Archive for August 2008

The New York Times reports on a trend resulting from skyrocketing US health care costs – couples considering marriage, divorce, or delaying divorce for the sake of health benefits. According to a poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation, a health policy research group, 7% of respondents stated that someone in their family has married in order to obtain health insurance. The foundation cautions against a literal interpretation of the results, but stresses that the results are of interest because Americans “are making major life decisions on the basis of health care concerns.” Full story.

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Protonix, Prilosec and Nexium are just a few of the common drugs used in the treatment of gastroesophageal reflux disease (also known as GERD or acid reflux). The use of these drugs, called proton pump inhibitors (PPI), has been shown to increase the risk of hip fractures when used for over 7 years, according to a new Canadian study. It is not uncommon to find patients who are taking these drugs for extended periods of time. As with any medication it is recommended that you and your physician weigh the risks and benefits prior to starting long term treatment with a PPI. Full story.

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Sure, we’ve always been told that exercise makes us healthy. That’s pretty hard to dispute. But, does exercise confer a longer lifespan? According to Stanford University researchers it does. In a study published today in the Archives of Internal Medicine, a comparison of middle-aged and older regular runners with healthy counterparts showed that vigorous regular exercise was associated with longer life and less disability in old age. The key word here is vigorous, by which the researchers mean running. What about running causing more injuries in old age? The researchers have also published another study in the August issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine where they showed that running was not linked to greater rates of osteoarthritis in elderly runners, and they did not require more total knee replacements than non-runners. Full story.

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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report today that 60% of Americans have never been tested for HIV. The percentage of persons ever tested for HIV increased from 6.0% in 1987 to 38.0% in 1997, and then plateauing at 38.4% from 1998 to 2000. Since 2001, the percentages have remained stable at approximately 40%. A stunning 2005 statistic showed that of the 1 million people living with HIV in the US at that time, one quarter of them were not aware that they were HIV-positive. This example illustrates the importance of routine HIV screening. Current recommendations suggest clinicians screen only those adolescents and adults who are at increased risk, as well as all pregnant women. Full story.

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A European study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition has shown that eating oily fish reduces the risk of wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the major cause of blindness and poor vision in adults in Western countries. Those who consistently ate oily fish at least once a week are 50% less likely to have wet AMD. The common nutrient that are found in oily fish are the omega-3 fatty acids. Researchers emphasize that they are not endorsing omega-3 supplements since this study only investigated consumption of dietary fish. Full story.

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In light of the recent attention being paid to the issue of adult and childhood obesity in the US, it is refreshing to see a product that tackles one of the causes of increased caloric intake: sugar-laden beverages. Although I have no affiliation with Ayala’s Herbal Water, I am compelled to share this simple idea to take water and infuse it with real herbs and spices. Best of all, the ingredients are organic with no artificial sweeteners, additives or preservatives of any kind. The idea is one from Dr. Ayala Cahana, a pediatrician and medical geneticist, who has a personal interest in herbs, as well as a goal to reduce the incidence of diabetes in our country. Full story.

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According to new CDC data the average wait time at US hospital emergency rooms have increased from 38 minutes to nearly one hour over the past decade. At the same time the number of emergency departments have dropped, which further exacerbates the problem. Emergency departments are often forced to shut down due to poor reimbursement for the services they provide. At the same time more and more patients are using the ER as their primary care facility for a variety of reasons – delaying care due to increased health care costs, difficulty in getting appointments to see their physicians in a timely manner, and lack of health insurance. The results are troubling, but not surprising. Full story.

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Up to 90% of pregnant women will develop striae gravidarum (stretch marks) by their third trimester of pregnancy. These purple-pink bands are often considered aesthetically unsightly and can remain forever as a reminder of pregnancy. This is the reason why numerous creams and emollients claim to rid or reduce stretch marks – one of the most common being cocoa butter. To put this natural lotion to the test, researchers from the American University of Beirut Medical Center compared women who applied cocoa butter to those who applied an inactive placebo lotion throughout pregnancy. The results showed that 45% of cocoa butter treated women, compared with 49% of placebo treated women, went on to develop stretch marks – a statistically insignificant difference, according to the researchers. Furthermore, there was no difference in terms of the severity of the stretch marks between the two groups. Full story.

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Johns Hopkins University Researchers report today that the percentage of patients who visit psychiatrists for psychotherapy (talk therapy) have declined from 44% in 1996-97 to 29% in 2004-05. They attribute this decline to an increase in use of medications as well as changes in insurance company policies – most psychiatrists receive less reimbursement dollars for a 45-minute visit than for three 15-minute visits. However, the study did not consider visits to health professionals who are not doctors but still provide talk therapy. Full story.

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Public health researchers have found that women who have bacterial vaginosis (BV), a common vaginal infection, may be more susceptible to contracting HIV. It is unclear what the nature of the relationship between the two sexually transmitted diseases is. One theory is that BV changes the environment of the vagina by depleting “healthy” bacteria that usually defend against infections. BV also decreases the acidity of the vaginal environment, which may allow the HIV virus to better survive and cause infection. Full Story.

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