Chronic Disease News and Research

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ESC urges European heads of state to prevent chronic non-communicable diseases

The European Society of Cardiology, through the European Chronic Disease Alliance (ECDA), has urged European heads of state "to show leadership" and long-term commitment to the prevention of chronic non-communicable diseases at today's "high level meeting" of the UN General Assembly in New York.

19 Sep 2011

NTNU genetic research shows best recipe to limit risk of lifestyle-related diseases

What should we eat? Answers abound in the international media, all of which rely on their interpretation of recent medical literature to come up with recommendations for the healthiest diet. But what if you could answer this question at a molecular level - what if you could find out how our genes respond to the foods we eat, and what this does to the cellular processes that make us healthy - or not? That's precisely what biologists at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology have done.

19 Sep 2011

High-fat maternal diet during pregnancy results in deposition of excess body fat in the newborn

New research in mice indicates that babies born to moms who eat a high-fat diet before and during pregnancy have a higher fat mass and smaller livers than babies whose moms consume low-fat fare, according to scientists at Oregon Health & Science University Doernbecher Children's Hospital.

17 Sep 2011

Prevention is global health community's greatest challenge in fight against chronic diseases

"A new pandemic has emerged and is beginning to overshadow all others," "The chronic-disease pandemic will be the 'face' of global health in the coming decades ... an insidious pandemic for those who are affected, causing slow and subtle declines in health over years."

17 Sep 2011

Public health organizations fear industries may manipulate outcomes of U.N. summit on NCDs

"A group of public health organizations said on Friday they were concerned that industries selling fatty foods, alcohol and cigarettes could hijack a United Nations meeting on how to tackle chronic disease in order to protect their own interests," Reuters reports.

17 Sep 2011

Reading between the lines: As poor get poorer, their health is at greater risk

In the wake of this week's Census Bureau report, news outlets report that the dire data about the percentage of Americans living in poverty could feed the current deficit-reduction discussions in Congress.

16 Sep 2011

Suicidal teens are not likely to get mental healthcare they need

15 Sep 2011

Fighting NCDs can be achieved with low-cost interventions

In this Atlantic opinion piece, Amanda Glassman, director of Global Health Policy at the Center for Global Development (CGD), and Denizhan Duran, a research assistant at CGD, outline the macro- and microeconomic effects non-communicable diseases (NCDs) can have on countries and families, noting that "80 percent of NCD deaths occur in developing countries, mostly the middle-income countries."

15 Sep 2011

NCCN 6th annual congress discusses role of maintenance therapies in follicular lymphoma

While therapeutic advances have improved survival of patients with follicular lymphoma (FL), it remains an incurable disease with inevitable relapse. This underscores the need for therapies and strategies to extend the duration of remission without significantly increasing toxicity and while maintaining quality of life.

15 Sep 2011

Psychological stress of racial discrimination may contribute to health disparities

The consequences of psychological stress, resulting from racial discrimination, may contribute to racial health disparities in conditions such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and other age-associated diseases.

15 Sep 2011

Reminder packaging improves adherence to long-term hypertension medications

People with chronic illnesses are more likely to take long-term medications according to doctors' instructions if the packaging includes a reminder system, according to a new review of evidence.

14 Sep 2011

IDF, Albert Einstein College of Medicine to host Global Diabetes Symposium

While infectious diseases tend to grab media headlines and public attention, non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular disease, and chronic respiratory diseases together comprise the number one killer in the world and represent a serious social and economic burden to developed and developing countries alike.

14 Sep 2011

Prescription drugs expensive in Australia and likely to increase

According to experts Australians are facing some of the highest ‘out-of-pocket’ costs in the industrialized world for prescription medicines and the problem is likely to worsen

14 Sep 2011

Suicidal teens not getting needed mental healthcare

Suicidal teens are not likely to get the mental healthcare they need. This is according to a team of researchers at Seattle Children's Research Institute, the University of Washington (UW), and Group Health Research Institute. The study, "Adolescents With Suicidal Ideation: Health Care Use and Functioning," was recently published in Academic Pediatrics.

14 Sep 2011

Rehabilitation the ‘great missing link’ in the healthcare system Leading physicians convene in Brisbane today

The lack of publically funded community-based rehabilitation and restorative programs is one of the great missing links in the Australian health care system, according to leading Australian physicians.

13 Sep 2011

Transcendental Meditation practice reduces health care costs

According to a study published this week in the September/October 2011 issue of the American Journal of Health Promotion, people with consistently high health care costs experienced a 28 percent cumulative decrease in physician fees after an average of five years practicing the stress-reducing Transcendental Meditation technique compared with their baseline.

12 Sep 2011

U.N. member states must face health, economic impacts of NCDs

In this Huffington Post opinion piece outlining many facts and statistics surrounding non-communicable diseases (NCDs) worldwide, Susan Blumenthal, public health editor of the Huffington Post and former assistant surgeon general, along with Katherine Warren and Lauren Macherelli, who previously worked at the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress, where Blumenthal is director of the health and medicine program, write, "The world is at a crossroads when it comes to the chronic disease epidemic and its enormous health and economic impacts."

9 Sep 2011

Study examines alcohol use in relation to successful ageing among women

Among 13,894 women in the Nurses' Health Study, investigators prospectively examined alcohol use assessed at midlife in relation to "successful ageing," which was defined as survival to age 70 years, not having a major chronic disease, and having no major cognitive impairment, physical impairment, or mental health problems.

9 Sep 2011

Weight Watchers more effective alternative to primary care for obese adults

A new, one-year global study published today in The Lancet indicates that overweight and obese adults referred to Weight Watchers, a community based provider of weight-loss services, lost more than twice as much weight when compared with those who received standard care.

9 Sep 2011

ERS urges EU to take action on chronic respiratory diseases

Respiratory diseases are one of the leading causes of death and suffering in the EU. The challenge Europe is facing in this field goes far beyond public health: lung diseases currently cause an annual cost of €100 billion and threaten the Europe 2020 strategy and the goal to have 75% of the working population employed and productive.

6 Sep 2011