, at one-on-one training facilities...or at larger health clubs, whether in yoga and Pilates studios or adult-education exercise classes for older adults, balance training is becoming a priority." Notably, "unintentional falls among those 65 and older are responsible for more than 18,000 deaths and nearly 450,000 hospitalizations annually in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. Most of these falls are caused by a decline in that complex and multidimensional human skill known as balance." Consequently, the Department of Health and Human Services "in revising its national physical activity guidelines, issued in 2008, added a recommendation for the elderly to include balance exercises as part of their overall physical activity regimen."

Flu Risk

Study suggests popular people get flu first.
The CBS Evening News (9/15, story 9, 0:35, Couric) reported, "A new study says that if you're popular, it's especially important to be vaccinated. Researchers found that popular people with lots of friends are more likely to be exposed to the flu and pass it on."
CNN (9/16, Harding) reports that a study in the journal PLoS ONE found that "when the flu is going around, people at the center of social networks...come down with the virus about two weeks earlier than a randomly selected group of people." The researchers suggest that "monitoring the health of these socially connected people could serve as an early warning system for flu epidemics and outbreaks of other infectious diseases."
The "White Coat Notes" blog of the Boston Globe (9/15, Cooney) reported that study authors Dr. Nicholas Christakis of Harvard and his research collaborator James Fowler of the University of California, San Diego, "were not tracking the actual path of infections," but "think that people with more friends are more likely to be out among other people, increasing their chances of catching the flu from friends or strangers." The two previously "analyzed social networks and how smoking or obesity can be 'contagious,' flowing through a web of social contacts." The Wall Street Journal (9/15, Hobson) "Health Blog" and HealthDay (9/15, Preidt) also covered this study.

Advice about Retirement Communities

Consumers urged to choose continuing-care retirement communities cautiously
The New York Times (9/16, F5, Olson) reports that there are "about 1,900 aging-in-place operations" in the US, with large concentrations in "California, Florida, the Midwest and the mid-Atlantic states," which provide "homes for 900,000 people." Only a few "of the communities -- about 80 percent of which are operated by nonprofit organizations -- have closed or gone bankrupt." But there are concerns "rising about their financial stability, entrance fees and how the fees are used, and reduced services." Governmental inquiries "at several levels have voiced concerns and called on the communities' operators to disclose more information about their finances to residents and prospective customers." Even a GAO report released this summer warns consumers that "choosing to enter a continuing-care retirement community 'can be a difficult decision and is not without significant financial and other risks.'"