Social Media Health Concerns

Patients using social media for healthcare information raises ethical concerns for physicians. American Medical News (3/28, Dolan) reports, "National Research Corp., a healthcare research company based in Lincoln, Neb., recently surveyed more than 22,000 Americans and found that nearly 16% use social media sites as a source of healthcare information." For physicians, however, using social media may raise ethical concerns. "For example, American Medical Association policy discourages physicians from socially interacting with patients on social media, though professional sites are encouraged. The Association has had policy, even before social media was an issue, that physicians should not practice medicine online with patients when there has been no previous face-to-face relationship."

Back Pain Remedy

RF effective for low back pain caused by degenerative spondylolisthesis. MedPage Today (3/25, Susman) reported, "Low back pain caused by degenerative spondylolisthesis can be successfully treated by minimally invasive radiofrequency therapy," according to findings presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Pain Medicine. In "67 cases of degenerative spondylolisthesis, greater than a 50% reduction in pain was achieved in 64.2% of the patients," according to the retrospective chart review of "1,470 patients who underwent radiofrequency therapy for low back pain over a three-year period, 83 of whom had spondylolisthesis."

Shift Workers and Illness

Shift workers who compromise sleep may be at risk for diabetes, other chronic conditions. CNN (3/26, Park) reported that people that work at night "are at higher risk for heart disease, diabetes, and other conditions. With biology beckoning their bodies to sleep during the night, shift workers say they struggle to stay awake no matter how many years they've done it." Jeanne Geiger-Brown, an associate professor at the University of Maryland School of Nursing who researches shift work and sleep, said that "even when night shift workers try to sleep eight hours during the day to be ready for work, they don't get enough sleep."

Cost and Health Care

Costs preventing American adults from seeking medical care. American Medical News (3/28, Fiegl) reports, "More working-age Americans are going without health insurance and not seeking physician care for injuries or illness because they can't afford it, according to two new studies released in March." Notably, "a report by the New York-based Commonwealth Fund found that the portion of patients delaying medical treatment in the last year is trending upward." Meanwhile, "Families USA in Washington, DC, conducted a similar study with the Lewin Group, based in Falls Church, Va., and found out-of-pocket costs are rising and becoming a burden for more Americans."

New Melanoma Treatment

FDA approves metastatic melanoma treatment. The New York Times (3/25, Pollack) reported, "The first drug shown to prolong the lives of people with the skin cancer melanoma won approval from the Food and Drug Administration on Friday." The Los Angeles Times (3/26, Zajac) reported that Yervoy (ipilimumab), "marketed by Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. of Princeton, NJ, is the first FDA-approved treatment for metastatic melanoma in 13 years and has triggered particular interest among oncologists because there are indications that, in addition to prolonging some patients' lives, it may cure others." Although patients with "early stages of the disease can usually be treated successfully with surgery," existing treatment options for "late-stage melanoma, including chemotherapy and Proleukin (aldesleukin) -- the last drug approved for the disease -- are effective only in a limited number of patients." According to the AP (3/26, Perrone), study results showed The biotech drug "only worked in a small segment of patients studied, and on average they lived just four months longer than patients given older medications." But experts say the drug is "an important milestone in treating melanoma, which is often unresponsive to therapy." IIpilimumab works by "blocking a molecule linked to melanoma called CTLA-4, which interferes with the protective activity of white blood cells." Medscape (3/25, Mulcahy) reported that in phase 3 randomized clinical trial, "patients receiving ipilimumab plus a peptide vaccine (glycoprotein 100) had a median survival of 10 months, compared with 6.4 months for patients receiving the vaccine alone (P < .001). Patients receiving ipilimumab alone had a nearly identical median survival -- 10.1 months -- in the 3-group clinical trial (P < .003)." HealthDay (3/25, Roberts) note that "about 13 percent of users suffered severe-to-fatal autoimmune reactions. As a result, guides will be distributed with the drug, informing doctors and patients of the medication's potential risks," the agency said.

New BPH Procedure

Novel procedure may be potential surgery alternative for BPH. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (3/29, Fauber) reported that a new, minimally invasive "procedure designed to shrink the prostate could offer an alternative to surgery" for benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), according to findings presented at the Society of Interventional Radiology annual meeting. The procedure, "prostatic artery embolization" (PAE), uses a catheter "through an artery in the groin to place tiny particles into prostatic arteries." Researchers said that the study, which "involved 84 men" who were followed for nine months, found that "77 men showed excellent improvement, six experienced slight improvement; and one had no improvement." The standard surgery, "transurethral resection of the prostate" (TURP), can cause "sexual dysfunction, urinary incontinence and blood loss." HealthDay (3/29, Gardner) noted that PAE, "which requires only local anesthesia," also lowered the risk of "blood loss and retrograde ejaculation," the researchers said. Moreover, unlike TURP, prostatic artery embolization can be "an outpatient procedure." PAE is "ready to be used in certain patients, namely those with a prostate larger than 60 cubic centimeters, 'with severe lower urinary tract symptoms and a weakened urinary stream,'" said lead study author Dr. Joao Martins Pisco at the annual meeting. "But other experts aren't so sure." According to WebMD (3/29, Goodman), some "experts said it was far too early to recommend PAE to patients. ... 'We really don't know what the short- and long-term success or complication rates are,'" said Anthony Malizia Jr., MD, president and director of the Malizia Clinic in Atlanta. Moreover, Dr. Malizia noted that in "one serious complication reported in the study, the particles appeared to migrate and kill a small part of the bladder wall." MedPage Today (3/29, Fauber) also covered the study.

Eat Fish! See Better!

Regular fish consumption may help prevent AMD. The Washington Post (3/29, Searing) reports that omega-3 fatty acid fish oils may help prevent the development of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), according to a study published online March 14 in the Archives of Ophthalmology. For the study, researchers analyzed "data on 38,022 women, who averaged 55 years old and had no AMD at the start of the study." Over the course of ten years, researchers found that women "who regularly consumed at least one serving of fish a week -- especially canned tuna or dark-meat fish such as mackerel, salmon, sardines, bluefish or swordfish -- were 42 percent less likely to have developed AMD than were women who ate less than one serving of fish a month."

Airport Scanners and Cancer

Cancer risk from airport scanners very low, study finds. Bloomberg News (3/29, Ostrow) reports, "Airport body scanners pose little radiation risk to travelers, emitting less than 1 percent of the dose a person would get from cosmic rays while flying at high altitudes," according to an online-first study in the Archives of Internal Medicine. The American College of Radiology's Safety Committee Chair Dr. Richard Morin "said radiation isn't well understood. 'The levels we're talking about are lower than actual background radiation,'" said Morin, who wasn't involved in the study. According to the Boston Globe (3/28, Kotz) "Daily Dose" blog, the study "equated the small dose of radiation delivered by the scanner with other radiation doses from medical devices and our environment." For example, "every time you fly, you get some extra radiation due to your closer proximity to the sun. 'The backscatter X-ray scans deliver radiation equivalent to around 1 to 3 minutes of flight time,'" wrote the study authors from the University of California. Their research revealed that "50 airport scans equals the amount from a single dental X-ray, 1000 scans is equivalent to a chest X-ray, 4000 scans equals a mammogram, and 200,000 scans equals the amount in a single abdominal computed tomography scan." HealthDay (3/28, Reinberg) reported that the study "looked at three groups: all fliers, frequent fliers (those who fly 60 or more hours a week) and 5-year-old girls who fly weekly. This last group was included because children are more sensitive to radiation." For frequent fliers, "four cancers might be linked to these scanners, but 600 cancers would result from flying at high altitudes, and 400,000 cancers would develop because of other factors," the researchers noted. MedPage Today (3/28, Bankhead) noted that the authors "estimated that two million girls flying once a week would have one excess breast cancer." In contrast, "250,000 of the girls will develop breast cancer over their lifetimes owing to the 12% lifetime risk of the disease."

Prostate Product Recalled

Dietary supplement marketed for "prostate health" recalled. MedPage Today (3/24, Petrochko) reported, "A dietary supplement called U-Prosta and marketed to 'support prostate health' was recalled after an FDA analysis found the product contained the drug terazosin (Hytrin), used to treat benign prostatic hyperplasia." According to the agency, the "presence of terazosin made U-Prosta an unapproved drug."

Shingles Vaccine for Younger Adults

FDA approves request to expand shingles vaccine to patients age 50 and older. The AP (3/25) reports, "The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday expanded approval of a shingles vaccine from Merck to patients between the ages of 50 and 59. The vaccine, called Zostavax (zoster vaccine live), is already approved for patients of 60 years and older." Bloomberg News (3/25, Peterson) reports, "'The likelihood of shingles increases with age,' Karen Midthun, director of the FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said in the statement. 'The availability of Zostavax to a younger age group provides an additional opportunity to prevent this often painful and debilitating disease.'" According to Medscape (3/24, Jeffrey), the approval was based on a "multicenter placebo-controlled trial conducted in the US and four other countries among approximately 22,000 adults who were 50 to 59 years of age." HealthDay (3/24) noted, Zostavax reduced the risk of acquiring shingles by "about 70 percent, compared to people who received an inactive placebo," the FDA said. Commonly reported side effects included "injection-site redness, pain and swelling." However, WebMD (3/24, DeNoon) pointed out that the "biggest drawback to Zostavax is its cost. The catalog price is about $161.50, about 10 to 20 times the cost of flu vaccine." The Boston Globe (3/24, Kotz) "Daily Dose" blog noted that the expanded vaccine approval "doesn't solve the problem of the shortage of the vaccine." The limited supply may "become even more of a problem as a larger group of folks attempt to get vaccinated." MedPage Today (3/24, Petrochko) also covered the story.

Milk Allergies and Immunizations

Children with milk allergies may have adverse reactions from DPT inoculation, physicians warn. MedPage Today (3/24, Susman) reported, "Some children highly allergic to milk products should be watched with caution when receiving the diphtheria, pertussis, and tetanus (DPT) vaccine because trace milk proteins in the vaccine could trigger reactions," according to findings presented at the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology meeting. Physicians at the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine in New York City "identified seven patients who reported convincing allergic reactions to tetanus vaccines." The protein was identified as "casamino acids derived from cow's milk, contained in medium used to process the vaccines." The findings came from a "chart review of patients seen at Mt. Sinai who had reported allergic reactions after receiving the vaccine (primary or booster doses) from September 2007 to March 2010."

Tuberculosis Update

US TB rate falls, but remains higher than eradication goal. Bloomberg News (3/25, Larkin) reports that tuberculosis cases in the US "dropped to a record low last year, while falling short of the goal to eradicate the bacterial infection." According to an analysis by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), roughly "3.6 TB cases were reported for every 100,000 Americans, a decline of 3.9 percent from the prior year and the lowest since national reporting began in 1953." Notably in 1989, the CDC predicted TB would be eradicated "from the US by 2010." But the increase in cases "tied to HIV in the 1990s and difficulty in lowering the rate of infection" among people born in other countries has "prevented this target from being reached," the agency said. The data, released to "coincide with World TB Day," are published in the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. According to HealthDay (3/24, Reinberg), the data showed that the TB rate was 11 times higher "among those born outside the US. 'That's 60 percent of the cases,'" said study co-author, Dr. Kenneth G. Castro, director of the CDC's Division of TB Elimination. He explained that eradicating TB is defined as "no more than one case per 1,000,000 people. ... 'The rate we have now is 36 times higher than that,'" noted Dr. Castro. The Los Angeles Times (3/24, Maugh) "Booster Shots" blog reported that more that 50 percent of the 6,707 TB cases in foreign-born residents were among people born in "Mexico (23%), the Philippines (11%), India (8.6%) and Vietnam (7.7%)." Although the TB rates declined in some states, the data showed that "California, Texas, New York and Florida" accounted for a "total of 5,503 cases" (49.2%). According to MedPage Today (3/24, Smith), the data indicated that the TB rate per 100,000 among Asians is 22.5, among blacks, 7.0, among Hispanics, 6.5, and among whites, "0.9 cases." Medscape (3/24, Kling) noted that HIV-positive individuals are "at high risk for TB. Of 7,090 people in the US with TB and a known HIV status in 2010, 611 (8.6%) were coinfected with HIV." The CDC report also highlighted "issues with multidrug-resistant TB, which is resistant to at least two first-line therapies (isoniazid and rifampin)." MDR-TB cases represented "1.3% (113 cases) of all TB cases in 2009 (data are not yet available for 2010)." Meanwhile, CDC officials said the new data "emphasize the importance of treating TB as a global health problem." According to the World Health Organization, about "one third of the world's population is infected" with TB.

Cruise Ship Disease Update

Cruise ship norovirus attack rate suggests threshold for declaring outbreak may need adjustment. MedPage Today (3/23, Smith) reported, "A norovirus outbreak on a cruise ship resulted in a 15% attack rate despite early detection and aggressive measures to contain illness, the CDC reported" in a paper published online March 22 in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases. "The outbreak, in January 2009, sickened 236 of the 1,532 passengers who completed a CDC questionnaire during the cruise, according to Mary Wikswo, MPH, and colleagues at the CDC." Only about 60% of the sick passengers presented to the ship's infirmary for medical care, however. For that reason, the study authors concluded that "the threshold for declaring an outbreak may need to be adjusted to account for poor voluntary reporting of acute gastroenteritis."

Heart Attacks and Exercise

Intense exercise, sex may increase heart attack risk for inactive individuals. USA Today (3/23, Marcus) reports that "people who don't exercise on a regular basis, and then have episodes of intense exercise or sex are more likely to experience a heart attack or die suddenly than those who are more active," according to research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Bloomberg News (3/23, Ostrow) reports that investigators "analyzed 10 trials that looked at occasional exercise, three that investigated occasional sexual activity, and one study that looked at both." The Los Angeles Times (3/22, Stein) "Booster Shots" blog reported that the researchers "found periodic physical activity was associated with a 3.5-times increased risk of heart attack, and occasional sexual activity was linked with a 2.7-times increased risk of heart attack. Periodic physical activity was also linked with an increased risk of sudden cardiac death." The Washington Post (3/22, Stein) "The Checkup" blog reported, however, that "the risk for a heart attack dropped 45 percent and the risk of dying from a heart attack dropped by about 30 percent for each time each week someone got just a little exercise." The AP (3/23) reports that "most of the patients in the studies were in their late 50s and early 60s, but the findings are a cautionary tale for people in any age group who are slowing down." Also covering the story were the Time (3/22, Park) "Healthland" blog, WebMD (3/22, Doheny), HealthDay (3/22, Gardner) the Boston Globe (3/22, Kotz) "Daily Dose" blog, the NPR (3/22, Shute) "Shots" blog, CNN /Health.com (3/23, Harding), and MedPage Today (3/22, Smith).

Taste and Ear Infections

Chronic middle-ear infections with fluid may be associated with alterations in children's taste buds. HealthDay (3/21, Gardner) reported that, according to a study published in the March issue of the Archives of Otolaryngology -- Head & Neck Surgery, "chronic middle-ear infections with fluid are linked to alterations in children's taste buds that change their sensitivity to certain foods. This, in turn, might cause kids to eat more of these foods and push them towards obesity," researchers theorized. In a study of 42 children with chronic otitis media with effusion (OME) and 42 children without OME, researchers found not only that the youngsters with chronic OME were heavier, but also "had reduced taste in the front part of the tongue, in particular, leading to a raised threshold for sweet and salt tastes." Medscape (3/21, Kling) also covered the story.

Skin Cancer in Girls

Higher melanoma incidence documented in girls, young women in higher socioeconomic groups. MedPage Today (3/21, Smith) reported, "Girls and young women who live in wealthier neighborhoods and get more sun-soaked recreation appear to have a higher risk of melanoma," according to an online-first study in the Archives of Dermatology. "Data from the state's cancer registry linked greater melanoma incidence among women and girls ages 15 through 39 with socioeconomic status and the average ultraviolet-B light exposure in their neighborhoods." HealthDay (3/21, Salamon) reported, "In research examining the relationship between melanoma incidence, ultraviolet (UV) light exposure and socioeconomic status, scientists studied data from 3,800 white girls and women in California aged 15 to 39 during two periods a decade apart." Investigators diagnosed "among those women 3,842 melanomas...with diagnoses increasing most significantly over time in the three highest socioeconomic levels." Notably, "UV radiation exposure was linked to higher melanoma rates only among the women in the top two levels, the study found." WebMD (3/21, Boyles) reported, "Among women living in neighborhoods with the highest UV radiation levels, melanoma rates were 70% higher for those living in the highest income neighborhoods, compared to the lowest."

Car Seat Update

Physicians' association: Children should ride in rear-facing car seats at least until age two. ABC World News (3/21, story 7, 0:30, Sawyer) reported, "And something new today about kids and car seats. For years parents have been told infants should ride in car seats that face backwards until the age of one or until the child weighs 20 pounds." NBC Nightly News (3/21, story 13, 0:30, Williams) reported, "The American Academy of Pediatrics says new studies have shown babies should sit in rear-facing car seats until they're two years old instead of turning them around to face front at year one." The CBS Evening News (3/21, story 10, 0:20, Couric) reported, "Recent studies have shown this can reduce the risk of neck and spinal cord injuries in a crash." The New York Times (3/22, D5, Behen) reports that the statement from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), which is published a in the journal Pediatrics, is "based primarily on a 2007 University of Virginia study finding that children under 2 are 75-percent less likely to suffer severe or fatal injuries in a crash if they are facing the rear. ... 'If he's [a baby] rear-facing, his entire body is better supported by the shell of the car seat. When he's forward-facing, his shoulders and trunk may be well restrained, but in a violent crash, his head and neck can fly forward,'" explained the statement's lead author, Dr. Dennis R. Durbin from Center for Injury Research and Prevention at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. The Wall Street Journal (3/21, Hobson, subscription required) "Health Blog," and the Washington Post (3/21) "The Checkup" blog also covered the story. AAP, NHTSA: Children younger than age 13 should ride in back seat. The AP (3/21, Johnson) reported the AAP "and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued separate but consistent" new recommendations yesterday. Children "younger than 13 should ride in the back seat, the guidelines from both groups say." The advice is "based on evidence from crashes. For older children, poorly fitting seat belts can cause abdominal and spine injuries in a crash." The Wall Street Journal (3/21, Hobson, subscription required) "Health Blog" and the Washington Post (3/21) "The Checkup" blog also covered the story.

Asthma in Children

Study suggests beta agonist, corticosteroid combination safe for children with asthma. MedPage Today (3/21, Susman) reported that children with asthma "who take long-acting beta agonists" with inhaled corticosteroids "do not appear to be at an increased risk of life-threatening events," according to findings presented at the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology meeting. "About 43% of children on inhaled corticosteroid monotherapy for asthma required admission to the pediatric intensive care unit, compared with about 44% and about 53%," respectively, of those on the combination of "inhaled corticosteroids and long-acting beta agonists or albuterol alone," explained Tammy Jacobs, MD, of Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh. Moreover, after adjusting for "demographics, asthma severity, history of ICU admissions and concurrent infection," the combination "did not increase and may have decreased the risk" for pediatric ICU admission, Dr. Jacobs noted. The study included 85 pediatric ICU patients and "96 pediatric floor patients."

Gastric Band Complications

Obesity gastric bands may cause more complications than weight loss. Bloomberg News (3/22, Wechsler) reports, "Almost half of patients undergoing gastric banding for obesity needed to have the device removed," according to an online-first study published in the Archives of Surgery. Data show that "about 60 percent of the 82 patients with the device, Allergan Inc.'s Lap-Band, followed over 12 years or more needed additional operations." Meanwhile, the minimally invasive surgery led to "weight loss" of for roughly "18 percent" of the patients. According to WebMD (3/21, Doheny), about 40% of the 82 patients "had major complications." HealthDay (3/21 Mozes) noted that "another 22 percent experienced relatively minor complications," and almost "50 percent had to have the bands entirely removed." MedPage Today (3/21, Gever) reported that "in all but a few cases, inadequate weight loss or device breakdown was the reason for band removal." Still, of the "78 patients indicating their level of satisfaction with the original lap-band procedure, 60% said they were pleased or very pleased. Moreover, on an intent-to-treat basis, patients in the study had lost 42.8% of their original excess weight at follow-up, and the mean reduction in body mass index was 7.8 points." Medscape (3/21, Lowes) also covered the study results.

Japan Earthquake Radiation Panic

US radiation panic continues despite assurances from Obama, health experts.
NBC Nightly News (3/17, story 3, 0:45, Williams) reported, "President Obama made an unannounced visit to the Japanese Embassy in Washington this morning. ... Later he spoke from the Rose Garden at the White House about the situation in Japan for the first time since Friday." President Obama was shown saying, "We do not expect harmful levels of radiation to reach the United States, whether it's the West Coast, Hawaii, Alaska, or US territories in the Pacific."
ABC World News (3/17, story 6, 1:30, Besser) reported that the President's speech "reassured" Americans that they are "not going to see in this country harmful levels of radiation here. That doesn't mean they won't measure any, but harmful levels" are "very different." NBC Nightly News (3/17, story 5, 2:15, Williams) reported, "Again, [radiation is] a huge local issue in Japan, and facts are one thing, fears are another."
The Wall Street Journal (3/18, Hobson, subscription required) notes that, in Japan, the primary concern is for pregnant women, because radiation exposure could cause birth defects, cognitive problems and cancer in developing fetuses. The AP (3/17, McDonald, Mason) reported that thyroid cancer is "considered the most serious immediate risk to anyone exposed closest to the plant. But potassium iodide pills can prevent it by blocking radioactive iodine's absorption."
Another Wall Street Journal (3/18, Naim, subscription required) article says that the Swedish Defense Research Institute detected Low Levels of Radioactive Material in the Pacific Ocean. However, the Journal quotes the institute's director Lars-Erik De Geer as saying the level detected poses no danger to the US or other Asian countries.
Bloomberg News (3/18, Sullivan, Olson, Chediak) reports that radiation from "stricken nuclear reactors in Japan poses far less threat" to Americans "than 1950s-era atomic weapons testing or the 1986 Chernobyl accident," weather and public health experts said. In addition, the Christian Science Monitor (3/17) noted that US scientists continue to repeat that Fukushima is not Chernobyl, "and even Chernobyl was not as deadly as popularly believed."
Still, the Wall Street Journal (3/18, Sweet, subscription required) notes that the Environmental Protection Agency said it had installed seven additional radiation-monitoring devices in Guam, Hawaii and the Aleutian Islands. Bloomberg News (3/18, Bliss) says that US authorities intensified efforts to detect radiation on flights arriving from Japan.
FDA issues warning about anti-radiation treatment scams. USA Today (3/18, Sternberg) reports that the Food and Drug Administration warned Thursday that "many of the ads for 'anti-radiation' potassium iodide pills flooding the Internet may be scams run by hucksters seeking to profit from the Japan nuclear scare." Moreover, the agency said people in the US "shouldn't be taking the pills anyway, because no radiation from the Fukushima reactors in Japan has been detected in the US." FDA's National Health Fraud Coordinator Gary Coody said this week's "atmosphere of fear," which sent consumers "streaming into drugstores and onto the Web to buy the pills, has proven to be fertile ground for companies hawking unapproved products."
The AP (3/17) reported that the Illinois Department of Public Health is "warning residents against taking potassium iodide to prevent radiation sickness." Public Health Director Dr. Damon Arnold said that "it's unlikely radiation from damaged nuclear plants in Japan will reach the US," and it is "not worth the risk of suffering from potassium iodide's possible side effects."

Foreign Travel Advice

Study finds 44% of foreign travelers ignore health advice.
The Chicago Tribune /Detroit Free Press (3/11, Creager) reports that a "new study published in the Journal of Travel Medicine in December found that 44 percent of international travelers don't seek any health advice before their trips." The study indicates that about 36 percent of travelers take diarrhea medication with them, and 20 percent of travelers going to malaria risk countries take malaria medication. According to the World Health Organization, about 30,000 travelers every year are affected by malaria, which "kills 890,000 people every year, mostly children in Africa" and "makes 250 million people sick each year."

Coffee and Stroke Prevention

Coffee consumption may be linked to reduced stroke risk in women.
USA Today (3/11, Lloyd) reports that "drinking coffee appears to offer protection against stroke," according to a study published in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association. For the study, researchers "followed 34,670 women ages 49-83 for an average of 10 years."
The AP (3/11, Stengle) reports that "the women were asked how much coffee they drank at the start of the study." The investigators "checked hospital records to find out how many of the women later had strokes." The researchers found that the women "who drank at least a cup of coffee every day had a 22 to 25 percent lower risk of stroke, compared to those who drank less coffee or none at all."
MedPage Today (3/10, Phend) reported that "more coffee didn't seem to be more beneficial in reducing stoke risk, 'rather the risk appeared to be increased among women with low or no consumption of coffee' compared with any consumption at or above one cup a day," according to the researchers. HealthDay (3/10, Reinberg) reported that "the researchers speculated that coffee might reduce inflammation, lower oxidative stress and improve insulin resistance, which in turn could lower the risk for stroke."

Bullying Conference

White House to convene conference on preventing bullying.
USA Today (3/10, Hall) reports that President Obama today will convene "a day-long White House Conference on Preventing Bullying." According to the White House, the conference's goal "is to dispel a commonly held belief that bullying is a normal rite of passage for kids and share ideas about how the federal government and communities can help prevent bullying and deal with its consequences." Notably, research shows that bullying "adversely affects children's mental health, academic success and ability to relate to other kids, says Mary Wakefield, who runs the Health Resources and Services Administration at the Department of Health and Human Services."

Viagra and Raynaud's?

Sildenafil may help treat Raynaud's phenomenon.
MedPage Today (3/9, Smith) reported that sildenafil (Viagra) may "help treat Raynaud's phenomenon," according to a study in Arthritis & Rheumatism. Researchers gave "57 patients with the condition 100 milligrams of sildenafil once a day for three days, followed by either 200 milligrams of the drug once a day or an identical placebo for 25 days." They found that "on average, patients in the sildenafil group had a 44% reduction in the frequency of attacks per week, compared with 18.1% for those in the placebo group."

New Lupus Treatment

FDA approves first new lupus treatment in over five decades.
The CBS Evening News (3/9, story 12, 0:20, Couric) reported that the Food and Drug Administration "today approved a new drug for treating lupus, the first in more than 50 years."
According to the Washington Post (3/10, Overly) reports that Benlysta (belimumab), developed by Human Genome Sciences and GlaxoSmithKline, "reduces the disease's level of activity by inhibiting a bodily protein called the B-lymphocyte stimulator, which at elevated levels can contribute to the creation of autoantibodies." Curtis Rosebraugh, Director of the Office of Drug Evaluation II in the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, said, "Benlysta, when used with existing therapies, may be an important new treatment approach for healthcare professionals and patients looking to help manage symptoms associated with this disease."
The Los Angeles Times (3/10, Zajac) notes that one of Benlysta's benefits is that "patients can use less prednisone, a steroid used to control symptoms," said Cynthia Aranow, co-director of autoimmune diseases and clinical research at the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research in Manhasset, New York. She said the ability to be "'steroid-sparing is very important' because prednisone has numerous troubling side effects including osteoporosis, diabetes and high blood pressure."
Meanwhile, the AP (3/10, Perrone) points out that "experts stress that Benlysta is not a miracle drug: It only worked in 35 percent of North American patients tested and was not effective for patients with the deadliest form of the disease." Also, it did not "show positive results in African Americans, who are disproportionately affected by lupus. FDA said in its news release it would require the drug developers to conduct another study exclusively in African Americans."
The New York Times (3/10, Pollack) adds that the drug is "not recommended for patients whose disease is severely damaging their kidneys or central nervous systems because it was not tested on those patients." According to the Chicago Sun-Times (3/10, Thomas) reports, the "most common side effects associated with belimumab in a pair of clinical trials were nausea, diarrhea and fever." The Wall Street Journal (3/10, Winslow, Dooren, subscription required), Dow Jones Newswire (3/10, Dooren, Gryta, subscription required), HealthDay (3/9) and MedPage Today (3/9, Gever) also covered the story.

Marathon Risks

Years of strenuous exercising may be associated with greater likelihood of heart damage.
The New York Times (3/9, Reynolds) "Well" blog reports that recent research published online in the Journal of Applied Physiology suggests that "spending more years exercising strenuously or completing more marathon or ultramarathon races" may be "associated with a greater likelihood of heart damage." The research, which used "a new type of magnetic resonance imaging," found that "none of the younger athletes or the older nonathletes" in the study "had fibrosis in their hearts." However, approximately 50 percent "of the older lifelong athletes showed some heart muscle scarring."

Paying Your Doctor

Some physicians embracing new payment models that eliminate health insurers.
The Washington Post (3/8, Andrews) reports, "Under the current insurance model, doctors get paid for procedures and tests rather than for time spent with patients." But some medical practices are "sidelining health insurers entirely," opting instead to charge patients a moderate monthly "membership fee." For example, Seattle-based Qliance Medical Management's "three clinics typically charge a patient about $65 a month for unlimited access to the practice's 12 physicians and nurse practitioners." The fees vary "depending on the level of service and the patient's age." According to Qliance CEO Norm Wu, the "average $700 to $800 per patient that Qliance receives annually in membership fees is up to three times more than a doctor in a standard insurance-based practice might make per patient."

Mediterranean Diet

Mediterranean diet may help improve several risk factors associated with heart disease.
The Wall Street Journal (3/8, D3, Winslow, subscription required) reports that the Mediterranean diet may help improve a number of different risk factors associated with heart disease, according to research published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
The CNN (3/7, Caruso) "The Chart" blog reported that investigators "looked at over half a million people from 50 previous studies on the Mediterranean diet, which included people in Spain, Greece, the US, France, Sweden, Italy and Australia, among other countries."

Alcohol in the Family

Debate continues on whether serving alcohol at home will teach teens to drink responsibly.
On the front of its Personal Journal section, the Wall Street Journal (3/8, D1, Beck) reports in "Health Journal" that some parents believe teens can be taught to be responsible drinkers by being allowed to have wine and beer at home with the family. That way, the youngsters will be less tempted to binge drink when out on their own. Other parents, however, believe adolescents should not consume any alcohol at all until they reach the legal drinking age, saying that early alcohol exposure could predispose young people to alcohol abuse later on in life. Last month, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration released a report saying that about six percent of middle-school students used alcohol in the past 30 days. Forty-five percent of those children obtained the alcohol at home, with 16% of them getting it from a parent, the report found.

Dangerous Diet

Some dieters using pregnancy hormone hCG as weight-loss aid.
On its front page, the New York Times (3/8, A1, Hartocollis) reports that some dieters are using injections of the pregnancy hormone human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) as a dieting aid. "The regimen combines daily injections with a near-starvation diet, and patients, mostly women, are often enticed by promises that they can lose about a pound a day without feeling hungry." What's more, they are "frequently told that the hCG will prompt their bodies to carry away and metabolize fat that has been stored where they least want it -- in their upper arms, bellies and thighs." This is despite the fact that the Food and Drug Administration has warned that hCG has not been demonstrated to aid weight loss or redistribute fat more attractively.

New Mattress for Allergies?

Experts: Only people with dust mite allergies need to replace bedding, take special measures.
The New York Times (3/5, Alderman) noted that people who are allergic to dust mites may have asthma-like symptoms, "eczema or chronic sinus problems" and should replace their bed linens regularly. But according to "most experts," everyone else can "skip the expensive trips to Linens 'R' Us." The American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology and the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute say allergic consumers should "encase mattresses, box springs and pillows in special allergen-proof fabric covers." According to Dr. James Sublett, who chairs the Indoor Allergen Committee of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, about "one in four Americans has some type of allergy, and within that group about two-thirds are allergic to dust mites."

Osteoporosis Medication Risk

Women taking bisphosphonates may have increased risk for femoral shaft fractures.
The New York Times (3/6, Brody) reported that a study published in the Feb. 23 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association found a link between bisphosphonates and atypical femur fractures. The researchers looked at treatment and fracture data for "205,466 women 68 years-old or older who had been treated with a bisphosphonate" and compared each case of those who had suffered subtrochanteric or femoral shaft fractures with "up to five other women the same age who had been free of this injury." Those who had taken the drugs for five years or longer were "more than twice as likely to have had such a fracture as those who took them only briefly."

Teen Sex Trends

More teenagers, young adults abstaining from sex.
The Washington Post (3/4, Brown) reports, "More than one-quarter of people interviewed in their late teens and early 20s had never had sex." According to the National Survey of Family Growth, "among 15-to-24-year-olds, 29 percent of females and 27 percent of males reported no sexual contact with another person ever -- up from the 22 percent of both sexes when the survey was last conducted in 2002." The findings were based on interviews conducted from 2006 to 2008 of a random sample of 13,495 Americans between the ages of 15 to 44.
According to USA Today (3/4, Jayson), the study released Thursday by the National Center for Health Statistics found that among ages 15-17, "58% of girls and 53% of boys said they have had no sexual contact, compared to 48.6% of girls and 46.1% of boys in 2002." For ages 20-24, "12% of women and 13% of men said they have never had sexual contact, compared with 8% for both sexes" in 2002.
The AP (3/4) notes that "Health scientist Anjani Chandra of the CDC Centers for Disease Control and Prevention described the decline in sex as small but significant." However, Chandra "declined to speculate on the reasons. 'It's difficult to look for a trend earlier than 2002 because previous surveys did not gather as much detail about various types of sex,'" she added.
The Washington Times (3/4, Wetzstein) reports, "For the first time, women were asked whether they had oral sex with a woman, as well as whether they had 'any sexual experience of any kind' with another woman." The addition of the oral sex questions indicated that although "12.5 percent of women (about 7.7 million if extrapolated to the whole US populace, ages 15-44), had some kind of homosexual experience, a smaller portion (9.3 percent or 5.7 million) had oral sex with a woman."
Bloomberg News (3/3, Lopatto) reported that the survey also found about 5 percent of men have had a same-sex partner. Overall, about "94 percent of women and 96 percent of men identified themselves as being straight." And while "1.1 percent of women and 1.7 percent of men said they were gay," more women than men, "3.5 percent compared with 1.1 percent," said they were bisexual. The story was also covered by MSNBC (3/3, Mapes) on its website, the Chicago Sun-Times (3/4, Thomas) and the USA Today (3/3, Stanglin) "On Deadline" blog.

New Healthcare Website

AMA, other groups launch website to help explain healthcare law.
The Los Angeles Times /Orlando Sentinel (3/2, Shrieves) reported, "At a time when many Americans are confused about the healthcare overhaul law, a coalition of groups representing doctors, nurses, pharmacists and consumers has launched a website to answer questions about the Affordable Care Act." The American Medical Association (AMA) is a member of the coalition, and AMA President Cecil Wilson, MD, said, "There's a lot of confusion about what the law involves, there's confusion about whether the law is actually in effect and a lot of confusion about the politics of it, what's going on in Congress and what's going on in the courts." Wilson added, "The law is complicated, and the goal is to help the American people understand it. ... So this website was put together by a coalition of what we would describe as the nation's most-trusted organizations that represent consumers, nurses, pharmacists and physicians."
The New York Times (3/3, O'Connor) "Prescriptions" blog reported that other groups comprising the coalition include AARP, the American Academy of Family Physicians, "the American Nurses Association; the Catholic Health Association; the National Community Pharmacists Association; the American College of Physicians; and the American Cancer Society's Cancer Action Network."
CQ HealthBeat (3/2, subscription required) also quoted Wilson as saying that the website is "a critical resource for patients to quickly access valuable information about the healthcare law and how it affects them." The site, HealthCareandYou.org, "lists various benefits that are available now and will be in the future under the law, organizing them according to whether the website viewer is under age 65, 65 or older, or is associated with a small business."

Sleep Statistics

One in three US adults gets less than seven hours' sleep a night.
ABC World News (3/3, story 6, 1:05, Sawyer) reported, "As we know, we are simply not getting enough sleep in America. And today, there was more stark proof of what we're doing to ourselves." On NBC Nightly News (3/3, story 10, 2:20, Williams), Chief Science Correspondent Robert Bazell said, "The Centers for Disease Control today put new numbers on the problem."
The AP (3/3, Stobbe) reported, "More than a third of US adults sleep less than seven hours a night, and many of them report troubles concentrating, remembering and even driving," according to statistics from two studies in the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR). In one study, about "35 percent of people surveyed in 12 states said they slept less than seven hours a night, on average."
MedPage Today (3/3, Neale) noted that although the analysis "included only one year's worth of data, a previous study found that the proportion of adults getting fewer than seven hours of sleep per night increased from 1985 to 2004." The study authors "attributed the increase at least in part to greater technology use and shift work."
CNN (3/3, Gardner) in its "The Chart" blog reported that in the other MMWR sleep study, 38% of survey respondents "said they'd unintentionally dozed off during the day at least once in the previous month." Moreover, 5% of the respondents "said they'd nodded off or had actually fallen asleep while driving. 'If you don't get enough sleep, it definitely impacts your functioning, your memory, response time,'" said study author Lela McKnight-Eily, PhD, "an epidemiologist and clinical psychologist with the CDC's National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Heath Promotion."
HealthDay (3/3, Reinberg) added that the "48 percent reported snoring." According to the Wall Street Journal (3/3, Hobson, subscription required) "Health Blog," the findings were based on sleep surveys conducted in 2009 with 74,571 adults in 12 states. WebMD (3/3, Hendrick) also summarized the two sleep studies in this week's MMWR.
Meanwhile, noted the Los Angeles Times (3/3, Forgione), "Booster Shots" blog, the CDC reports were released to coincide with "National Sleep Awareness Week from March 7 to 13. And let's hope no one annoyingly asks: 'Got sleep?'"

Skinny Canadians!

American adults have significantly higher rate of obesity than Canadians.
The AP (3/2, Stobbe) reported, "American adults have a significantly higher rate of obesity than their neighbors to the north," according to a data brief (pdf) released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics. The study, which was released March 2, found that "about 24 percent of Canadians are obese, compared to more than 34 percent of Americans."
"The report compared data collected between 2007 and 2009 by the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and the Canadian Health Measures Survey," the Washington Post (3/2, Stein) "The Checkup" blog reported. It found that "in Canada, 24.3 percent of men are obese, compared to 32.6 percent of US men. Among women, 23.9 percent of Canadians are obese, compared with 36.2 percent of American women."
HealthDay (3/2, Mozes) reported that "the disparity shrank slightly when researchers factored out very high rates of obesity among minority populations in the United States." The NPR (3/2, Hensley) "Shots" blog also covered the story.

NSAIDs and Parkinson's Disease

Regular use of OTC ibuprofen may reduce risk for developing Parkinson's disease.
USA Today (3/2, Marcus) reports, "Regular use of the common over-the-counter pain reliever ibuprofen may cut the risk of developing Parkinson's disease," according to a study, which was "one of the largest to investigate the possible benefits of ibuprofen on Parkinson's," published in the March 8 issue of Neurology.
According to Medscape (3/2, Jeffrey), the researchers hey analyzed data on 136,197 men and women from the "large, ongoing, prospective cohorts, the Nurses' Health Study (NHS) and Health Professionals Follow-up Study (HPFS)." The use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) "was assessed by questionnaire."
HealthDay (3/2, Doheny) reported, "During the six-year follow up, 291 cases of Parkinson's disease were identified. Those who used ibuprofen had a 38 percent reduced risk of developing the disease compared to those who didn't use it, even after taking into account age, smoking and other factors." Moreover, when the researchers "conducted a larger analysis using data from other studies on ibuprofen, other NSAIDs and disease risk, they found that, overall, ibuprofen users reduced their risk of Parkinson's by 27 percent compared to non-users."
WebMD (3/2, Goodman) added that the research also indicated that "regularly taking ibuprofen or other NSAIDs over a long period may sometimes lead to side effects including stomach or kidney damage." Meanwhile, in an editorial that accompanied the study, James H. Bower, MD, a neurologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, wrote, "It's my opinion that we're not ready, at all, to advise people from a public health perspective that they should start taking ibuprofen."