Two new drugs that may change the lives of people with multiple sclerosis (MS) are coming soon. Cladribine and fingolimod are oral medications which have been shown in recent studies to cut relapse rates by 50-60% over two years compared with placebos. Oral medications for MS is a huge breakthrough since, currently, beta interferon 1a injection is the mainstay of treatment. The UK MS Society has already called on drug companies to price the drugs reasonably in order to allow more patients access to them. MS is the most common disabling neurological disease of young adults affecting more than 2.5 million people worldwide. [via BBC]
U.S. filmmaker Dan Woolley was in Haiti shooting a documentary about poverty when the recent, devastating earthquake struck and buried him under rubble. He suffered a fracture in his leg and a cut on his head. Luckily, he had downloaded a first-aid application onto his iPhone which may have saved his life. By following instructions on his phone he was able to fashion a tourniquet for his leg and stop his head from bleeding. The application also warned him to not fall asleep if he felt he was going into shock, so he set his phone’s alarm clock to go off every 20 minutes in order to keep him awake. Sixty-five hours later, he was finally rescued and reunited with his family. [MSNBC via Wired]
I found a great cartoon that clearly, in my opinion, depicts why we need a health care system that is devoid of for-profit insurance companies. I’d like to share it with you.
Younger people with chronic pain look similar, in terms of their physical disabilities, to people who are two to three decades older without pain, according to a study published in this month’s Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. By comparing functional abilities of adults with regards to mobility (walking, jogging, etc), stair climbing, upper extremity tasks, and activities of daily living (bathing, dressing, eating, etc) it was found that the abilities of those aged 50 to 59 with pain were far more comparable to subjects aged 80 to 89 without pain. This study was the first of its kind to examine the relationship of pain and relative age-related disability. In clinical practice chronic pain is a common complaint with some sufferers not only experiencing functional decline, they can often look physically older due to comorbid deconditioning and malnutrition. [via Medical News Today]
A survey published in this week’s New England Journal of Medicine finds that nearly three-quarters of US physicians support a government-offered, public health insurance option. 63 percent of physicians surveyed say they favor giving patients a choice that includes both public and private options. In addition, another 10 percent of physicians state they prefer a medical system with only a public option – a single-payer health system. When the American public is polled, anywhere from 50 to 70 percent favor a public option. Said the study authors, “we found that physicians, regardless — whether they were salaried or they were practice owners, regardless of whether they were specialists or primary care providers, regardless of where they lived — the support for the public option was broad and widespread.” [via NPR]
An article in the Canadian Medical Association Journal points out that a whopping 80% of worldwide sodium consumption is from intake of processed foods in developed countries. They are calling for immediate action on the part of governments to crack down on salt consumption because diets containing excessive sodium is associated with high blood pressure, heart and vascular disease, even stomach cancer, among other disorders. Worldwide approximately 1 billion adults have hypertension. The authors state that any national policy should focus on reformulating processed foods, consumer education, clear food labeling, and setting time lines to meet these goals. In addition, health care professionals should give extra attention in guiding patients about healthy choices in reducing sodium consumption. Has your physician ever talked to you regarding decreasing your salt intake? [via Medical News Today]
According to Dr. Carolyn Kaelin, a Harvard surgeon, breast cancer survivor and author of The Breast Cancer Survivor’s Fitness Plan, 3 to 5 total hours of brisk walking (about 3 mph on a treadmill) each week can reduce one’s chances of breast cancer recurrence by 40 percent. This information comes from the results of the Nurses Health Study, which is published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Dr. Kaelin points out, “It does not need to be running a marathon, or biking a century, but rather simply walking briskly most days on a treadmill, at a shopping mall or around a track, that further reduces breast cancer recurrence for those who have been treated for the condition. For all women, in addition to physical activity helping to optimize body weight and reduce high blood pressure, heart disease and diabetes, scientific research is more strongly pointing to the positive effects of cardiovascular exercise in reducing breast cancer risk and the risks of other forms of cancer, too.” [via Medical News Today]
Physicians sometimes call ovarian cancer the “silent killer” because it often presents with symptoms that don’t seem to be related to the ovaries. The most common symptoms include abdominal distention, abdominal pain, and increased urinary frequency. Now, British researchers have published in the British Medical Journal the results of a study that demonstrates more symptoms that they say are associated with this disease, some of which can present months prior to a diagnosis is made. Other symptoms include postmenopausal bleeding, loss of appetite, rectal bleeding and abdominal bloating. The take home message of this news is to remind health care practitioners and the general public that seemingly common and benign symptoms – such as bloating – may, in fact, signify a potentially serious diagnosis, especially when taken together with the constellation of symptoms that can be associated with ovarian cancer. [via CBS News]
Carol Kasyjanski, 61, has become the first person in the world to receive a wireless cardiac pacemaker which communicates, via the internet, with her cardiologist’s office to relay critical information. Each day the pacemaker communicates with remote servers to download all of its relevant information, which is analyzed by a monitoring system that can alert physicians if any abnormalities are present. The alerted doctor can then analyze the information firsthand and determine how to best intervene. The wireless pacemaker is made by St. Jude Medical, Inc and received approval from the U.S Food and Drug Administration in July, 2009. [via Daily Mail Online] Share your comments here.
The United States health care debate is in full swing. Will health care in our country change for the better once it’s over? With the US being the country that spends the most on health care – and not necessarily with the best results – I certainly hope so. According to the World Health Organization the US health care system ranks 37th in the world in terms of quality and fairness. How is it possible that many industrialized nations spend far less than we do and are able to obtain better outcome measures? While there is no one health care model out there that perfectly suits our unique country, we should be able to learn from these countries in order to solve our health care woes. This is exactly what NPR commentator and veteran Washington Post foreign correspondent T. R. Reid does in a great television documentary, Sick Around The World, that explores the various health care systems in Germany, Great Britain, Japan, Taiwan and Switzerland. If you care about US health care, then you owe it to yourself to learn about health care around the world. [via PBS]
Click the image above to watch the full program of "Sick Around the World"
Dr. Steven Chang, the author of DailyDose, is a staff physician with Kosmix RightHealth. Dr. Chang practices Family Medicine at the University of California Davis Medical Center, where his medical interests include both pediatric and geriatric care, public health, gay and lesbian health, and sleep medicine. Dr. Chang trained at the Stanford University affiliated O'Connor Hospital, and was a research fellow at the National Institute of Health. He holds an M.D. from McGill University and a BA in Public Health from Johns Hopkins University.
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Dr. Steven Chang, the author of DailyDose, is a staff physician with Kosmix RightHealth. Dr. Chang practices Family Medicine at the University of California Davis Medical Center, where his medical interests include both pediatric and geriatric care, public health, gay and lesbian health, and sleep medicine. Dr. Chang trained at the Stanford University affiliated O'Connor Hospital, and was a research fellow at the National Institute of Health. He holds an M.D. from McGill University and a BA in Public Health from Johns Hopkins University.