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.

New drug gives hope to lung cancer victims

More people die from lung cancer than any other type of cancer and the prognosis for the disease is poor.

28 Sep 2006

GSK seeks regulatory approval in U.S., Europe for Tykerb

GlaxoSmithKline on Monday said it has submitted its experimental breast cancer drug Tykerb, which is taken orally, for FDA approval and plans to file for approval in Europe in the fourth quarter of this year, Reuters reports.

20 Sep 2006

Life expectancy in the U.S. - differences

U.S residents in eight groups based on geography, income and race have significant differences in life expectancy, according to a study published on Monday in the journal PloS Medicine, USA Today reports (Sternberg, USA Today, 9/12).

13 Sep 2006

Study compares delivery methods of schizophrenia medicines

More than half of schizophrenia patients don't take their medication as directed and a new study will determine whether biweekly physician visits and injectable drugs can change that.

12 Sep 2006

Geographic data on health inequities

Life expectancy in the United States shows some remarkable variations - from place to place, and between races.

12 Sep 2006

Women have a greater risk of death from long-term oxygen therapy compared with the men

Among patients on long-term oxygen therapy for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), women are more likely to die from the disease than men.

4 Sep 2006

U.S. health care system offers good value in terms of life expectancy gains despite rising costs

U.S. residents have benefited from increases in health care costs since 1960 through increased life expectancy, according to a study published on Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine, the AP/Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports.

1 Sep 2006

Researchers analyze increases in medical expenses versus improvements in health

Despite dramatic increases in health expenses since 1960, the return on medical spending is high, according to a new study by researchers at Harvard University and the University of Michigan.

30 Aug 2006

Brits denied new targeted bowel cancer drugs

Despite the fact that bowel cancer is the third most common form of the disease in Britain and kills 16,000 people every year, the government watchdog on drugs the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has sparked a bitter controversy by refusing to provide two bowel cancer drugs on the National Health Service (NHS) to cancer patients.

21 Aug 2006

Cancer stem cells spur glioma angiogenesis, could hold key to brain tumor therapy

Stem cell-like glioma cancer cells that share many characteristics with normal stem cells propel the lethal growth of brain cancers by promoting tumor blood vessel formation, and may hold the key to treating these deadly cancers.

15 Aug 2006

Turning the immune system against cancer

Medicine can now prevent a host of diseases with a mere shot of vaccine. Polio and smallpox are almost non-existent, and mumps and chicken pox are rarely seen nowadays.

4 Aug 2006

Most women at high risk for breast cancer do not increase their life expectancy by taking the drug tamoxifen

Tamoxifen is an extraordinarily expensive cancer-prevention strategy, costing as much as $1.3 million per year of life saved.

24 Jul 2006

Research offers new hope in helping elderly fight infections

Thousands of infections could be prevented each year in older people and hospital stays reduced following findings from two studies which show that imbalances in the immune systems of people aged over 65 make them more prone to illnesses like flu or bacterial infections as a result of cuts and falls.

21 Jul 2006

New findings on cystic fibrosis-related diabetes

A growing number of cystic fibrosis patients are battling a second, often deadly complication: a unique form of diabetes that shares characteristics of the type 1 and type 2 versions that strike many Americans.

10 Jul 2006

Life expectancy in Europe

A 14-nation study found that in 2003 Portugal had the lowest life expectancy at birth for men, -almost 4 years less than the highest (Sweden).

9 Jul 2006

Obese women at greater risk of disease and death

Experts say that obesity is a disease that now affects nearly one-third of the adult American population, approximately 60 million people, and the latest study on the condition suggests that health risks to women who are obese may have been underestimated.

6 Jul 2006

Fat and clever and rich - equals depression

Major depression is a leading cause of disability globally and according to American researchers people who are obese are more at risk of suffering from a psychiatric disorder.

4 Jul 2006

Study confirms Gleevec's long-term benefits in treating advanced gastrointestinal stromal tumors

People with advanced gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) who take Gleevec (imatinib) for prolonged periods continue to benefit from the drug, according to a five-year study by Oregon Health & Science University Cancer Institute researchers.

6 Jun 2006

Benefits of screening colonoscopy in very elderly

Even though the prevalence of colon tumors increases with age, screening colonoscopy in patients over 80 years of age results in smaller gains in life expectancy, compared to younger patients.

23 May 2006

Simple lifestyle changes may improve cognitive function and brain efficiency

A UCLA research study published in the June issue of the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry found that people may be able to improve their cognitive function and brain efficiency by making simple lifestyle changes such as incorporating memory exercises, healthy eating, physical fitness and stress reduction into their daily lives.

23 May 2006