Life Expectancy News and Research

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Life expectancy is the expected (in the statistical sense) number of years of life remaining at a given age. It is denoted by e''x'', which means the average number of subsequent years of life for someone now aged ''x'', according to a particular mortality experience.

Need for routine voluntary screening for HIV

A new cost-effectiveness analysis has led researchers from Duke University Medical Center and the Veterans Affairs (VA) Palo Alto Health Care System to recommend that routine voluntary screening for HIV

10 Feb 2005

Expanded HIV screening can increase patient life span

Expanded HIV screening can increase patient life span, prevent the spread of the disease, and is cost effective, researchers at Yale, Harvard and the Massachusetts General Hospital report in the February 10 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).

10 Feb 2005

Risks of obesity in children with kidney transplants

Obese children who get kidney transplants tend to be younger, shorter and on dialysis longer than their leaner peers, according to a study in the February issue of the journal Pediatrics.

7 Feb 2005

Origins of skin cancer melanoma

Researchers at Children's Hospital Boston and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have found an important clue about the origins of the deadly skin cancer melanoma.

7 Feb 2005

New study details trends in diagnosis, treatment of brain tumours

A two year study involving over 560 patients with the newly-diagnosed malignant brain tumors shows that patterns of care are varied and there is a need for new, detailed clinical guidelines for management of brain tumors. The study is published in the Feb. 2, 2005 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

3 Feb 2005

$Phenoxodiol gets fast track status for its intended use in patients with hormone-refractory prostate cancer$

Phenoxodiol gets fast track status for its intended use in patients with hormone-refractory prostate cancer

Marshall Edwards today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted the investigational anti-cancer drug, phenoxodiol, fast track status for its intended use in patients with hormone- refractory prostate cancer (HRPC).

26 Jan 2005

Whole-body computed tomography (CT) is not a cost-effective screening method

The use of whole-body CT as a screening tool for cancer and other diseases is the focus of an ongoing debate. Proponents of whole-body CT emphasize the potential benefit of early detection of disease, but others caution that the costs, false-positive findings and unnecessary radiation might render the procedure more harmful than beneficial.

25 Jan 2005

Avastin available across Europe within the next few weeks

Roche has announced that the European Commission has approved Avastin (bevacizumab, rhuMAb-VEGF), the new innovative anti-angiogenesis drug, for the treatment of patients with previously untreated metastatic colorectal cancer.

16 Jan 2005

£2.5 million to support further research into gene therapy for cystic fibrosis

The funding commitment was made in the Genetics White Paper, 'Our Inheritance, Our Future: Realising the potential of genetics in the NHS' and will help to ensure that those with cystic fibrosis benefit as soon as possible from the latest advances in genetic knowledge and technologies.

4 Jan 2005

Tasty polymeal cuts heart disease by 76 per cent

A combined meal of seven foods including wine and chocolate could reduce cardiovascular disease by 76 per cent, a team of researchers has found.

21 Dec 2004

Macugen approved for the treatment of neovascular (wet) age-related macular degeneration (AMD)

Eyetech Pharmaceuticals and Pfizer have announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Macugen (pegaptanib sodium injection) for the treatment of neovascular (wet) age-related macular degeneration (AMD), an eye disease associated with aging that destroys central vision.

20 Dec 2004

Democracy is good for your health

Freedom has become the political buzzword of the 21st century. Now that the surviving Afganis and Iraqis are enjoying the benefits of Western freedoms, what will this mean for their health?

20 Dec 2004

Wine, fish, dark chocolate, fruits and vegetables cut the risk of heart disease

Scientists in this week's Christmas issue of the BMJ have discovered the 'Polymeal', a set of ingredients which cuts the risk of heart (cardiovascular) disease by 76% and significantly increases life expectancy.

20 Dec 2004

More people live to be 100 in Switzerland than anywhere else in Europe

More people live to be 100 in Switzerland than anywhere else in Europe, and the country is one of the world leaders in the longevity stakes, reveals research in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

13 Dec 2004

New advances in sickle cell disease

Excruciating pain episodes, recurrent pneumonias, strokes, severe infections, chronic hemolytic anemia, and secondary pulmonary hypertension are common complications of sickle cell disease, a life-threatening inherited defect in blood that causes normally disc-shaped red blood cells to take on a sickle shape.

6 Dec 2004

Next-generation therapeutics with the potential to successfully treat Lou Gehrig's disease

The hopes of many that ALS (commonly referred to as Lou Gehrig's disease) will one day be a disease of the past, studied in medical textbooks, conquered by the dedication of those who have worked tirelessly to eradicate it might be realized in our lifetime.

6 Dec 2004

Life expectancy at 65 is now 81.6 years for men and 84.5 for women

The nation’s medicine cabinets are more crowded than ever, with almost half of all people taking at least one prescription medicine and one in six taking three or more medications, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ annual check-up on Americans’ health.

4 Dec 2004

Research shows how diet can improve health in the elderly

Adapting diets to reduce the occurrence of Alzheimer’s or osteoporosis and more generally to improve health among the elderly are some of the possibilities revealed by EU research on nutrition and health.

29 Nov 2004

New possibilities for the use of VEGF in the treatment of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

ALS is an incurable, paralyzing neurodegenerative disorder that strikes 5 persons in every 100,000. The disease commonly affects healthy people in the most active period of their lives − without warning or previous family history.

29 Nov 2004

Women now making up nearly half of the 37.2 million adults (aged 15-49) living with HIV worldwide

A new report released today shows that the number of women living with HIV has risen in each region of the world over the past two years, with the steepest increases in East Asia, followed by Eastern Europe and Central Asia. In East Asia, there was a 56% increase over the past two years, followed by Eastern Europe and Central Asia with 48%.

23 Nov 2004