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.

No difference in rates of late-stage breast cancer between women screened annually and biennially

Among older women, getting a mammogram every two years was just as beneficial as getting a mammogram annually, and led to significantly fewer false positive results, according to a study led by UC San Francisco.

6 Feb 2013

UCSD receives $3.4M NIMH grant to study successful aging in HIV-infected adults

The National Institute of Mental Health has awarded a $3.4 million grant to a team of researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine to study successful aging in HIV-infected adults. HIV is a serious, chronic, medical disease that affects the lives of more than one million Americans.

5 Feb 2013

Study finds serious long-term side effects following prostate cancer treatments

A new study comparing outcomes among prostate cancer patients treated with surgery versus radiotherapy found differences in urinary, bowel and sexual function after short-term follow-up, but those differences were no longer significant 15 years after initial treatment.

31 Jan 2013

Clinical trial to evaluate cyclodextrin against Niemann-Pick disease type C1

A clinical trial to evaluate a drug candidate called cyclodextrin as a possible treatment for Niemann-Pick disease type C1 (NPC), a rare and fatal genetic disease, will start today, researchers announced.

24 Jan 2013

SOPHIE project to evaluate social and economic policies’ impact on health inequalities

Europe will assess the impact of social and economic policies on health inequalities through the SOPHIE project. Health inequalities are avoidable and unfair differences determined by the circumstances in which people of different social groups are born, live, work and age.

23 Jan 2013

Chronic heart failure treatment, Inspra (eplerenone), accepted for use within NHS Wales

Inspra (eplerenone) has now been accepted by the All Wales Medicines Strategy Group (AWMSG) for use in adult patients with chronic heart failure (CHF) NYHA class II, in combination with standard optimal therapy...

22 Jan 2013

Schizophrenics more likely to die from cardiovascular disease and cancer

A new study from Lund University in Sweden shows that the average life expectancy of men and women with schizophrenia is 15 years and 12 years shorter respectively than for those who do not suffer from the disease.

22 Jan 2013

Current smokers with HIV more likely to get bacterial pneumonia

Bacterial pneumonia is one of the commonest and most serious infections occurring in people infected with HIV. A metanalysis of cohort and case control studies published in BioMed Central's open access journal BMC Medicine finds that current smokers with HIV were at double the risk of bacterial pneumonia than non-smoking counterparts, but that when people stopped smoking their risk was reduced.

21 Jan 2013

Macular pigment screening: an interview with Jaquie Finn, Product Line Manager at Elektron Technology

AMD is the leading cause of vision loss in anyone over 50 and globally in 2010 it was estimated to cost $340 billion to treat AMD. The costs are set to spiral over the next 20 years and really over burden the healthcare system unless people start to take preventative action.

18 Jan 2013

New compounds can target RNase H enzyme in HIV

Scientists who study HIV are facing a troubling consequence of their own success. They created drugs that can now give infected patients almost normal life expectancy. However, those same drugs will eventually cause the constantly mutating virus to evolve into a form that eludes current treatments.

18 Jan 2013

Viewpoints: N.Y. gun law could pose problems for health professionals; 'Jarring discrepancy' between medical costs and premium increases; State officials wage battle against health law

The broad gun control bill approved Tuesday by the New York Legislature substantially strengthens the state's gun control laws. ... Some sections of the law, however, were not fully vetted in the rush. One provision asks health care professionals -; physicians, psychologists, registered nurses or licensed clinical social workers -; to report to local health care officials when they have reason to believe that patients could harm themselves or others. ... The provision would seem to raise significant legal questions.

16 Jan 2013

U.S. trails 16 other affluent countries in life expectancy, health status

It's no news that the U.S. has lower life expectancy and higher infant mortality than most high-income countries. But a magisterial new report says Americans are actually less healthy across their entire life spans than citizens of 16 other wealthy nations.

11 Jan 2013

Americans die sooner and experience higher rates of disease and injury than others

On average, Americans die sooner and experience higher rates of disease and injury than people in other high-income countries, says a new report from the National Research Council and Institute of Medicine. The report finds that this health disadvantage exists at all ages from birth to age 75 and that even advantaged Americans -- those who have health insurance, college educations, higher incomes, and healthy behaviors -- appear to be sicker than their peers in other rich nations.

11 Jan 2013

SLU researchers to test new screening method for MPS disorders among infants

Researchers at Saint Louis University have received a five-year, $2.5 million National Institutes of Health grant to test a new method of screening newborns for a group of rare, but serious genetic disorders that affect approximately 200 babies born in the U.S., each year.

11 Jan 2013

Reducing air pollution from wood stoves may increase life expectancy

Reducing a person’s exposure to wood or biomass smoke can help increase their life expectancy, suggest findings from a study published in the BMJ.

9 Jan 2013

Adolescents may lose hepatitis B virus protection despite vaccination as infants

New research reveals that a significant number of adolescents lose their protection from hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, despite having received a complete vaccination series as infants. Results in the January 2013 issue of Hepatology, a journal published by Wiley on behalf of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, suggest teens with high-risk mothers (those positive for HBeAg) and teens whose immune system fails to remember a previous viral exposure (immunological memory) are behind HBV reinfection.

8 Jan 2013

Computed tomography-induced cancer risk may be overstated

Clinicians should be careful not to overemphasize the risk for radiation-induced cancer when counseling patients on undergoing surveillance computed tomography imaging, caution US scientists.

24 Dec 2012

PEPFAR scale-up linked to strengthening of health systems, study says

Noting "PEPFAR has been criticized for its vertical or 'stove-piping' structure, with resources targeting a specific disease rather than working to strengthen the underlying health system," a study published in the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes "aimed to evaluate whether PEPFAR activities were associated with system-wide improvements in both proximal and distal indicators of health systems strengthening."

21 Dec 2012

Findings emphasize importance of counseling HIV patients on smoking cessation

Among HIV patients receiving well-organized care with free access to antiretroviral therapy, those who smoke lose more years of life to smoking than to HIV, according to a Danish study published in Clinical Infectious Diseases and available online. The findings highlight the importance of smoking cessation efforts in the long-term, integrated care of patients infected with HIV.

19 Dec 2012

Sit–rise test may guide mortality risk stratification

Assessing how much support a middle-aged or elderly person requires to sit and rise from the floor could be an indicator of all-cause mortality risk, researchers say.

17 Dec 2012