Reflux and Eating

Experts say major culprit of acid reflux is eating too much.
In a front-page story, Sacramento Bee (5/12, 1A, Creamer) reported that acid reflux is "on the rise in America, with 25 million people experiencing daily symptoms," up from "15 million only a decade ago," according to the American Gastroenterological Association. Moreover, another 60 million report having heartburn once a month. "Blame stress and an aging population -- and above all, experts say, blame Americans' habit of eating too much," because even modest weight gain can lead to acid reflux. Women with a BMI of "25 to 27, considered only slightly overweight, are more than twice as likely to develop the disease, Boston University researchers have found."

Vitamin D and Psoriasis

Study explains why vitamin D may benefit patients with psoriasis.
WebMD (5/12, Boyles) reported, "Ultraviolet light therapy and vitamin D creams are widely prescribed treatments for psoriasis, and now a new study may help explain why they work for so many patients." Investigators "say the vitamin D-based treatments increase the binding of a peptide called cathelicidin to DNA, which, in turn, inhibits the inflammatory response that triggers psoriasis." This "finding may one day lead to better treatments for the painful skin condition that specifically target cathelicidin." The study was published in the May 11 issue of the journal Science Translational Medicine.

Toddler Sleep Disruption

Marital instability may have negative impact on toddlers' sleep patterns.
The CNN (5/11, Hagan) "The Chart" blog reported that infants "exposed to their parents' marital discord may be more likely to experience sleep issues during toddlerhood," according to a study published in the journal Child Development. After following 357 families, all of whom had adopted unrelated infants "during the first three months of the child's life," researchers found that marital "instability when an infant was nine months old predicted whether the child would have issues falling asleep and staying asleep at 18 months of age."
The Time (5/11, Rochman) "Healthland" blog reported that the researchers assessed marital instability "via questions that asked mostly middle-class, white, educated husbands and wives individually whether they'd considered consulting an attorney and, more generally, 'has the thought of separating or getting a divorce crossed your mind?'" The higher a couple "scored on marital instability measures, the greater the likelihood of them reporting their children had sleep problems -- falling asleep, staying asleep, or frequent night wakings." Notably, the association between "marital discord and poor infant sleep remained constant even when factoring in birth order, parental anxiety, and infant fussiness." In contrast, HealthDay (5/11, Preidt) noted, the researchers found that infants' "sleep patterns had no effect on parents' relationships."

Bedbug Bacteria

Bedbugs found carrying two types of drug-resistant bacteria.
The Washington Post (5/12, Sun) reports that "a peer-reviewed study (pdf) published online Wednesday in" the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases, a publication of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, indicates that bedbugs "could play a role in transmitting disease. In a tiny sample of bedbugs, collected from a small number of residents living in crowded conditions in a poor neighborhood in Canada, researchers found the drug-resistant bacterium known as MRSA."
For the study, USA Today (5/12, Weise) reports, "researchers took five bedbugs that patients had brought in and crushed and analyzed them." Not only did investigators find "MRSA on three of them," they also found on the other two bedbugs "VRE – vancomycin-resistant enterococcus faecium, a less dangerous form of antibiotic-resistant bacteria."
The AP (5/12, Stobbe) reports, "Bedbugs have not been known to spread disease, and there's no clear evidence that the five bedbugs found on the patients or their belongings had spread MRSA or a second less dangerous drug-resistant germ." Nevertheless, "bedbugs can cause itching that can lead to excessive scratching. That can cause breaks in the skin that make people more susceptible to these bacteria, noted...one of the study's authors."
According to HealthDay (5/11, Preidt), "These findings suggest that bedbugs may act as a 'hidden environmental reservoir' that promotes the spread of MRSA in overcrowded and impoverished communities, the researchers said in a CDC news release." The researchers concluded, "Further studies are needed to characterize the association between S. aureus and bedbugs."
Also covering the story were the National Journal (5/12, Fox, Subscription Publication), Bloomberg News (5/11, Peterson), the Los Angeles Times (5/11, Cevallos) "Booster Shots" blog, and WebMD (5/11, DeNoon).

Drug Shortage

Drug shortages cast as "national epidemic."
The St. Petersburg (FL) Times (5/12, Maher) reports on "the growing ranks of Americans affected by a national epidemic of drug shortages" that have made it difficult to find "certain antibiotics, high blood pressure medicine, and muscle relaxants" as well as injectable gold, ADHD medications. "Even more worrisome are shortages of injected drugs used for cancer treatment, anesthesia during surgeries and other life-saving functions." The shortage of generic drugs is "particularly critical to people whose insurance will pay only for generics." The FDA "maintains a website that lists medically necessary products -- used to treat serious illnesses -- that are difficult or impossible to get," and "as of Wednesday there were 192 drugs on the shortage list."

Health Care Costs

Report: Health costs have more than doubled for some US families over past nine years.
The AP (5/12) reports, "A new study from the consulting firm Milliman says healthcare costs have more than doubled for some American families over the past nine years, and they show few signs of dropping."
CNNMoney (5/12, Kavilanz) reports, "American families who are insured through their jobs average healthcare costs of $19,393 this year, up 7.3%, or $1,319 from last year, according to...Milliman." Perhaps "more significantly, employers are making workers shoulder an even bigger share of total healthcare expenses." Meanwhile, "of the $1,319 annual increase, workers' out-of-pocket costs this year rose 9.2."

Coffee and Breast Cancer

Daily coffee consumption may be associated with reduced breast cancer risk.
HealthDay (5/10, Mozes) reported that women who "drink a substantial amount of coffee each day may lower their risk for developing a particular type of breast cancer," according to a study in Breast Cancer Research. The researchers assessed "5,929 Swedish women, aged 50 to 74," half of whom had breast cancer. Drinking coffee "appeared to spur a 'strong reduction' in risk for ER-negative breast cancer." Women who drank "five cups of coffee a day had a 33 percent to 57 percent lower risk for ER-negative cancer than did those who drank less than one cup a day."
However, WebMD (5/10, Doheny) noted that a "US expert warns that the new finding about reduction in risk for ER-negative breast cancer could be due to chance. The only solid message from this study and previous ones, says Shumin Zhang, MD, ScD, a researcher at Harvard Medical School, is this: 'Drinking coffee doesn't seem to increase the overall risk of breast cancer.'"

Twins and Longer Life

Women who have twins may live longer, study suggests.
The Los Angeles Times (5/10, Stein) "Booster Shots" blog reported, "Women who have twins naturally may live longer and have other child-bearing advantages compared with non-twin-bearing mothers," according to a study published online May 10 in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B. After examining "statistics on 58,786 women who were born between 1807 and 1899," investigators "discovered that twin-bearing mothers lived longer after menopause."
On its website, KTVX-TV Salt Lake City, UT (5/10), an ABC affiliate, reported, "Ken Smith, a professor of family and consumer studies at the University of Utah, is the senior author of the study funded by the National Institute on Aging." Smith "says mothers of multiples may not only carry a gene that increases their likelihood of twins, it may be the gene that causes the improved health of that woman." He stated, "The women are healthier to begin with, and it's that initial health status, that allows them to bear twins, and that also allows them to live longer."

Tanning Risk

Many US tanning salons not warning teens about skin cancer risks.
HealthDay (5/10, Preidt) reported, "Many tanning salons in the United States don't warn teens and young women about the skin cancer risks posed by tanning beds, according to" the results of an online poll conducted by the American Academy of Dermatology. The "poll included more than 3,800 white females aged 14 to 22 from across the country who were asked about their tanning knowledge, attitudes and behavior." Notably, "the survey found that 43 percent of indoor tanners said they had never been warned about the dangers of tanning beds by tanning salon employees, and 30 percent said they hadn't noticed any warning labels on tanning beds."

Home Health Risks

Florida physicians will be banned from asking patients whether there are guns in the home.
The Los Angeles Times (5/10, Khan) "Booster Shots" blog reported, "Doctors will be banned from asking patients whether there are guns in the home, under legislation expected to be signed into law by Florida Gov. Rick Scott." The blog entry pointed out, "Whether a person has guns in the house may not immediately sound like a medical or health-oriented question -- unless you count not dying as a health issue." For example, physicians may ask their patients if they have a swimming pool to counsel them on related safety issues, particularly if they have youngsters. "According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a third of all unintentional deaths of children between one and four years of age were due to drowning in 2007." Like swimming pools, firearms in the home pose a safety risk, the blog entry observed.

Meditation Prescription

More physicians referring patients for meditation, other alternative treatments.
ABC World News (5/10, story 7, 2:50, Sawyer) reported, "There is a new report finding 40% of us now are turning to alternative treatments, especially meditation." ABC (Harris) added, "Meditation, once considered supremely flakey, is now being used by the Marines, by corporate executives from General Mills to Target to Google, by students in classrooms all over America and now, according to this new study, by roughly three million patients on the recommendation of their doctors."
The Boston Globe "Daily Dose" blog reported, "A study published yesterday in the Archives of Internal Medicine found that some three percent of Americans, who responded to a government health survey, were practicing some sort of mind-body therapy as a result of a physician referral." That is "far less than the more than 15 percent of respondents surveyed who said they initiated these therapies on their own. But, hey, it's a start, considering how resistant doctors have been to adopting alternative remedies that veer away from mainstream medicine."

Cancer and Insurance Rates

More patients survive cancer but face battle over insurance costs.
In the Huffington Post (5/10), Cedars-Sinai Department of Medicine Chair Glenn D. Braunstein, MD, writes, "'You have cancer.' Those three words once braced patients for a worst-case scenario." For some, the "bad news is, it still does. But now there's positive news to report": The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Cancer Institute have "released new findings saying that one in every 20 Americans is now a cancer survivor." The data show deceased mortality rates "in both sexes for cancers of the colon, brain, stomach, kidney and lung, as well as non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, myeloma and leukemia." Meanwhile, in their "continued fight for health, cancer survivors also often must battle insurers," and higher insurance "costs for a longer period of time mean a harder-hit pocket book."

Exercise and Colon Polyps

Even minimal exercise may protect against colon polyps.
HealthDay (5/8, Gardner) reported, "Even a little exercise may ward off polyps in the colon, which are sometimes precursors to cancer," according to findings presented Sunday at Digestive Disease Week in Chicago. In study, half of the nearly 1,000 middle-aged patients of "different ethnic and racial" groups, who were at "no increased risk for colon cancer or polyps" exercised for "at least an hour a week." About "two-thirds" of the participants were overweight. By performing screening colonoscopies, the researchers found that participants who "exercised one or more hours a week had a 25.3 percent risk of polyps, versus 33.2 percent for those who didn't meet this exercise threshold. ... Also, 'individuals who exercised for at least three years had increased protection from colon polyps,'" said study author Dr. Nelson Sanchez from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York.

Childhood Food Allergies

One in 12 children may suffer from food allergies.
NBC Nightly News (5/8, story 7, 2:15, Holt) reported, "A new study to be published in the Journal of Pediatrics will show a big increase in the number of children who suffer from food allergies," some of which "can be life threatening." NBC (Sanders) explained that a new study "funded by the Food Allergy Initiative...found one in 12 children have food allergies, almost twice as many as initially thought. Forty percent of those with allergies have a life-threatening condition."

Airplane Emergencies

Physicians urge airlines to develop better in-flight medical-emergency procedures.
HealthDay (5/7, Preidt) reported that the airline industry "needs to standardize procedures and equipment for in-flight medical emergencies," according to a commentary published online in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Over a "five-year period, European airlines identified 10,000 in-flight medical emergencies, but the issue doesn't get the attention it deserves," said Dr. study authors Melissa Mattison and Dr. Mark Zeidel, of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. They also noted that US Federal Aviation Administration "requires flight attendants to be trained in CPR and the use of automated external defibrillators, yet does not require standard curriculum or testing." The authors outlined a "four-step plan to improve the handling of in-flight emergencies."

ER Wait Times

Redirecting non-urgent visitors may reduce ED wait times.
The Wall Street Journal (5/9, Martin, Subscription Publication) spotlighted some solutions to alleviate increasingly longer emergency-department wait times. For one, urgent-care centers or retail healthcare clinics could accommodate approximately 14% to 27% of all visits that presently take at hospital emergency-departments, according to a study published in the September 2010 issue of Health Affairs. Programs that refer non-urgent ED visitors elsewhere are working as well. For example, in 2006, the Aurora Sinai Medical Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, started using a program that refers non-urgent ED patients to alternate providers. According to Aurora Sinai's ED Director Dr. Paul Coogan, the program enabled the hospital to reduce its ED visits by roughly 23% annually.

Smokers in Court

Court rules smokers may sue tobacco industry two years after developing related disease.
The Los Angeles Times (5/6, Dolan) reports, "Smokers may sue the tobacco industry once they develop a disease like lung cancer, even if they suffered different smoking-related ailments years earlier, the California Supreme Court ruled unanimously Thursday." In the case before the court, "Nikki Pooshs, a former smoker, was diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in 1989 and a couple of years later with periodontal disease," but she "did not sue the tobacco industry until she was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2003." Cigarette makers "argued that her suit should be dismissed because the timetable for suing began when she first discovered that smoking had injured her in 1989."
The San Francisco Chronicle (5/6, Egelko) reports, "A federal judge dismissed the suit, saying Pooshs' two-year clock had started running when she was diagnosed with a noncancerous lung disease in 1989." She had known that "both illnesses were smoking-related," the judge said. Pooshs "appealed to the Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, which then asked the state's high court, the top authority on California law, to interpret the timetables," and on Thursday, the justices "ruled unanimously that someone diagnosed with a new disease, not caused by previous illnesses, has two years to sue from the date of the diagnosis."

Bisphosphonates and Fractures

Bisphosphonates may increase rare fracture risk.
The Wall Street Journal (5/5, Marcus, Subscription Publication) reports that, according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, the use of bisphosphonates increase the risk rare fractures of the thigh bone.
HealthDay (5/4, Reinberg) reported that, for the study, Dr. Per Aspenberg, of Linköping University in Sweden, and colleagues, "collected data on 12,777 women, aged 55 and older, who had fractured femurs in 2008. Among these women, they identified 59 with atypical fractures." The researchers "used data from registries to estimate the use of bisphosphonates. In addition, they compared the 59 cases of atypical fractures with 263 women who had typical fractures."
MedPage Today (5/4, Gever) reported, "Whereas the rate of atypical subtrochanteric femoral fractures in the general population of older Swedish women not using bisphosphonates was 0.09 per 10,000 person-years, it was 5.5 per 10,000 person-years among those who did take the drugs (age-adjusted relative risk 47.3, 95% CI 25.6 to 87.3)."
WebMD (5/4, Doheny) reported that duration of use "affected risk." For every "100 days of bisphosphonate use, the risk of the unusual fracture rose by 30%" but the risks "declined quickly after the drug was stopped." The risk was "reduced by 70% per year since the last use of the drug"; and for "one unusual fracture to occur, 2,000 women had to take the bisphosphonate drugs for one year."

Adderall Shortage

Drug to treat AD/HD in short supply.
The Washington Post (5/4, Stein) "The Checkup" blog reported that "reports are emerging that many parents are having a hard time finding some drugs used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD). The biggest problem appears to be shortages of the drug Adderall XR (Amphetamine/Dextroamphetamine) and its two generic versions." According to Shire Pharmaceuticals spokesperson "Matt Cabrey, the problem is due to 'supply and distribution irregularities' that 'are due mainly to the restricted amount of active ingredient' used to make the drugs."

New Diabetes Drug

FDA approves new type 2 diabetes treatment.
Bloomberg News (5/3, Peterson) reports, "Eli Lilly & Co. (LLY) and Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH won US approval of a new drug to improve blood glucose control in people with Type 2 diabetes." The medication, Trajenta (linagliptin) was "shown to be safe and effective in eight clinical studies involving about 3,800 patients with Type 2 diabetes, the most common form of the disease," the Food and Drug Administration said in a statement.
The AP (5/3, Perrone) reports that the FDA approved the a DPP-4 inhibitor as a "stand-alone treatment or in combination with older diabetes" medications. Boehringer and Lilly "submitted eight studies of the drug that enrolled more than 3,800 patients. The drug consistently improved blood sugar control when compared to placebo. The most common side effects of the drug were respiratory infection, sore throat, muscle pain and headache."
MedPage Today (5/2, Fiore) noted that unlike the "other approved DPP-4 inhibitors sitagliptin (Januvia) and saxagliptin (Onglyza), linagliptin is not excreted through the kidneys, so it may be especially appropriate for patients who have renal problems." According to Medscape (5/2, Lowes), linagliptin, which "comes in tablet form, boosts the level of hormones that stimulate the release of insulin after a meal by blocking an enzyme called dipeptidyl peptidase-4." HealthDay (5/2) also covered the story.

Children's Hospital Stay

Children whose parents do not speak English fluently have longer inpatient hospital stays than peers.
MedPage Today (5/2, Smith) reported, "When parents don't speak English well, their children may have longer inpatient stays if they need to be hospitalized," according to a study published online in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. For the nine-year retrospective analysis, Michael Levas, MD, and colleagues from Children's Mercy Hospitals and Clinics in Missouri, reviewed medical record of "1,257 children admitted to their hospital from Jan. 1, 2000, to Dec. 31, 2008 for infection requiring prolonged antibiotic treatment" and found that "sick children with parents whose English proficiency was limited spent 60% longer in hospital than those whose parents spoke fluently."

Social People and Dementia

Highly social individuals may have decreased risk of dementia.
The Time (5/3, Szalavitz) "Healthland" blog reports that the most "social seniors had a 70% reduction in the rate of cognitive decline, compared with their least social peers," according to a study in the Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society. Researchers followed "1,138 people" (average age 79) without dementia for five years. They found that each "one-point increase on the social activity score was linked to a 47% drop in the rate of decline in cognitive function." An earlier study of the "same group of elderly participants by the same researchers also found that each one-point increase in sociability reduced the risk of becoming physically disabled by 43%."

Waist Fat Risk

Fat around waist may increase risk of death in patients with coronary artery disease.
The Los Angeles Times (5/2, Healy) "Booster Shots" blog reported that, "for people with coronary artery disease, including those with a 'normal, healthy' body-mass index (or BMI), having even a little flubber around the middle is a bad omen, increasing the risk of death as much as smoking a pack of cigarettes a day or having very high cholesterol," according to a study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. The researchers found that "having a BMI in the 'overweight' or 'obese' category does not, by itself, imply a grim prognosis."
The Wall Street Journal (5/3, Winslow, Subscription Publication) reports that, according to Michael Lauer, director of cardiovascular sciences at the National Institutes of Health's National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, "Fat is not created equal and where fat is located makes a difference."
CNN /Health.com (5/3, Harding) reports that "the paradox appears to be explained by the simple fact that BMI is a very flawed measure of heart risk. Waist size provides a far more accurate way to predict a heart patient's chances of dying at an early age from a heart attack or other causes, the study found."
MedPage Today (5/2, Smith) reported that "the findings could have important clinical implications, the researchers argued, because it's generally accepted that if body mass index is normal, 'no further measures of obesity are necessary, and no lifestyle modifications to induce weight loss might be recommended.'"

Concierge Medicine

More physicians opting for concierge medicine.
In the New York Times (4/30, B6, Subscription Publication) Wealth Matters column, Paul Sullivan wrote about "a growing subset of" healthcare: concierge medicine. "MDVIP, which has 450 concierge doctors in 34 states, charges patients $1,500 to $1,800 a year. Their doctors are each limited to 600 patients, whereas, the company says, most primary care physicians serve at least 2,000 patients." The company "says appointments with doctors 'start on time and last as long as necessary' and can usually be made the same day or the next one."

Infants and Herbs

FDA researchers find infants being given potentially harmful herbal supplements.
The AP (5/2) reports, "New research suggests many US babies are fed herbal supplements or teas." A study by Food and Drug Administration researchers "was released Monday in the journal Pediatrics and is billed as the first to examine broad use of such products in American infants."
Bloomberg News (5/2, Ostrow) reports that the researchers found that "one in 10 infants are given herbal teas and supplements to ease digestion or fussiness." The investigators found that "gripe water, a formula containing ginger and fennel used for colic and gas, chamomile, an herb used in tea, and teething tablets, which may also contain botanical ingredients, were the most commonly used supplements."
WebMD (5/2, Goodman) reports that "the more weeks a mom breastfed her infant, the more likely she was to give the infant an herbal supplement or tea, the study found."